Sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent
9 December 2023
Lessons: Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter
3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8 (Blue)
Key verses:
Isaiah 11:3:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight
in the desert a highway for our God.”
2 Peter 3:14-15a:
“Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things,
strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish, 15 and regard the
patience of our Lord as salvation.
Mark 1:2:
“As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘See, I am sending
my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;’”
Message
Let us pray
“Let the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my
redeemer.”[i] Amen.
Good evening. “BE PREPARED!” Can anyone tell me where you have heard that
motto before? [wait for responses]. Yes, indeed, it’s the Boy Scout motto.
When LTG/Lord Robert S.S.
Baden-Powell was asked the inevitable question of about this motto, “Prepared
for what?”, the founder of the worldwide scouting movement’s alleged reply was
“Why, for any old thing.”[ii] When writing his most famous text, Scouting for Boys, in 1908[iii], Baden-Powell explained
the meaning further, writing, “Be
Prepared... the meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by
previous thinking-out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so
that he is never taken by surprise.”[iv] Going on to say “you are always in a state of
readiness in mind and body to do your duty.”[v]
Truth be told, back what
seems many moons ago, and perhaps it was, I was privileged to have earned the
rank of Eagle Scout; Boy Scouts of America’s highest rank as young person. To say, after a military career and much of
my lifetime in some sort of service to the communities I have lived in, or been
a member of, that I was impacted greatly by the scouting movement would be a
tremendous understatement. I can still
point to lessons I learned while a scout that I use to this day: anyone want to ask me how to tie a two half
hitches knot? Or a taught line
hitch? Or maybe it’s how to stop someone
from bleeding? How about pitching a tent?
…
But beyond those tangible and
practical skills, the motto “Be Prepared” echoes regularly and constantly in my
life. Perhaps it’s a reason I am now
doing resilience engineering research and work, and am passionate about making
my community, our country, and worldwide civilization as we know it stronger,
as we contend with the effects of anthropomorphic induced climate change. Maybe it was because its come up over and
over again in my professional life by serving in such units as the US Second
Cavalry Regiment who’s motto, in French, is Toujours
Prêt, translated as “always ready”, and is what French speaking scouts say
around the globe for “Be Prepared”.
Maybe its because, I’m now a husband and a dad, so anytime we leave the
house as a family or I leave for a trip, I make many preparations to ensure we
have, what we need in case something, “any old thing”, happens while we are out
or as I am away. Or maybe, just maybe,
its because every year, on the second Sunday of Advent we hear the words of
Isaiah and John the Baptist calling us to “Be Prepared”.
We are now solidly in the
season of Advent. Advent is the season
of readiness, the season of preparation, the season of hope, and the season for
expectant waiting. For me, it also is
always a season of remembering and re-centering. It’s a time for reflection on the year that
has been, and a time to gain focus for the year to come. Today’s lessons, as I encounter them, bespeak
just that.
John, the cousin of Jesus
Christ, is out in the desert “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins.”[vi] Repentance is at once both backwards looking
(cleansing us of our sins) and forward looking (setting us on a new path
towards righteousness). It is both a
remembrance and a re-centering. But it
is a specific remembrance and a specific re-centering. It calls us to look back and seek out, as our
confession states, “what we have done and by what we have left undone.”[vii] When we compare ourselves against the
perfectness of Christ, of God, of the wisdom found in his law, we are sure to
find ourselves wanting; all of us.[viii] But it is critical that we do look back and
make this examination. And John, like
Isaiah, and all of the prophets, put this into specific relief. We have done our best to create crooked roads,
when God has called us to “make straight in the desert a highway”.[ix] Our remembrance in repentance is not merely a
look into the past but an adjudication, under the law, of our path to this
point. But that is not all repentance
is, it isn’t judgement, it’s something much more.
It’s also, critically,
re-centering. Repentance, in its more
literal sense, is about turning. As
Peter states in Acts, “Repent, therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may
be wiped out.”[x] Repentance is not just looking back, its not
just about the law. Its also about the
gospel. It’s about spinning to a new, or
returning again to a renewed, azimuth on our moral and spiritual compass that
points towards God. We need to, after
and while remembering, also seek out the Kingdom of God; our home in, with and
through Jesus Christ. And then head out
forthrightly on the path we are called to follow. To “strive to be found by him at peace,
without spot or blemish, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.”[xi]
Repentance, therefore, is
central to our Lutheran law and gospel principle. As Martin Luther once preached, “Behold,
herein you find the difference between the Law and the Gospel, namely, that the
Law commands while the Gospel gives all things freely. The Law causes anger and
hate, the Gospel gives grace.”[xii] Or as theologian Carl Braaten put it, “The gospel
is not a word from God apart from the law.
Law and gospel have different functions.
The law of God addresses each person through the Scriptures, their
conscience, and the natural orders of life in history and society. The law terrifies, accuses, condemns,
denounces, punishes, and kills. If this
was not true, the gospel cannot comfort, strengthen, forgive, liberate, and
renew.” “The gospel is not only a
promise of future hope, but also a proclamation of present grace. The gospel tells us that God makes and keeps
his promises – for us and for Christ’s sake alone.”[xiii]
As we listen to the words of
the scriptures today, we hear many promises that God will and is keeping. “He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he
will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom and gently lead
the mother sheep.”[xiv] “… for he will speak peace to his people, to
his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who
fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will
kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring
up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land
will yield its increase. Righteousness
will go before him and will make a path for his steps.”[xv] God is here and will remain with us, and he
is patient, as stated in the epistle today, “The Lord is not slow about his
promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to
perish but all to come to repentance.”[xvi]
So, what does this mean for
us? What do we need to do? Well, “be prepared”, of course. Well, maybe that is not right. One of the critiques one might have with the
scout motto is that it is not active enough to meet the challenge that John
calls to us to in today’s gospel lesson, or that Isaiah called to his people,
or to the words Peter offers in his letter.
No, to “be prepared” implies an end-state and a condition wherein you
can “be prepared” fully for all that has, is and will come along your way. I might posit here that we need to “be
preparing”; constantly, ever vigilantly.
The voice that is calling out in the wilderness to “… prepare the way of
the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God”[xvii] also directs that “Every
valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven
ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.”[xviii] So that, “… the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together.”[xix] In today’s parlance, God is intervening,
then, now, and in the future, in massive, earthshattering, and intentional ways,
so that we can remain fixed on the pathways we have, are, and will always be
called to travel on. So we cannot just
“be prepared” we need to, in order to enter into repentance, returning to our
baptism, to “be preparing” for Christ, and his Kingdom, in, with and through
all of creation including our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls. To paraphrase Baden-Powell’s words, “prepare
… by previous thinking-out and practicing how to act … so that [we are] never
taken by surprise”[xx] by what God, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit, have, are, and will do.
May this be a core part of your participation in the advent of God who
is coming, has come, and is with us now and always.
Amen.
[i]
Psalm 19:14
[iii]
Noted that this was after the Boer War, in which Baden-Powell had become
famous, but before the massive total wars later in the 20th century.
[vi]
Mark 1:4
[vii]
ELW, pp 117, rite of confession and forgiveness.
[viii]
Cf. Romans 3:23
[ix]
Isaiah 40:3
[x]
Acts 3:19
[xi]
2 Peter 3:14-15a
[xii]
Sermon for Palm Sunday, 1522, retrieved form https://crossings.org/selections-from-martin-luther-for-advent/
[xiii]
Principles of Lutheran Theology, pp. 139
[xiv]
Isaiah 40:11
[xv]
Psalm 85:8b-13
[xvi]
2 Peter 3:9
[xviii]
Isaiah 40:4
[xix]
Isaiah 40:5
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