Advent 1B2023
Isaiah 64:1-9, Mark 13:24-37
Here they are, the people of Israel, after the Babylonian Exile, towards the end of Old Testament history. They are back in Jerusalem after decades of slavery, religious and cultural desolation, and despair. All is finally well. During the Babylonian exile, they called upon God in distress, and God answered with messages of comfort and hope and love and, ultimately, deliverance. But what do the people of Israel do now—now that they are reestablished in their own land, worshiping God freely, and secure in daily life? They say, “God, you were angry, and we sinned. Because you hid yourself, we transgressed.” They say, “There is no one who calls on your name…for you have hidden your face from us.” They say, “You have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.” They blame God for their sin, that’s what they do! The people of Israel feel acutely God’s absence—and attribute their sin to God’s hiddenness. Therefore, the prophet cries out on behalf of the people, “Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down!”
Today, we ask and hear questions like: why does God allow war and violence in Israel and Palestine, in Ukraine, in Afghanistan, in our own streets and schools and homes? Where is God when teens commit suicide, when women are raped, when people are evicted and made homeless? How could a loving God sit back and do nothing as the rich and powerful exploit the weak and vulnerable? Because you hid yourself, we transgressed. Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down, God!
The prophet articulates what we probably all wish: to see God! If only you showed up, God, we would not be in these situations. If only you made yourself known, we would follow your way. If only you came to be here with us, everything would be different. Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down!
This is the tension of Advent. For God does come—but not on our timeline nor in the way we expect or desire. The Advent wait for the savior concludes not with trumpets and chariots, mighty force and torn heavens but with a baby. In a manger.
And while we wait each year during the season of Advent, we know, of course, that our wait is mostly pageantry. For God came in Jesus two thousand years ago. But the Advent wait resonates with us still because, unlike the shepherds who recognized Jesus as savior immediately, we are still waiting for God to come tear open the heavens, still waiting for God to show up, here and now, still waiting for God to put this world to rights.
In my waiting this past week, here’s what I saw and heard.
I saw an Esperanza couple pick up another member who can no longer drive so that she could participate in Thursday Matters.
I heard that Esperanza community members donated and cooked a meal for 25 strangers experiencing homelessness and then sat down and ate together.
I heard many Esperanza community members ask how others are doing, listen when people shared, and even pray for them.
I saw numerous Esperanza community members deliver Christmas gifts for clients of Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, and I saw an Esperanza community member pick up all those gifts and load them in his car so he could take them to LSS.
I saw Esperanza community members sweep sidewalks and fix things around church, send out the church newsletter and reach out to speakers and gather information for our second Hope Talk. I saw Esperanza community members provide fellowship after Sunday morning worship, serve as assisting minister, run the A/V equipment, set up communion, click us through the powerpoint, count the offering, move the sanctuary chairs, decorate the Advent tree, and a particularly brave Esperanza community member get on a ladder to put up these beautiful lights.
I saw Esperanza community members knit prayer shawls on Wednesday morning to bring comfort to people in difficult situations.
I heard Esperanza community members are continuing to interview pastoral candidates and pray and discern who God has called to serve as the next pastor of Esperanza.
I saw Children of Hope preschool teachers tenderly care for children and help them learn and grow.
I heard that Esperanza community members spent time rehearsing music in order to bring joy, delight, and the good news of God in Christ through music to this congregation.
I heard that Esperanza community members worked on the new Habitat for Humanity house this week, a house which will eventually be a home to a family in a currently unstable living situation.
We may cry out, oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down, God! But friends, God has come down. God is with us already, here and now. Everything I named happened in the last seven days, and that’s not all that happened. Because you all went about your lives, caring for children and grandchildren, friends and neighbors. You all went and contributed to the common good through your daily work or volunteering somewhere else in the community. And we, the Esperanza community, are just a small congregation amid a sea of God’s people caring for the stranger and loving their neighbors, working for justice and peace in not only Phoenix, Arizona but around the world.
I imagine aid workers in the middle east, doctors without borders providing medical care around the world, teachers in every nation, some teaching through war and famine or under political threat.
I imagine farmers providing our daily bread, scientists doing medical research, engineers keeping us safe, artists inspiring hope, librarians nurturing love of books and knowledge, ordinary people of every stripe keeping the proverbial lights on.
We sin, yes, but we do more than that. We do more than that because God has torn open the heavens and come down. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In the waters of baptism. At this table where we receive the body and blood of Jesus. We sin, and the world is broken. But God has not abandoned us, forgotten us, or hidden God’s face from us. We are now Christ’s body in the world, and the Holy Spirit is at work through us and in us. Today, we may cry out: Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down! But our Advent hope, our sure hope, is that, Christ is coming and coming soon. Thanks be to God! Amen.