2nd Sunday in Advent
Mark 1:1-8
Sermon Nuggets by Lindy Black
ADVENT 2B
December 4, 2011
SCRIPTURES
•Isaiah 40:1-11: Isaiah prophesies of a voice crying in the wilderness
to prepare the way of the Lord and of God coming to Zion with the
revelation of God's glory. The people are not to fear, for God will be
like a shepherd to the covenant people.
A synopsis of Handel's writing of The Messiah from Ms. Terry Parsons'
sermon. George Frederic Handel was born in Germany in 1685. His father
wanted him to become a lawyer, but as a youth he demonstrated
extraordinary musical gifts, mastering several instruments and
composing in a variety of styles while still in his teens. He composed
music for some of the most important patrons in Europe before settling
in England. After thirty years of popularity and prosperity, Handel
found his fame fleeting and more creditors than admirers at his door. A
stroke left him with partial paralysis on his left side. He had
difficulty sleeping and suffered from rheumatism. In 1741, two critical
letters arrived. The first, from the Duke of Devonshire, invited him to
Dublin to produce a series of benefit concerts. The second letter came
from his friend Charles Jennens. This letter was a compilation of
Old and New Testament passages that comprised the story of Christ's
birth, crucifixion, resurrection, and future reign.Handel shut himself
in his room and completed the entire oratorio in the incredibly short
time of 21 days. Part I, the prophecy and birth of the Messiah, took
only seven days to complete. The first official performance of The
Messiah took place on April 17, 1742, and was a tremendous success.
Handel conducted the work many times in the remaining years of his
life, including a performance eight days before his death on April 14,
17
-One of the important aspects that sets The Messiah apart from other
oratorios is that it focuses more on meditation than action.
-sermon suggestion: Idea taken from Sermons from Seattle
A. There's always change....(progress, customs, beliefs, etc., etc.)
B. Christmas has things that have not changed: lights,
tree, gifts, songs, etc.
C.The PERMANENCE of Christmas is: The spirit, the word, the God,
the presence, etc.
•Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
•2 Peter 3:8-15a: Peter declares that God's measure of time is
different from ours and that God is patient with us. He assures us that
God wants all to come to repentance so that the dissolution of the
universe will find us waiting with patience for the new heavens and a
new earth where righteousness is at home.
•Mark 1:1-8: Mark begins his Gospel by telling of John the Baptizer who
appeared in the wilderness. All the people of Judea and Jerusalem go to
him and hear him say: "The one who is more powerful than I is coming
after me ... he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
MARK SCRIPTURES NOTES
-the Prologue to Mark's Gospel sets the scene for the rest of the book
by establishing the major theme ("the good news of Jesus Christ, the
Son of God") and by introducing Jesus and John (France, 54).
-Even though Jesus Christ, used in this way, sounds as if they are
Jesus' first and last names, that is not the case: * Jesus is the name
-- the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Joshua, which means "Yahweh
saves." * "Christ" is the title -- the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew
word "Messiah," which means, "anointed."
-By including both titles, Christ and Son of God, Mark denotes Jesus'
authority in terms that both Jews and Gentiles can appreciate.
-The wilderness "is more than a geographical place; it is the place
where God meets, reveals himself to, tests, and saves his people"
(Brooks, 40)
-The Greek word, metanoia, is related to the Hebrew word tesubah, used
by prophets to call Israel to abandon its sinful ways and to return to
God. Both words (metanoia and tesubah) imply "a total change of
spiritual direction" (Marcus, 150).
-Repentance motivates us to seek baptism, and repentance and baptism
together open the door for us to receive forgiveness of sins.
-No matter how far you have gone on a wrong road, turn back. Turkish
proverb
-Leap with clean hands, either kept clean all day by integrity or
washed clean at night by repentance. John Donne
-They all say the same thing, all four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John. They all say that if you want to go to Bethlehem,
you've got to start with John the Baptizer.
-John, like Isaiah, is an important voice of hope:
God remembers us, sees us in whatever exile we find ourselves and comes
with a mighty and gentle arm to pull us out, smooth the way and take us
home Fr. John J. Boll, O.P.
-"I don't think there is a fancy way to say that I have sinned." Bill
Clinton at prayer breakfast. (see illustrations)
-When we say we are preparing for Christmas during Advent, we are
saying that we are turning our hearts and lives around, we are
repenting of our old life and turning our hearts towards God
- What John the Baptist said was the Gospel...It was! the good news
- Repent: turn, fresh start, reorientation, metamorphosis,
metanoia, change, renewal,
-What are we preparing for? Who needs to be prepared? Who will prepare
them?
-"Jesus is for Christmas," says the preacher, "but Advent belongs to
John the Baptist." And you can't serve locust and wild honey at a
Christmas party.
-Martin Luther suggested that we are to be baptized daily. That is, we
are to daily experience repentance and forgiveness, a daily cleansing
of our lives. If we bathed once a week, we would start to smell. We
need to be washed daily to be truly clean and likewise in our spiritual
walk with Christ. We are to be washed daily.
- Preparation is our response to the promise, not the condition for its
fulfillment.
-We often preach as if repentance precedes grace and grace is the
consequence of faith but this is a misrepresentation .
-Remember that John wasn’t simply baptizing, but was baptizing in the
river Jordan. The river Jordan was – for the Jewish people – that
dividing line between the wilderness and the Promised Land. The Jordan
was the river they had to cross (a few weeks back in our lectionary
reading) before they could enter a land flowing with milk and honey. So
crossing the Jordan was, for them, an image of entering into an
entirely new life
- Our interim ethic is determined by the quality of that which is to
come.
- The desert is in our hearts
- We belong to an eternal order. (Tillich)
- John the Baptist was the prophetic hinge connecting the past and the
future by what he did in the present. This was a man of God who knew
his place. Elton Richards
-The paradigms are changing. We are in the midst of what someone has
called a "transition tidal wave." We need to know our place as people
of Christ by pointing and preparing for the future. To repent is to be
willing to go a different direction and be open to God's new breaking
in upon us. Elton Richards
- Advent is the beginning of the future. "Look back to the future again"
- For information on Advent and advent wreath see,
http://www.cresourcei.org/cyadvent.html
- Advent pilgrims on the way to the manger must pass trough the desert.
(Craddock)
- This is the first use of the word "Gospel" to refer to a written
account of the narrative about Jesus. (Craddock)
- Hope is born not in knowing where you are going but in knowing who is
leading the way.
-A better word than repent is renewal.
-Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations
are written the pathetic words, “Too late.”
Martin Luther King Jr
- We do not need a religion that is right when we are right
but a religion that is right when we are wrong. Chesterton.
- True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, "I'm
sorry," than to the future and saying, "Wow!" Buechner
-To repent is to come to your senses. It is not so much something
you do as something that happens. Buechner-
-Quit putting commas after your confessions (I drink, but every body
does) (I did it, but she started it)
- The things of God are full of foresight. M. Aurelius.
- History is not a random kaleidoscope of disconnected events; it is a
process directed by God who sees the end in
the beginning. W. Barclay
-Who is our John the Baptist? As Christians, do we exercise
our prophetic vocation?
- It was not that before John no one knew about forgiveness. One only
needs to read the psalms which are full of
God’s mercy and compassion. It was not forgiveness so much as
the dramatic once for all conversion which John’s
baptism symbolized which was new. William Loader
-Catch up with where John can take you - forgiveness,
inclusiveness and a simple lifestyle - and you are well on the
way to being good news for the world. William
Loader
- Baptism" means both a total immersion in something and a passing
through. What does this say of your own life?
What are you "immersed in"? What do you "pass through"?
SERMON
WHERE TO BEGIN
Here’s a few quotes to help you answer , “Where to begin”. Lindy
--To repent is to come to your senses. It is not so much
something you do as something that happens. Buechner
--True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, "I'm
sorry," than to the future and saying, "Wow!" Buechner
--Often we think of repentance as an "I can", (I can change, I
can improve, etc.). Better to think of repentance as an "I
can't"...(I can't do it alone, only God can give me new life)
Idea from Richard Jensen
--The DESIRE to repent....isn't that what we really need? Lindy
--The ground for repentance must include soil for acting out the new
identity.
--"Changing water into wine was an act of transformation, a
breaking down of boundaries, a different way of seeing the world and
God's presence in it.
-"Like a boat going through a lock. The boat doesn’t realize
anything is different. Surroundings are the same but all of a
sudden everything is seen from a new perspective. Öur Journey
could not go on without that uplifting experience.
-"Go beyond transaction to transformational.
-God says, ""You try to change so you will have my love but I love you
so you do not have to change. God speaks to us through silence.",
-"One can never change the past only the hold it has on you. Merle Shain
-"we spin cocoons around ourselves and get possessed by our old ways
and thoughts.
-"what do you wish to take into your changed life?",""
-"When we change, our perception of God changes.
-
QUOTES
- Repent means, "to return"
- A better word than repent is renewal
-It begins with a whimper, and not a bang, but it explodes eventually,
taking everyone by surprise with its power
Rev. Dr. Samuel Massey
- Guts to leave the ruts. G. Mann
- He who never changes; never mends.
- Pro-active waiting
- We need more U-turns in our lives.
- Becoming is superior to being.
-
HUMOR
- "You can choose your friends but not your relatives." I wonder if
anyone ever said that to Jesus about his weird cousin John the Baptist.
-One day a man on horseback came racing into a small town on the
frontier. He yelled out, "Big Jake is coming!" All the townspeople were
so terrified that they ran into their homes and bolted the doors. They
sent the children to hide under their beds. In the saloon, the
bartender was trying to board up his windows when all of a sudden his
heart stopped. He saw the biggest man he had ever seen coming right in
his direction. He had strips of bullets draped across his chest, and
strapped to his legs were two of the biggest guns that the bartender
had ever seen. The man was dressed in black, and he looked incredibly
mean. He stepped up to the bar and said: "Get me a drink, and make it
quick." So the bartender obeyed. The man downed the drink in one big
gulp. So the bartender said: "Would you like another drink?" But the
man yelled back: "No! I don't have time. Haven't you heard? Big Jake is
coming."
-Some people will change when they see the light. Others change only
when they feel the heat
-,"Some defend the status quo even though the quo had lost its
status. G. Mann
-"Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.",
SERMON TITLES
-Getting Back to Basics (Sin, Repentance, etc.
-"The Road to Christmas."
-Where to Begin
-"U Turns Allowed (and Needed)" Rev. Richard J. Fairchild
-The Beginning of the Good News"
ILLUSTRATIONS
1."I don't think there is a fancy way to say that I have sinned." Bill
Clinton at prayer breakfast. Then he read from a book called Gates of
Repentance. Clinton read this passage from the book: "Now is the
time for turning. The leaves are beginning to turn from green to
red to orange. The birds are beginning to turn and are heading
once more toward the south. The animals are beginning to turn to
storing their food for the winter. For leaves, birds and animals,
turning comes instinctively. But for us, turning does not come so
easily. It takes an act of will for us to make a turn. It
means breaking old habits. It means admitting that we have been
wrong, and this is never easy. It means losing face. It
means starting all over again. And this is always painful. It
means saying I am sorry. It means recognizing that we have the
ability to change. These things are terribly hard to do.
But unless we turn, we will be trapped forever in yesterday's ways."
Clinton's quote ended with this prayer: "Lord help us to turn, from
callousness to sensitivity, from hostility to love, from pettiness to
purpose, from envy to contentment, from carelessness to discipline,
from fear to faith. Turn us around, O Lord, and bring us back
toward you. Revive our lives as at the beginning and turn us
toward each other, Lord, for in isolation there is no life."
(Arkansas Democrat Gazette, September 11, 1998)
-In 1863 the Commissioner of Patents sent his resignation to President
Lincoln citing his conviction that everything exciting had been
invented and patented, and there was nothing else for him to do but
preserve the past. That is the tragedy when people of faith limit what
God has done to the pages of a Bible or the places of first century
Palestine and deny the work of the Holy Spirit. God not only came, but
God comes! The meaning of Advent is opening ourselves anew to make room
for God in our lives now. Then as we prepare the way, we point to the
One who goes before us. Elton Richards
CHILDREN
1. A zoo that was trapping monkeys. The zoo trappers placed coconuts
underneath a coconut tree, and these coconuts had holes drilled in
them. The holes were about the size of a tightly-squeezed-fist of a
monkey. The monkey would squeeze its hand through the hole and grab the
white coconut inside. By doing so, their hands and feet became larger
and they could not withdraw their hands and feet through the coconut
holes. The only way to become free was to “let go.” To let go of the
white coconut inside the coconut shell. Similarly with us. The only way
to emotional freedom in life is to “let go
2. Set up a manger scene with the usual characters: sheep,
shepherd, kings, Mary. Then show children one more figure (John
the Baptist) and put his figurine in with the others and explain why he
should be there.
3. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a pill that would help people
with all of those different hurts? Well, thanks to God, there is
such a pill. It is called the "Gos-pill." It is the
"Gos-pill" of Jesus Christ. The word gospel means "good news" and
the good news is that Jesus loves us, cares for us, died for us, and He
is able to take away the suffering and pain in our life. The one
pill that can help us through all the hurt and pain in our life is the
"Gos-pill" of Jesus.
PRAYER PHRASES
-God of comfort, hope and peace, as December days grow shorter and the
nights grow longer, come quickly to our aching souls. Prepare a
new path in our tattered lives. Turn us away from the mundane and
meaningless. Open our ears that we may hear your word, that with
humble and repentant hearts we might look with joy to your advent among
us. Amen Willimon
-People of God, let us accept our age -- let us act our age! "Cease to
dwell on days gone by and to brood over past history. Here and now I
will do a new thing; this moment it will break from the bud. Can you
not perceive it?" Amen. Elton Richards
KEY PHRASES
•Great Expectations
•A wake up call
•"waiter", " wait-ress" , "waiting room". (a time of waiting)
•"Christmas Marthas"
•Advent and "adventure" have a common derivation.
•"here I come ready or not" (hide and seek)
•"In the meantime"
•“In between times”
ADVENT WORDS: wait, anticipate, prepare, not yet,
hope, remember, great expectations, incubation, Immanuel, birth pangs,
pilgrim, adventure, interim, awake, postponement, evasion, in between
time, vision, parousia, purple, coming, arrival, longing, repair,
coming, repent, rehearse, anticipation, an arrival, a beginning. a
dawning, as in the early morn of a new day, -“The end of the world
AGAIN?” ,-“ Ready or not here I come”, -“ Wake up call” -"In the
meantime" ,-In between times ,-Great Expectations, A wake up call
, -"waiter", " wait-ress" , "waiting room". (a time of waiting),
-Advent and "adventure" have a common derivation., -"here I come ready
or not" (hide and seek)
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