It’s All About Baptismal Life – 10 December 2017 – Second Sunday in Advent

Mark 1:1-8

John's proclamation includes his own lifestyle: he embodies possibility by insisting on living in a new way, one that disdains the trappings of power and maintains harmony with creation. John invites people, therefore, to live in a community that calls into question the whole of society. We prepare for Jesus by the way we live together now. . . .

Pheme Perkins asks: "How can modern men and women recapture the eager expectation that God will redeem humanity from the cosmic and human power of suffering, evil, and injustice?" (New Interpreter's Bible 8 Abingdon, 1995] 529-33.) The answer, she says, lies not in human longings for an end time that leads to a sectarian isolation from the larger community but by following Jesus into the real world of human experience.

John cries "in the wilderness," she suggests, because that is where the exiles of Isaiah and the Hebrews of the exodus walked in obedience to God's revelation. In the wilderness God's people are made receptive to God's grace and respond with hope by building a highway for the coming of God who has already drawn near to them and turned them toward the light of God's promise. –– Blair Gilmer Meeks

Isaiah 40:1-11

The people who have suffered from terror and exile will know God's mighty arm and tender care. God's goodness is not given because of the people's worthiness––they have, in fact, been faithless: "surely the people are like grass. The grass withers; the flower fades" (vv 7-8) –– but the people will be rescued because God is faithful. . .  

The image of the triumphal way prepared for God's entry contrasts with the splendid processional street, probably known by the exiles, that was enjoyed by the oppressive kings of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar's ornately decorated road to his throne has been partly reconstructed and, since German reunification, is easily accessible to visitors in Berlin's Pergamon Museum. Modern viewers cannot fail to be impressed with the symbols of power and astounding display of wealth represented by this ancient road.

God's triumphal way, on the other hand, is the way home for God's people and is built with the cooperation of creation. God intends to restore the people and all the earth.

God's coming will display power. . . but will also demonstrate God's tender care: the shepherd (or mother) feeds the flock, cradles the lambs in her bosom and gently leads the sheep (v 11).  –– Blair Gilmer Meeks

2 Peter 3:8-15a

2 Peter raises the question of how our Advent hope––our eschatological expectation––affects our present behavior. This issue, addressed in several epistles, was troubling to preachers and teachers who had observed a thoughtless attitude among some members of the community.

Why bother about everyday matters if the parousia is almost here? Our contemporary tendency to focus on Advent as a time of "spiritual" preparation for individuals may produce a similar predisposition, leading to a neglect of acts of justice and compassion.

There is, in other words, a social dimension to Advent waiting. To prepare for citizenship in God's resurrection household means living holy and just lives now. . . to participate in new life today. –– Blair Gilmer Meeks 

Blair Gilmer Meeks, was at the time of this writing, a pastoral minister, writer of worship-related resources, and leader of workshops on worship living in Brentwood, Tennessee. Among her four books is Standing in the Circle of Grief: Prayers and Liturgies for Death and Dying (Nashville: Abingdon, 2002). 

Homily Service 36, no. 1 (2002): 17-26.

Comfort, O Comfort – 7 December 2014 – Second Sunday of Advent

Advent confronts us with stern and frightening images as well as seemingly impossible hope while we prepare for the birthday that sets all others in its orbit. This time of premature celebrating (Christmas parties in Advent?) brings difficulty for many. One of the writers in Homily Service in 2005 made note of that.

There are those who find this season to be particularly painful or lonely or stressful. It can be a difficult holiday road. As one person said, “Once Thanksgiving ends, I just want to get to New Year's Day and be done with it.”

But the Advent road takes us on a different journey. Not just preparations for Christmas, but a path leading to a life of integrity and purpose.

When the Israelite people are living in exile and filled with disappointment and despair, the prophet Isaiah announces hope to them. He tells them to build a superhighway across the desert. This road will lead them home. . . .

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low . . . Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed…” (Isaiah 40:3–5a).

An engineer who has firsthand experience with road construction explained the process of “balancing the cut and fill.” If you're able to take dirt from a hill and put it in a valley, you don't have to borrow it from somewhere else. These are the best kinds of road projects—when the “cut and fill” is balanced.

John the Baptist is our crew manager, bidding us to do some baptismal road construction, that is, living our faith in the world. The valleys of despair are to be filled in with hope. The mountains of arrogance and the hills of selfishness need to be leveled. The uneven ground of materialism, and the rough places of hatred and injustice need to be smoothed over. Our baptism calls us to do this road work in our jobs, our families, our communities. Through politics, through church, through giving of our resources.

– Craig M. Mueller

Mark 1:1-8

And, as befits this roadwork, the Gospel reading on this Second Sunday of Advent gives us the Baptizer. John’s prophesies about the one for whom the roads are leveled and valleys raised up. 

Mark begins his gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, not with a birth narrative but with the preaching of John the Baptist. By placing John the Baptist within the setting of the prophecy of Isaiah (although the quote is actually a compilation of Isaiah 40:3, Exodus 23:20 and Malachi 3:1) and giving him clothing and food like that of Elijah, Mark places John the Baptist, and thereby the story of Jesus, in the continuation of God's unfolding plan. That plan began at creation, continued through the prophets, found its climax in Jesus and will continue after the resurrection in the lives of the readers until the end of time when the Son of Man will come again.

– Carrie Lewis La Plante

Isaiah 40:1-11

To people without hope, people living under the oppression of terrorists, the prophet urges patience and hope. The end of exile is near.

Having lived under Babylonian rule for nearly sixty years, the people need the promise that deliverance will come. The prophet does not leave them with only the image of coming salvation but gives them an immediate task: “Cry out!” From the highest mountain, the people are to shout to all the cities that, transient as life is, God power is sure and certain to give them their freedom, return them to their home, and establish their lives once again in safety.

I leave you with a question meant to tie these readings and our preparations throughout Advent into a whole that looks for and relishes the assurance of God’s hand at work in our lives. Perhaps this question can prompt your thinking on this day, dear preacher. God be with you.

As we step up into pulpit or ambo, or as we step out into the midst of the assembly to preach, what God do we proclaim? When, with Isaiah, we say “here is your God” to whom or to what do we point? How in liturgy and architecture is this image of God expressed—at the font, table, and cross? In stained glass or icon? In majesty or humbleness of space?

– E. Byron Anderson

Carrie Lewis La Plante is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Indianola, Iowa.

Craig M. Mueller is pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Chicago, Illinois.

E. Byron Anderson is the Ernest and Bernice Styberg Professor of Worship and the Director of the Nellie B. Ebersole Program in Music Ministry at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.

Homily Service 39, no. 1 (2005): 3-14.