Fr Mike's Message - 12/5/21

The Gospel: ​Luke 3:1-6
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
'Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

Prayer: ​Lord, you have promised that when two or three gather in your name you will be present with them. We depend on that promise today and pray that you will move among us. Lord, we pray that have you inspired Mike's preparation, that you will enliven his presentation and that you will empower our application.  Amen

The Message: I thought a little background might be helpful this morning so I looked for some detail on the background and the purpose of the Gospel Luke using the online Encyclopedia Britannica. This is a compilation of what I found.

The Gospel according to Luke is the third of the four New Testament Gospels. Along with The Gospels of Mark and Matthew, Luke is one of the three Synoptic Gospels. It is traditionally credited to Luke, “the beloved physician” a close associate of Paul.
 
Luke’s Gospel is written for Gentile converts: it traces Christ’s genealogy, for example, back to Adam, the “father” of the human race rather than to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people. The date and place of composition are uncertain, but many date the Gospel to 63–70 CE, others somewhat later.
 
Like St. Matthew, Luke derives much of his Gospel from Mark. It generally follows Mark’s sequence and incorporates about 50 percent of Mark’s material into this work.

The Gospels of Luke and Matthew, however, share a good deal of material not found in Mark, suggesting that they may have had access to another common source.

Despite its similarities to the other Synoptic Gospels, however, Luke’s narrative contains much that is unique. It gives details of Jesus’ infancy, the census of Caesar Augustus, the journey to Bethlehem, Jesus’ birth, the adoration of the shepherds, Jesus’ circumcision, the words of Simeon, and Jesus at age 12 in the temple talking with the doctors of the law. It also is the only Gospel to give an account of the Ascension. Among the notable parables found only in Luke are the good Samaritan and the prodigal son.

Luke’s Gospel is also unique in its perspective. It resembles the other Synoptics in its treatment of the life of Jesus, but it goes beyond them in narrating the ministry of Jesus, widening its perspective to consider God’s overall historical purpose and the place of the church within it." 
 
So, with that background let us take a look at our Gospel reading for this morning. When we know that Luke's Gospel is written to those from outside the established political structures and also outside the established religious institutions we can understand why Luke begins his Gospel the way that he does.
 
Luke is establishing that John, as the forerunner to Jesus, begins his ministry outside the common structures of society - in the wilderness. John doesn't come - as Jesus will not come - to Tiberius, or Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, or Lysanius, he doesn't even come to Annas or Caiaphas. He begins his ministry in the context of the prophets of old: "A voice crying in the wilderness."
 
I have to say at this point that I am caught this year, as never before, by how ludicrous that really seems to me. In our modern advertising saturated world it just strikes me as just so counter-cultural. If you have a message you want people to hear you go to the most densely populated places you can. You make sure that you get your message into the hands of the most effective advertising companies you can to saturate the marketplace so everyone possible can see and hear what you want them to see and hear!
 
You don't go out into the wilderness. You don't go where there are no people and no way to broadcast your message.
 
Yet that is just what John does!
 
The word of the Lord comes to John  "in the wilderness" and he proclaims his message despite all the challenges and all the obstacles.
 
Luke by beginning this way draws attention to just who John, and later Jesus, would be seeking to reach, to touch, and to change. John and then Jesus was seeking to reach those who were outside the established political and religious communities of that time.
 
Luke's Gospel is focused so that it will go to those people who, in his time, were known as the gentiles.
 
The amazing thing is that he spoke, or proclaimed, his message in the wilderness. There was no one to hear it, there was no one to share it, there was no one to be affected by it. Yet people flocked to hear John's message. People were drawn into the wilderness to hear a message of repentance and forgiveness.
 
That got me thinking about two things as I was preparing for this morning.
 
1. What is the wilderness today?
 
2. What should prophets be doing today?
 
First of all we need to look at the words or the message of John. John used the words, or very similar words, to Isaiah in his proclamation. Why is that significant? Well, Isaiah was speaking to the people of his time who were in exile. They were people outside the established political and religious communities that they should have belonged to. They had been stripped of their home and the things that they drew identity from. They were in a wilderness experience.
 
One of the ways that they survived the experience of being in exile was to draw on their heritage and to relate their present circumstances to the history that the people of Israel had lived through.
 
The people of Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness. If we study that time period we can see that God used that wilderness experience to teach and to train them. They learned who God was and they learned how to be in relationship with Him. 
 
So if we begin there I believe there are two areas where we can recognize wilderness experiences in our time.
 
First is how we as the church, we as the corporate body of believers, are experiencing a possible wilderness. I believe that many of us may be feeling as though the church in the United States is in something of a wilderness experience. There are those who believe that the church is going through a time when it is less socially accepted than it has ever been before.
 
Now, just in case you think I am siding with one particular stream of theological or spiritual understanding let me just say I believe that is true across the board in the church in America at the moment.
 
I believe that the American church is experiencing a period of disconnection and dislocation like it never has before. The Pandemic has highlighted some powerful influences which we as the church will be dealing with for many years to come.
 
Second in our personal lives. I believe many people are feeling isolated and disconnected in a way that this nation has never experienced before as well.
 
There is a far greater sense of the diversity of opinion and what people would see as possible solutions than has been obvious in society at any other time.
 
So, how do we respond to these situations? What can we do to correct these anomalies?
 
Well, I would like to read again the words we read as we lit the Advent candles this morning:

God our Father, you spoke to the prophets of old of a Savior who would bring peace.
You helped them to spread the joyful message of his coming kingdom.
Help us, as we prepare to celebrate his birth, to share with those around us
the good news of your power and love.
We ask this through Jesus Christ,
the light who is coming into the world.  Amen.
 
You helped them to spread the joyful message of his coming kingdom.
Help us, as we prepare to celebrate his birth, to share with those around us
the good news of your power and love.

Sometimes I believe that the Lord allows us to go through a time of personal wilderness so that we can understand more fully just what those words: "the joyful message of his coming kingdom"  really means.

John Wesley is known as one of the founders of the Methodist movement. He is recalled now as a strong determined and resolute figure. If you read his personal history that picture of him was not always true. Wesley went through a period of deep emotional struggle and felt like he was a failure.

But then he experienced the Lord in a new and powerfully refreshing way and he described that in his journal:

"In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

Wesley's ministry from that point on was radically changed by his experience. In the midst of the wilderness, he felt renewed and inspired by the movement of the Holy Spirit. He wrote hymns and proclaimed in his preaching from then on how he was changed and how that change was available to others.
 
Horatio Spafford penned the great and moving hymn "It Is Well with my Soul." But it was only after personal loss and deep grief that he was able to write the words that he is so well known for now.

Again he was in a wilderness experience, having lost his wife and daughters when their ship sank traveling from America to England. Months later when Spafford was traveling that same route and he passed the point where his family perished was he able to write "It Is Well With My Soul."

Perhaps we will all at some point go through a time of wilderness can we, will we, proclaim with John the coming of the Lord's Kingdom in all its joy.I would like to close this morning with Canticle 17 from the Book of Common Prayer
The Song of Simeon    Luke 2:29-32

Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A Light to enlighten the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.​