Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
John’s Episcopal Church, Bainbridge, GA, 7 Dec. 2014, Advent 2
Year B RCL: Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8
Prepare
the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
make his paths straight.
Our
Gospel from Mark echoes our lesson from Isaiah. Both tell us about
making paths straight, transforming uneven ground to be level &
making rough places to be smooth.
We
transformed ground at Willis Park yesterday with our St. Nicholas
Celebration & Blessing of the Toys. People we do not know stopped
to listen to God's word. Perhaps that experience smoothed a rough
place in someone's life.
Each
of us has experience with rough places on paths, uneven ground or
highways, so we understand the difference terrain makes as we walk or
ride.
I
sometimes walked the short distance from our home to Bainbridge
College when I worked there. Our street curves gently. It's not a
straight path. It is smooth & level. I can walk it in 10 minutes.
My first summer at seminary at The University of the South in Sewanee, TN, I walked to classes. The
house I lived in is the same distance from the seminary that our home
is from the college. The path is straighter, so I expected to walk in
less time. Imagine my surprise arriving late the first day. That
straight path has rough sidewalks & an incline I hadn't noticed: it took more effort to
walk.
The
1st
night John & I were in North Carolina this fall, we walked the
short distance from our Bed & Breakfast to a favorite restaurant.
The walk in the fresh air felt great & we chatted along the way
after a long day riding in the car. We didn't think about how the
comfortable downhill incline would feel on the way back after a full
meal. The return walk took our breath away. We struggled walking what
felt like a 90 degree incline! We didn't chat. We stopped to gasp
air. Once we could breathe, we laughed at ourselves, hoping we could
make it to our room.
Some
of you know even a “flat” road can be rough. Those of us who live
where the sewer system has recently been installed remember the 9
months of upheaval, driving unpaved stretches with potholes &
workers stopping traffic.
I
remember returning from Atlanta, expecting to see the street in
turmoil & our delight turning onto it & seeing a paved,
smooth road. I remember saying: “Isn't that gorgeous? That asphalt
is the prettiest thing I've seen!”
A
smooth, level road makes a positive difference. Isaiah & Mark
remind us that we are called to make a road smooth & level. Why
should we do this? The
Jewish Study Bible says
making the way easier to travel makes it easier for exiled people to
return to God1.
God's
strength is enduring2
& sets captives free. We humans are
still weak3,
just like in the days of Isaiah & of John the Baptizer in our Gospel. Through Jesus, God sets captives free.
As followers of Jesus, we have work to do for God's kingdom, to make
rough places smooth, to lift up the discouraged when life is rough,
when headline news is sad, shocking, troubling.
Jesus
calls his disciples – us – to share the Good News/the Good
Tidings that God loves each human being. Jesus comes to live &
die among us to restore our relationship with God so that we can
live fully in God's love. Isaiah speaks of the herald of good
tidings. Heralds shout out the news.
Isaiah
knows that heralds shout out the news of an army coming against
people. Today he tells us of a herald who shouts out Good News that
“...God arrives as the gentle shepherd,
not to destroy but to protect.”4
God sets captives free.
Setting
captives free, making the road to God level & smooth take time.
For us, time can be a stumbling block, as
we learned last week when we pondered God's perspective of time &
our limited perspective. In our Advent meditation at home each evening, we take time to light the Advent wreath & say: "Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly!" Jesus seems to take a long time returning to us.
Time can be a stumbling block when we consider current events, such
as yesterday's thwarted rescue of a captive in Yemen.
God
has all of time to wait patiently for captives to return to a
relationship with God. As our lesson in 2nd
Peter says: “...with the Lord one day is like a thousand years &
a thousand years are like one day.”
What
would 1,000 years look like?
What if one
day were like
A huge stack of calendars?
What if one
day were like
one grain of salt?5
Would young helpers come help me with this salt?
Feel the difference
in the weight of these 2 salt containers.
How many grains do you
think are in each?
Each container can hold 26 ounces - that's
737 grams.
The label says a serving size is ¼ teaspoon –
that's 1.5 grams.
Can you count how many grains of salt are in ¼ teaspoon? No?
Dip your finger in the water, then the salt &
count how many grains stick to your finger.
So let's pretend each grain is one day, which our lesson says is like a thousand years to God. If 1 grain is 1 day, how many grains make a year? Right: 365 grains of salt. If 365 = 1 year, how many would = 1,000 years? Right! 365,000 grains would make 1,000 years.
As
I read about this online in a sermon:
“(I)f we counted out 365,000 (grains of salt) we would not have
all... the salt in...one (container). ...(I)f you think of all the
boxes of salt in one grocery store and...think of all...the grocery
stores (in the world),...you see how little that one grain of salt is
compared to all of the salt in the world.
“One
(grain) of salt in a box is not much, but it is important to that box
just like one day is important to you.”6
One
day in your life is important not only to you but also to people you
love, people who love you & to God. What you do with that one day
– with each day – can make a positive difference in God's world.
You can make a positive difference in the lives of people who do not
know the Good News that Jesus tells us:
God loves each of us.
God loves you! No exceptions!
Jesus
gives us work to do each day as heralds of this Good News. Part of
our work is to trust the results of our work to God.
When
you put salt on your food, it can remind you what the Bible says
about 1 day being like 1,000 years.7
I pray that even 1 grain of salt may encourage you in your work
making roads level & rough places smooth.
Bibliography
Harper’s
Bible Commentary.
General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1988.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha. New Revised
Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
The
New American Bible for Catholics.
South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.
Runk,
Wesley T. “A Daze of Days”. From
The
Giant Book Of Children's Sermons Matthew To Revelation.
http://www.sermonsuite.com/content.php?i=29610&key=moYjxuwHse95peil.
Accessed: 6 Dec. 2014.
3
Note: Concept from Ibid.
5
Note: Idea from Runk,
Wesley T. “A Daze of Days”. Accessed: 6 Dec. 2014.
http://www.sermonsuite.com/content.php?i=29610&key=moYjxuwHse95peil.
6
Ibid.
7 Ibid
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