1^{st
Congregational Church
of Redwood City, UC=
C}

Carol Barri= ger

Isaiah 40:1= -11; Mark 1:1-8

Sunday, December 4, 2005

2^{nd in
Advent, communion}

“Back to the Beginning”= ;

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God (Isa 40:1) The beginning of the good news (Mk 1:1)

&nbs= p; Remember the movie “Back to the Future?”[1] Young Marty McFly, thanks to a time machine developed by a slightly demented scientist, ends up 30 years in the past. He eventually figures out how to return back to the future from which= he came, but before he does, he must insure that his teenage parents-to-be meet one another – a meeting which he almost scuttled accidentally – otherwise he will not exist. Everything influences everything else. It’s a story of time runn= ing backwards. Where is the beginning?

&nbs= p; Remember the movie “Groundhog Day?”[2] Newsman Phil Connors is sent to co= ver the annual appearance of groundhog Punxsatawney Phil and the prediction of = the end of winter – definitely a low-end news story. He finds himself caught in a time-= warp where he repeatedly relives the same day, until he discovers that undergoin= g a personal change of attitude is the only thing that will stop the cycle of h= is life. It’s a story of <= u>time running in circles; over and over.&nbs= p; Where is the beginning?

&nbs= p; Remember “Roots?”[3] The TV drama series told the family history of author Alex Haley, going back to his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte. He was born in 1= 750, in Gambia, West Africa. His grandmother Yaisa, laughs with joy at his birth. During the naming ceremonies, the Alimamo (spiritual leader) prays over baby Kunta, and lifts him up to the s= ky in dedication, reciting his lineage and praying that Allah might bless him = and make him a credit to his family. It is a compelling scene, but this time of beginning quickly becomes a story o= f time unrolling inexorably forward. Kunta Kinte is brought to America on a slave ship in 1767, and while he never lost the memories of Africa, there is no more beginning, there is= only survival in the present moment.[4]

&nbs= p; Time is eternally fascinating because its flow is something we cannot control. If you were asked to tell your life story, chances are good you would begin with your birth, when and wh= ere, or what you have been told of it, and move forward in a linear way. Birth seems a logical place to start. But what if the questi= on were asked a little differently … like this: What is the beginning of your life? Your foundation? What defines your life? You still might start with a birth story, but maybe you would wonder … What am I all about, in my soul?<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> What’s the beginning of m= e? What are the moments, the events, = the God-touches, which are my starting point?&= nbsp;

You might not start with yo= ur birth. Mark didn’t star= t with Jesus’ birth. In fact, = he never tells that story at all, the way Matthew and Luke do. He has no manger scene, no genealo= gy, no birth with angels and shepherds. For Mark what is “the beginning” is what we would consid= er a very rough-edged story, compared to our soft visions of Christmas. It is the real Advent, the call to= begin anew, and all the trouble that really means. He uses the wild-eyed John the Bap= tist to let us know that the real gospel of the love of God is demanding. It will require of us a repentance – which in Greek is μετανοια = (metanoia) – change, turning, reformation, transformation(!= )

The gospel we accept as fol= lowers of Jesus is a hard message which requires us to see the world with different eyes. In this time of the yea= r when that gospel is in danger of succumbing to the onslaught of Hallmark cheer, = we need to get caught up in John’s passion for a new world. Pay attention to his two themes &#= 8211; repentance and anticipation. = Pay attention that he is preaching, not in Jerusalem, in the center of the action, but in the desert. Not in the shopping malls, nor at holiday performances of “The Nutcracker,” but in the wilderness= of low-income, sickness, natural disaster, violence and hard times. We can’t get to our personal experience of the sweetness and light of the Christmas manger – the p= eace on earth, good will to all – without meeting this hairy prophet in the desert. This is the real Chri= stmas message. We have to confront = the darkness of the world, the darkness in our lives. in the wilderness. So for Mark, the beginning is not a birth, but the announcement of Jesus’ public ministry. Heads up, people. You will be called to account.

We don’t want to do that. We want to follow the g= ods of Madison Avenue, the lights, parties, trees, good food and store sales. In this sweet bubble bath, the har= sh, crazy John is nowhere to be found. Yet Mark, the first of the gospel writers – perhaps the one telling the “purest” story – puts John first. John’s message doesn’t “sell well” in our hearts which want only comfort and happiness= in this season. It doesn’t generally “sell well” in most churches. It’s easy to forget what Jes= us was born to, his ethical teaching which challenged the social presumptions of h= is day; the danger and sacrifice. But John’s voice is reminding us up front that this is no easy road, and = our lives as Christians will not be lived out in familiar, or comfortable settings. This is the real beginning of being Christian. Look at the last of the 8 points of progressive Christianity: “We recognize that bei= ng followers of Jesus is costly, entails selfless love, conscientious resistan= ce to evil, and renunciation of privilege.” Scripture tells us repeatedly that= the harbingers of God, the prophetic voices, were not welcome in the establishm= ent places of power. The difficul= t way of creating the realm of God on this old earth will not be discovered in our ordinary, familiar lives, but in the places of differentness we hesitate to= go.

&nbs= p; It will be created by engaging in acts of social justice which challenge an el= ite which sustains itself and repeatedly disenfranchises the poor and powerless= , in the name of its own agenda.

&nbs= p; It will be created by living together in a way of worship which feeds those who gave up on the church as a place of spiritual nurture and inspiration, so t= hat we may simply seek more people who are “just like us.”

&nbs= p; It will be created by openly – not tacitly, but loudly – declaring our welcome for all people in the life and ministry of this church.

&nbs= p; It will be created by going back to the beginning of who we are as Jesus-peopl= e.

Amazingly, Mark tells us, p= eople came out there into the desert to hear this crazy man, and his strange stor= y of the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ. (Mk 1:1). They came. Preparing for wilderness travel is= hard work and wilderness existence involves some pretty radical changes. What we are doing in our transform= ation, in becoming a truly progressive Christian voice in this community, is a wal= k in the wilderness to reclaim the real “beginning” of who we are as= people of Jesus, and to tell that to people who think that the religious right is = the voice of Christianity in this country.&nbs= p; They came to the wilderness to hear John. And so must we.

&nbs= p; I think those people were seeking their roots, the source of their faith, just like we are. And what do you = think they took with them into the desert? The staple foods of bread and wine.= A little bread in sack; a little wine in a skin, with which to feed = one another. The meal was not new= at the table of Jesus and his disciples. As we move into our future, the known and the unknown, we never forg= et that staple meal. It is a par= t of our tradition that we honor deeply – this feeding that the church has appropriated as the eucharist; communion; sacred sharing for the journey. Just because we move into new wors= hip forms, into new expressions of social justice, into our process of becoming Open & Affirming – we are still a deeply sacramental people, shar= ing communion and baptism. The co= mfort of God. We share the bread an= d the cup, pledging to sustain one another in the wilderness. We recall our baptisms in order to= turn to a new way, to become right with God.&nb= sp; Justified by working for justice.&n= bsp;

The next thing that will ha= ppen in the Mark story is the baptism of Jesus.&nb= sp; Not his birth, but his baptism in the wilderness, where he is marked forever. To return to the beg= inning of what is means to be Christian, to live for the good news of God’s promise of peace and justice for all creation … means we must leave behind mainstream acceptability and set our sights on what feels like wilderness… the wilderness of our broken world, the wilderness of people’s broken dreams, the wilderness in our own souls that can only= be filled by God’s grace. = After all, Jesus did not come to the bustling power center of Jerusalem – at least not at first= . He came to a broken-down, out-of-t= he way place, in a crummy neighborhood, on a very dark night. If we are going to find God in thi= s Advent season we are going to have to look in those places, get way from our old l= ives and discover a new beginning. Our friend John is out here in this wilderness, preparing for Jesus’ birth and inviting us to follow him, and to feed not only one another, but the hu= ngry and hurting among us along the way.

&nbs= p; Let us feel – and be – the comfort of God. This is the real beginning. Amen.

Isaiah 40:1-11

1 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.

2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she= has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

3 A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare t= he way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain = and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough place= s a plain.

5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

6 A voice says, "Cry out!" And I said, "= ;What shall I cry?" All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower= of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath= of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of= our God will stand forever.

9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidi= ngs, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God= !"

10 See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rul= es for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gat= her the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mot= her sheep.

Mark 1:1-8

1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the = Son of God.

2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "See, I= am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;

3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prep= are the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"

4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, procla= iming a baptism of repentance for

the forgiveness of sins.

5 And people from t= he whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leath= er belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

7 He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful th= an I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.

8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize = you with the Holy Spirit."