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The Rev. Canon Robert Schiesler
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Third Sunday of Advent, Year B
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv3_RCL.html
Audio: /documents/Eucharist__December_17__2023
Video: https://youtu.be/4rRkORXjvQU
ADVENT 3B, NATIVITY, DEC 17, 2023
Let me ask you about your "guilty pleasure". You know you have one...we all have certain cravings and desires that we keep in check...little joys and satisfactions that momentarily make us content and happy. Yet, we also know that some "guilty pleasures" can turn into addiction or abuse or an unhealthy, dysfunctional behavior. A simple example of this might be the spate of programs in recent times regarding hoarding. For some, just watching this show is a guilty pleasure. Here are people who have surrounded themselves, overwhelmed their lives, squelched their emotions with piles of "stuff", most of it delapatated, broken, unusable junk. We watch this imprisoned person with fascination, concern and sadness. We observe as if "emotional voyerors", knowing that that could be us, with heavy burdens, emotional scars, spiritual wandering if not hopelessness...not just as visible or obvious as that TV hoarder.
In today's Gospel in the midst of this Advent season, we are asked to reflect on our own identity as John the Baptizer is asked, "Who are you?" This question is our own because it is constantly being asked of us in so many subtle ways and by so many people as others interact with us and perceive who we MIGHT be. John is asked this question in the context of Messianic expectations of the religious establishment who expects a messiah who fits into their preconceived notions of the extraordinary. And John responds...NO, NOT ME, NO CHANCE, WRONG. He is not the messiah; nor is he a reincarnated prophet the likes of Moses or Elijah. John says clearly, distinctly, without hesitation...l am none of those lofty and mighty folks; I am not the bearer of salvation; I am not a judge nor am I even one to be exulted and honored. I AM the voice that cries out: MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD. John is a witness to testify to the light that all might believe through him. In the Johannine Scripture, this word, witness, will be found over 30 times as others witness the love, the passion, the focus, the healing, the strength, the touch of the Divine Savior. John clearly understands his role with an answer that is unique, startling and definitive. His role is to unclutter himself of the roles, the definitions and expectations thrust upon him to better answer "Who am l?" I am the voice, the witness to the Holy One whom so many do not recognize. John's self authority comes not from outside of himself but from within. He denies exulted titles given him in favor of pointing away from himself ands towards Jesus.
There is an Hassidic tale about the Abbot of a monastery who is at his wits end with the monks. His brothers in faith seem to have abandoned any sense of comfort for each other; they constantly bicker about petty things and who is in charge and who is more important due to perceived intelligence, spiritual piety or just longevity. One day as he walks in the woods, he meets the town Rabbi. The Abbot desperately asks for direction, "What can I do, my friend?" And the Rabbi wisely says, "One of you in the monastery is the Messiah." He then turns and continues on his journey. The Abbot returns and informs his brothers of the Rabbi's wisdom: "One of you is the Messiah." And all asked whom? The oldest, the smartest, the most articulate, the most spiritual? Who? And slowly, the monks threw away their preconceptions and self delusions they had been hoarding and began to listen for the Messiah's voice in each one. Each became to the other, witnessing the Holy One who was indeed already among them but unrecognized. Pointing to the Holy One is an honored and needed gesture in this present world where too many are satisfied with petty bickering, division, hollow victories, and commercial happiness that quickly becomes just meaningless junk, emotional and otherwise. When we are ready to point away from ourselves and to the Savior, we are exercising faith and finding joy. As the prophet Isaiah eloquently reminds us: "the Spirit of God is upon us to speak good news, to attend to the broken hearted, to clamor for universal freedom and justice, to walk with those imprisoned in mind and spirit, to proclaim joy in the Lord." When we believe in more than our cravings, needs, guilty pleasures, hoardings...when we truly believe, nothing can dismay us nor hold us back from sharing that joy that comes from such resolve.
I had the honor of knowing a profoundly spiritual, gentle and kind colleague by the name of Bill Hamm. His ordained ministry was not known for any astounding work; in fact he had spent much time in rural Wyoming.
Yet, a remarkable person and priest. In his final illness, when I would visit at his home, he always asked, "Bob, tell me how you are doing?"...."Bill, I think that's my line." One day in my visit, as we were speaking about our priestly ministry, with some beautiful reminiscing, Bill suddenly lifted up my hand that rested on his and kissed it. My words stopped; my heart kept; my whole body rested with that intimate act of care and compassion, in the nearness of his death. Here was a Baptizei; leading me through the water of sad tears into a moment of faith filled joy.
At Bill's funeral, as his son, Richard, concluded his eloquently theological and joyful remarks about his Dad always pointing beyond himself to his Savior and Lord, he invited us, bishop, clergy and the whole assembly, to stand and raise our arms and clap and holler....pointing the way for Bill into the glorious Kingdom of God. And by God, we did just that and as that joyful cacophony of sound subsided, I simply faced the congregation and said, "Nothing more can be said other than thanks be to God."
"Can I get a witness?", asks many African American preachers...and Bill along with countless others in our own lives would be the first to shout out, "I'll be a witness", a witness to the Light, a living testimony to faith and truth in the living God, unhampered by selfish hoarding, unaffected by others perceptions, confident in belief, loving in action.
As this Advent season moves us closer to the glorious feast of Jesus' nativity, Jesus' redeeming entry into our broken, full of junk, lives, may we embrace the role of witness and be unafraid, my sisters and brothers, to welcome EMMANUEL - GOD WITH US - in the Nativity celebration, in every celebration, in every joy of our intertwined lives.
