Praying for Joy

Advent 3; Yr. A, December 15, 2013

Isaiah 35:1-10; 
Psalm 146; 
James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

Advent is a time of waiting.  Literally it means "coming".  Ironically, what we are waiting for, has already arrived.  What we’re waiting for is Emanuel, God with us. God is here in all the messiness and frustration of our lives.  God lives within us and around us.  That’s what joy is about in this Advent time.  It’s about that miraculous paradox, that what we long for is already among us.  That is our joy and it comes to us in the most unexpected ways, even in the midst of struggle and suffering and pain.  South Africa showed us that in a very vivid way this week as they celebrated the life of Nelson Mandella.  They laughed and danced and cheered with joy as they grieved the loss of a man who defied hatred and acted with forgiveness.  They showed us that joy and grief can exist together.

As I was driving to Two Saints yesterday for the quiet morning, I was listening to NPR. They interviewed a mother of a six-year old child who was killed in the Sandy Hook shootings a year ago.  This is her story.

Peace in the End

Advent 2; Yr. A, December 8, 2013

Isaiah 11:1-10; 
Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; 
Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

            Hannah just finished reading a book in school called The Giver.  She was talking about it one day and it sounded familiar to me, so I read it.  It’s a story about a society that strives for what they call “sameness”.  Children get gifts every year that are the same.  Six year old girls get ribbons for their hair.  Eight or nine year olds get a bike.  Twelve year olds get a vocation, their jobs for life.  Now those who decide on the jobs watch and discern carefully the skills each child has before assigning them a job.  So the hope is that they get a job that suits their skills and their liking.  The main character is assigned to a job that only one other person has.  He becomes the Receiver and he will learn his job from the Giver, the man he will eventually replace.

            In that world the weather is the same every day.