12.15.24 Advent 3: Joy, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Isaiah 61.8-11; Luke 1.26-38

It all begins with a simple “Yes!” … 

The angel of the LORD comes to Mary, with a request, and Mary says, “Yes!”

And so it comes to pass - Mary is the mother of Jesus … the Holy Mother of God … Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Mary says, “Yes!” …

A friend of mine recently wrote - “Say yes until you have to say No!”

Another friend said to me years ago, “I’m tired of saying “Yes!”, but I’ll keep on saying “Yes!” because I’m even more tired of what happens, when I say “No!”

I celebrate with you today those who say “Yes!” to life …  

In my senior year in Grand Rapids Christian High School, the spring of 1962 … as graduation neared, my Bible teacher, the Rev. Morris Faber, invited the seniors to come to the front of his classroom to share their plans.

One after the other, this and that, college and career, and all the dreams that a high school senior enjoys … and, then, it was my turn.

I told the class, “I am going to Calvin College, and enroll in the pre-seminary course.”

And with that, laughter erupted … I mean, serious, raucous, uncontrolled, laughter, and I was laughing right along with all them … I’m sure some thought it was a joke, but it was no joke. I had decided that I would be a minister.

Now, some backstory - I was not what would have been recognized as “clergy” material … I’ll not bore you with the details, but it can be said, that if there were a picture of what a high school senior headed into ministry should look like, it certainly wasn’t me. 

The class laughed, and so did I.

When the laughter died down, Rev. Faber turned to me … all 5 feet, 5 inches of him - he said, “Tom, I believe you will do it.”

I’ve never forgotten that moment of affirmation … as you can tell … Rev. Faber’s word of encouragement, the power of “Yes!” … has stayed with me all these years.

Twenty years later, I was in Grand Rapids for some study, eating at a Russ’s Restaurant, a local chain famous for its hamburgers … and there, a few booths away, was the Rev. Morris Faber and his wife. 

He was recognizable - small in stature, a gnome-like face … there he was, having lunch.

I left my table and walked over to them, introduced myself … Rev. Faber looked at me with that thousand-yard stare common to dementia.

His wife explained to me, and I told her my story … then I thanked Rev. Faber for his confidence in me. His wife thanked me for coming over, and I thanked the LORD that I had the chance to see him again, to thank him personally for his goodness … 

Did he understand what I said?

Probably not … when I left, he picked up his hamburger and continued eating … his wife, with tears in her eyes.

“I believe in you!”

“You can do it!”

The Power of “Yes!"

Adults who come from difficult circumstances often look back to one or two people who loved them … someone who said “Yes!” to them, again and again … so they made it … scars on the soul, scars on the body, but the power of “Yes!”

Let’s pause here for a moment, let’s be silent … recall some of the folks who said “Yes!” to you, and offer a special prayer of thanks for them … … …

When others say “Yes!” to us, something happens deep inside of our soul - we begin to say “Yes!” to ourselves … and “Yes!” to the world around us!

I wonder who said “Yes!” to Mary … was it her relative, Elizabeth?

As soon as Mary is with child, she goes with haste to a small town in the hills, to visit Zachariah and Elizabeth … it’s Elizabeth who says to her, Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb … Mary stays with Elizabeth for three months.

I suspect God waited until there was enough “Yes!” in Mary’s life for her to say “Yes!” to the angel … and it’s a strong “Yes!”

Evident in the Magnificat … Mary’s song of joy and justice …

My soul magnifies the LORD, sings our Mary, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!

The power of “Yes!”

Discipleship begins with a “Yes!”  but we’re not the first to say it … God says it first … “Yes!” to you, to me, to the world … 

God says “Yes!” to a million, billion, gazillion, things: love, life, hope, peace, goodness, justice, fair play, decency, honesty, humility, kindness, mercy, truth, forgiveness.

The cornerstone of our faith: Jesus says “Yes!” …“Yes!” to the cross, to the sorrow and pain of it all, the fear and the trembling … Jesus rightly asks of his Father for an alternative, but there is no alternative, to the hard work of faith … so Jesus “Yes!” … “Yes!” to death and the tomb … “Yes!” to all of it … because there is no other way.

Paul the Apostle says it well: For the Son of God, Jesus Christ … was not “Yes and No”; but in him it is always “Yes!” For in him, everyone of God’s promises is a “Yes!”

“Yes!” saves the day, and makes a way … “Yes!” calls for engagement, partnership, compromise, patience, working-arrangement, getting along, and making do!

Mary says “Yes!” to the angel … Rev. Faber says “Yes!” to me … throughout the years of my work, countless people have said “Yes!” to the LORD, “Yes!” to the calling of God … “Yes!” to the work ahead … to the work of the church … “Yes!” to the cross, because “Yes!” is likely to ask everything of us …  

“Yes!” is a dangerous word … it gets us into things we didn’t plan on, and sometimes into things we don’t want.

I’ve learned over the years to be a bit more cautious with my “Yes!” … but on the other hand, caution is better thrown to the wind, and maybe more often than not.

One thing for sure: “Yes!” may get us into trouble, but “No!” will get us nowhere. 

One of the components of “Yes!” is trust … trust in life, trust in God, trust in others … life provides the ways and means of getting something done … because God is involved in all of this … and, yes, we can do it … because that’s how God made us.

It may be difficult … ask Mary how easy it was to bear the child of our salvation and become the Mother of God.

“Yes!” opens the door to all kinds of things … some of them will be downright difficult … and some of them good beyond all measure … 

Joy to the world the Lord is come

Let earth receive her king

Let every heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing

The power of “Yes!” … 

It is, after all, Mary’s Sunday … 

Hail Mary, full of grace, the LORD is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death.

Hallelujah and Amen!

12.8.24 "Peace!" - Advent 2 - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Malachi 3.1-4; Luke 3.1-6

Welcome to the Season of Advent … 

four Sundays to Christmas … 

four Sundays to remember the foundations of our faith.

Hope, peace, joy, and love.

Our word today: Peace.

What is peace? How can we human beings live together so that we can actually stop destroying one another, and build the better world?

Peace in the world, and peace within our own souls.

Blessed are the peacemakers, says Jesus, for they will be called children of God.

The Hebrew word for peace - Shalom -says it well: to make something whole, complete … everything in its place, and place for everything, working together, as God intended.

The flourishing of society …

The prophet Micah says: They shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.

Not just for some, but for everyone!

Life is a shared effort:

Lift up the fallen, 

Help the weary, 

Carry those who cannot walk.

Care, mercy, kindness, forgiveness, the second chance, the third chance … respect the needs of another … the physical needs so many have, the emotional needs all of us have … 

To pay close attention to those in need - the defenseless, the weak, the minorities … because every society has those who love to bully … and right now we have more than our share of bullies.

A prominent politician says: immigrants are poisoning the blood of our nation…. They poison mental institutions and prisons all over the world, not just in South America, not just to three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world. They’re coming into our country from Africa, from Asia, all over the world.

Poisoning our blood?

What does the Bible say? 

The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself …

“Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.”

Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.

Coming at it from another angle, Paul the Apostle writes: There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ. 

In Christ, boundaries are erased … in Christ, borders are crossed … the dividing walls of hostility, says Paul, have been broken down.

If ever there has been a time for the church to turn to the foundations of our faith, it is now!

 We open the pages of Scripture and read with care … we consider what others have done in trying times, when faced with insurmountable odds … we search the pages of the past, to learn how we might cope with today’s challenges, and chart a way into the future. 

Ann Patchett, gifted writer, recalls a time when she and a friend rented a room on the coast of Scotland … gathered in the sitting room, one evening, watching “… in horror as the owner sat and pulled apart the most beautiful sweater [she’d] ever seen, winding the yarn back into balls. ‘I wanted a new sweater,’ she said…. ’I’ve had this one for years.’”

Another fine writer, Linda Hogan, a Chickasaw poet and essayist, in her book about the Osage Indian murders in Oklahoma at the turn of the 20th Century … 

One of her characters  says I’ve written another chapter for the Bible … it goes like this:

Honor father sky and mother earth. Look after everything. Life resides in all things, even the motionless stones. Take care of the insects for they have their place, and the plants and trees for they feed the people. Everything on earth, every creature and plant wants to live without pain, so do them no harm. Treat all people in creation with respect; all is sacred, especially the bats. 

Live gently with the land. We are one with the land. We are part of everything in our world, part of the roundness and cycles of life. The world does not belong to us. We belong to the world. And all life is sacred.

Pray to the earth. Restore your self and voice. Remake your spirit, so that it is in harmony with the rest of nature and the universe. Keep peace with all your sisters and brothers. Humans who minds are healthy desire such peace and justice.

I once knew a man who said about everything, “My daddy used to say …”

He had one smart daddy, no doubt … but I always wanted to say to him, “What do you say?”

Whatever your mothers and fathers may have said, the question remains: What do you say?

I think of the great Notre Dame of Paris … burned down and left in ruins … but the world pulled together … the world knows it need Notre Dame … so the money pours in, and today it’s open … not quite the same, but it’s Notre Dame … a place to remind us of the best things in life … a place to remind us: Look up, if you want to know how to live!

Who are those who rebuild the burned down cathedrals?

Who are those who unravel the old and knit the new?

Who are those who add fresh chapters to the Bible?

Who are the peacemakers?

They’re right here … in these pews, down the street, around the corner … if you look, you’ll see them … if you listen, you’ll hear them … when you look within your own soul, you will hear Christ calling you … your conscience will be stirred, your soul empowered … the Peace of God becomes your peace, my peace … it’s Jesus who says: 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called Children of God.

And so it is, the Second Sunday of Advent, 2024.

Amen and Amen!