Get On With It!

Written by Pastor Ed

To listen to the scripture and sermon, please click on the link below.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/46934662/Nov%2027%202011%20ser.mp3

Get On With It!

Advent 1 – Nov. 27, 2011

Psalm 80: 1-7, 17-19

Isaiah 64: 1-9

Mark 13: 24-37

How often have you sat in a meeting or listened to someone talking and wanted to say to them, “Just get on with it!”? Or perhaps that’s never happened to you.  And have you ever wanted to say that to God?

Well, essentially that’s what the Israelites were saying to God in the passage we read this morning from Isaiah 64, part of a longer section comprising chapters 63 and 64.  Some background.

The book of Isaiah as we now have it, is generally considered to be made up of three different writings, generally referred to as First, Second, and Third Isaiah’s – imagine that.  And they come from three different times in the life of the people of Israel.  First Isaiah, comprising chapters 1 -39 are from the time before Israel was defeated and taken into exile.  Chapters 40 through 55, beginning with that well known passage, “Comfort, comfort my people” is generally regarded as coming from the time of the exile in Babylon, while Third Isaiah, from chapters 56 to the end are associated with the post-exilic Jerusalem after King Cyrus of Persia has defeated Babylon and allowed the Jewish exiles to return to their homeland.

So the context for our passage this morning is that of the returned exiles, coming home with rejoicing and singing.  What they had prayed for and longed for so long had now happened.  They were home and things could return to the way they used to be.  Except, things were not the way they used to be!  The people who had not been carried away into exile had moved on with their lives.  They probably had new songs to sing, new traditions had developed and new leaders were in place.  They had come to terms with their new reality.

In contrast, those returning had kept hold of their old ways, were still singing the same songs they had sung when they left, and had visions of what the restored Jerusalem would look like and how things would be done.  Perhaps we can find parallels in the stories of the Umseidler coming out of Russia to Germany and being appalled at the Mennonites there, or the ways people in isolation cling to the past while others move on.

In any case, what the exiles found when they returned home was not what they expected.  Power struggles erupted as well as land disputes and threats.  And the people were confused.  Had not God promised a restored Israel?  Had not God promised that they would be God’s people and he would be their God?  Where was God in all this anyway?  If only God would come and show these stubborn people that God was still in control and wanted things the way they used to be!

“Oh that you would tear the heavens open and come down!  Show these people opposing us that we are right!  You have done mighty things in the past, do it again – get on with it!”  It’s the cry echoed in the Psalm we opened the service with, “Restore us, o God, make your face shine upon us that we may be healed.”  Except the people speaking in Isaiah, at least initially were more focused on God changing the other people’s minds rather than their own.

And isn’t that our general tendency?  When things don’t go the way we think they should, we look for someone or something to blame.  It’s generally “them” that’s the problem, and obviously if they are the problem, they are the ones who need to change.  And if only God would do something spectacular to show them they’re wrong, and I’m right, then we could get on with things, my way.  God has certainly done it in the past, why not do it again?  Even if God acts in ways we don’t expect, certainly people will catch on.

But as the people of Israel, through the prophet reflect a bit more, they come to recognize that perhaps, just maybe, they may be partly to blame as well.  And while at first they try to blame God, “you were angry and we sinned,” eventually they have a change of heart.  “We are the clay and you are our potter.” v. 8.  Perhaps we are the ones who need to be reshaped and remolded into the vessel you want us to be.

Last week at the Church Planting Congress in Winnipeg, David Fitch and Gary Nelson both spoke of the changes that have happened in Canadian society and church over the past 50 years.  In 1955 Canada had one of the highest percentages of church goers in the world, I think the figure was something like 85%.  Today, in Canada, we live in a very different world and society.  Gary Nelson, currently president of Tyndale College and Seminary in Toronto talked about the fact that not only has that figure of church-goers dropped to somewhere in the teens or 20s, but we now live in a society in Canada where people no longer have memories of church or of the Christian story.  That is, we can’t assume that people will understand the language that we use or the references we may make to stories in the Bible or Christian theology.

Unfortunately, the church tends to be like the Jewish exiles – stuck in the reality of the past, like we have been in exile all these years and the world has passed us by.  And we want to cry out to God, “Tear the heavens open and come down!  Show people that we are right, and that you are still the God who does unexpected things.  If God would just get on with it, then things would turn around and our churches would be full again, like they were in 1955!”

But that’s not what Jesus told us to do.  Mark was also writing to a people who were looking for God to intervene on their behalf.  Things were not going their way, and Jesus’ disciples may have seen things turning sour on them as well as they headed for Jerusalem with Jesus.   And Jesus tells them the parable of the man who goes away and leaves his servants in charge.  “Keep awake,” Jesus says, “because you don’t know when the master will return.”

But this is not just, don’t go to sleep.  It’s more like, be discerning.  Know what’s going on.  Don’t act like things are going to always be the same, because they aren’t.  And furthermore, don’t be fooled by things that you think may be important, or false gods that seem to promise salvation.  For God tends to act, as God has always acted, in unexpected ways.

It’s easy for us to feel like the world around us, and the church in particular are in crisis.  Everything seems to be falling apart, and we look for someone or something to blame.  Politicians hold out promises that they can make things better.  Wealth and the accumulation of things are advertised as the way to make us feel better – maybe the next Iphone or a better car will change things for us.  And even in the church there are those who promise that if you just do it their way, or follow their kind of worship or buy their 5 step program you can turn things around.  If God would just tear the heavens open and come down and get on with it!

But the reality, which I heard many times from speakers last week, and we read clearly in the texts for today, is that the most important thing we can do is to recognize God’s sovereignty and God’s action in the world.  We are the clay, to yield ourselves up to the master potter to be molded into what God wants for us.  God is already at work in the world, and if we only sit and blame others or hang onto the past as though nothing has changed since 1955, then God’s Kingdom and God’s activity will go on in the world without us, in spite of us.  God’s Kingdom does not depend on this congregation surviving for the next 50 years, but I can assure you God would be pleased if this congregation was awake and watching for God’s unexpected activity among and around us.

Advent is a season of preparation, not so much for Christmas; after all the world around us is busy doing that!  Rather is it a time of preparation for God’s activity in the world, which means we need to be discerning and aware, watchful for when the master may return.  That means opening ourselves to the reality that we may be to blame for our own situation.  We may have turned hard and unpliable, no longer able to be molded by the potter, and thus only good to be thrown aside.

William Willimon says, “The hope for us, says the church in Advent, is that we are out of hope, and we know it. We know, in our better moments, where our quest for self-affirmation has left us.”  And in that state we can then turn to God and become instruments in God’s hands, joining in those unexpected events where God shows up and makes the incarnation real.

Is that scary? Of course it is!  Can it be risky?  Most definitely!  But remember, God sent his son as an infant into a troubled world.  God’s not about safe and comfortable.  If you want that, then listen to all the advertising and politicians, and even some of the TV preachers.  But those things promise more than they can deliver.  Only the God who comes with awesome deeds that we do not expect, and has done those deeds throughout history, promises us true salvation and a life of fullness.

So keep your eyes open, be alert, and get on with it!