One of the greatest tales of the 20th Century, The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien and the stories that follow, The Return of the King.
Translated into dozens of languages, and made available in Peter Jackson’s film trilogy 12 years ago, and now again with a new trilogy telling the tale of The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Wizard, the Dwarves and their quest to reclaim a lost homeland and treasure, taken violently from them by the Dragon who so long ago devastated their lands and destroyed their dreams.
The tale begins with Gandalf the Wizard making an unexpected appearance at Bilbo’s home … it’s been years since Gandalf visited, so Bilbo doesn’t recognize him, and finds Gandalf’s presence unnerving, like What are you doing here? You make me nervous.
Gandalf says, I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.
Bilbo’s response: No way … I’m not interested in any adventures … I wanna stay right here … enjoy my garden, puff away on my pipe, eat my seed cakes and drink some beer - go away Gandalf, I’m not interested.
Gandalf leaves, but not before scratching a secret mark on Bilbo’s front door, and later in the evening, when Bilbo answers a knock on the door, there’s a Dwarf who barges in unbidden, hangs his hat and sits down with Bilbo - it isn’t long before 11 other dwarves arrive, one-by-one and in groups of two and three.
Bilbo is beside himself … no idea what’s happening … they’re eating all of his food and making a mess of things.
Gandalf comes back and tells Bilbo that he’s chosen Bilbo to join with the Dwarves in their quest to reclaim their homeland.
Because Gandalf sees something great in Bilbo … something Bilbo himself cannot see …
Gandalf sees a Hobbit of much courage and resourcefulness … a Hobbit with a proud ancestry … forebears who took on strange adventures, traveled beyond the waters into unknown lands and faraway places … Gandalf sees a Hobbit who will rise to the occasion and do great things … who will not abandon the cause nor leave his friends … but will stay the course, go the distance, finish the work.
I love these stories - the call to adventure … is this not the call of God to all of us?
A call to great adventure?
To travel far and wide, across strange waters, into faraway lands? … or at least across the street or on the other side of town.
To meet strange and wondrous people and all sorts of creatures, great and small …
Danger along the way there will be … goblins and trolls and orcs … great evil, darkness and suffering … and who knows if we’ll make it or not.
But God sees in us what we often fail to see ourselves … God sees our greatness … God sees what we’re made of, because God made us of good stuff … God sees our true soul, our real character, who we truly are, and who we can be when the chips are down, the stakes are high, and the winds of ill-fate blow against us.
It was true of Mary, I suppose - God saw in this young lady great courage … a strength of character that would see her through the toughest of times … the stuff of a mother for the Son of God.
The angel tells her that she will bear a child, and to name him Jesus:
He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High. The LORD God will give him the throne of David his father. He will rule Jacob’s house forever, and there will be no end to his kingdom.
Mary isn’t at all sure; How will this happen? she asks.
The angel explains … this is of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit … and even now your relative, Elizabeth, has conceived a son … she who was labeled, unable to conceive, is now six months pregnant. Nothing is impossible for God.
Mary consents with the simplest of words … I am the LORD’s servant. Let it be with me just as you have said.
Mary hurries off to visit Elizabeth and Zechariah … when Mary greets Elizabeth, the child in her womb leaps and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Elizabeth cries out, God has blessed you above all women, and he has blessed the child you carry.
With all my heart, says Mary, I glorify the LORD! In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.
There is joy in Mary’s obedience … though danger lies close at hand … but where can any of us find safety, if not in the LORD God Almighty?
Better to go on a great adventure and meet a bad end - as the martyrs have all known - then to be cowardly and die the slow death of dreams denied and courage refused.
Gandalf said to Bilbo, I’m looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging.
And such an adventure it proved to be.
And what an adventure it is to be a part of what God is doing in this world of ours …
Come and follow me, says Jesus …
Like Bilbo, we’re not sure … we’d rather be left alone, but there’s always the knock on the door … and there on the front steps of our soul, a million people who’ve already said Yes! to the adventure … grammas and grampas, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren … the cloud of witnesses too numerous to number … the saints of old who now wear the crown of glory because they were willing to wear the rags of shame for their LORD …
All of them stand at the doorway of our home … they come on in, the moment the door is opened, even before we can say, Come on in … they take their place at our table, and make their plans for the great adventure that still lies ahead … their work unfinished, and they need us … they ask, Will you finish our work? … and they wait for us to say Yes!
They won’t stay in our home forever … there’s but a moment to decide … as the hymn puts it, Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide …
Within our heart, we hear the call to go … to be great in the things of the LORD, to rise to the occasion, and join the adventure God has arranged.
There is something great in all of us … God knows it … we have great ancestors in the faith … we have good blood in our veins … we’re brave, and maybe braver than we know … our love is strong, and our strength is gentle … and the call of the wild stirs our heart.
Advent is the Season when it all comes to us, and bids us Prepare!
Get ready for the adventure of a lifetime … very soon we’ll have to leave the comfort of home and family and the familiar … we’ll have to travel some … to Bethlehem … there to see the Savior …
Shepherds are there … and wise men, too … from near and far … Mary’s Child draws the whole world unto himself … that all the world might know the grace of God and the hope of salvation.
For God has not left behind this world … God has not abandoned creation, and never will … though devils and demons fill this world with darkness, their darkness is only for awhile … God remains the light of the world, and God is fast at work to undo the damages of sin and repeal the deadly decisions humankind makes … in order to renew all things and bring all things together into the great love of God.
God has taken up our cause …
God has taken on our humanity …
From within and below … in Mary’s womb for nine months … then in Bethlehem’s cradle … in his parents’ arms as they flee to Egypt, when Herod rants and rages and sends soldiers to do his dirty work.
The great son of God, the Son of the most High, held in the arms of loving parents, taught by rabbis and schooled in Torah … learning and growing in the wisdom of God … baptized by John in the Jordan … and we know the rest of the story.
And Mary sings with all heart, I glorify the LORD! For the LORD has done great things.
For Mary … and for us!
And there’s no end to it!
The work of the LORD goes on … and still and always the call to adventure … in every part of the world, in every generation, time and place … the knock on the door, the guests with their strange talk of faraway places and great danger … comes the moment to decide …
There will be danger ahead and delight … you will meet people of virtue and you will see great evil … you will know my joy, and you will know my suffering … you will have fine friends for much of the journey, and sometimes you’ll be all alone … it will end badly for some of you, but for all who take up the cross of adventure, it will end well in the end, and in the end, all will be good … for the word of God prevails … the darkness cannot overcome the light … and this is yet my father’s world!
Don’t give up … no matter what … stay the course and believe … there is always a way, and you will find it.
The lost are found … the blind can see … the world made new.
O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
Are you ready for some adventure?
Amen and Amen!
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