Looking Beyond Ourselves

Written by Pastor Ed

To listen to todays sermon, click on the link below:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/46934662/12-11-11.mp3

Looking Beyond Ourselves

Advent 3 – December 11, 2011

Psalm 126

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

John 1: 6-8, 19-28

We have been painting a fairly bleak picture thus far in Advent.  We have seen the disappointment that comes when things aren’t the way we’d like them to be, or remember them to be from the past.  We’ve noted that while we have words of comfort and visions of what the future might hold, we’re not sure we want the disruption and hard work that it will take to get there.  And we’ve felt the pain of the children of Israel as they seemed stuck in exile in a foreign land.

And we must acknowledge that those feelings are not entirely unwarranted.  Things are certainly not what they used to be, either for them, or for us.  Society seems to have sidelined the church and many people around us see Christianity as hopelessly outdated and irrelevant.  And the world is in turmoil.  I’ve just finished reading the book War by Gwynn Dyer, really an old book now and somewhat outdated, but he doesn’t hold out much hope for civilization as we know it, arguing that civilization itself leads to unending war.  That’s a fairly bleak outlook.

And yet, our texts for today begin to sound a different note.  It is a note of hope and even joy for they reiterate the promise that something better is indeed coming.  Psalm 126 – “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream!  Then our mouths were filled with laughter and our tongue with shouts of joy!”  and later on, “those who go out weeping…shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.”  (Psalm 126: 1,2,6)

 And why or how will this happen?  Because “the Lord has done great things for them.” (v.2)  There is a recognition that God is still active in the world and will bring those promises to fulfillment.  And what of those returned exiles who have been so despondent because things weren’t going the way they had hoped or planned? 

Well, the prophet of Isaiah 61, part of the book you will remember from after the return, proclaims that God has sent him to “bring good news to the oppressed, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.”  (Is. 61: 1-2)  In fact the prophet goes on to announce that the city will be rebuilt and fortunes will be restored, as in the year of Jubilee – the “year of the Lord’s favour.”

But note, as we did several weeks ago in Matthew 25, that the prophet is called upon to proclaim this, not necessarily to do it!  While there is the work of rebuilding to do, and certainly something required of the people to participate, it is the Lord’s doing that is being proclaimed.  To return again to the refrain of the Psalm, “The Lord has done great things for them.”

If the restoration, the building, the highway construction is all up to us, then it can be an overwhelming prospect.  If bringing in the Kingdom is only our job, well then we might as well give up and go home right now.  And if we think the job we have is making sure that our church, our denomination, or our way of interpreting the Bible comes out on top, well then we’ve missed the point I believe.  I remember a person in one congregation in a small dying town proclaiming that the vision for their church was to be the last one in the town to close their doors!  Quite a vision to build on!

Let us rather take our cues from this character we read about from the Gospel of John, namely John the Baptist.  The Gospel writer introduces us to John, whom incidentally is never called John the Baptist in the Gospel of John, in the middle of this opening majestic, poetic  summary by that he was a man “sent from God.” 

Now someone sent from God would seem to be fairly important.  One of the commentators I read in preparation for this morning said he would have a hard time talking about being “sent” by God.  We often talk of feeling “called” by God for certain things, but I don’t think I’ve ever said I was “sent” by God here to Calgary.  So we should look for someone special, important, right? 

And yet, right from the beginning it is made clear that this John, sent from God, was not the end product.  John came only as a witness to the light, a forerunner.  And when the Jews sent people to question John and ask him who he was, he would only claim to be a voice, and someone even lower than a servant.

The Jews even tried to suggest some identities for him – perhaps Elijah or one of the other prophets.  But John kept saying “No.”  I am only the one who points to the one who is coming, the light that will shine in the darkness; a witness.  And that one coming IS the light of the world.  That one coming IS the one who will baptize not just with water, but with the Spirit.

John, the baptizer, points consistently and firmly to Jesus.  Just as the prophets and the Psalmist consistently pointed to God as the one who would bring about these mighty works of deliverance, build the highway for the return, and bring them home with rejoicing, so John consistently points beyond himself to someone greater.  In fact, he says, “I am not even worthy to untie his sandals,” a job for servants.

How different from much of what we hear around us these days?  And I’m not talking about politics or some other subject; I’m talking about the religious scene, about the church and all the church organizations we hear from constantly.  Far too often the message the church blares forth is one that calls attention to itself.  We are the “Bible-believing church,” as though others didn’t believe in the Bible.  Or perhaps it’s more subtle than that, but the message still comes across.  Like children, we tend to build ourselves up by tearing others down.

Or perhaps our tendency is to make the institution our primary concern.  How can we raise more money?  What new programs should we be looking at?  Or on the negative side, we tend to ask questions of risk or cost as though those were the primary determining factors.  At a meeting yesterday of Mennonite Church Alberta committees, we spent some time looking at a policy manual – a 57 pages document outlining how we do things.  And how often are our decisions in the church governed by the question, “What does the constitution say?” rather than asking what God might have us do?

Is it any wonder that society around us thinks the church may be irrelevant?  A friend of mine who started a group called “Jesus Radicals” got very frustrated with meetings that descended into bickering over finer points of Robert’s rules.  Advent is not about waiting for the next big Christmas production, to show off our skills or see how many people we can entertain.  It’s not living in expectation of a great new church program that will make our church the one everyone wants to attend.

We wait for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus.  We long with expectation for God’s breaking into our world in new and unexpected ways.  And we serve as witnesses to the one who came, and is coming.  It’s not about us, or our church, or our denomination – it’s about Jesus!  It’s about pointing people to the light that shines in the darkness, and cannot be overcome.  When we proclaim release for the captives, freedom from oppression, sight to the blind – it’s not so they will come and join our church, it’s so that they will see and recognize the one who gives them those things. 

So, you might say, let’s just get rid of all the institutional church and its organization and programs and become Jesus people.  Let me assure you, that is not what I’m advocating.  And besides, that’s been tried many times.  The Emerging Church movement that began a number of years ago was not going to become an institution, they rejected denominations and structures.  Until they got big enough that they started organizing themselves, and then they disbanded that for a while too. 

No, we need structure and order.  I’ve been involved at all levels of the church and actually enjoy some of that institutional life.  The church, as Paul says in Ephesians, is God’s vehicle in the world to carry out God’s mission.  But the church is not an end in itself.  Like John the Baptist, we have been sent into the world as witnesses, to point beyond ourselves to the one who is far greater than the church, the head of the church, namely Jesus Christ.

So the primary question we should be asking when faced with a decision, it seems to me, is not “what does the constitution say?”, or “what are the risks involved?”, but rather “Does this point people to Jesus?”  Do our actions speak of the one who healed the sick, proclaimed release to the captives, and ate with sinners?  Will what we do, both in our life together as well as in what we do outside these walls, make people more or less interested in meeting the one we claim to follow?

We have been sent by God.  Sent into the world to proclaim, “There is someone you should meet who is far greater than we are, whose sandals we are not worthy to untie.”  And then introduce people to that someone by the way we act and think.  We should be pointing to the light, rather than standing in the spotlight ourselves.  When people ask, as they did John, “Who are you?” what is our reply?  Advent calls us to point to the coming one, and say, “I’m with him. Come and walk with me as we follow Jesus.”