M.E.C.

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

December 14, 2014

The Third Sunday in Advent

M.E.C.

John 1:6-8, 19-28

No camel’s hair garment;

no locusts and wild honey for lunch;

no wild-eyed ranting

from the banks of the Jordan river.

The gospel of John paints a very different picture

of the one Matthew calls, “John the Baptist”;

the one Mark calls “John the baptizer”;

the one Luke calls “John the son of Zechariah.”

In this gospel we find just “John.”

John simplified.

In contemporary terms: “John unplugged”.

We find John the man who understood his calling;

who understood that he was to testify;

who understood that he was to point to the light;

who understood that he was

to point to the light that was coming into the world.

His was a voice crying out in the wilderness,

“Make straight the way of the Lord,”

for John knew that the Lord was coming;

John knew that the light was coming;

John knew that “the life [was coming]

that was to be the light of all people.”

(John 1:3)

The centuries have not silenced John –

he calls to us here and now:

“Look”, he says to us,

“Come and see!”

(John 1:46)

Come and see the Light

that has come into the world!

John knew that he was not the light;

but he also knew

that he was called to testify to the Light.

The Light that first shone in the stable in Bethlehem;

the Light that traveled the dusty roads of Judea,

“Bringing good news to the oppressed,

binding up the brokenhearted,

proclaiming liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;

and comforting all who mourned.

John knew he was to testify to the Light that

healed the sick

fed the hungry;

gave hope,

gave life.

John knew that this was the Light

that would shine even in the darkness.

John knew that this was the Light

that nothing could dim,

nothing could extinguish,

not even Cross or Tomb.

We are followers of the Light

and we are also descendants of John,

which means we too are called to point to the Light;

We too are called to testify to the Light.

We too are called to tell all

the good news of the Light.

Tell the good news –

do you know that is?

That’s evangelizing!

Evangelizing!

That’s a word we Presbyterians

aren’t all the comfortable with.

But the word means nothing more than good news,

and we are called to share the good news

of the Light.

We are to do that through our words;

but even more, we are to do that

through our lives,

through how we live our lives,

reflecting the light through our own lives.

We think that to evangelize means we are to go out

and convert,

as though we are called to push people to the Light.

But the scholar David Bartlett

puts it just right in saying,

“The true evangelical Christian

does not seek to push, …, coerce,

…or even charm another into faith.

The truly evangelical Christian…

keeps pointing to Jesus,

saying, just like John,

‘here he is’.

‘Come and see.’

Come stand in the Light with me!”

Evangelism is something we should do with joy,

for we have good news to share,

just as John did so long ago:

The Light has come into the world and

“the eyes of the blind will be opened;

the ears of the deaf unstopped;

the lame shall leap like a deer;

the tongue of the speechless [will] sing for joy.”

MPC: Manassas Presbyterian Church

should also be MEC: Manassas Evangelical Church,

all of us testifying joyfully

through words, worship,

the ministries we do,

and the lives we live.

You and I are called to embody the light,

to reflect the light

as we live with grace,

compassion,

kindness,

peace, and humility.

As one writer put it,

“Every one of us is…part of the dust-laden air

[called to] radiate the glowing epiphany of God,

[called to ]catch and reflect the golden Light…”

(Evelyn Underhill)

Our Lord himself reminds us

that you and I are the light of the world;

and that no one after lighting a lamp

puts it under a bushel basket,

but puts it on a lampstand,

so that it can give light to all the house.

So, in the same way

we are to let our light shine before others.

(Matthew 5:16)

Still, we all have our moments of darkness,

moment when we walk through darkness,

feel ourselves trapped in darkness:

times of fear, of illness,

of loneliness, of hopelessness.

But then, as the prophet tells us,

“The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined….

For a child has been born for us,

a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time onward and forevermore.

(Isaiah 9:2ff)

We are led out of the darkness,

even the deepest darkness,

by the one John testifies to,

by the one we sing of each Christmas as

“love’s pure light”

                 

The voice is calling out to us now,

just as resolutely as it did 2000 years ago.

a voice that is more than just John’s voice,

it is a blending of all the voices

of all the prophets, saying to us,

“Arise, shine!

For our light is about to come,

and the glory of the Lord about to rise upon us.”

Make straight the way of our Lord,

that you might walk in the light.

Make straight the way of the Lord

that you might reflect his light.

Make straight the way of the Lord

that you might tell others of the Light.

Make straight the way of the Lord,

“and then you shall see and be radiant,

your heart shall thrill and rejoice….

the sun shall no longer be your light by day,

nor the moon by night,

but the Lord will be your everlasting light.”

(Isaiah 60)

                 

This is the word of the prophet.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Glory to God!

AMEN