Third Sunday of Advent

Advent 3, Year B | December 11th, 2011

This sermon was preached on the day before our new organ was to be installed.  Scaffolding had been up in the nave, chancel, and altar area and drop cloths laid out over the choir pews and altar in order to prepare for the installation and to paint and adjust lights.  We celebrated the eucharist that day using the old organ bench as an altar set up at the head of the side aisle in front of the chrismon tree.   Half of the nave was roped off.  This is not the complete sermon, just notes for the main body of the sermon.  The quoted passages are from Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 1. 

Being missional , in light of the Isaiah passage, “means profoundly challenging all forms of cultural Christianity that would make ‘church’ an end in itself, a community of the saved devoted to maintaining a building, a set of programs, and a fellowship of the like-minded.

1)     Mission happens when we turn our attention to those who Isaiah names as recipients of the good news:  the oppressed, the brokenhearted, the captives, the prisoners, the mournful, the faint of spirit.

God’s special concern for the lowest and the weakest, the most vulnerable ones.

“Mission is not primarily something that goes out from God’s people…but something that defines God’s people.

2)     “Mission happens when the nations of the world notice that the people of God live differently, that ‘they are a people whom the Lord has blessed’ (61:9).  Remember earlier prophecy in Isaiah  (49:6) in which God says “I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” and the last chapter of Isaiah with the Lord’s proclamation , “I am coming to gather all nations and tongues” (66:18).

We are an incarnational people.  We believe God comes in Jesus Christ to claim the here and now.  We believe our call as Christians is to proclaim the good news of redemption for human souls, while doing our best to transform, redeem, and restore the real time and place ruins we see around us.

Scaffolding is a sign of work in progress.  That which was broken is being repaired.  That which was stained is being washed clean.  That which was silenced is being given a voice.  Scaffolding and drop cloths may obscure our long-standing traditions for a time, but they also proclaim the good news of restoration and progress.  We are so fortunate to have this very literal example in our midst as we reflect on today’s scripture.

We are called to mission in Christ’s name.

This church building and our worship together are meant to prepare us to go out into the world to restore and reconcile, to build up the rough and worn places, to comfort those who mourn, to change unjust systems, to live in such a way that others see Christ working in us and through us.

If you take nothing else home with you today, I hope you will carry an image of scaffolding and drop cloths with you.  In your journeys this week, I hope you will look around you and ask yourself where scaffolding needs to be built, where drop cloths need to be put down to refresh, restore, and even transform this world that waits in longing for the advent of Christ.

The Rev. Libby Wade

Grace Episcopal Church