what to do while waiting

from my sermon on 12/13/09, Luke 3:7-18

What then should we do? Do you enjoy what you do? I do. Several of you have said to me, "You look like you really enjoy preaching." I do....I love to tell good news....even when the bread is crummy....like last Sunday. I have been trying to welcome everyone to the table so we came up with gluten free bread. For two months there was no problem, but last Sunday it was crummy. Oh, there were crumbs on the floor and crumbs floating on the top of the juice in the chalice. One of you told me there was a little boy who was coming to take communion last Sunday who just grimmaced and closed up his body as if to say, "Please don't make me!" I have my best people working on it so that we can have communion on Christmas Eve. As I got to reflecting on it though, I thought this business of welcoming all, of communicating grace, of sharing good news is messy.

What then should we do? I love to preach good news. I have rarely begun a sermon with "You brood of vipers...who warned you to flee from the wrath to come....the axe is already at the root....you will be burned with unquenchable fire. I did't attend the John the Baptist school of preaching! I have some good news for us. I am preaching about waiting this Advent. I have a really good punch line in this sermon if you wait for it. While we wait, I want to share some of what this church has been doing.

Sunday night, the Fellowship Class had their annual progressive supper. Many left their cars here and carpooled. At the end of the evening, someone came and hit our church sign out front in view of these members. It caused considerable damage to the sign and to the car which had to be towed away. Well, the police got involved, and the insurance companies, and bids on the sign. It a bit funny to me....the Trustees had already been talking about getting a new sign. Someone said to me, "I didn't know how far you would go to get a new sign, Lynn." Well, I am trying to say that it has been involved this past week....and we haven't even begun to talk to the city of Westlake Hills yet. It's messy. What then should we do?

On Monday night, I went to the UM Women Christmas party. It says in our book of Discipline that the pastor is a member of the UMW, so I went, and I was the only rooster in the hen house. The food was good and the conversations were wonderful. What really got me was on the kitchen counter were sign-up sheets for visiting the homebound and taking casseroles to new moms. Then on the dining room table were cards to sign for those in the military and those in the hospital. In the business session, they talked about the Storybook Project. Some ten of our women have already been trained, and a dozen more are nearly certified. Every other month, they go to the women's prison in Gatesville. They go with books and a tape recorder. They sit with the women in prison and help them record the story. Those recordings and books are then sent to the children of the women, so that the children can hear their own mom read them a bedtime story. It's messy. What then should we do?

On Tuesday, after staff meeting, Terrie joined us. Terrie is our chair of the Service Committe, and she wanted us to bless all of the stuff you have given for Christmas in October as a part of the worship service. She wanted us to give thanks for the mountain of blankets, mittens, gloves, baby formula, and diapers we have given. Pushing back from the other side were those who said we didn't want the altar area cluttered, lookin junky. So you see what we did at Children's time, how we rolled in the cribs full of stuff to be blessed. It was messy. What then should we do?

On Wednesday, Robert and I visited the tax appraisal district. When we bought Bldg. M, we said that we wanted to use it for missions, so we let Mobile Loaves and Fishes and SCORE use space in it. Only problem is that there were tax implications. So we wrangled with the authorities...really they were very accommodating, looking for ways to work with us. We will need to rewrite some documents. It was messy. What then should we do?

On Friday, I helped at Habitat for Humanity. I found out that in the Austin area this past year, 26 new homes have been built and 22 older one rehabbed. On Friday, we were trying to finish up this church's second house this year so it could be a part of the blessing of 9 houses this coming Saturday. We were putting in lock sets, baseboards, and dabbing on paint. It was cold and wet...it was messy. What then should we do?

If you are getting this, waiting is not easy. It has an active component. We are leaning into the reign of God. We are anticipating it, acting like it is already here. It sometimes gets messy.

I love how Luke says it, that the crowds or the multitudes were coming to be baptized. Not just the religious leaders, but everybody, even toll collectors and mercernary soldiers. They knew that baptism was not the end. They asked, "What then should we do?" John says, "Don't quit your day job, but do it as a Christian. Take care of the basic needs of others....food and clothing. Don't use your power as an excuse to abuse. It's not about greed; it's about generosity. It's not about a budget; it's about your baptism. It's about your identity in Christ. It is who you are. It's messy."

At the end of the week, I picked up some commentaries. I always like to see what others are saying about the scriptures. One really got to me. He said:
--remember the word "do" is the same word that is translated at "bear fruit" or "produce" when it talks about the trees. We say, What then should we produce or what fruit should we bear?
--any English majors here? You are going to love this word "should." It is in the subjunctive mood. It is not in the imperative, as in you ought. We say, If I could do anything, what might that be?
--"we", you know how I like to talk about the importance of community. You cannot do this Christian thing by oneself. It is a team sport. It is "we....we...we....all the way home."
--"what", we need to keep asking so that we don't become isolated and insulated up on this hill in West Austin. There is the danger that we become too comfortable here. What then should we do?

Hiliary helped break my shell open this past week. She has a real passion for the poor. She is drawn to help our neighbor across I-35, Parker Ln. UMC. They have poverty at their doorstep. They have an afterschool program for the kids nearby. The director of the school just turned 21 yesterday. I love her name. Her name is "Angel." Hiliary is helping to mentor Angel. Angel is teaching Hiliary about poverty. Hiliary gave me a book she got from that church, "What every chruch member should know about poverty." I will give an illustration from the book: when it comes to food, if you are poor, you ask "Is there enough?" If you are middle class, you ask, "Is it good?" If you are privileged, you ask, "Is it well presented?" Where are you on the scale?

Pastor Tina of that congregation said that there were 3 kids who were fighting to get the dish washing job for after school program. They wanted the job so that they could lick the plates. it is messy.

Christ has come and is coming. What then should we do?