Isaiah 49.1-7; Psalm 40.7-9; 1 Corinthians 1.1-3; John 1.29-31
Good Morning Immanuel.
And God’s Peace to you.
God’s love and mercy.
God’s goodness and grace.
The stuff of life.
That keeps us going.
No matter what.
No matter how hard the road becomes.
And sometimes the road is long and miserable.
Sometimes everything that can go wrong goes wrong.
It happens now and then.
Everything upside down.
A topsy turvy world, it can be.
And we’re not quite sure how to go.
Or what to do.
Or when and where it’ll end.
Such is life for all of us.
Sometimes grand and sometimes not.
Yet here we are.
In this place and time.
A time to worship and lift our voices.
To join in the chorus of God’s People throughout the ages.
If we listen, we can hear them:
Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel.
A chorus of faith.
A song of hope.
The vibrant sounds of creation.
The original moment of light breaking out.
The Spirit of God hovers over the primal waters.
When nothing was everything.
And everything was nothing.
Only the Spirit, like a dove, wings beating.
And there it came, in the night.
The light, bright and pure.
By Word of Mouth, a Word spoken.
Let there be light.
In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God.
And the Word was God.
And there was light.
Plenty of light.
Lots of light.
Enough light to make things grow.
Light to lead the way.
Down through the ages.
People have believed … strange stuff, this believing stuff:
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of Heaven and Earth.
And in Jesus Christ.
God’s only Son our LORD.
Conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Born of the Virgin Mary.
I believe in the Holy Spirit.
The Holy catholic church.
The Communion of Saints.
The resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
Strange stuff, this believing stuff.
Because some stuff is dangerous.
Really, really dangerous.
Takes us to God …
And God sees to it that our life -
Is no longer our own.
God weaves our lives into the very life of the universe.
God sets the pace of our every step.
And we’re glad to be a part of God.
Glad to know the goodness of Christ.
And sometimes we’re not glad to be a part of God.
Sometimes the calling of God is more than we can bear.
Like Isaiah, the reluctant prophet.
A messenger of faith, hope and love.
That’s what we are.
We’re messengers.
Messengers of a good and godly word.
A transformative word.
A difficult word.
A word that speaks to the deepest places of life.
A word that creates and recreates.
A single word, a string of words.
Words to bless and words to inspire.
Sure, there are plenty of words that deconstruct.
Words that wreck and destroy, maim and malign.
Words that are lies, and lies that are words.
And we don’t know which is what, and what is which.
Because some liars are masters of their craft.
Clever in their deceptions.
Skilled in slander and fake news.
And people will be misled - by these masters of the lie.
Misled - all the way to disaster.
Because of clever lies.
Lies that glitter.
But are not gold.
So God calls Isaiah.
And God calls you and me.
Here and now.
For our time and day.
The message of faith, hope and love.
Grace, mercy and peace.
Christ born in a stable.
And crowned with thorns.
Baptized in the Jordan.
And crucified on a cross.
Dead and buried.
And three days later …
A stone rolled away.
Roman guards knocked senseless.
Women amazed.
Disciples bewildered.
And then the Spirit all over again.
Hovering over those uncertain disciples.
In an upper room.
Full of doubt and fear.
Flames danced upon their heads that day.
And they began to speak.
That strange and Holy Day of Pentecost.
And the people in Jerusalem.
They heard the word in their own tongue.
In their own language.
Words they could understand.
Words of faith, hope and love.
It made sense to them.
And many believed.
Though some thought to themselves:
These clowns are only drunk.
But drunk they were not.
Stone cold sober they were, on that great awakening day.
They spoke of faith and hope.
They made sense of things in a strange and uncertain time.
And these gospel words still makes sense today.
They always have.
And always will.
Because God is truth, and truth is love.
And love defeats the lies.
Love defends the poor
Love finds ways to get along.
And has no need for bluff and bluster.
But love does need justice.
Love needs truth.
Love cannot sit idly by when some want to take it all.
And the children go hungry.
So here we are in faith dear friends.
On the road we go.
The LORD ahead of us, with light and love.
Come follow me, says he … ever strong and ever good … his name, Immanuel.
Immanuel.
I love the name.
God with us.
That’s what it means.
Immanuel.
The very presence of God.
The God of light and love.
The God always with us.
I don’t know what the future holds.
But I know God holds the future.
And the arc of history bends toward justice.
Love prevails, love wins.
Sometimes the way ahead has to be the cross.
That we know.
And that we believe.
The love of God is forged in hard ways and hammered nails.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
so wisely noted:
The measure of man is not what he does in comfort,
But when caught up in challenge and controversy.
Follow Christ?
How easily we throw that notion around.
As if it were a cakewalk.
And sometimes it IS easy.
But Jesus speaks of challenging times.
A cross to be carried.
A plow to be managed, and never, ever again, look back.
To follow Jesus - it can be hard, sometimes.
But hard or not.
What other way might there be?
Where else can we go?
To find such a lasting hope; the one John called, The Lamb of God?
If you’ve seen Rogue One.
You know the line.
“Revolutions are built upon hope.”
And there is no larger hope than Christ.
And no greater revolution than Christianity.
Sure, there are those who would tame Christianity.
Make it docile and quite.
A servant of the rich, or a tool for personal enhancement.
But Christ is the revolution.
The turner of tables and the disrupter of the status quo.
He speaks of love when others cry for hate.
He offers forgiveness when the proud call for judgment.
Christ is our hope and Christ is our peace.
Christ is our voice.
Christ is our revolution.
The way forward; the way to life.
Happy are those who make the LORD their trust.
Who do not turn to the proud.
Those who go after false gods.
And there’s plenty of that these days, dear friends.
False gods galore.
Noise and pride.
Mocking the disabled and damning the poor.
Folks so hungry for power they’ll do and say anything.
Nothing new with any of this.
So let’s not be surprised.
Let’s not be naive.
Let’s keep our eyes upon Christ, instead.
Stay the course and love one another.
Never give up.
Or turn away.
We shall remain engaged and determined.
To bear the cross of hope.
To carry the message of peace.
To challenge the powers that be.
And tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
So, help me God.
And that’s the anchor, isn’t it?
God helps us.
God sustains and God guides.
God with us: Immanuel.
The Christ of everlasting glory.
The Christ who refused the easy way out.
And choose the hard way in.
To serve the LORD God Almighty
And to love the world to the end.
Immanuel: God with us.
Let it be so.
In word and deed.
Song and service.
Let the tower of this church point toward heaven.
To lift the human spirit.
To remind the discouraged and the downtrodden.
That life is worth the living, and the living is worth everything.
To remind the oppressor and the cruel.
That God moves in a mysterious way wonders to perform.
Justice will have the last word.
Goodness will triumph over evil.
Immanuel: God with us.
That’s our message.
And we are the messengers.
To the glory of God.
The transformation of our world.
The healing of the nations.
And the salvation of all nature.
Amen and Amen!
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