Rev. Paul Tellström                                               Irvine United Congregational Church

Advent 3C  “Advent People Traveling to Bethlehem”                   December 17, 2006

Epistle Reading: Philippians 4:4-13                                                   Gospel: Luke 3:7-18

            On Christmas Eve, the youngest people in our church will gather in costume to create a living tableau of the scene of the birth story.  They will attempt to depict a tale about people who have come from many walks of life bringing gifts and questions.  The characters move toward a promise, a vision, a healing presence, a source of wisdom, peace; the answer, always an answer.  We recognize the road they are on—we travel it ourselves.  They are guided by a star, a presence of angels, even an innkeeper pointing the way that is more difficult, less hospitable. 

            The journey to Bethlehem was as full of questions as our young people will have in their own voyage from searching for their characters amongst the costumes in Plumer Hall to walking to Bethlehem via the stairs of our chancel.  There will be nerves and wonder, dread mixed with the adrenaline of joy, and miscues.  But questions persist.  There will be questions about ability and character (Will I be able to pull this off?) as well as questions about the story itself—what does this birth mean?   

            Telling the story, year after year—the wonder, the questions, the need for an answer—what does all of this mean to me?  How does this apply to my life, when will it all be uncovered, why am I drawn to a belief in something greater, through this particular expression of faith, despite the doubt that sits there like a dead weight in the presence of something that stirs me? 

            Once again, the star hangs over that promised place where your innocence, your trust, your desire for connection with that essence that represents all that is good and all that is pure waits impatiently within you to be born again, and again, and once more this year again.  It kicks, it turns inside, and you want to see it, know it, and feel it as something real and tangible — faith-giving life, life-giving faith. 

            Maybe this year the questions, the many questions won’t crowd out this particular manger scene of renewed faith.  Perhaps this year, the knowledge that you can do all things through the strength of faith will ring out as true and just.  Maybe this year like one of our little girls wearing gossamer wings made from foil and pipe-cleaners, you can walk that faith down the aisle knowing full well how child-like and unsophisticated it is, but also aware that it is what leads us to Bethlehem again. 

Questions.

            John the Baptist appears on Jordon’s shore.  He has come to baptize, to warn, to foretell the coming of Christ.  His answer is about “bearing good fruit” worthy of repentance. 

If you were to stop, turn around and examine your life, he seems to be saying, would it bear the “good fruit” of a life lived well?

            Questions.  The passage from Luke depicts people from all walks of life asking questions.  Their questions might be a lot like ours today.  First, the crowds— “What then should we do?”  They ask, and he has an answer. “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.”  Clearly it is an answer we need to hear again and again as so many go without in every time and in every place.

            Then, the tax collectors ask, “Teacher, what should we do?”  He answers by telling them not to collect taxes in a way that lines their pockets.

            Next Soldiers also question him, “And we, what should we do?”  John has an answer.  He says, “Don’t extort money by threats or false accusations, and be satisfied with your wages.”

            And still the questions come.  What about the Messiah?  Is it John, standing here in this river baptizing us?  Who is the Messiah—what do we expect, what should we believe about this story?  Is the answer right under our noses and we can’t or won’t see it, or is it really just best to keep a rational attitude about this Messiah-thing at all times?  Questions.

            There were questions in the early church, too.  How to behave, how to treat one another despite all the ways we are different from one another.

            Once upon a time, there were a couple of strong church women who got into a big old church fight in Philippi.  It was so bad, Paul heard about it in jail, and his response, in part, makes up our Epistle reading today.  He writes to answer their questions, and he writes to ask them to look for peace—peace between them and peace within each of them through their faith.

            In all of the wealth that lies around us, would that we knew the means to use our resources in the ways that our faith tells us is right, honorable and just.  The Epistle reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians was written to those who were faithful. 

            Church writer Harold C. Warlick writes:

            “Philippi was a wealthy city.  In many ways it was Rome in microcosm.  As part of a Roman province rebuilt by Augustus and populated with Roman soldiers, Philippi was given the legal character of a Roman territory in Italy, the very highest honor ever bestowed on a provincial city.  In many ways the Philippians were like Americans — their culture was too wealthy to think about the need for a deep faith.

            “Unlike in the rest of the world, women in Philippi held high civic offices and served as priestesses in society at large. Money and social status enabled women to play prominent roles in early Christian congregations in Macedonian provinces.  The Philippian church was, obviously, as socially diverse as any in early Christianity since in Greek and Roman oratory it was common not to mention women by name unless they were financially notable.”¹

            And by the way, women, the stuff about head-coverings, keeping quiet in church and being subservient to husbands is the later influence of men who recognized the emerging power of the church and so built a church that would be run by men as a political and social force, as well as a spiritual one.  The Pastoral Epistles, where these ideas come from (1 & 2 Timothy and Titus) are stamped with Paul’s authorship, but they are not his.  Women have been socially, economically and spiritually done wrong.  The church, whether Protestant or Catholic, does not belong to men because of any superiority we can claim over a little matter of biology.  In fact, it could be argued that it should be taken away from us for our gross negligence.  Questions.  How do we continue to give up our privilege, and how will you take your due and role with grace?

            Many of us still do not understand peace through faith as a mystery, a gift that cannot be understood by human mental capacity.  To read Paul’s letter one would think that Paul was in a happy place.  Yet here was Paul chained like a criminal, waiting hour by hour for the door to open and for his persecutors to take him and execute him.  How Paul could write, “Rejoice,” is as much a mystery as the peace in faith he so pointedly tried to articulate.

            In Jan Karon’s, “Shepherds Abiding,” I was surprised to find that the book is almost a sermon on today’s Epistle reading.  All of the characters move through the Advent season trying to process all that is going on in their lives.  A woman with little resources questions taking charge of her life by running her own bookstore.  An older man comes to terms with issues of aging and his love for his wife, who grows deafer with each day.  Again and again, the fourth chapter of Philippians comes up, as each person comes to grips with challenges and questions.

            The reminder of Advent is that God is near.

            And Advent people living lives that involve all of the questions about career, age, purpose, relationships and money, bring to the surface of their consciousness the knowledge that God is near.  Where will I get the strength?  What is the right thing to do?  Where will I find peace, rest, happiness, the means to go on?

            Questions came up for the two women at Philippi, Euodia and Syntyche, in a way that caused a conflict that made Paul write from his prison cell.

            “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanks-giving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds…  Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” 

            And then, verse 13:  “I can do all things through God, who strengthens me.”

            In “Shepherds Abiding,” the retired Anglican priest is visiting a Jewish friend in a retirement home, and the man asks him to stop by again for a discussion about Marcus Aurelius. 

            No-one ever asks me to do that.  When I last visited a retirement home at Christmas, a resident asked me to fix a ceiling fan, and because I am tall, I was instructed to put the ornaments on the top of the Christmas tree in the dining room.  Marcus Aurelius never once came up.  But then, I can’t quote him to save my life, but this priest can, and what he says goes at the core of the words we hear from Paul today:

            “Here’s a quote from the emperor himself,” said Father Tim, “and a fine one it is: The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.  The second is to look things in the face and know what they are.”² 

            Paul writes across the centuries to ask us to look for peace—peace between ourselves, and peace within each of us through our faith. 

            The Christmas Pageant tells a story about people who have come from many walks of life bringing gifts and questions.  They are us—moving towards a promise, a vision, a healing presence, a source of wisdom, hope, peace, joy and love; the answer, always an answer.  We are Advent people traveling to Bethlehem.  Our wings may be made of foil and pipe cleaners, or our shepherd robes made of burlap, but still, we are guided once again by a star, a presence of angels all around us, and even those who point the way that is more difficult and less hospitable.  Keep an untroubled spirit, and look things in the face and know what they are.  They are the metaphors and symbols, sometimes large and impressive, or so homely and home-made that only a child would entertain them as real; they point us to the message of Advent that says “God is near.”

            And once again, the star hangs over that promised place where your innocence, your trust, your desire for connection with that essence that represents all that is good and all that is pure waits impatiently within you to be born again.  “God with us,” Emmanuel.  Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, says St. Paul, and the God of peace will be with you. Amen.

Sermon Resources:

1.  Harold C. Warlick, “Truce or Peace?”  Christian Globe

2.  Jan Karon, “Shepherds Abiding”, Penguin Group, New York, 2003  page 168

Scripture for Sunday, December 13, 2003                              Advent 3C

Philippians 4:4-13

            Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.  Let your gentleness be known to everyone.  The Lord is near.  Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

            Rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it.  Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have.  I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty.  In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Luke 3:7-18

            John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruits worthy of repentance.  Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.  Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

            And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?”  In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” 

            Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?”  He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.”

            Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?”  He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

            As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,  John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.