Speak to Us of Smooth Things

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

December 4, 2016 - Second Sunday in Advent

Speak to Us of Smooth Things

Luke 1:5-17

In the days of King Herod of Judea,

there was a priest named Zechariah,

who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah.

His wife was a descendant of Aaron,

and her name was Elizabeth.

Both of them were righteous before God,

living blamelessly according to

all the commandments and regulations of the Lord.

But they had no children,

because Elizabeth was barren,

and both were getting on in years.

Once when he was serving as priest before God

and his section was on duty,

he was chosen by lot,

according to the custom of the priesthood,

to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense.

Now at the time of the incense-offering,

the whole assembly of the people was praying outside.

Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord,

standing at the right side of the altar of incense.

When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified;

and fear overwhelmed him.

But the angel said to him,

‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah,

for your prayer has been heard.

Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,

and you will name him John.

You will have joy and gladness,

and many will rejoice at his birth,

for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.

He must never drink wine or strong drink;

even before his birth

he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

He will turn many of the people of Israel

to the Lord their God.

With the spirit and power of Elijah

he will go before him,

to turn the hearts of parents to their children,

and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous,

to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’

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Stress –

don’t we have enough of it in our lives?

Would any of us ask for more?

I wouldn’t, that’s for sure,

and I am guessing that everyone here

would all say the same thing.

And yet here we are, all of us,

having just crossed the threshold

into the most stressful month of the year.

We’ve entered the room called December,

a room filled with lights, gifts,

carols, food,

travel,

family, friends,

…and stress.

We so look forward to Christmas,

to hearing the story of the

baby born in the stable,

the shepherds watching in the fields,

the Wise Men following the star,

a story that can fill us, truly,

with heavenly peace.

But it always seems like there is so much to do

before we can get to the story,

so much stress to endure

before we get to that peace.

And church provides no respite,

for even here,

before we get to the Christmas story,

there’s so much to do.

And then, on top of all the activities,

John the Baptist enters,

insisting on taking the stage;

John the Baptist insists on being heard.

John is no gauzy,

avuncular Christmas character,

someone who speaks to us warmly, soothingly,

someone whose presence is like

a warm fire on a cold winter’s day.

No, John comes blaring at us

with a voice that I imagine

must have sounded like

someone speaking through a tinny megaphone –

you know: the kind the police chief uses

to tell Humphrey Bogart or Jimmy Cagney

that the building is completely surrounded

and they’d better give up.

John’s very voice raises our stress,

as he bellows and thunders at us,

and that’s even before

we begin to listen to his words,

“repent, you brood of vipers”.

John is one more in a long line of God’s prophets,

those chosen by God to speak for God

to God’s people

to tell God’s people of their waywardness,

their need to repent,

their need to turn back to God.

God has always known his children,

including you and me,

how easy we find it to turn from God,

turn from God’s way and God’s will:

“For they are a rebellious people,

faithless children,

children who will not hear

the instruction of the Lord;

who say …to the prophets,

“Do not prophesy to us what is right;

speak to us smooth things,

prophesy illusions,

leave the way,

turn aside from the path,

let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

(Isaiah 30:9-11)

God knows we need to be shaken up,

and so God has sent his prophets.

And every December

God sends us John the Baptist,

to call us back from chasing wind,

as Ecclesiastes would put it,

from chasing the things of this world,

rather than the things of God’s world.

The ascendance of fake news,

what some are calling the troubling emergence

of a post-truth world,

with facts curated,

facts created,

facts fabricated,

reflects that we do want to hear

only what we want to hear:

“Speak to us of smooth things.”

God will have none of that.

And into the room called December

God sends his best prophet,

tough, gritty,

fearless,

calling out to us with that megaphone voice,

to tell us that we are surrounded,

surrounded by God’s love,

God’s goodness,

God’s mercy

We should surrender,

surrender to God’s will.

John is insistent,

dogged, determined,

He has a job to do:

“...[he is to] get the people ready for God.”

John is in the room called December

to help you and me get ready for God,

get ready for the coming of our Lord.

John is the herald of Advent,

the herald of God coming into the world.

John speaks God’s truth,

caring not a Figgie pudding

for whether we like it or not;

caring not a Figgie pudding

whether we like him or not;

for John works for God,

and God alone.

As Paul would later say to the Galatians,

“Am I now seeking human approval,

or God’s approval?

Or am I trying to please people?

If I were still pleasing people,

I would not be a servant of Christ.”

(Galatians 1:10)

John is the refiner’s fire,

as the prophet Malachi put it.

(Malachi 3)

And we need to listen to him,

you and I,

pay him heed,

for he speaks to us

not to add to our stress,

but to take it way,

so we can know the peace that comes only from God,

only from Christ.

“Advent is a time when we ought to be shaken

and brought to a realization of ourselves.”

(Alfred Delp)

and that’s just what John does for us:

shakes us,

holds a mirror in front of us,

for our own good,

to help us make ourselves ready

for the coming of our Lord.

“Prepare the way of the Lord,”

John says to us.

“Make his paths straight.

Bear fruit worth of repentance.”

At the threshold of December,

John calls us to live fully not in Christmas joy,

but in Advent anticipation

for “there shines on us

the first light of the radiant love to come.”

(Alfred Delp)

“Prepare yourself!

Prepare the way.

Prepare for the One who is to come!”

AMEN