Joyous Generosity
Gate Pa – Advent 3 2012
Readings:
Hebrew
Scripture: Zephaniah
3: 14-20
Psalm: Isaiah 12:1-6
Epistle: Philippians
4: 4-7
Gospel: Luke
3:7-18
What I want to say:
Our hope is in a God who is
reshaping the world
it is hard to see sometimes
easy to get despondent
John Baptist baptism is one
of reordering all things, letting go of all that separates us from others, and
entering into new community which embraces all people
What I want to happen:
what do we need to let go of that separates us from others?
what new way seeing and living in world do we need to embrace
The Sermon
1. Despair
events over recent weeks lead one feel pretty depressed about
future
Failure Climate change talks – Doha (and
our countries sad role in that)
if
scientist half right - even if we do meet targets, still deep poop
Europe economy still struggling
US approaching fiscal cliff – sounds
terrible
HSBC fined over $billion money laundering
Ross Taylor saga just keeps on going
– bad news story that just seems to keep on giving
Where is hope face of all that?
2. Hope in scriptures?
two prophets lived equally uncertain times
all known seemed falling apart
in face that offer hope heard this
morning
prophets for our time, not only
advent
time in history
hope isn’t just setting things right
return to good old days
radical change way things
are
God’s peace and justice
massive restructuring how things worked
writer Revelation describes this as God creating new heaven
and new earth
3. John’s hope
John also offers us hope
hear it we need to stop and pay attention – not take him
quite so for granted
interesting fellow really
father priest
part ruling
Judean elite – Jesus so much conflict with
Sadducee
power and
honour
worked
rigidly maintaining boundaries’
grown up and been educated follow father’s footsteps
become priest at temple
clearly
rejected that and gone off into desert
here he is baptising people in Jordan
lots people think he invented baptism
didn’t
forms baptism around for long time
go to Jerusalem today; walk from western wall towards David’s
city find sacred pools uncovered Israeli archaeologists
how it worked
washing cleanse oneself pollution,
corruption, accumulated through contact unclean things, animals and people
means by which only those belonged could enter
and all others were excluded
society people in or out
important to know who is in and how in out
baths at temple were means of maintaining the boundaries who in
and out
washed self
clean all that corrupted you
excluded all
those not able enter temple
as you entered
you came within boundary of God’s
love and care and concern
God would act on your behalf
by implication
those outside beyond God’s love care and concern
God did not act on their behalf
worked against
was hostile towards them
act of washing declared all those others as
less than you
less than human
unimportant to God
able to be treated imply as objects
satisfy needs and desires, greed and lust,
if God was hostile towards them then
so should you be.
declared to be beyond God’s love and care
treated with
contempt, hate,
to be used
in any way one sees fit
other forms baptism equally exclusive
4. John’s baptism of repentance
Johns by very description is different
rather than ritual cleansing and boundary maintaining
described as baptism repentance
what repenting of?
bad behaviour
moral indiscretions
treating others badly
look at interchange with scribes gives us clues
remember no love lost between priests and Pharisees
John is on offensive
brood of
vipers
sons
of vipers
attacks
– families
foundations
on which system of honour and exclusion is based
likens
that foundation vipers
imagery
used Jeremiah describe contemptible Egypt
before
respond – removes another foundation
God
makes children Abraham from these stones
stagger
from that insult
axe
laid at roots
all
experience through events around exile – new people Malachi heard last week
demanding purity of remnant or root
hope
always based that however bad it got, God would use those within boundaries
lover, care and concern to build a new people
even that root, that root is under threat
who is being baptised
anyone
including people would never enter temple
seem there is no exclusion at work here
new thing happening
all are welcomed
maybe baptism repentance is one letting go of old ways,
old boundaries,
all that separated people into in and
out
all that allowed you treat others as
other
as
less than
as
outside God’s care and concern
truly baptism of inclusion
invited to see others as brother and
sister
5. Advent - Hope for today
in this baptism we see glimpses of hope announced Isaiah and
Zephaniah
hope God’s radical new heaven and earth
reworked by Luke
hope where all belong
all within boundary God’s love care and concern
where God works on behalf of all
hostile to none
where all are brother and sister
and are to be treated as such
last week repented or confessed all those things separate us
from others
repentance also about embracing new way being in world
so this Christmas
rush around
buying present
how
can we do that treats those in shops, those make gifts as brothers and sisters
do
we dare ask if we need to give those gifts and instead use CWS or other
agencies to give gifts of goats and chickens and seeds brothers and sisters in
other lands?
buy food
Christmas feast
how
buy honours farmers
honours
animals as God’s creation
how might we engage this Christmas in a way that allows us
and others to glimpse the hope that God is offering this Christmas?
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