With the Holy Spirit and fire:

The promise of the Spirit

Watching for the Morning of December 4, 2016

Year A

The Second Sunday of Advent

As always, the second Sunday in Advent takes us to the Jordan River and the fiery preaching of John the Baptist. He is the wild man, the challenger of the social order, the prophet who walks away from life in the land and calls the nation out into the wilderness. “We must begin again,” he says. “We must start over from the beginning when God first led us from the wilderness through the Jordan into the Promised Land.” “Repent,” he says, “choose again the God of the exodus and Sinai, the God who gives manna in the wilderness and calls us to lives of justice and mercy.” The urgency of that call is shaped by the promise that the long awaited one is near, the one who is greater, whose sandals he is not worthy to touch, who washes us in the Spirit and fire.

Is it the fire of judgment or the fire of passion? Is it the fire that rained down destruction on wicked Sodom and corrupt Gomorrah or is it the fire of God’s presence as at Sinai? Is this thunderbolts or the fire and Spirit of Pentecost? The sound of the ax can be heard. The old order, the fruitless tree, is coming down. Now is the time for allegiance. Now is the time for fidelity. Now is the time for all the world to be aflood with the Spirit.

The fiery preaching of John awaits us on Sunday – but now it is wrapped in blue. It is folded into the season of hope. The coming of the Spirit is not threat but gift, filled with the promise of a world under new management, a world governed by the breath of God, a world we have seen in the mercy of Jesus and the end of death’s dominion.

And so, on Sunday, we will hear the promise of a shoot from the stump of Jesse. The fallen royal line, named from David’s father, shall bloom again. The Spirit will be upon him and, under his reign, “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

We will hear Paul pray that “the God of hope” may fill the Christian community in Rome “with all joy and peace in believing,” so that they may “abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”

And we will recognize in John the Baptizer the one promised in Isaiah: “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord.’”

And we will await the fire.

The Prayer for December 4, 2016

Gracious God, who called forth the first morning of the world
and brings all things to their final end when all night is vanquished,
make us ever mindful of our journey homeward
and wash us in the fire of your Spirit,
that the reign of Christ might dawn among us;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.

The Texts for December 4, 2016

First Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10
“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” – like new growth from the stump of a felled tree, a new king shall arise from the fallen line of David, a king filled with the Spirit of God, who will govern in righteousness and bring all creation to peace.

Psalmody: Luke 1:68-79 (The Benedictus)
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.” – In place of the appointed Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19, we sing the song of Zechariah, sung at the birth of his son, John, whom we know as John the Baptist, praising God and predicting his role as the one who “will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.”

Second Reading: Romans 15:4-13
“Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” – Speaking to that fundamental divide between observant Judeans and those who had become thoroughly enmeshed in the culture of the Greek world, between ‘Jew’ and ‘Gentile’, Paul calls for the believers to live the reconciliation that has occurred in Christ, giving multiple examples from the Scriptures in support of God’s mission to gather all nations.

Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12
“In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’” – John comes as a prophet of old, heralding the dawning of God’s reign and calling all people to ‘repent’, to turn and show allegiance to God.

 

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGalunggung.jpg By R. Hadian, U.S. Geological Survey (image from NOAA website) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Fire and Wind

Watching for the Morning of May 15, 2016

Year C

The Festival of Pentecost

Worship this coming Sunday is filled with powerful words and images: fire, stormy winds, life-giving Spirit, humanity’s rebellion from God and the collapse of the tower-building, empire-building, attempt by humanity to make a name for themselves. And behind the wind and fire stands the voice of God speaking at Sinai and the Israelites pleading for God to speak instead through Moses. And, ahead, the day when Babel is undone and all humanity gathered in perfect communion – a day that is dawned in Christ Jesus.

We begin on Sunday with the narrative from Acts 2 about Pentecost – the festival 50 days after Passover, at the end of the grain harvest, that remembered the revelation at Sinai when God gave the newly freed slaves the commandments that would guide them to be a just and merciful community. We hear how the Spirit fell upon Jesus followers, amidst the roar of wind and sight of flame, empowering them to proclaim God’s praise in every language. And in worship we will hear people reading Acts 2.38 (“Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”) in many languages evoking that great and powerful day in which began the mission of the believers to the world.

Fire and wind – signifying the holy presence of God – and the voice of God sounding forth through Jesus’ followers. And then we will read of Babel and how humanity’s rejection of God’s command lead to confusion. We will hear the psalm sing of God’s Spirit that renews all life. We will hear Paul remind us that we have received God’s Spirit, that we are adopted as God’s sons and daughters, that we may walk in freedom and fidelity. And then we are again in John 14 hearing the promise of the Spirit, a promise fulfilled by the risen Christ.

And though worship will be fun and dramatic, and unique from all others in the year, it will also bid us come and kneel and pray for the Spirit to be stirred up within us – that we may know its healing and its power, that we might be faithful witnesses to the world.

The Prayer for May 15, 2016

O God of every nation,
who by the breath of your Spirit gave life to the world
and anointed Jesus to bring new birth to all:
breathe anew upon us
and upon all who gather in your name,
that in every place and to all people
we may proclaim your wondrous work.

The Texts for May 15, 2016

Pentecost Reading: Acts 2:1-21
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind.” – With the sound of wind and the image of fire, evoking God’s appearance at Sinai and fulfilling the promise of Joel, God pours out the Holy Spirit upon the first believers.

First Reading: Genesis 11:1-9
“Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.” – Humanity’s rebellion against God’s command to fill the earth, in order to build a city and a name for themselves, leads to the multiplicity of languages and the confusion of human speech.

Psalmody: Psalm 104:24-31 (appointed: 24-34, 35b)
“O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures…When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.” – The poet sings of God’s wondrous creation and life-giving and renewing Spirit.

Second Reading: Romans 8:12-17 (Appointed: 14-17)
“All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.” Paul writes that we are heirs of God’s promise, adopted as God’s sons and daughters and sharing in the Spirit.

Gospel: John 14:8-17, 25-27
“The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” – Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to be our guide and defender.

 

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMildorfer%2C_Josef_Ignaz_-_Pentecost_-_1750s.jpg  By Creator:Josef Ignaz Mildorfer (http://www.gnadenquelle.eu/meditation.htm) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Unquenchable fire

The Evening of Ash Wednesday

Psalm 51

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.

I learned something new this year.

We begin our Ash Wednesday service with the burning of the palm fronds that people received last Palm Sunday and brought from home that, with their ashes, we might mark the beginning of Lent.  We burn them in a small fire pit – and though I purchase commercially prepared ashes to use, I also symbolically add some of the palm ashes to the bowl.  The purchased ashes simply work better; they have just the right mix of oil and fine ash to stick to a forehead without making a mess.

As the fire settled, I used the tongs to pick out a small, perfectly sized wisp of ash.  As I brought it towards the bowl, I realized this thin string of burned palm had a small glowing ember on the end.  But rather than return it to the fire and choose another, I assumed it was ready to go out, dropped it in the bowl, and we began the silent procession into the sanctuary, following the cross.

But the ember didn’t go out.

As I held the bowl for the prayers and opening words of the confession, I realized it was still glowing.  By the time we had finished the portion of Psalm 51, the bowl was getting warm.  I had to be careful not to stick my thumb into the glowing coal as I began to put ashes on peoples foreheads.  The bowl continued to get warmer, the glow seemed to grow larger, and I realized that the small ember had ignited a small spreading fire among that perfect mixture of charcoal and olive oil.

If our attendance had been much larger, I might have been in trouble.

The blaze of fire from the palm fronds was meant to speak to us of the fragility and evanescence of life.  The psalmist acknowledges life’s brevity: we are ephemeral like grass.  And the prophet proclaims, “All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.” But the prophet’s declaration leads to the confession that though we are fickle, the promise of God is not: “the word of God will stand forever.”

Like that small ember slowly spreading through the ashes, God’s promised grace endures and spreads and sets alight not just a few hearts here and there but, quietly, patiently, like yeast spreading through the whole loaf or a mustard seed cast into the ground, it works relentlessly to transform the whole world.

May it ever burn within me.