Tis The Season

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

November 27, 2011

First Sunday in Advent

Tis the Season

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Grace to you and peace

from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God always for you

because of the grace of God

that has been given you in Christ Jesus,

for in every way you have been enriched in him,

in speech and knowledge of every kind—

just as the testimony of Christ

has been strengthened among you—

so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift

as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He will also strengthen you to the end,

so that you may be blameless

on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful;

by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son,

Jesus Christ our Lord.

The season of Advent begins today.

Advent, the season of preparation,

the season of anticipation,

the season of watching,

of waiting.

But preparation – for what?

anticipation of what?

watching – for what?

Waiting – for what?

Christmas Day?

Presents under the tree?

The sound of Santa Claus gliding his sleigh across the roof?

A few days off from work and school for the holidays?

The weeks ahead will be filled with a hurricane of activities

for every one of us: shopping for presents,

sending out cards,

visiting with family and friends,

traveling.

We’ll decorate homes indoors and out.

We’ll go to parties, we’ll sing carols,

all as part of the festive Christmas season

that we all love so much,

even as we grumble about the obvious excesses

that are part of the season.

The weeks that lead from Thanksgiving to Christmas

are hectic;

they are noisy,

they are tinseled, sparkling,

exhausting.

For most of us they are anything but weeks of anticipation,

weeks of watching,

weeks of waiting.

Advent calls us to walk a different path through the month;

A path that still leads us to Christmas,

to the joy of celebrating the birth of our Lord,

but a path that calls us to walk quietly,

a path that calls us to contemplative watching and waiting,

to prayerful stillness,

to silent nights more than Jingle Bells.

Advent calls us to begin the journey

by remembering what the word advent means:

it means, “coming”.

It is word that reminds us that the Christ who came,

our Savior born so long ago in that stable in Bethlehem,

is the Christ who will come again in glory,

come again to make all things new,

come again to usher in the Kingdom of God.

The silent moments Advent calls us to create,

the watchfulness,

the waiting,

all help us to remember that Jesus will come again,

and, as Jesus reminds us,

when he comes, he will come “like a thief in the night.”

And if Jesus comes like a thief in the night

then that means we will either be ready for that day

or we won’t.

Read through gospels and count the number of times

Jesus calls us to Advent lives,

telling us to be watchful,         

to be ready,

to be waiting,

not to be complacent,

not to let our attention drift:

“Be aware”, our Lord tells us;

“Keep alert,

for we do not know when the time will come.”

(Mark 13:32ff)

“Be dressed for action”, Jesus says.

“have your lamps lit,

 say to all: keep awake, keep alert;…

[for] blessed are those whom the master finds alert

when he comes.”

(Luke 12:35ff)

Blessed are those whom the master finds alert       

when he comes.

Blessed are those dressed for action,

Blessed are those whose lamps are filled with oil,

lit,

the light chasing away every shadow of darkness.

                                   

Blessed are those who live Advent lives:

waiting, watchful,

aware, alert.

And yet, how hard it is to live Advent lives

during the month of December,

a month in which we find it hard to be alert to much more

than where the best bargains are to be had,

a month in which we are all so eager to sing,

to decorate,

to let the joyfulness that comes with

planning for a birthday party carry us away.

If there was any month in the year that calls for

a symphony of joyful sounds to fill each day of the week,

it is December.

But Advent living isn’t dour or joyless;

it  doesn’t call us to put away the tinsel,

or stop singing Jingle Bell Rock.

What Advent does is helps us to know the true joy

that is found only in Christ,

through Christ,

and with Christ.

        

To live in Advent is to live in Christ;

We can still look forward to shiny packages

under twinkling, sparkling Christmas trees,

but our minds, our hearts, our focus

all will be firmly, fully on Christ:

on the Christ who came,

and on the Christ who will come again.

It isn’t as hard as we might think,

to turn from the cacophony that fills the month,

to make space for Advent in our hearts and minds.

Did you hear what Paul said?

We are “not lacking in any spiritual gift

as [we] wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We are not lacking in any spiritual gift

because the grace of God has been given us in Christ Jesus,

[and] in every way [we] have been enriched in him,

in speech and knowledge of every kind—

This is the Advent gift God has given us,

to help us live Advent lives.

But we do need one additional gift;

without it, God’s gift is incomplete.

It is a gift that allows us to live fully in God’s gift.

It’s a gift we each give to ourselves.

A gift we need not shop for,

a gift that is readily available,

yet maddeningly elusive;

a gift that is free,

yet precious beyond price.

It is the gift of time

The gift of time:

time for quiet,

time for reflection,

time for prayer.

Quiet time each day as you walk through Advent,

quiet time you give yourself

no matter how busy your day is;

Indeed, the busier the day,

the greater your need for this gift.

Quiet time to remind yourself that it is Advent,

Quiet time to help you remember that

the Christ whose birth you and I will joyfully celebrate

in four short, packed weeks

is the Christ who will come again.

Quiet time to remember that when he comes again

he will come like a thief in the night

and so calls us to be ready,

to be alert, dressed for action,

lamps full and lit.

Give yourself the gift of quiet time each day

over the next few weeks.

A good place to start, to help you make time for quiet,

is Psalm 46.

Let your eyes, your mind,

your being focus on the word of God

we find in verse 10:

“Be still”,

“Be still and know that I am”.

“Be still and know that I am God.”

Be still and know that I am Emmanuel,

God with you, in you.

Start there

and then work on quieting your mind,

stilling the voices that are reminding you

of all that needs to be done

if you hope to be ready for Christmas,

all the voices that call you from the Advent path.

Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk, wrote,

“The purest faith has to be tested by silence

in which we listen for the unexpected,

in which we are open to what we do not yet know,

and in which we slowly and gradually prepare for

…a new level  of being with God.”

Advent silence gives God’s Spirit space to work within us

to realign us,

to re-tune us,

to correct our focus.

to help us move to a whole “new level of being with God.”

Realigned,

tuned,

focused,

we realize the magnificence of the gift of Emmanuel,

God with us in Jesus Christ,

God with us through Jesus Christ.

“The essence of Advent is expectancy,

it is watchfulness,

it is readiness.”

It is to join our voices with the psalmist who sang,

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits

and in his word I hope.”

(Psalm 130:5)

Tis the Season of waiting

the season of watchfulness,

the season of anticipation

we begin today,

today as we take our first step down Advent’s path.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel!

AMEN

We Are His People

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

November 20, 2011

We Are His People

Psalm 95

O come, let us sing to the Lord;
   let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
   let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
   and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
   the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
   and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

O come, let us worship and bow down,
   let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
   and we are the people of his pasture,
         and the sheep of his hand.

That’s Psalm 95 as we find it in the

New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, 

a familiar psalm,

one we often use as a Call to Worship.

Eugene Peterson has paraphrased these words

in a wonderfully lively way in The Message:

“Come, let's shout praises to God

raise the roof for the Rock who saved us!

…for we [are his]:

the people he pastures,

the flock he feeds.”

“Come, let’s shout praises,

let’s raise the roof!”???

It’s hard to believe Peterson wrote those words

as the pastor of a Presbyterian Church;

We Presbyterians are not exactly shout-out,

raise-the-roof people, are we?

But that’s the point of the psalm;

We should react with passion and enthusiasm

as we acknowledge:

YES, We are God’s people;

YES: God is our Creator, our Maker;

YES: we are God’s precious flock;

YES, we are the people he pastures,

the people he tends,

the people he blesses as he watches over us.

Shout it out: We are God’s beloved flock!

Shout it out and raise the roof with songs of praise and joy,

shouts of thanksgiving,

shouts even of Amen and Hallelujah!

Why shouldn’t we be filled with passion and enthusiasm?

We’ve been given the Holy Spirit.

We’ve been called to follow Christ.

And we’ve been called to this wonderful church,

called to take our place in the community of saints

that stretches back almost 150 years.

We’ve been called to participate actively

everyone of us, as we go about God’s work

following Jesus.

And we do our work in so many wonderful ways:

Joy-filled worship;

faithful nurturing of children and young people;

selflessly reaching out to those in need;

lovingly ministering to one another.

It is Thanksgiving and

we have so much to be thankful for

as we celebrate all the wonderful ministries of this church,

as we welcome new members, 
as we look with confidence to our 145^th year.

I’ve proposed to our Session that next year

we work with Ed White,

a former Executive Presbyter of our Presbytery

and now a consultant with the Alban Institute,

to have him work with us throughout the year

not just one weekend Retreat –

to help us plan for our next five years,

to help us look confidently, joyfully for the path

Christ will lead us down as we look to our 150^th anniversary.

It was C. S. Lewis who wrote,

“Christ says, ‘Give me All.

I don’t want [part] of your time

and [part] of your money

and [part] of your work.

I want you…I want all of you.

[in return] I will give you myself.”

(Mere Christianity, 196)

When you put your Pledge Card in the basket

you’ll be doing more than just offering

your pledge of financial support

for the work we will do next year

in the name of Jesus Christ.

When you put your card in the basket

you’ll be offering yourself anew to God;

consecrating yourself anew,

pledge anew your all,

acknowledging that all you have has come from God,

your Shepherd, your Maker, your Keeper.

“Who then will offer willingly,

consecrating themselves today to the Lord?”

asked King David of the people of Israel,

 the people of God.

“Then the leaders of ancestral houses made their freewill-offerings,

as did also the leaders of the tribes,

the commanders of the thousands and of the hundreds,

and the officers over the king’s work.

They gave for the service of the house of God …

Then the people rejoiced

because [they had all] given willingly,

for with single mind

 they had offered freely to the Lord”

(1 Chronicles 29:5)

Come, willingly, joyfully,

enthusiastically, passionately:

coming singing Amen and Hallelujah;

Come consecrate yourself anew to the Lord our God,

the Rock of our salvation,

and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow.

AMEN

Selective Seeing

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

November 6, 2011

Selective Seeing

Amos 6:4-8

Ruffling feathers,

stirring pots,

poking, prodding:

the very job of a prophet is to be in our faces,

to jab at us with words,

to point out to us in the highest of high definition

where we’ve gone wrong,

where we’ve failed,

how we’ve not lived up to God’s commandments

and God’s expectations.

No one was better at poking with a sharp stick than Amos.

Read through the nine chapters of his book

and you come away almost glad that you didn’t live

almost 800 years before the birth of our Lord,

back when Amos prophesied,

glad that you weren’t on the receiving end of his

outrage, his venom, his barbs.

His words came fast and furious,

abrasive as he jabbed away.

But then stop for a moment to remember

that all Amos was doing,

all every prophet has ever done

was speak God’s words,

to be the messenger for God’s words to his people.

If we listen to Amos’ words

remembering that it is in fact God speaking,

the words take on even more power.

How angry God was with his children!

“I hate, I despise your festivals,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies…

Take away from me the noise of your songs;

I will not listen to the melody of your harps.”

What could possibly have been the cause

of God’s great anger?  

What had the children of Israel done

that so filled God with outrage?

Were they guilty of idolatry?

Had they slipped back to worshiping golden calves?

                                            

No, it was simpler than that.

The people of Israel were guilty of injustice.

The people of Israel had failed to seek justice,

they had failed to create justice –

social justice, economic justice.

They had failed to live righteously,

to live in right relationship with one another

every one in society, the young and the old,

the rich and the poor,

the weak and the strong – all together,

one community.

They had failed to live as God wanted them to live

and so God addressed his children through Amos

addressed them with contempt:

“you who oppress the poor,

you who crush the needy.”

You paid no attention to what I’ve taught you,

how I’ve told you to live your lives.

You’ve failed to make your community,

your society, your nation,

just and equitable.

“Let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

But no, you live for yourselves,

more concerned with living pampered, easy lives,

lives rich in goods.’

but lives without justice, without righteousness.

The people of Israel did live well;

they were affluent, comfortable,

a little too comfortable.

If they knew the Proverb,

“Give me neither poverty nor riches;

[but] feed me with the food that I need,”

They were not the least bit interested.

(Proverbs 30:8)

And in their affluence they had become complacent,

blind to the growing gap between rich

and poor all around them,

the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory,

and lounge on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock,
and calves from the stall; ….,
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

Pride-filled men and women

blind to the injustices all around them.

Prideful men and women

who may well have worshiped with great pomp,

who may have made their sacrifices

and offered their tithes,

but who were doing nothing

to stop the spread of social injustices,

to right wrongs,

men and women failing to live

 as God commanded them.

More than twenty-seven hundred years separate us

and the people to whom Amos was talking,

but read through all of Amos

and it is all but impossible not to read it as painfully timely,

painfully reflective of our own times,

as the gap between rich and poor grows in our own society,

where the wealthy see themselves as privileged,

content to live apart,

rather than responsible for strengthening community.

A recent study compared the 31 
most economically developed nations

for a variety of social justice metrics.

The nations in the study included the US, Britain, Canada,

Germany, Australia and other peer countries.

The study measured things like child poverty rates,

income inequality,

public expenditure on childhood education,

and availability of and accessibility to health care.

The US ranked 27^th out of 31,

right near the bottom,

across the board.

The US fared poorly in all measurements

but its measurements for poverty were particularly abysmal.

(The New York Times, October 29, 2011, p. A17/

http://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de)

Now of course it’s easy to dismiss a study like this;

Cigarette manufacturers taught us well over the years

how to deny, belittle, shift the focus, spin results;

They taught us how to see selectively,

to see what we want to see,

and turn a blind eye to what we don’t want to see.

But as Amos pointed out to the children of Israel so long ago,

denial, scoffing and spin don’t make the truth go away,

the truth that lies before our very eyes.

If it makes us uncomfortable,

well don’t you see: that’s just God’s point,

that’s just what God wants:

to poke us awake,

to prod us to live as God calls us to live.

Do you remember the story of what happened to Jesus

when he came back to his hometown of Nazareth

to teach and preach?

He so outraged the people who listened to him

that they tried to run him out of town;

in fact, they were so furious,

they tried to push him over a cliff.

Now, do you remember what he’d said

that outraged the people so?

God’s words as they had been spoken

by the prophet Isaiah:

“God has sent me to bring good news

to the oppressed,

to bind up the broken hearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captive

and release to the prisoners,…

to comfort all those who mourn.”

(Luke 4:16ff/Isaiah 61)

The words Jesus spoke that so infuriated people

were words of justice,

words of righteousness.

This is the life we are called to, you and I,

just as our ancestors in faith in Amos’ time.

A life working for justice, creating justice,

and righteousness.

Beware of the golden idols that surround us

that draw us away from that life:

money, materialism,

affluence, rugged individualism.  

                 

We are to model our lives on Christ,

model them on the one who cared more about

the poor, the hungry, the struggling

 than he did about the wealthy,

the comfortable,

the affluent.

You and I don’t have to occupy Wall

 or any other street.

We simply have to let Christ occupy our hearts fully,

let Christ occupy our minds completely,

follow Christ,

modeling our lives on his,

seeing the world through Jesus’ eyes,

seeing the world through God’s eyes,

and where we see injustice, rooting it out,

where we see that righteousness is absent,

working to restore it,

guided always by the words of our Lord

when he said,

“just as you did it to the least of these

who are members of my family,

you did it to me.”

(Matthew 25)

Let justice roll like a river,

and righteousness

like a never-failing stream.

AMEN