Rev. Dr. Mark Tusken

"There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near." Luke 21:25-31

This past year, we have been reading and studying the Gospel of Mark, and in fact we have read through the entire book of Mark during our services. Tonight, we begin a new Christian year, which begins with Advent, during which we will be making a transition to reading from the Gospel of Luke. Our focus shifts to the coming of our Judge. This is a topic that we don't often think about or look forward to! One of the other readings for today is Psalm 50, which reminds us that we need to worship in the context of the coming judgment. We live in a culture today that says, if certain people don't see things my way, then I can always find other people who will agree with me. But we must remember that in all of scripture we are reminded that there will some day come a time when our time will be over, and there will be no more second chances. In our reading for today, the disciples are asking Jesus, "What will this end of time look like?" Jesus says that there will be signs in the sun, moon and on the earth. One last sign that Jesus lists is the symbol of the tree: when leaves begin to appear, we know that summer is coming. The leaves are an outward sign of an inward reality. As we begin our Advent preparations in our own lives, our focus should not be completely on outward signs, but also on interior change. All of the things we do for Advent, such as lighting the candles in the Advent wreath, setting up the nativity scene, hanging wreaths and decorating trees are temporary, outward signs of the season. But God wants us to be prepared on the inside as well. We can think about our Advent preparations in this way: Let us look at four of the figurines that are found in our nativity scenes, and apply some of the principles that they teach us to our own inward, spiritual lives. One figure that we can think about and pray about during Advent is Mary. Mary challenges us in our faith. The angel Gabriel greets her and says, "Hail, most favored among women." Because of Mary's faith, she became pregnant while not married. Her faith led her to make a weary journey near the end of her pregnancy. Her faith brought her to a delivery room and nursery that was a dirty, cold cave. Her faith led her to place her newborn baby in a feed trough. And her faith ultimately brought her to a place where she saw her son executed as a political criminal at the age of 33. As you put Mary in the crèche this year, think about your own faith. Has it been tested? Does it have that kind of power to lead you places you would never go on your own? Our faith, like Mary's, needs testing, because Advent causes us to ask ourselves the question, will I be ready for my Judge?  Next we come to Joseph. Joseph challenges us in the area of our own righteousness. Think about the difficult situation that Joseph faced. His fiancée became pregnant out of wedlock, a crime that would normally bring a sentence of being stoned to death. But Joseph was not just a man who blindly followed the law; he was a man of obedience and righteousness. Joseph was obedient to the angel who came to him and told him the good tidings of Mary's pregnancy. Many of us may find this principle a difficult one to face in our culture today. We live in a society where being right is all that matters. Being righteous has little or no value in our culture. But Joseph, even though he was right in his interpretation of the law, was also righteous in God's sight. God calls us to the higher standard of being righteous. We can prepare ourselves during Advent for the coming of our Judge by concentrating on being righteous before God, not just right before people.  The next figures in the manger scene we come to are the shepherds. In the Christmas story, the shepherds' role encourages us to approach Christmas with a fresh sense of joy and wonder. For most of us there is a temptation to have a cynical attitude about the Christmas season. We know that more people are concerned about getting that good parking spot at the mall on Sunday morning rather than being at church. More people will spend money on material things this Sunday than they will give to God. The shepherds gently remind us that God does not want us to be at a place where we are hardened by the cynicism of the season. Shepherds were known to be good storytellers. They would sit around their fires out in the fields at night, and spin grand tales for each other as the night wore on. We know that when the shepherds were struck with awe at the appearance of the angels, and when they saw the tiny baby in the manger, they must have been filled with an excitement that rippled through Bethlehem. As you place those shepherds in your nativity scene, pray that this Christmas you will be filled with an awe, a wonder, an excitement, and a joy that is new and fresh. It is simply not possible to be in the presence of Jesus, and not reflect that wonder and joy. If we think of all the times that Jesus visited with and shared meals with his disciples and other people he met, we know that those must have been times of laughter, and joy, and feasting, and exciting conversation and storytelling. Like those shepherds, discover a joy and wonder this season that will keep you from becoming cynical at heart. Advent is not only a preparation for judgment, but also a preparation for experiencing God's joy. Finally, we come to the figures of the wise men in our crèche. They are a challenge for all of us to remember that God calls each of us to serve. The magi reflect our own tradition of gift-giving -- they brought precious and beautiful gifts to Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The magi were well-educated, wealthy, and powerful; and yet they present themselves on their knees before Jesus. Just as they offered themselves to a long and demanding journey to find the Promised One; so we are to offer ourselves to the service of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As you place the magi at the manger scene, think and pray about how you might serve your God faithfully.  Advent reminds us to prepare for God's judgment. It is not a popular thing to talk about, but throughout the Bible we are told of God's judgment.  There will be a time with final implications; and yet we are called to faith, and righteousness, and joy and wonder, and service.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'" Luke 3:1-6

The beginning of this passage very specifically outlines the date, time and situation of when the word of God came to John in the wilderness!  Just as the word of God came in those days to those people, God speaks to each of us today. One of the things he says to us is that he has a work prepared for us. This is reflected in our other reading today from Philippians: "I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion."  Let us stop and think: Why are you here at church today? How has God brought you here? Part of what Advent celebrates is a sense that all of time is moving to culminating point. We are all part of this grand plan. How is it that you are here in this very spot today? Each of us can look back at our life history, and see how God's hand was moving us from place to place, and from experience to experience, to help us grow in our faith and to become more mature in our spiritual lives. There are ways in which God directs our lives that we aren't even aware of. Our reading today is about John, whose father and mother Zechariah and Elizabeth had a series of very specific things happen to them. God directed certain events to happen in their lives which ultimately resulted in the birth of John. What series of events brought you here today, and where is the next place God is going to take you? Advent reminds us that all of us as believers have a future and a hope. We are not here by accident. God has a plan for each of us. Ephesians tells us that we are God's workmanship, created with a purpose and a plan.  Zechariah did not believe the news about his wife having a son, but that didn't stop God's plan. His son John was born, and he was called by God for a special purpose. And similarly, each of us here have been called by God. Every one of us here has been given a heavenly assignment and a mission from God, and we each have a purpose and a reason for being.  John says, "Prepare the way of the Lord."  And that is our ministry and mission. It will look different for each person, but each of us in some way is called to prepare the way of the Lord. Why are you here today? Remember that this Advent season, we must in our own special way prepare for the Lord's coming.

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.  Luke 3:7-18

What kind of effect did John the Baptizer have on the people when he stood on the banks of the Jordan and began preaching? Did people run away as fast as they could? We know from the Gospels and also from historical records that some people were angered by John. They didn't like him one bit, and some people ridiculed him. But others knew deep in their hearts that they were guilty of wrongdoing, and that they were not doing what they should have been doing. For example, in today's Gospel, the tax collectors knew that they were guilty of over-charging the people. Soldiers knew that they were guilty of bullying people. Everyone knew that they were guilty of not sharing their own surplus with people who did not even have the basic necessities of life. In that age, as in our own age, there were plenty of people who were homeless, who were hungry, and who had hungry children. So many of the good people were not sharing.  But so many people refused to admit that they were guilty of anything. They were "o.k." as far as they were concerned. John confronted people where they were most vulnerable. He confronted them in their hearts. John challenged people to look into their hearts and acknowledge their own sinfulness. What does the word "sin" mean anyway? It's really just a term from archery, meaning to fall short of the mark. John was asking people to recognize that they were falling short of the high hopes that God had for his people. He asked them to turn away from their sins, and to turn to God. It is only God who can empower us; it is only God's love that can give us the grace to want to be better, to do better and to want to grow more into the person we are meant to be. John was asking the people to have a change of heart. Sometimes this type of change can come in one dramatic moment, and sometimes it takes us a lot longer.  How does this apply in a practical way to our lives today? Every one of us is guilty of doing wrong things, and is also guilty of not doing the things that we should be doing. If there is any doubt in our minds about this, we could simply look at the first letter of John. John says, "If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves. If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his word is not in us." Paul speaks of this more indirectly in the Epistle reading for today. Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don't worry about anything; in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." If we really have admitted that we are sinners and that we have a lot of shortcomings, and we turn to God for help, we see something that we might not see otherwise. We see that truly we are beautiful people. We see that we are wonderful, loving people. When we see that, we see too that we are vulnerable people. There is a part of our life that we need to take to Jesus and present it to him to get his insights on it. We can do that in a sacramental confession before a priest, which gives the priest an opportunity to reassure you and help you to know more deeply how loved and lovable you are, and how wonderful your life can be in Christ. Another opportunity to take our sinfulness to the Lord is through the General Confession in the Eucharist. The wonderful thing about about the Confession is that the whole purpose of it is to assure you that the Lord himself wants to give himself to you, and wants to live in you, and you in him in his spirit. He wants you to know how loved you are, and to lift you into the very heart of God. This is the whole purpose of the Eucharist, so that you can know that you are in Christ, and you can allow Christ to live in you and through you. Is is essential for our psychological and spiritual health to be able to confess and admit when we are wrong, and we need to open ourselves to the help only God can give. We also may need to present to the Lord those parts of our life where we weren't the sinner, but we were wounded by someone else's sin. We need to present these parts to him, and enable him to be the Physician and heal the wounds and enable us to forgive the person who hurt us. That's our purpose as Christians, to receive the Holy Spirit and be agents of forgiveness and reconciliation in the world. This is what Advent is about: It is a time to admit that we are sinners, confess our sins, and open our hearts to the Spirit of Christ. It's a time for deciding not to go on living in two worlds, but to say to the Lord, "Thank you, God, for choosing me; and now I choose you."

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord." And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name." Luke 1:39-49

Mary was a good Jewish girl, doing what was expected of her, betrothed to a nice Jewish boy, when all of a sudden - out of the blue - an angel appeared to her and said, "You are going to have God's child, while still a virgin, and I'm going to rock your world." Certainly this plunged Mary to the brink of social ostracism. We read in Scripture that Joseph decided to quietly divorce her. And Mary decided, as many of us do when we are presented with something unexpected, to get out of town. This is a human reaction, to fight or flee, and Mary fled. She needed time to assimilate all that had happened to her. When she reached her cousin Elizabeth's house, Elizabeth asks her, "And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?"  This is an important question to consider. What is God trying to tell us through this Gospel story? Why was Mary sent to us? There is a wealth of beliefs, disbeliefs and ideas about Mary amongst believers. Wherever you fall in the spectrum of different beliefs about Mary, it is a mistake to get embroiled in theological controversy about the subject, because it distracts from the Gospel message. One way to come to terms with the subject is to look at our faith statement about the Lord Jesus. We are told that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. He isn't half human and half God, but he is fully human and fully divine. This is a mystery of faith. To help accept this mystery, we might  look at Mary from the perspective of a mother. Mary shows us a very human side of her when she flees in haste to the hill country to a town in Judea. She was capable of being scared. But there's one thing we can't deny - she was the mother of the greatest event in the history of mankind. Mary's utter humanity makes Jesus more approachable for us. Knowing that she was as close to him as she was, from his birth, through his ministry, to the day he was crucified, makes us think that we too can be in the presence of Jesus. Since Mary was in full communion with our Lord, we also know that we can be in community with and in full communion with the divine. Mary helps us to not put Jesus somewhere unreachable; she helps us acknowledge that he understands our humanity.  So what can we take from today's Gospel reading? We can find great encouragement in it. Mary is a role model for us. She is a measuring stick for our own faith capabilities. God asked her to be the bearer of the living God, and she took the challenge and accepted that job. She is an example to us of how God can enter our lives, and rock our worlds. On the eve of the Incarnation, what is God asking of us in this Gospel message? He's asking that we love one another and to strive to have the faith of Mary his mother. He is reminding us that his own Son is fully human, and he is asking us and encouraging us to go out in our full humanity and do the work that Jesus was able to do. We can forgive, we can love, we can be outraged against racism, poverty and injustice in the world. He's asking that we stand and be a testimony to the fact that humanity can be good, and we can do what the divine has asked of us. He's asking that we be in full communion with the divine.  So as we go out and celebrate and open presents tonight or tomorrow, think about Jesus, who is fully human and fully divine. And think too about this young woman we call Mary, his mother, who accepted a job with great faith, which plunged her into a place she didn't think she could go. Ask for the faith she had. For with God as our partner, we can do all things.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.”’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.  John 1:1-18 

Today we are celebrating the wonderful mystery of Christ coming into the world. In the first reading on Christmas Eve from the prophet Isaiah we heard, "The people who walk in great darkness have seen a great light." Those who lived in a land of deep darkness -- on them, light has shined. This was prophesied 800 years before Jesus was born. Jesus was born 2000 years ago. What does this mean for us, that Jesus is the light of the world? What metaphor does this point to? What does it stand for? John puts it very succinctly: In Jesus was life, and the life was the light of all people. So we must look at his life and determine what kind of life is the light of all people. We are in a fortunate position today, that we have the scriptures, and we know the stories that they tell, and we know that Jesus' life was a life of divine love, incarnated in the flesh to be the love of God so that we might know what the love of God is like in human form. We know it was a non-judgmental love. In John chapter 9, Jesus says, "I myself judge no one." In another place, he tells the disciples and all of us, "Judge not, lest you be judged." So since Jesus does not judge anyone, we are not to judge anyone. Many people in the early church took this very seriously, that they not judge each other, but rather that they simply love like Christ loved. When people came to be healed, Jesus did not heal them conditionally. He simply gave them what they needed: healing and forgiveness. We must yield to that love, so that through us Jesus' light can shine to the world. And this really is the heart of the Christmas invitation. The light came into the world 2000 years ago, and still today the light pours into our hearts if we are open to it and allow it to do so. And so we can be that light to the world. If we are honest, we can admit that we all have a tendency to resist this. We might be like Simon Peter who said, "Well how many times do we have to forgive somebody?" And we all know Jesus' response, which was that we must continue forgiving. The only way that we can forgive ourselves and others is to allow the Lord to forgive us. Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The light is God's love in us. Our yielding to that light is to love unconditionally and to forgive over and over again. Along with the light comes hope. What is the purpose of this life? What are we here for? As Jesus came into the world, people began to see what the purpose is. They knew that they were participating in the light. And that is our Christian vocation: all of us are called to share this light, and cause light to shine that transforms the world around us.