A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

Look Up!

Luke 21:25-36, Preached by Tom Lacey at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, December 3, 2006

A frazzled young mother locked her sick toddler in the car while she ran into the pharmacy to pick up an emergency prescription. You can guess what happened: She left the keys in the ignition. It was late at night, she didn’t have a cell phone, and the pharmacy had locked its doors and pulled down its metal shutters by the time she realized what she’d done. She could see her daughter through the windows, and could hear the sound of her crying. It drove her nearly frantic as she prayed tearfully for help.

A few moments later, a young man walked past and turned to look at her in curiosity. “Can you help me?” she begged him desperately. “I’ve locked my keys in the car and my daughter is in there!” He nodded, and looked around the empty parking lot until he found an old coat hanger that he straightened. It was simply amazing how easily he got into her car. She had never seen anything like it—a quick look at the door and window, a couple of twists of the coat hanger and bam! Just like that, the door was open. When she saw the door open she threw her arms around him. “Oh,” she said, “the Lord sent you! You’re such a good boy. You must be a Christian!” He stepped back and said, “No ma’am, I’m not a Christian, and I’m not a good boy. I just got out of prison yesterday.”

 “Bless the Lord!” she cried as she jumped at him and hugged him again—fiercely. “He sent me a professional!”

Sometimes we do need professional help. Other times, a swift kick in the posterior gets us back on track, or a helpful piece of advice takes us a step closer, or a kind word shores up a faltering sense of confidence. What’s important is that we don’t just hang our heads, but we look up and look for help to come. As scripture says, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish today.” Ex. 14.13 There isn’t another Christian season in the Christian year more full of hope than Advent. The main message for us in December is simply this: Help is coming. God is Coming and because of this, change, good change, is in the air. And it makes sense, historically, annually. With the dying of the warmth and light of the sun, with darkness rising to engulf more and more of our lives, our Advent Christian faith tells us that God still presides and the Son, born in Bethlehem or coming in clouds, shall arrive to turn things around. That the sun will return again to dominate our days and nights is an astronomical fact; that the Son has come and will return is a matter of Christian faith.

What we want to see this morning is that as the season of hope, this time before Christmas is the perfect time to see where we and God fit together to make this world a place where hope comes true. When Omni magazine called Richard Feynman the world's smartest man, Feynman's wife, Lucille, remarked: “If that's the world's smartest man, God help us.” Yes, that’s the point. We do need help. We hope for help. We don’t do this on our own. But that we have some things to do is just as true.

There are some 175 Catholic Worker Communities around this country, who remain committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, prayer, and hospitality for the homeless, exiled, hungry, and forsaken. They maintain Houses that provide housing and food for those in need, speaking out against social injustice, and doing what they can to help those in our community. Fran and Brad tell this story. “The Catholic Worker House never actually runs out of food,” he said. “The meals they prepare may be mismatched foods like all vegetables or mostly bread, but there‘s always food. However, last Saturday night they were out of food completely. Fran and Brad were there alone and they were talking about what they‘d do without food for the noon meal on Sunday. They sat together and prayed that somehow food would be there by the next day. At 9 p.m. Saturday an unexpected group came to the back door with five large pans of lasagna, masses of rolls, cookies and potato chips. The next day at noon over 100 guests showed up. Every person who wanted to eat got a plate full, plus sweets and bread. No appeal for food ever went out—except those prayers.” Did Fran and Brad‘s faith turn God’s hand? Did their prayer cause food to be given? No, the food was already in someone‘s oven when Brad and Fran entrusted their anxiety to God. Rather, prayer nurtured their seed of faith, held their hearts in hope, and sustained them when doubt arose. It is hope strengthened by faith that permits good things to happen, sometimes just in the nick of time. Joyce Rupp, “The tiny seed of faith.”

Hope works, but not just because of God but because of Fran and Brad, and their faith, which trusts in God, but trusts not only in God, but trusts also in other Frans and Brads. Do you see what I mean? If there was no God, true, we wouldn’t have any reason to hope. But if there aren’t any Frans and Brads, there also isn’t any reason to hope. So, find your heart. Be of good courage. Let your hope lead you to live a life by faith, doing good for those who can only repay you with gratitude.

But what is it for which we are to hope? According to our Scripture, it is for the Son of Man to come with power and great glory. Why should we hope for this? I guess the easiest way to say it is that we hope for justice and peace. When Christ returns with power, it is the power to make things right in the world. When Christ returns with great glory, it is the kind of glory that brings peace over all the world. We hope, as Christians, for peace and justice to reign on the earth. This is a little different and much more serious than how we commercially consider Christmas morning, right? Kids/grandkids want glorious gifts and powerful presents, the newest video games and coolest cell phones, the most popular Ipods. And we feed them their little  hearts desires. We’re not immune either, however. Who doesn’t want a nice gift or two, involving your favorite hobby, that shows some concern and even love from your family? There’s nothing wrong here, as long as we don’t blow our budgets, and as long as this isn’t the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega of the Christian story of the Advent of Christ on Christmas morning, and the Coming of Christ in power and glory. The Christmas story, Christ’s birth, centers around the deepest concerns of humanity’s life with God and one another: When will there be peace in our lands? And when will justice prevail for all people? Where is God?

Ann and her husband were typical married boomers. Well-off financially, they had no time for church, and they each became busy in their respective lives. Their romance faded early, but neither wanted to give up their life-style. Besides, both adored their children, and their youngest son, T. J., was a special favorite of his mother. Even though the children were never sent to Sunday school and God was never mentioned in their home, one day T. J., out of the blue, said, “Mom, I love you more than anything in the world, except God. And I love him a little bit more!” Ann was surprised but told him it was okay. But why would he speak of God, she wondered? Two days later, on a bitterly cold day, while his sister was horseback riding, T. J. crossed a snow-covered creek, fell through the ice and died. Ann remembers saying, “I hate you God!” But even then she felt herself held in loving arms.

Her world shattered. She remembered the Christmas gift T. J. had bought her that week. He had kept trying to give it to her before Christmas but each time she laughed and told him to put it away until Christmas Day. When she got home from the stables where he had died, she hurried upstairs to open it. Inside was a beautiful necklace with a cross.

Through her ordeal, Ann discovered a gift for spiritual hospitality, bringing healing to other parents. Ann says that Jesus made her reach out to others rather than become lost in herself. By now, this young mother has reached out to help two hundred families who have lost children in accidents. She calls her efforts T.J. Ministries, not only after her T.J., but to emphasize how she's made it since then: Through Jesus. Diane M. Komp, A Window to Heaven: When Children See Life in Death

That is a good name, but a truer name would be Through Ann. God comes through Ann’s care, through your efforts.

What are we supposed to believe? That Jesus will come again actually, physically flying down on a cloud, Zeus-like with a thunderbolt in his hand? I am not sure when or why this would finally take place if it hasn’t already in the last 2,000 years. Heck, if the twentieth century, with its World Wars and nuclear arsenals, wasn’t a ripe enough time for Jesus to take over, let’s be honest, it might be a long, long time before this takes place. But here’s the thing: God ain’t never coming to fix problems that we are supposed to be fixing. What’s even truer, if I can say it this way, is that we are not ethically nor religiously permitted to hope for God’s powerful coming if we are people who can do something about making peace and justice in this world a reality. It’s fine for the first Christians and the Jews of that time to reach out to God to look for his help; they were nobodies, powerless, subjugated people to the unjust and militaristic ambitions of the Roman Empire. But it’s a totally different story when Christians of the most powerful, influential and the wealthiest country in our times do the same thing. It is unethical and unchristian for us to abdicate our responsibility and to deny what our choices do to the rest of humankind, and instead look to God to establish peace and justice. Before we ask for God to get us out of this mess, we have to be willing to do some of the grunt work ourselves. Peace and justice are in our political, social, and economic portfolios. We don’t have to look up to see our redemption; we have to look within to find it. So start with your own life. Find the time to get involved in a cause that brings real hope to real people. Where there is a will to see justice served, there is a way for peace to prosper.

Some years ago, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks did a wonderfully popular series of comedy sketches called the "2000-Year-Old Man." The premise has Reiner interviewing the 2000-year-old Brooks and inquiring concerning life way back when. At one point, Reiner asks the old man, "Did you always believe in God?" Brooks replies, "No. We had a guy in our village named Phil, and for a time we worshiped him." Reiner wonders, "You worshiped a guy named Phil? Why?" "Because he was big, and mean, and he could break you in two with his bare hands!" The interviewer asks, "Did you have prayers?" Brooks answers, "Yes, would you like to hear one? O Phil, please don't be mean, and hurt us, or break us in two with your bare hands." Reiner: "So when did you start worshiping God?" And then this wonderful answer: "Well, one day a big thunderstorm came up, and a lightning bolt hit Phil. We gathered around and saw that he was dead. Then we said to one another, "There's somthin' bigger than Phil!"

Yes, God is bigger than Phil, but so are all of us, joined together, rising to the challenge of working for justice and building for peace in a world desperately in need of both. Let hope live because we bring it to life, or rather, God brings hope alive through us.

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