Prepare for Change

Sermon by Rev. Mary Alice Mulligan, Ph.D.

3rd Sunday in Advent - Scripture: Matthew 11:2-11

Every year during Advent we spend at least one Sunday morning with John the Baptizer. Every year, before we get to the manger in Bethlehem, we spend time considering the wild man and prophet: John the Baptizer. We most often think of his preaching in the wilderness, at the edge of nowhere. He is like an ancient version of those scary-eyed fanatics, who walk the streets in a sandwich board that says, “Repent! The end is near!” But today we see John, after he is arrested. From his prison cell he sends the crucial question. “Jesus, are you the One?”  Then we get to listen in, like their various disciples did, to the long-distance exchange between John and Jesus. Stop now to read Matthew 11:2-11.

Scripture is such a gift. We heard the prophet Isaiah last Sunday give the glorious vision, anticipating the coming Realm of God, when righteousness extends over all the earth and leopards frolic with goats. This Sunday, we just heard from the later Isaiah, promising the coming of God’s full righteousness over Earth, when lame people walk and streams water the desert making it flourish. More than 500 years after these scriptural promises were made, John the Baptizer came preaching radical messages of repentance and being committed only to God. No wonder he got arrested. But from prison, he sends his disciples to ask the crucial question of Jesus: “Are you the One we have been waiting for all these centuries?”

Jesus answers by pointing to his ministry, which echoes Isaiah’s promises. Healings of people ill, blind, deaf, raising the dead, preaching good news to the poor. Curiously, Isaiah did not use these as signals of Messiah’s presence, but of the arrival of God’s New Age. The Realm of God is beginning among us.

So, John responds by changing. The fiery prophet is able to make a remarkable shift. Think what you know about John. Absolutely committed to God’s will. Out in the wilderness, dressed in rough clothes, eating what he could gather. As bizarre a character as you can imagine, with a hellfire message aimed at everyone, including even the most respected religious leaders. And what happened? People flocked from upscale neighborhoods, out to the middle of nowhere to hear his dramatic condemnation. As odd as he was, people were transfixed.

Consider: John had his own band of disciples. He got to baptize Jesus. John was first to recognize Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Even Jesus acknowledges John’s incomparability. He says: “Among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist.” In modern lingo, you might say, John the Baptizer was a “mega superstar.”

But what happens? John recognizes a dramatic, sacred shift in the world. The era of anticipation has ended. God’s New Age has begun in Jesus Christ. John may have been the rock star, pointing the way to God’s future. But suddenly the future erupts, when the Messiah arrives John isn’t needed to lead anymore; the future is now. John goes from being king of the pulpit to merely being a servant of the real King. What a remarkable change John undergoes! For his entire adult life, he called people to prepare for God’s coming. And suddenly, that message is obsolete. In a flash, John goes from being the #1 prophet to being a simple follower. But notice, he joyfully accepts his modified role. John the Baptizer willingly changes.

So, Christ empowers us to change. (Of course you knew I was going to say that) But it’s true. St. Andrew is able to make even dramatic changes because Christ gives us the power. Every congregation is faced with decision moments. And through divine strengthening, hard decisions get made. Like the congregation in financial crisis that decided to sell their building and rent space for worship, thus freeing up more energy and money for mission work. Or back when our own Global Ministries realized our concept of world mission was paternalistic, so we had to do some significant postcolonial reconfiguration, turning control over to indigenous leadership. Or the denomination still deciding how to split because of their irreconcilable differences.

And St. Andrew, somewhere in our history, a decision was made to build this sanctuary. In the last 7 or 8 years, we adjusted to the loss of half our membership; then we modified everything as a result of Covid; and now we are feeling our way into a new era (not merely trying to go back to how we were pre-Covid). Among us are new faces; even as we miss some precious faces from the past. We have new leadership; we’re working on a new governance structure. Much of the future is uncertain and will not be easy. Change isn’t usually easy. Old habits die hard, but we have been promised the Holy Spirit will be in the midst of us, filling us with the strength and wisdom to make whatever alterations are needed personally and congregationally to move toward being the church Christ is calling us to be next. If we have God’s Spirit moving within us, shouldn’t we be able to make whatever modifications are necessary to keep growing in Christ? New faces, new voices, new ideas will bring new ways of trying to carry out God’s purposes, even as we mix in our treasured history and traditions. We can trust each other and our future because God is among us. The Spirit of Christ is among us empowering us to change.

Then, in growing, we find joy. This is the great news. Curiously enough, when we allow God to stretch us into some new understanding of how we are church, we get joy. Even if we try something that goes clearly wrong, we can laugh and try something else. Moving into God’s future is bound to bring us joy. Which is, after all, the theme for the third Sunday of Advent. The wreath has three purple candles and one pink. Pink, for joy. True. Originally, the four weeks before Christmas were set as a period of personal repentance and reflection. The sanctuary and clergy were decked in penitential purple. But on the third Sunday, people were given a break from penance. A day to experience the joy of God. After all, even though we are preparing ourselves for the coming of the Messiah, we also know Christ’s Spirit is already among us. Theologian Paul Tillich once noted in an Advent sermon, “Although waiting is not having, it is also having.” We know God has chosen to exist among ordinary human beings. Pretty exciting when we stop to think about it.

A group of cloistered nuns, the Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration, have dedicated their lives to rejoicing in the presence of God. Perpetual Adoration! At every hour of every day, at least two of these Women Religious are in prayer in their chapel, filled with adoring joy. But the best part is, their habits (their outfits) are...pink!  The whole world takes on a new look when we think of those women, quietly whooping it up in the joy of the Lord, in worship, every minute of the day. The pink candle always makes me think of those nuns in pink.

But St. Andrew has joy, too. Just ask any of the 30 or so people who attended the Thanksgiving meal this year. Fellowship Hall was full of laughter and storytelling and just “being St. Andrew together.” The joy leaked out all over everybody. And I’m convinced the future God is calling us into contains more joy than we can yet imagine. So today, let’s rejoice in the already and coming presence of the Lord, because when we gather as church, allowing the Spirit of God to stretch us, there’s good news. We find joy!