Malachi 3:1-4 Canticle 4 or 16 Philippians 1:3-11 Luke 3:1-6
This Sunday, I decided to give you some insight into the struggles of a new priest. When my first child started asking the question “why,” I began a life time of trying to answer that question. As she got older, the why was applied to increasing difficult topics – such as, “why do I have to go to church?” Her questions challenged me to articulate my faith – in adolescent terms. My daughter may no longer be asking me why – or at least not as often, but I do ask myself that question several times a week as a recently ordained priest.
In my liturgy class we were challenged to explore the theological significance behind every liturgical act and evaluate the worship environment. Our liturgy and our environment should consist of rituals and symbols that direct our attention to God. My professor made a distinction between signs, symbols, and rituals in this way: signs convey information, symbols actually participate in the reality they represent, and rituals are symbolic acts. A sign might say, “Quiet Please, Worship in Progress;” a sign provides information. A symbol, on the other hand, such as the cross has meaning for us. The cross invokes in us a remembrance of the passion of Christ. Likewise, the ritual of our Eucharist celebration reminds us that God’s love for us is such that he would send his only son to redeem us.
Rituals can even be described as “efficient means of communication” because our rituals are a short hand, if you will, that we have created to express a theological message of forgiveness, and salvation. Our liturgy involves more than our sense of hearing; it involves touch, taste, and sight. And in some services it involves our sense of smell as well. So what we do and why we do it is important and taking the time to think about the message is also important. In seminary I was challenged to think about when to cross myself and when to bow; when to lead the service from my chair and when to lead it from the altar. I have chosen to begin the service from my chair and conclude from my kneeler because I am praying and reciting the Creeds along with you. I do not step behind the altar until the service moves to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.
Just as our service is divided into the service of the Word and the Great Thanksgiving, our church year is divided into seasons to help us explore the life and ministry, the death, and the resurrection of Christ. You have already heard me say that Advent is a time of preparation and anticipation. This year, for the first time, I have found myself struggling with what that means. In the Episcopal churches I have been a part of, we have always make a clear distinction between the seasons of Advent and Christmas. We have done this by not decorating the church for Christmas until after the final service for advent. This has meant, in most churches, we have not even put a wreath on the doors of the church – making it the only church in the community not decorated for Christmas before December 24th. Yet, most of us begin decorating our homes shortly after Thanksgiving. If the reason for waiting to decorate is significant for the church, then why is it not important for us in our homes as well? Here’s that pesky why question I keep asking myself. The inconsistency never occurred to me until this year when I began leaving the house in the morning wearing a collar, coming to our church, and returning home in the evening. Wearing a collar means I serve as a visible symbol of the church. When I put on my collar, I am aware that all my actions communicate more to strangers than when I’m not wearing my collar. And likewise, how and when our home is decorated has the potential for saying more.
Decorating the house for Christmas brings Cathy great joy, and it is done in stages. And as I considered this, the question of what it means to prepare ourselves for Christmas, I realized that is how it should be done – in stages. Just as we begin this season by placing the empty manger and then adding the animals and people each week as the story unfolds – decorating our homes, then our church is all a part of our preparation. We don’t wait until a child is born to prepare the baby’s room, get a crib, blankets and the rest. We start in advance of the big day to prepare. We must make space in our homes and in our hearts for an addition to our lives. Decorating is a part of preparation when it is not an end to itself, decorating is important when we remember that we are preparing to receive the one who gives meaning to life.
As joyous as it is to receive Christ, our preparations require a great deal from us. In these first two Sundays of Advent, our readings direct us to get ready for the coming of the Messiah. In today’s reading, John the Baptist is the messenger who Malachi says is “to prepare the way” and Luke says is the one who the prophet Isaiah foretold: "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”
In both Malachi and the quoted passage from Isaiah found in Luke, the message is one of transformation – it is a message that God will transform us from sinners into persons worthy of standing before God. Malachi says, “he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.” There is more than one way to refine gold and silver, but the way known to the people of
It is not an easy process so the refiner would not begin it unless the ore found had enough precious metal within it to make it worth the effort. This is a wonderful metaphor with a powerful message to us. It says to us that God has deemed us worthy of redemption; that God has determined we are worth the effort. I find this amazing. That, God, in Christ, will take the time to remove the impurities from within us so that we might stand before the Lord in righteousness.
Redemption is not easy to experience. In our earthly state we have become accustomed to our impurities. We like our status, our possessions; we like knowing what is best for ourselves and others – in short, we like elevating our own opinions and desires to that of God’s. We sit in judgment and decide how things should be done; we form opinions and hold fast to our beliefs – often at the expense of others. Our understanding of how things should be often gets in the way of our relationship with God and in the way of living in community with others.
Or, to use the metaphor Isaiah used, we wander along a winding path that leads us up, and all around. But we should prepare for Christ by making straight his path, “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." John the Baptism was helping the people prepare, as best they could. He preformed the ritual cleansing, baptizing people that they might be prepared to hear the Word of God. But it takes more than baptism for us to stop wandering along our crooked paths, and we cannot remove the impurities from our souls or the souls of others. Straightening our path and removing our sins requires us to give ourselves over to the refiner, the redeemer – to accept the love of Christ and allow him to work within and through us.
Let us pray. Lord, help us to prepare to receive you more fully. Open our hearts that we might be transformed. Remove from us all desires that keep us from doing your will. Lord, we thank you for this congregation and for the wonderful service of its members in our community. We give thanks for their generous support of the mission of St. Andrew’s. Help us, o Father, to continue to expand our ministries within this church, this community, and in this world that others might experience your bounty. Grant in us the courage to act and the strength to do that which you would have us do. Transform us to honor you by serving others. We pray to you in the name of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
