Sermon for Sunday, December 8th

The readings

Isaiah 40:1-11

40 “Comfort, comfort my people,”  says your¹  God.

2 “Speak kindly to²  Jerusalem³  and tell her that her time of warfare is over,⁴ 

that her punishment is completed.⁵   For the Lord has made her pay double⁶  for all her sins.”

3 A voice cries out, “In the wilderness clear a way for the Lord;

build a level road⁷  through the rift valley⁸  for our God.

4 Every valley must be elevated, and every mountain and hill leveled.

The rough terrain will become a level plain, the rugged landscape a wide valley.

5 The splendor⁹  of the Lord will be revealed, and all people¹⁰  will see it at the same time.

For¹¹  the Lord has decreed it.”

¹²  6 A voice says, “Cry out!” Another asks,¹³  “What should I cry out?”

The first voice responds:¹⁴  “All people are like grass,¹⁵ 

and all their promises¹⁶  are like the flowers in the field.

7 The grass dries up, the flowers wither, when the wind sent by the Lord¹⁷  blows on them.

Surely humanity¹⁸  is like grass.  The grass dries up,

the flowers wither, but the decree of our God is forever reliable.”¹⁹ 

9 Go up on a high mountain, O herald Zion. Shout out loudly, O herald Jerusalem!²⁰ 

Shout, don’t be afraid! Say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”

10 Look, the Sovereign Lord comes as a victorious warrior;²¹   his military power establishes his rule.²²   Look, his reward is with him; his prize goes before him.²³ 

11 Like a shepherd he tends his flock; he gathers up the lambs with his arm;

he carries them close to his heart;²⁴   he leads the ewes along.

Mark 1:1-4 

The beginning of the good news^[a] of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.^[b]

 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,^[c]

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,^[d]
    who will prepare your way;  the voice of one crying out in the wilderness  ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,   make his paths straight,’”

⁴ John the baptizer appeared^[e] in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins 

 The message

Welcome and thank you for being here today, and more importantly, for being part of the work of this church, school, shared ministry space and community. Today, St Jacobus and I celebrate 10 years of ministry together, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and I celebrate 10 years of ordination together.   I spent the last few weeks worried about just how many people would show up, bracing for disappointment and worrying about running out of seats and food (depending on my mood I guess). As we gather for worship, I honestly am more concerned with caring for those who are here, recognizing and remembering those who are no longer with us, thinking about those who could not be here and looking forward to what we do outside these paneled walls. 


For an anniversary or that sort of occasion most churches usually have a guest pastor, invited to share a message and say nice things about the person being recognized (in this case, that’s me).  It’s not that I have no friends or mentors, I didn’t get 25 “It would be an honor but no thank you or I have another appointment or my dog is sick or I would but I don’t want to”. I am preaching now for no reason other than, I am a do it yourselfer, one of those people who will youtube or google or ask someone how to do just about anything, whose been on Web md more than to the doctor, one of those people who struggles to ask for help.  Over 10 years, I have learned that is not healthy in a church. Here we center around salvation is God’s gift through Christ, we cannot earn or achieve God’s grace, you cannot diy it into heaven. That was one of the hardest things for me to understand at seminary (I would always ask questions which revealed that drive for diy salvation) When I did get it, when I understood our salvation was based on God’s promises and God’s goodness, it was an instant of great relief and joy, good news I wanted to share.  Also, church is a place where good, sustainable ministry must be done together, patiently, with prayer, support, diversity and listening and the use of people’s gifts.  Its not always the most efficient and I wont always get my way but we are church together,     


This sort of occasion also usually means a review of accomplishments, maybe a power point with some moving words, top 10 countdown and colored lights, a projector showing pictures from 2009 until now. We don’t need all that, us being here is enough. 10 years ago, smart people looked at this church, the membership, attendance numbers, budget, reserves, giving, preschool and condition of the building and thought the ministry and mission of this church was over, that our Gospel work in this diverse and ever-changing neighborhood was completed. Give them the well done good and faithful servant and shut off the lights.


I do not say this very often but they were right, what was here would probably not have survived. Over these past10 years, we have become something new. A sustainable place of churches and groups that live and work together to share the gospel with the people entrusted to us. The members and leaders of this church knew we had more to give our community and more work to do, We exist for the work of the prophets, the work we hear Isaiah and John the Baptist do in this morning’s readings, to show and tell others, Here is your God, It is better and brighter when we do not try to diy that work either, the kingdom of God is way bigger, more inclusive and diverse then we imagine, we should be too.  


In our readings today, the Prophets, Isaiah and John the Baptist set out to show people “here is your God”, present with you. Our readings were not changed for today, this is the last weeks of  an Old Testament series that took us from creation to the time after the destruction of the temple and the return from exile (where Today’s reading from Isaiah happens).  Isaiah 40 is the first chapter of a section known as Second Isaiah. This book offers consolation to the people of Israel, First Isaiah focused on final, dire but ignored warnings of the consequences of unfaithfulness, the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians and the exile of the people to Babylon. Second Isaiah offers promises of hope and restoration.  This will happen soon, God’s work will be done through others, the Persian Empire will conquer Babylon and allows the people of Israel to return home, rebuild the temple and resettle the land, To a city battered and almost invaded for centuries, and then destroyed by war Isaiah say “here is your God”, in the rubble and the promise.  To a people asking “where is God,” why has God abandoned us”,  “I don’t see God anywhere” Isiah says “here is your God”  in the restoration to come.  


Mark writes to a people who had all but forgetten the promises of the Messiah, who have gone from oppression by one empire to another, who were now living as a colony of the Roman empire.   Mark starts by highlighting the work of John the Baptist, the fulfilling of Isiah’s words 500 plus years before, See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,^[ who will prepare your way;  the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, here is your God,  ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,   make his paths straight”, Mark is setting up the time when we will look at the cross and empty tomb and say “here is your God”,  by the end of the book, he will tell people who thought Christ had died, the Romans killed him and his work was little more than magic tricks and happy thoughts, here is your God.  Christ is Risen In the hard to believe words of the prophet Isaiah. in the aggressive and confrontational words of John the Baptist and Jesus the Messiah he points to, we hear people cry out, here is your God.  


What does it look like to be a community that does these things, who say to the community of Woodside, Elmhurst, showing people who have forgotten, never heard or don’t care, Here is your God, It can difficult to find the words and actions, Even Isaiah does not know what to say, he asked “what do I cry out”,  the word to say is simple, speak the truth, an honest assessment people have failed to keep the law, to worship God, people are like grass,¹⁸  The grass dries up, the flowers wither. Speak the truth, we have done bad things, bad things will happen.  Remember, nobody likes a condemner or complainer, I think today they are called “trolls”, when they operate online only out of their mom’s basement, they are called internet trolls, people who constantly point out problems, things they do not like but offer no solutions, no help,  don’t be a troll.  Don’t just say Surely humanity¹⁸  is like grass that dries up, make sure to add but the decree of our God is forever reliable.



Over 10 years, I have watched us cry out here is your God, we might not have been clear that is  what we were doing or even knew we were doing it, but its what were doing.  



In welcoming whoever comes in the name of the Lord, we cry out here is your God,  



In the sharing of our building with others who are different, we cry out here is your God.



In the cleaning of a community, caring for public spaces and empowering young people, we cry out here is your God,



In the working together of diverse and different people, we cry out Here is your God, 



In offering, in what we do with our resources, in supporting others, we cry out, Here is your God,



In boldly celebrating prayers answered, we have people on this list who were given hopeless death sentences, who were sick and now are well, we cry out here is your God,  



In the giving of food and offering of prayer to a group of pushy and aggressive people that most others would have given up on, we cry out here is your God, 



In being here, in caring for this building that it might be a light to show others, we cry out here is your God,



In how we work, we cry out here is your God, seriously, how we live out our faith in our daily lives is a bold witness or poor display of being hypocrites.



In operating a school that teaches, values and serves all, we cry out, here is your God,  



In a simple conversation with someone suffering, having a bad day, week, month or year, in sitting with that person, we cry out here is your God



In building relationships around scripture, around faith, we show people here is your God



I remain thankful the past 10 years in this community, for the chance to share that joy of salvation, for the blessing and care of so many, for this place to cry out here is your God,  I invite you to join me for the next 10 as we  Shout, don’t be afraid! Say to the communities of Woodside, Elmhurst, wherever you are, “Here is your God!”