Bill Nieporte, Pastor

Snow covers the ground in Richmond, VA.  The Patterson Avenue Baptist Church was unable to meet for worship this morning.  Thanks to internet, however, this mornings sermon and some of the planned music is still available.  Listen to Dr. Nieporte and the Nieporte family as they complete the Advent season of messages, titled: “Songs of the Season!”  Today’s sermon is titled: “Jingle Bells!”   

Click here to listen

If you are asked, please use the following code:  39949776

To hear other sermons in this series, please visit http://pattersonavenuebaptist.com

Michael Serving Food To The Homeless

“Dad, can you raise my allowance?” my son Michael asked.

“Why do you need an increase?  What are you planning to buy?” I replied.

“Well, I do need to buy you a Christmas gift!”

During Advent we think a great deal about giving gifts.  Sometimes we even talk about giving gifts to God.  There are special mission offerings, gifts for the poor, final acts of stewardship before year’s end.  We speak of doing for and giving to God a great deal during Advent.

In reality, though, it’s like my son asking me to increase his allowance so he can get me a gift.   Everything we do or give to God was already paid for by God’s grace.  Remember that when you see baby in the manger or a cross in front of a church.  The gift of God through Jesus makes all of our giving possible.  We don’t give or do to earn God’s favor, we give and do because (through Christ) we have been favored by grace.

Heard this recently:

 Two men who were next-door neighbors decided to go sailing while their wives went Christmas shopping. While they were out in the boat, a terrible storm arose. The sea became very choppy and they had a difficult time keeping the boat under control. As they steered toward land, they hit a sandbar and the boat grounded. They both jumped out of the boat and began to push and shove with all their might to get the boat back into the water. As the waves bounced him against the side of the boat, and his hair was blowing wildly in the wind, one of the men said with a smile on his face, “It sure beats Christmas shopping, doesn’t it?”

 The season of Advent can sometimes be very hectic.  There are gifts to buy, meals to prepare, parties to attend, greeting cards to address – it can often seem overwhelming.

The church too often travels down this path as well, only adding to the frustration.  There are Sunday School parties, children’s events, special music programs, etc. 

 Anyone want to go sailing?

 We are supposed to be waiting in anticipation for the Advent (coming) of Almighty God. 

 We are gathering to celebrate messiah’s birth.  Why do we have to make everything so hectic?

 During Lent, a common practice is to engage in a fast.  We engage in some sacrifice and take up some discipline in order to prepare ourselves to remember the events of Holy Week and the death of Jesus.  Maybe we need an Advent fast. 

 Maybe we should not try to go everywhere and do everything.

 Maybe we should give gift cards instead of actual gifts.  My kids love that because I always buy the wrong thing.

 Maybe we should eat more simple meals.  Why must we gorge ourselves as a celebration of the birth of Jesus in a manger?

 Let’s slow down and do less.  Maybe even our churches can say, “No additional programs on the agenda this Advent!” 

 What would be wrong with that?

All the talk among adults at Christmas is about gift-giving.  What will we buy/make/give to our friends, family, loved ones, and especially to our children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

 I wonder if the kids might not have it right.  For them, Christmas is more about gift-getting than gift-giving. 

 Religion asks us to give to God (to work, serve, strive, and labor).

 The Christian message does not start with GIVING TO GOD, but RECEIVING FROM GOD.  In reality, God created us to be “receivers.” 

 Givers are always at the top in any relationship. 

 When we are receivers, we realize that the other something to offer that we need.

 What do you get for the God who has everything?  God needs nothing from me!

 Instead, I receive God’s mercy, love, forgiveness, and grace.  These are gifts I desperately need.  When I receive these, I become a conduit of his blessings to the world.  Then God is still blessing others – but God is doing that blessing through me. 

Shalom (the Hebrew word most often translated “peace”) is never a negative.  It never refers to the absence of something (war, crime, hatred, racism).  Rather “shalom” refers to everything needed for life to be whole, complete, attaining the highest good.

During this week of Advent peace, pray not for the end of violence, but for the presence of the highest good and wholeness for all people and creation.  As THIS gift of shalom comes to the human family, violence will begin to subside as a problem among the peoples of the world. 

Shalom, then, seems to be illustrated for Christians by the doctrine of GRACE.  Grace is the presence of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness.  Grace is wholeness and life through Christ.

Bring us “Shalom” Most Holy God. Grant us GRACE!  Teach us to know Jesus. 

Amen.

The Bible (in Luke 3:1-6) says the following:  “Tiberius Caesar had been ruling for 15 years. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea. Herod was the ruler of Galilee. His brother Philip was the ruler of Iturea and Traconitis. Lysanias was ruler of Abilene. Annas and Caiaphas were high priests. At that time God’s word came to John, son of Zechariah, in the desert.”

Interesting!  The text references the high and mighty, the rich and powerful, the large and in-charge.  The text talks about those who in power in politics, economy, academia, and religion.  And yet “God’s word” came not to them, but to John – and wilderness wild man.

We long for the trappings of powwer because that’s where we think the action is to be found.  But the text puts the “action” out in the wilderness.

I wonder why!  Could it be that in the wilderness it takes radicaly faith and courage to survive?  Could it be that a wilderness wild man’s primary connection will be to God?  And could it be that when this is the case – when your life flows from God – that peace is a reality that person’s heart; that anxiety is never a controlling factor; and that you realize that you have nothing and no one to fear because that person knows God is ultimately in charge.

Andrew Young, former U.N. Ambassador, Mayor of Atlanta, and close friend of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., is also an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.  He once told a group of ministers how delighted he had become when his eldest daughter became active in her local church.  With each deepening level of her involvement he became more and more pleased.  But one day she announced to her parents that she was going to join the ministry of Habitat for Humanity to build homes for the poor in Uganda.  This was not too many years after the fall of Idi Amin, and Uganda was still a very violent country.

Andrew Young confessed, “I tried to talk her out of it.  I mean, I wanted her to go to church, to find a nice Christian man to marry, to develop a relationship with God and settle down.  But, believe me, I didn’t have anything like this in mind.  I didn’t intend for her to go so far with it.  I mean—Uganda!  But she said she felt called!”

 We bring our children to church because we want them to grow up to be polite and respectable individuals.  We want them to be subdued, tamed, civilized, settled.  We need to be careful.  We might not be prepared for the consequences.  The church can be a dangerous place for a child to hang out.  They just might hear and respond to the word of the Lord.

In her book Teaching a Stone to Talk, Annie Dillard marvels at the nonchalant way in which most Christians come the church.  We come to carpeted and comfortable sanctuaries filled with padded pews.  Everything is orderly and neat, tied down, and respectable.  Yet, says Dillard, if we really know much about the Bible and what it is like to encounter God, then ushers ought to be handing out crash helmets rather than an order of worship. Instead of new hymnals they should be issuing out life preservers and signal flares.

 That’s the way God moves, isn’t it?  Both the Bible and our own memories are filled with stories about people who were moving along, living their lives in normal, respectable, conventional, and predictable paths, only to be disrupted by what William Willimon has called “the intrusive word of God.”  God speaks!  They hear God calling their name.  Their world and their lives are changed. 

That’s the way God moves through Advent and into Christmas.  God moves in sprpriseing, earth shaking, and intrusive ways.  Are we listening? 

“A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the Way Of The Lord!”

I’m not a big fan of “essay books.”  I much prefer to consume a book from start to finish, delving into the mindset of the author.  I like to argue with a book’s author – challenging her/his presuppositions, agendas, theology, philosophy, and politics.  I like following an author’s threads and seeing if they remain consistent from start to finish.

 That made reading “The Justice Project” a big challenge.  Brian McLaren is the primary editor for this collection of “essays” for Baker Books.   As I read the book, I forced myself to do an essay every other day – allowing me to live with each article and essayist thoughts.  Then I sat back to explore some of the common threads that McLaren (as editor) sought to communicate through this project.

 McLaren divides the book into several sections.

 1)      The God of Justice – which deals with issues of theology, church history, the challenge of postmodernism and the emerging church.

 2)     The Book of Justice – which address how the Bible deals with issues of justice through the Torah and Hebrew prophetic writings, as well as in the Gospels and Epistles

3)     Justice in the U.S.A. (which looks at justice issues which have been prevalent in theological and philosophical roundtables in the USA)

 4)     A Just World (a global look at the topic)

 5)     A Just Church (exploring ways that the church has/can pursue justice)

 As a whole, the book does a good job of starting a conversation from an “emergent church” perspective about a wide range of justice issues that confront the human family.  Not everyone will agree (especially from the established church) with many of the essayist conclusions.  That should make the conversation more meaningful for those who engage in the discussion in good faith and theological reflection.

The challenge for emergent church folks will be for others to take up the charge, for this book format only allows the surface to be scratch as to the topics and Christian response. 

 This review (and numerous others) is also posted at

http://viralbloggers.com/2009/09/the-justice-project-edited-by-brian-mclaren-elisa-padilla-ashley-bunting-seeber/comment-page-1/#comment-470

Several years ago a hydroelectric dam was to be built across a valley in New England.  The people in a small town in the valley were to be relocated because the town itself would be submierged when the dam was finished.  during the time between the decision to build the dam and its completion, the buildings in the town, which previously were kept up nicely, fell into disrepair.  Instead of being a pretty little town, it become an eyesore.

 Why did this happen?  The answer is simple.  As one resident said, “Where there is no hope for the future, there is no work in the present!”

The world may seem like a fearful despairing place and we may sometimes may feel like we are at the end of our rope, BUT WE ARE NOT A PEOPLE WITHOUT HOPE.  Salvation has come to us in Christ.  Grace continues to approaches us daily in Christ.  Mercy and forgiveness are God’s eternal gifts through Christ. 

We are people of hope.  So let us live courageously!