Advent II

Sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent 2019

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness. The wilderness is the place for strange people and strange happenings. We would prefer to enjoy a garden or the even work in a field or paddock but the wilderness is scary.

Great activities of God occur in the wilderness, or at least people recognise great acts of God in the wilderness. In the garden, like the Garden of Eden people can feel comfortable amidst the beauty of God’s creation. We can if we desire participate with God in God’s creation. But in the wilderness we are humbled by our inability to manipulate the environment.

In the field or the paddock people grow crops, vineyards and graze animals. When humans first became settled enough to do this it heralded the creation of more permanent living. In the wilderness there are insufficient resources to support large populations, otherwise you could bet people would be there making the most of what was available.

The wilderness is a place of neither play nor economics. There are people who love the wilderness experience but generally the wilderness is at least unsettling if not frightening. It is usually a place of confrontation.

I remember driving in western NSW some years ago, out around Broken Hill and Wilcannia. I pondered the view in front of me as I drove. There was the road straight ahead all the way to the horizon. Then I caught a glimpse of the view in the rear vision mirror. It was exactly the same view - a straight road all the way to the horizon behind me. In that situation you can ponder the enormity of creation, the seeming insignificance of a single human being and the awesome power of the creator. It is hard to do in Melbourne traffic.

I came across something else on that journey in the wilderness that has stayed with me to this day. Coming up to the end of a passing lane I went past a very common road sigh. FORM 1 LANE. I’m sure we’ve all seen something like this. As I drove past I had the feeling that here was something different about that sign. Someone had added a couple of letters. Graffiti artists were at work even out here in the wilderness. Then it struck me the writer had changed the sign to read – FORM 1 pLANEt. Just the simple addition of two hand painted letters had transformed the meaning of this common sign. It is a pity I have always thought that we could not take this sign as literally as we take the original. Although some people have strange ideas about what it means to form one lane too! Just as the wilderness allowed the writer time and space to adjust the sign, so I was allowed the time and space to take in its meaning.

If it is not possible for us to go into the real wilderness this Advent, then perhaps as we sit together and hear the Advent readings and reflect on them together in the sermon we can create a spiritual wilderness. A space where our images and understanding of God are confronted, challenged, explored and expanded. From our wilderness this morning we have heard the words of John the Baptist calling us to “repent for the Kingdom of God has come near.” To repent is not just to stop doing the wrong things and start doing the right things. The moral aspect of Christianity and of repentance must come from our relationship with God through Christ. Creating a wilderness is an important part of the relationship between God and God’s people. It is a place of listening, preparation as well as repentance.

Unless we venture into the wilderness, a spiritual wilderness if not a physical one, it is more likely we will be dazzled by the glare of popular culture and overwhelmed by myriad voices seeking out attention. An example of this sensory overload was emphasised to me when I was made aware of the extent to which many of our Christian brothers and sisters were facing persecution in too many parts of the world. One of the things I have heard as I have been trying to listen is the reality of the depth and breadth of suffering many of our brothers in sisters in Christ. What has come to light is not just the extent of the persecution but the lack of concern from modern western countries. In July a review of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s response to the persecution of Christians led by the Bishop of Truro said in part:

There is a sense that for a number of reasons we have been blind to this issue - and those reasons would certainly include post-colonial guilt: a sense that we have interfered uninvited in certain contexts in the past so we should not do so again. But this is not about special pleading for Christians: rather it’s about ensuring that Christians in the global south have a fair deal, and a fair share of the UK’s attention and concern. So in that sense it is an equality issue. If one minority is on the receiving end of 80% of religiously motivated discrimination2 it is simply not just that they should receive so little attention. [page 6]

I can do no more at this point than to encourage us all to read the report and its supporting documents and include those persecuted for their faith in our prayers – and if the extent of the persecution is news to you as it was to me perhaps we can make some wilderness space to ask why we have heard so little about what is going on.

If we are willing to enter the wilderness our ideas about God will be challenged and they need to be because our understanding about God will always be far too small. Left to our own devises we will build a God in our own image and we will make that God serve our own ends.

What God would we find if we were game to go into the spiritual wilderness? I imagine that we would be surprised beyond belief. It would be a shock of the magnitude of those shepherds in the countryside who were present around the time of the birth of Jesus. The God who created the universe entrusts God’s self into human form. God comes not as a superhero but as an infant. I can understand why this seems absurd to some people. God as some would define God should be way off dispensing commands and punishments from on high.

This particular infant does not enjoy the security of a palace but is born into an obscure refuge family. His birth does not even occur in the family home but takes place far from it in the dank surroundings of a stable. This is surprising to say the least but it is this infant millions will come to see as God among us.

In this infant is revealed the God who seeks what is best for us. This is not the God of the new bike under the Christmas tree, or the God of the parking space as an answer to prayer. This is the God who calls humanity into existence even though we will rebel and want to go our own way. This is the God who calls a people onto freedom even though they must suffer years in the wilderness to achieve it. This is the God who in the form of Jesus calls down from the cross for forgiveness of those who execute him. This is the God who sends us out with a purpose and a message to work towards the renewal of creation. This is the God who will in the end make us complete.

The wilderness is a place where God meets God’s people. Moses and the Israelites, John the Baptist and Jesus witness to this. If we are to see the presence of God in Christmas this year then we need to make some wilderness time in our lives.