Psalm 2

¹ Why do the nations conspire,
    and the peoples plot in vain?

² The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers take counsel together,
    against the Lord and his anointed, saying,

³ “Let us burst their bonds asunder,
    and cast their cords from us.”

⁴ He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord has them in derision.

⁵ Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,

⁶ “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”

⁷ I will tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to me, “You are my son;
    today I have begotten you.

⁸ Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
    and the ends of the earth your possession.

⁹ You shall break them with a rod of iron,
    and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

¹⁰ Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
    be warned, O rulers of the earth.

¹¹ Serve the Lord with fear,
    with trembling 

¹² kiss his feet,
or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way;
    for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Happy are all who take refuge in the Lord.  Amen.

Power.

Who has the power?  Who is in control?
Who decides what happens, and how it happens?
Who hold the most sway over the most people?

The question of power is one that dominates so much of our world.
This is the question that sends people into the streets in
            Ukraine,
            in Venezuela,
            in Egypt and Syria and Libya
            in Raleigh.

This is the question we seem to constantly be asking ourselves,
            whether we acknowledge it out or not.
So many of our relationships revolve around who has the most power.

Scholars believe that this text was probably read during the coronation of a new king.
  During the ceremony, a priest read these words.

While this would have been the function of the text,
       the message addresses something much more broad.
            The psalm is concerned throughout with the 

             relation between the kingdom of the Lord

              and kingdoms of this world.

Turmoil in the region

As a new king ascended to the throne in Israel, there was turmoil.
At times of transition in government, it seems the region was vulnerable to
   rebellion, upheaval, or attack by a foreign power, like Babylon or Persia.
      There was an immediate threat to the power of the new king.

This was the effect that power had on people.
    When the opportunity for a power-grab presented itself,
      there was scramble to take over, to gain personal power.
This is not just a temporary effect,
     this is a downfall which people throughout the generations have succumbed to.

One of the things that makes us human is our sinful nature.
     when given the chance to act for ourselves
     to further ourselves at the expense of others,
         our impulse is often to take that chance,
            our culture seems to have trained us to take care of number one.

Stanford prison experiment

In 1971, researchers at Stanford University became interested in learning more about the relationship between guards of prisons and the prisoners held there.

A professor named Phillip Zimbardo led a study.
He placed student volunteers for the study in a mock prison ward.
       The researchers randomly divided the students up into a group of guards
         and a group of prisoners.
       The plan was to place these students in the test environment for two weeks
          to study the effects of this imposed prison.

The researchers went into the experiment with a hypothesis.
   they believed that abuse of prisoners by guards was the result of the personality traits
     of the guards themselves
          the personality traits of the kind of person that would pursue such a career.

Before the experiment, Zimbardo instructed the volunteers assigned to be guard

     to not physically harm the prisoners, but to instill in them a sense of fear and boredom,

          to make them feel like their life is controlled by the system.
  through a process of arbitrary control, the guards were encouraged
      to remove the individuality of the prisoners.

      In other words, the guards were encouraged to demonstrate their total power
over the prisoners.

The two week experiment began fairly smoothly.
The prisoners were arrested from their homes on mock charges
            by actual police officers.
they were taken to a mock prison, were given identification numbers
            and were placed in cells.

The guards were told to call all of the prisoners by an assigned number only,to avoid eye contact with the prisoners,
            and to reward and punish them as they saw fit.

The first day went fine, but by the second day, the prisoners began rebelling.
They refused to obey the demands of the guards,
 and the guards punished them severely by taking away their beds,
 placing them in isolation closets,
 and by making them do punishment exercises.

The experiment quickly went downhill.
One of the prisoners had to be let go after the first few days
because of the psychological impact.
The guards became increasingly severe and increasingly controlling.
They went well beyond the bounds of what the researchers imagined.

Even the head professor, Zimbardo, lost perspective acting as the superintendent for the prison.
When a colleague of his came in to interview the participants, she demanded that he stop the experiment because of the extreme strain
            that she witnessed.

Six days into the two week time line, Zimbardo cancelled the experiment.
Some of the guards began to exhibit “genuine sadistic tendencies”
during the course of performing their role.
     The prisoners underwent extremes of hunger and stress.

This is just a demonstration of the role which power can play in our lives.
The students assigned to the role of guard were not assigned to that role
because of any particular character trait.

         not because they were particularly mean, or particularly controlling, or particularly sadistic.

The assignments were random.
         Yet the guards were quick to see themselves as dominate.
         They were quick to demonstrate their power over others,
            to take advantage of that power.
         They were quick to forget that it was total chance that gave them that power,
         they could just as easily have been assigned to be a prisoner.

Sinners
This is what we as sinful people are capable of doing
when power is on the table.
           

Think about relationships maintained through abuse based upon one person having power over each other.

Think about the wars that have raged through the ages, when power was at stake.
Think even about the way we converse with each other, vying for our chance to control the conversation.

Displays and competitions of power are all around us.

House of Cards

Netflix is a dangerous thing, because it is so awesome.
Claire and I have begun watching a Netflix TV show recently called House of Cards.

            It is a political drama, and I warn you, it is not for the faint of heart.
The main character is a Congressman from South Carolina named Francis Underwood.
Frank is one of those characters like Jay Gatsby in the Great Gatsby, Don Draper in Mad Men, or Walter White in Breaking Bad.
    You watch this character and know that you should not like him or her,
        but you just can’t help but rooting for them. You can’t help
             but want to see them succeed.

Frank spends the majority of the TV show manipulating those around him,
    from journalists, to other congressmen and women,
        to the President of the United States.
And the viewer picks up very quickly that power is Frank’s currency.
      He never does anything without calculating the costs and benefits
          to his personal power and the control he has over those around him.
            And people are drawn to him.

The Lord laughs

According to Psalm 2,
When a new king ascends to the throne of Israel,
            and faces an external challenge to his power,
            God has a surprising response: God laughs.

The New International Version of Scripture reads,
            “The One enthroned in heaven laughs.”
I love this translation in particular because it puts into perfect juxtaposition
            these two competing powers.
            The earthly rulers seek to undermine the king of Israel,
           but the king of Israel needs not fear,
              because they are actually challenging the power of the one who rules all things.

The king of Israel does not find his power rooted in himself,

 or in his own abilities,
      He finds his power rooted in the God:
      You are my son, God says, you are my begotten – you find your power in me.

Demonstrations of God’s power

And if they doubt the power of God, they need only look at God and the history of God’s people.
            Creator of the entire cosmos,
            flooder of the whole world,
            savior of a chosen people,

Who were brought out of a land of slavery, through the parted waters,
            fed in the wilderness for 40 years,
            brought to a new land, made into a great people,
                        who constructed a great city,
            and ruled over the whole region.
God’s actions indicate the one who has the ultimate power.

This truth helps us understand

that our sense of power is an illusion.

But this is not something to be mourned, it actually comes as a relief.
            because the power is really held by God.
                        and faith is when we recognize this truth and act accordingly.

This is why Psalm 2 tells us to serve the Lord.
            to live as a child of God is to recognize God’s power in all things
                        and to serve God in all we do.

Happy are those who take refuge in the Lord…that is because
God’s power is able to overcome our weakness,
God’s power is able to overcome our frailty,
God’s power is able to work through us,
                        to do incredible things
            if we are only willing to place our trust in the Lord.

Lent

As we begin the season of Lent this week,
            we begin an entire season of recognizing that power is the Lord’s.
On Ash Wednesday we place ashes on our foreheads and hear these word:
 Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.
       In other words, we are temporary, but God is forever.
       Our power is limited, but God’s power is all encompassing
         

We will travel on a journey during Lent in which we will be reminded of God’s presence
     A journey in which we will be reminded of God’s power.

But it is in this season that things get a little weird.
because during this journey
       the world will try to overpower God
           and it will kill the Son, the beloved, and it will bury him in a tomb.

Conventional thought would say this is the end of God’s power.
            With Christ dead, the rulers of the world have won,
            We have seen who holds the true power.

But God reveals that true power, real power, God’s power
   does not rest in that which is strong
                but in that which is weak.
   true power does not rest with the one who gains personal glory
                 true power rests with the one who is humble

    true power does not rest in that which destroys and kills,

       but in that which suffers death

           and rises to overcome it.

This journey will end when the powers of the world:
            the power of sin,
            the power of destruction
            the power of death…
Will be completely overpowered when Christ rolls aside the stone,
            walks out of the tomb,
            and calls us to take refuge in him.  Amen.

Ash Wednesday Reflection

Like many other churches throughout Christendom, my church held Ash Wednesday services yesterday to mark the beginning of the season of Lent.  I love all of the opportunities that we have to join together as a community in worship, but there are a few worship services throughout the liturgical year that speak to me on another level.  It says a fair bit about me, I guess, that these are the more solemn, somber worship services: Christmas Eve at midnight, services of healing and wholeness, the Good Friday Tenebrae service, and the Ash Wednesday service.

Part of the reason I love these services so much is because they give me an opportunity to stop and reflect on some of the more startling truths of Christian faith.  They give me an opportunity to think about what it truly means to commit ourselves to God, to try to live for those around us, to follow the path to which Christ calls us.  Moments in my worshiping life when I am challenged to truly reflect on these things are some of my most memorable.

We have two Ash Wednesday services: one at noon and one at 6:30 pm.  We do an imposition of the ashes at each service.  For those of you who may not be familiar with the practice, it is when Christians rub ashes on their foreheads in the shape of a cross.  We do this using the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."  During the first service, I participated in this ritual, which I enjoy playing a part in.  But something felt different when I was rubbing ashes on the foreheads during the 6:30 service.

For the first time, as I placed the ashes and said the words, I actually looked into the eyes of each individual, and something dawned on me.  I realized that I was standing there telling each of these people, "You are going to die."  That is essentially what we are saying with this ritual.  "Remember that you are created by God from the dust, from the carbon of this world, and one day you will die, your body will decay, and you will return to the dust."

It became a moving moment for me because I also realized that the meaning behind my words was, "You are going to die, and I am going to love every step of this journey.  Your death is not going to separate you from God's love, and it's not going to separate you from my love either."  It almost brought me to tears in the middle of the worship service to have such a raw, intimate encounter with each person in which our eminent deaths was the focus of the exchange.  I loved it.


On another note, my mother shared this TS Eliot poem with me yesterday.  The poem is called Ash Wednesday.  I think the language is about the Word is fantastic.  (Don't be too) Happy Lent!

If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent
If the unheard, unspoken
Word is unspoken, unheard;
Still is the unspoken word, the Word unheard,
The Word without a word, the Word within
The world and for the world;
And the light shone in darkness and
Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled
About the centre of the silent Word.

Podcast

I received some feedback recently that the sermons I'm posting are long, boring, and formatted in a strange way - leave it to your sister to be honest with you :).

The main reason for my strange formatting is because I have begun writing my sermons so that they are easier to preach.  I have broken them up into phrases.  The medium of the sermon is primarily and oral one - they are meant to be listened to.

So, for that reason, I have set up a podcast of my sermons.  I hope this addresses the strange formatting part, but I can't make any promises about the long and boring parts.  Those of you whose reading attention span might limited to 140 characters may find this an easier way to get my sermons.

The web address for my podcast is http://mdrumheller.podbean.com/.  Please check them out!

The podcast is also on iTunes, so you should be able to subscribe to the channel there and download them.  They are called Welcome Matt Sermons and the image attached to them is this Jerusalem cross.



I hope you have a chance to check these out.  There are only two right now, but I hope to have up more soon.  Thanks!

With Your God

Micah 6:1-8

Hear what the Lord says:
    Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.

Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord,

    and you enduring foundations of the earth;
for the Lord has a controversy with his people,
    and he will contend with Israel.

“O my people, what have I done to you?
    In what have I wearied you? Answer me!

For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
    and redeemed you from the house of slavery;
and I sent before you Moses,
    Aaron, and Miriam.

O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,
    what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?

This final verse of our passage today is one that many Christians are familiar with.  

This piece of Scripture seems to stand out as an especially important one, and I think part of the reason it stands out, is because it describes clearly how God wants us to live.

I saw a funny mock line graph about the book of Micah,
It showed the books and verses of Micah across the bottom axis,
and the amount of times people preach on/talk about that passage on the vertical axis.

Micah has 7 books, and throughout the first 5 books, the line on the chart measuring the amount of talk about that passage hovers around zero,
until it gets to Micah chapter 6, and not just chapter 6, but verse 8 in chapter 6.

Here, the line jumps to the very top of the graph – the highest point possible
for the span of one verse, then it drops back down to zero for the rest of the chart.

Micah 6 verse 8 seems to be the only part of the book of Micah
that we want to talk about or that we’re actually very interested in.

But if we narrow in our conversation, and just talk about the 6^th chapter,
we can see a lot more about the meaning of verse 8.

Like this...kind of.

Verses 1 and 2 introduce the hypothetical situation for this passage, and what we find is Micah opening up what appears to be a courtroom hearing.
Micah invites the Lord to plead a case,
   because the Lord has a controversy with the people – that’s us.

These first verses set up the need for God to confront the people.

The Lord begins the testifying,
            After asking a desperate, “What have I done to you?”
            we are reminded of all the good things the Lord did for the people:
                        brought them out of Egypt,
                        sent them Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
                        this instance we’re pretty familiar with.

God asks us to remember King Balak and Balaam.
            King Balak was a Cannonite king who ruled near the promised land
            when the wandering Israelites came near.
            King Balak wanted one of his seers to come and curse the Israelites
                        so that they could be defeated in battle.
            So he called on Balaam to come curse them,
                        but Balaam would not curse them and only gave them blessings,
            because the God of the Israelites told him to.
            So the Israelites were not cursed, but blessed,
                        and King Balak was thwarted.

God asks us to remember Shittim and Gilgal,
            when the Lord led Joshua and the Israelites
                        over the Jordan into the promised land.

And God finishes testifying by calling these the saving acts of the Lord. 

God is plaintiff – the one bringing an issue; the people are the defendants,
            the ones being accused.
            What are the people being accused of?
            They are being accused of breaking their covenant with God.
The people have been greedy, they have been selfish,
            they have not cared for the lost and the least.
            they have not remained true to God’s call.

In this trial, the people now have an opportunity to defend themselves.
            and Micah quotes an individual – a stand in for the people of God.

She immediately asks what is it the Lord wants the people to do.
            She starts off by naming burnt offerings – which seems logical,
                  But then she quickly gets frustrated.

"Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams?"
"How about ten thousand rivers of oil?"
"For goodness sake, does God want me to give up my firstborn child!"

You can sense the desperation in the speaker’s voice.
            I picture the person bowed over,
            in tears, begging to know what the Lord wants,
                        saying, "I have given so much already... I just don’t understand."

Then Micah responds to the pleas of the human,
            and I imagine this still, soft – maybe exasperated – voice
            from Micah, who places his hand on the person’s shoulder.
            He says, "You poor, misunderstanding human.
The Lord has already told you what to do.
The Lord has told you what is required from you in this covenant.

God doesn’t need just a bunch of worship practices,
            God doesn’t need you to do the right ceremony,
            God doesn’t need you to sacrifice your firstborn child,
God wants you to do justice.
God wants you to be loyal in your love,
God wants you walk with the Lord."

Micah says to the pitiful human, "It’s really that easy.
            there’s no sentence, court is adjourned."

The first thing that we as the people of God are called to do,
            as participants in the covenant of God,
            is justice, or mitzpah.

In Micah’s time, the injustices were exploitative land practices,
                        a lack of caring for widows and outcasts,
                        a desire for Jews to focus solely on furthering themselves
                                    and their own interests.

The call for justice is just as powerful for us today.
            We exist in a culture that is all about furthering ourselves as individuals, that seems to value relationships for what we are able to gain from them.
                     

To have God’s justices, God’s mitzpah,
            we have to reconsider the way we live our lives,
            the way we spend our money and our time,
            and the way we treat others.

God wants us to do justice.
I love the simple verb in this part of the call.
God is not calling us to just cry out against injustice,
            God is not calling us to just point out injustice,
            God is not calling us to just seek justice
God is calling us to do justice.

To say that God wants us to love kindness
            doesn’t quite encompass the meaning behind these words.
The thing that God wants us to love - hesed
            could be better translated as a devoted love,
            or an unconditional compassion,
                        much like the commitment that God has
                                    in relationship with us.

Eugene Peterson paraphrases this verse with, “be compassionate and loyal in your love,”

Not only does God want us to do the work of justice,
                        God wants us to be in as close a relationship with our neighbor
            as we are in with the Lord.
            To have that much unconditional devotion or hesed to those around us.

Having this level of compassion for those around us can be tough.
            Sometimes loving the stranger can be easier than loving the person
                        who sits in the pew next to us.
            But God’s call is to be loyal to that person,
                        to see that person’s life as an intrinsically valuable thing.

In Judaism, the word for ethics is halacha which means to walk.
            The task of ethics is to describe how one ought to walk in one’s daily life.
            how we live in our daily walking-around-and-doing-things lives.

So when Micah talks about walking with God, he’s talking about walking constantly with God.
            Making God a daily partner in our walk of life.

This is the only way we can hope to live out these ideals
            the only way we can hope to do the work of mitzpah,
            the only way we can live out our covenantal relationship with God
                        and with each other as hesed.
            is to make our every-day walking around – our halacah – a partnership with God.

I’ve become really attached to this program that comes on NPR sometimes
            called Snap Judgment.
            it’s a story-telling show, and I love story telling.

The host of the show is Glen Washington, and he tells a story
            about when he moved to rural Michigan as a young boy.
The first day that he was to go to school he got on his school bus
            and turned to go down the aisle,
                        and noticed something strange:
                        he was the only African American student on the bus,
                                    in fact, he was one of the only African American students
                                    in the school.
            So Glen went to sit next to one of the boys in the first seat
                        only to witness the boy spitting onto the spot where Glen
                                    was preparing to sit.
            So Glen moved on to the next seat, to discover the same thing happening.
            Seat after seat this happened: he would find an open spot
                        only for the student sitting in the row to spit in that spot.

Finally, Glen came near the back of the bus
            and found a little girl sitting in one of the final rows
            with her backpack next to her.
            As the bus driver yelled at Glen to find a spot and sit down,
                        the girl quietly moved her bag out of the way
                        to offer Glen a saliva-free seat on the bus.

Every day, Glen returned to the girl with the backpack
            and sat next to her in the row, never having conversation
                        but always accepting this small sign of hospitality.

When we walk with God, our actions don’t have to be world –changing,
            they don’t have to change the fabric of our culture,
            they just have to demonstrate
                        a desire to treat another person
                        as God might treat that person.
            They have to be actions
                        that we might do, if God was literally standing right next to us.
            They have to be acts that do justice
            acts that show love.

The greatest gift of this Golden Nugget of the Old Testament
            is that in order for us to learn from the trial in Micah
            and to live in covenant with God,
we must be mindful about our relationships with each other.

In order for us to be in right relationship with God,
            we have to be in right relationship with those around us.
            Doing justice
            loving compassionately,
            and walking with God
            requires that we step away from what society tells us about relationships
                        and we model our relationships after God’s.

Not because our salvation depends upon it, not because we’re threatened into doing it,
            but because that is what we do as children of God,
            as response to God’s love
as participants in God’s covenant. Amen.

The Power of Peace

This is a sermon based on Matthew 3:1-12 and Isaiah 11:1-10 (the lectionary readings for the second week in Advent, year A).  Enjoy!

It’s a little alarming for us

        in this season of soft lights and kind words,

             to come face-to-face with a character like John                  the Baptist.

In the season of Advent,

        we prefer to hear about Mary and Joseph,

            about messages delivered by angels,

            about the preparation for an important birth in a humble place.

Yet every Advent, we are confronted with a reminder about

        this strange, almost creepy contemporary of Jesus.

John is alarming in every aspect of his character:

        he wears clothes of camel’s hair

            reminiscent of the wild clothing of Elijah.

        he eats locusts flavored with honey – a food of the scavenging poor.

        his location is concerning,

            he doesn’t set up shop in the city – speaking his word to the masses

                      he dwells in the wilderness.

        he has an alarming message:

                     it is full of condemnation.

                        “you brood of vipers,”

                        “the chaff will burn in the unquenchable fire,”

                        “the ax is set at the bottom of the tree,”

                        “you will be baptized in fire”

It’s a strange time of year to be hearing words of condemnation and judgment.

        It’s a strange time of year to be told to repent.

        It's a strange time of year to think about judgment.

Our churches are meant to stand as safe-havens in the world.

            This is a place where we are invited to feel at home

                        this is a place where we are welcomed

                        no matter who we are

                        and no matter what we have done.

            with this, comes an assumption that it is here where judgments are placed aside.

            So it is a little jarring to hear John saying repent.

Is John telling the church to be a place of judgment?

            sometimes it seems so – when we consider the way the church

                        has behaved throughout history.

Yet the words of Matthew 7 ring in my ear:

            Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.

            For with the judgment you make you will be judged

            And the measure you give will be the measure you get.

John is not telling us that we need to be judgers,

            his message is all about repentance.

There was once a holiday in South Africa called The Day of the Vow.

            The vow was taken in the 1800’s during the war

                        between white colonialists and the black Zulus.

            On the eve of a big battle, the besieged whites took a public vow

                        that if God helped them live, they would celebrate that day for                                        generations.

Generations later, after whites took control of the land

            and implemented a system of apartheid, or segregation

            every December 16, whites would teach their children to celebrate that victory,

                        often with violence.

Letlapa Mphalele recalls growing up in this horrible reality        Every December 16, whites would come into his                village

 and beat up any Africans they could find on the streets.

As Letlapa grew up, he and his friends decided to take December 16 back for themselves.

            This day would be the beginning of their armed                                   revolt against apartheid.

        

He quickly became director of a violent movement.

            If blacks were gunned down by whites, he and his fighters

                        would kill white policemen.

Violence mounted and, on a warm October night,

            white soldiers killed five black South African children sleeping in their home.

            So Letlapa ordered the shooting of white civilians at Heidelberg Tavern in Cape                  Town.

One of the four people randomly killed was Lyndi Fourie.

            Lyndi’s mother, Jenn received a phone message upon returning to her home                    that day telling her that her daughter had been killed.

Hatred was felt on both sides

Letlapa felt that the end result was a necessary retaliation

                        for the deaths of the five children his community had buried.

                        that now the whites were going to suffer the way blacks had suffered.

         Jenn Fourie prayed at her daughter’s funeral

                        saying that her daughter had been killed at the hands of evil men

                                    that Letlape was the devil incarnate.

6 months later, Nelson Mandela was elected president,

            and he ended apartheid in South Africa.

            December 16 was renamed The Day of Reconciliation.

Now, a country of people who had been killing each other for generations

            had to look in each other’s eyes and say sorry.

            As part of this process, people who had committed terrible acts

                        under apartheid

            came together to stand before a Truth and Reconciliation Commission

-which was headed by Desmond Tutu-

                        to confess all their crimes and ask for forgiveness.

            But Letlapa wouldn’t go, because he did not believe he was a criminal

                        for doing what was right.

Jenn was heartbroken at Letlape’s refusal,

            so she decided to personally confront him at a press conference.

            She stood up, identified herself, and accused him of trivializing reconciliation.

Letlapa explained his side of the story;

            that his fighters were responding to the crimes of decades of subjugation.

            Lyndi’s death was cast in the light of generations of painful loss.

                        Jenn had never seen things from Letlapa’s perspective.

            Letlapa approached Jenn and shook hands with her in a traditional African way

                        showing deep respect.

                        and Jenn forgave Letlapa.

Letlape never said he was sorry, but not because he wasn’t sorry.

            In his culture, it was his actions that mattered more than his words,

            so he invited Jenn to speak at his homecoming celebration.

            Letlapa had not been home as a free man in over 16 years.

            At the homecoming, Jenn apologized on behalf of her ancestors

                        for what they had done to Letlapa’s people.

                        Not only was she applauded, she was given a new name: Peladee 

                                    which means mother of Africa. (2)

 

These two people have found peace.

On the website for the foundation created for Lyndi Fourie

            Her mother and the man who ordered her murder                 stand side by side. (2)

The road to peace was not short or easy,

            the road to peace required repentance,

                        it required forgiveness,

                        it required reconciliation.

John’s biggest purpose, and the reason he is so crucial for Advent,

        is because he points the way for the one who is coming – Jesus.

        And Jesus enters into the world as God incarnate

        bringing the most astonishing combination of acceptance and admonition. (3)

What we discover at Advent and Christmas

        is not only are we cherished and accepted for who we are,

        but we are also responsible for what we do.

God loves us enough to care about what we do

            to care about our lives, to have expectations for us.

This does not mean that our expectations for ourselves

        or for each other

        necessarily line up with what God expects of us.

            In fact the opposite is probably more often true.

But the fact that God loves us enough to care about what we do

        and sends John to call us into better lives

        and sends Jesus into the world to teach and guide us

            is an incredible testament to God’s mercy.

There’s a youtube video that went viral a few years ago.

        The video is called simply “Dog, cat, and rat.”

        The gist of the video is that a man has a rat

        that rides on the back of a cat

        that rides on the back of a dog.

            all, seemingly, by choice.

                        I know it sounds more like a Dr. Suess poem, but there they are,

                        like the musicians of Bremen.

          The video has over 10 million views.

It seems we are fascinated by the idea of animals living in peace.

We see this in Isaiah’s prophecy.

        To indicate the extent of God’s powerful peace,

            Isaiah uses the cooperation of animals

        The wolf and the lamb,

        The calf and the lion

        The leopard and the baby goat.

The reason we are drawn to these animal videos

        and the reason that Isaiah’s image of the holy mountain is so compelling

        is because these do not indicate what is normal.

The wolf usually doesn’t hang out with the lamb.

The lion and the fatling don’t lie down together,

        and the rat never rides on the back of the cat

        who never rides on the back of the dog.

This departure from what appears to be reality is intriguing

        because it gives us hope.

Nelson Mandela died on Thursday of this week.

        After spending his early life fighting for the end of apartheid,

        the middle part of his life in a jail cell,

        and the last part of his life destroying a racialist system and bringing about peace,

            this man is being recognized for his achievements.

He was elected president of a tumultuous country.

        He had lots of pressure to retaliate against those who imprisoned him.

               To return evil for evil.

        But that's not what he did.

        In fact, at his inauguration he invited the guards who kept him in prison,

             to sit in the front row.

      Because nothing is more humbling than receiving forgiveness

            when you don't feel you've earned it.

Nelson Mandela understood the peace process.

        He understood that the way for two people to move from hatred for one another

            to mutual love and respect,

                        is through repentance and forgiveness.

           It requires asking God for forgiveness,

            asking each other for forgiveness.

         Because once we forgive each other, once we are that vulnerable with each other,

           we understand each other better. Peace can become a reality.

                    that is the power of repentance an reconciliation, 

                    that is the power of peace.

What we do in Advent is important:

        the hymns we sing

        the prayers we pray

        the ways we prepare our hearts and minds for Christmas.

These things really do matter.

Our repentance is important because it prepares us to                welcome God's peace.

         It prepares our souls to embody God's world.

So we approach this Advent season with longing,

        with anticipation,

        maybe, even, with a little apprehension,

but knowing that a shoot shall come out of the dead stump of Jesse,

        into a dead and dying world,

        and he will be Jesus, God’s son.

        and he will be called the Prince of Peace.

AMEN.

(1) Story taken from radio show Snap Judgment episode #314 (August 1, 2013)

(2) http://www.lyndifouriefoundation.org.za/

(3) Feasting on the Word. Year A, Volume 1.