2011: Year In Review

Reflections on the Joshua Tree

This week, I had the wonderful opportunity to view the gorgeous desert sights of Joshua Tree National Park. The mountains were stunning as sunlight danced across them in various angles throughout the day. Desert animals were intriguing as they scurried across the paths of the hiking trails. And human interaction with the land was striking in its longevity and variety, including petroglyphs from a thousand years ago and a gold mill from the Depression era.

Each of these aspects of the park was fascinating and beautiful, but nothing grabbed me as deeply as the Joshua Trees themselves.

The experience of seeing hundreds and thousands of these unique trees throughout the park was not only intriguing but also meditative.

As we drove along the roads in the Mojave Desert, the breadth of the variety of these trees was truly striking. Each tree was shaped with brilliant uniqueness. Some had many branches lifting upward. Others had branches extending sidways, as if they were permanently blown in a hurricane. Some trees grew in a strange pattern with all the branches reaching downward, like an upside-down tree that might be created in some Dr. Seuss illustration!

Some trees were just beginning their life, stretching upward with no real branches yet. Others were clearly seasoned trees in the park with many years of life - with so many branches in so many different directions that they seemed to resemble Medusa with wild hair all over the place!

The variety was stunning and beautiful. I couldn't seem to take my eyes off those trees.

And some questions arose within me as well: What is behind all this variety? Why do these trees grow and branch so differently?

My intrigue with these trees seemed to create the possibilities for several parables to emerge within my thinking. And this was especially true when I learned how these trees grow.

Actually, Joshua Trees are not technically trees. They are yucca plants. And the branching patterns are not based on genetics or even largely on environment (after all, how could the patterns be so diverse in such a small environmental area?) The branching patterns are based on the blooming process.

After growing for about a decade without branches, Joshua Trees blossom in the spring. As soon as the flowering process is complete, the blossoms drop off, and from the dried stem, a new branch will appear. And that branch will grow with strength and vigor - at times in a completely different direction than might be expected! And years later, that branch will form a blossom, and yet another branch will move in its own direction!

Each branch is made of the same material as the trunk, and even though an individual branch is not as large as the trunk, it grows with the same strength. I find this aspect to be powerful.

This process seems to be a good reminder that we are always free to move in a different direction in our lives. Perhaps our lives began with difficulties and challenges that were larger than anything we could have created. At other times, we have made own mistakes through ignorance, disobedience, or short-sightedness.

And perhaps that new direction can begin with an unexpected blossom. Maybe it would be helpful for us to keep our eyes open so that we can see unexpected blessings and opportunities for growth. From these gifts, our lives can branch in new directions.

I wonder how that might happen in a new year.

-Renee Roederer, Director of Young Adult Ministries, Pasadena Presbyterian Church

Prayers for Syria. . .

These days our thoughts and prayers are with Syria as protesters continue to struggle against government leaders. Syrian security forces opened fire on thousands of protesters today, and six people are reported dead. The Arab League is monitoring the situation today in an attempt to end the Syrian regime's violence on its citizens.

The U.N. estimates that more than 5,000 people have been killed in the uprisings since March. We invite you to keep aware of the tense situation in Syria and to be mindful and prayerful for the people living there. Here are some news stories:

Syrian Troops Kill Protesters Despite Monitors

Amid Bloodshed, Hamas Prepares to Leave Syria

AL Mission Arrives in Syria For Ground Monitoring

Young Adults in the News!

As a young adult community, we want to stay aware of the particular gifts that young adults bring to our world as well as the particular challenges that young adults face. We are also curious to learn about culture and trends among young adults.

Here are some recent news stories and blog posts that concern young adults:

Study Shows Young Adults Use Apps to Achieve Personal Goals in 2011

Texts From Physicians Can Reduce Unhealthy Drinking By Young Adults

Young Adults More Willing (and Likely) to Break IT Rules

Elderly and Young Adults Can Be Just as Quick in Decision-Making

Rose Parade: Tickets Still Available!

We are eagerly anticipating the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade at Pasadena Presbyterian Church! The parade will take place one week from today on January 2, 2012. This is a great way to begin the new year. We give thanks and look forward to the celebration!

Pasadena Presbyterian Church is located on Colorado Boulevard - the street of the parade! And that means that we have grandstands with great views. We are still selling tickets!

Our tickets cost $65 per person. Clergy and Active Duty Personnel (with ID) can purchase tickets at $45 per person. In addition to grandstand seating, we provide parking passes at $20, and indoor bathroom facilities are included with ticket admission. If you're interested in purchasing tickets, please visit the church offices this week. We are located at 585 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena. If you have any questions, please call us at (626) 793-2191.

We hope to see you on January 2nd! Happy New Year!

Reflection: Our Birth

John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave the power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or the will of flesh or the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

He came down to us. He became one of us. And in this coming -- in this becoming -- Jesus Christ, Word made flesh among us, makes all things new.

Jesus Christ, New Life made incarnate among us, makes our lives new.

We've seen and heard the message of his birth as it has been swirling around us for weeks. Mixed among the messages of consumerism, perhaps present alongside decorations of Santa and reindeer, the story of Christ's birth has been present with us. The words have been read, sung, and spoken again. Perhaps we're very familiar with this story. Or perhaps the story of his birth is relatively new to us. But for all of us, we have an opportunity to hear and experience this story again in a new way.

Jesus was born - not in comfort or safety, not in a sterile or healthy environment, not in a place of honor or outward celebration- Jesus was born in a dirty holding-place for animals, in a make-shift place of necessity when his poor parents had no other place to go. And yet, somehow, in that filthy, lowly environment, unfit for any child to be born, a child was born, the very one who would be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." This one was found among us, and he makes all things new.

He has made our lives new. In his birth, the Word of God became flesh and made humanity new. That was true in the holy, sacred, and filthy moment. But he's also making our lives new now. In this room today are people gathered together - people who have known the sacred and holy, the miracle of life-change, sometimes right in the midst of hardship and necessity, sometimes right in the midst of filth, sometimes in situations unjust and unfit for humanity - the very humanity that Jesus came to save. They and we have experienced our lives made new.

It didn't happen only in a place for animals long ago, it didn't happen only at some past moment in our lives, but it's happening right now. Our lives are being made new right now. We are being born. Part of the message of the incarnation and of Christmas is that we are being born. Who knows? Perhaps we're being born right at this very moment.

So go ahead. Bring your hardships, your places of deep longing, your places of desperate necessity, bring your places that feel dirty and hard. Bring them to this moment - this holy, sacred moment, - and be born anew here. God knows those places. God knows them intimately. God is calling you - all of us! - into new life precisely in those places. God is giving birth to you, new life to you, transforming all of those places.

Hear the holy words again: The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave the power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or the will of flesh or the will of man, but of God.

Our birth is found in this birth, our birth and our life is wrapped up in this holy life that God revealed. Jesus comes to save us, to send us in a new direction, to give us new life in that new direction.

So be born and be turned in that direction.

In this season and in the new year that is coming, let your lives be made new. Perhaps you have an unfulfilled yearning or dream. Invite God into it. God is already there, but for your own sake, invite God into it. Even in the invitation itself, God will transform that yearning and that dream.

Maybe you want to be of service. Perhaps you want to participate in a ministry that new to you, even a bit outside-of-the-box. Enter a new time of discernment and see where God calls you and us.

Perhaps you want to express love more deeply - to the people who are most beloved to you, but also to those who are outsiders in one way or another. Be born in a way that invites and sweeps up others into the life-born richness of love.

Perhaps you want healing for your life. Maybe you need it with all there is to need. Bring those needs and those places of desperation to God. And bring them here. If you and I are being born as children of God, we're brothers and sisters of one another. In our birth, let's turn toward one another with new life and healing. Let's follow this one who was born for us.

Let's hear the good news again:

He came down to us. He became one of us. And in this coming -- in this becoming -- Jesus Christ, Word made flesh among us, makes all things new. May it be. Amen.

Renee Roederer, Director of Young Adult Ministries, and the Community at Pasadena Presbyterian Church

Just For Fun: Christmas Carol CAPTION FAIL!

Being An Innovative Church!

We believe that Pasadena Presbyterian Church is in a season of dreaming. Who are we? Where have we been together, and how are we called to move forward now? How is God stirring our hearts and minds?

As part of our ongoing mission and call, we want to be Sacred Space for the City. And in that posture toward the people and neighborhoods around us, we are curious about innovative forms of ministry and mission that are happening within our larger PC(USA) denomination and in other churches and community groups. We are also interested in questions being asked around us - by those who have a long-time faith commitment and by those who do not.

We have much to learn from everyone!

Here are some news stories and blog posts. We hope they will call us anew to be an innovative, creative church that meets the needs of people around us!

Church Throws Party for Neighborhood

Ringing In a Record: Presbyterian Breaks Record for Ringing Salvation Army Bell

Street Youth Ministry: Love and Faith on the Streets of Austin

Ten Church Models for a New Generation

Reflection: Keep in Readiness!

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,make his paths straight” ’

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

Well, he was an eccentric one, John the Baptist.

Picture him: An ascetic wilderness man. A brazen preacher, crying out -- dressed in camel’s hair of all things, eating dinners of locusts and wild honey.

Yeah. He was an eccentric one, John the Baptist.

But it’s not as if people shied away from him, running off to avoid encountering someone so weird. The text in Mark describes droves of people going out to meet him in the wilderness – the whole Judean countryside and all of Jerusalem. This eccentric preacher had an audience. He had the attention of the people.

And what was he doing out there? His actions were eccentric too. He took people into a simple river of all places – the Jordan River to be exact – and he made it a place of ultimate life-change. It became a place of repentance, which literally means to turn around. He brought people into the water, and even though their feet probably moved back home in the same way they got there, in a very real sense, they left moving in a different direction.

And as strange and unique as those actions may sound, there was probably no place more significant to do them than the Jordan River. That river had a history with the people in their sacred stories. The people told each other the story of how the Israelites had miraculously crossed the Jordan River under the leadership of Joshua, finally entering the Promised Land after wandering around in the desert for forty years. That certainly sounds like a place of new direction.

The people told each other the story of Naaman. Maybe you remember that one from Sunday school. Naaman was a commander of a foreign army who developed leprosy. He was told to go to the prophet Elisha in Israel for healing, and Elisha gave him an eccentric command too: “Go, wash in the Jordan River seven times and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” Naaman thought this was a ridiculous command, and he was angry about it too. But he eventually entered the waters, and left the Jordan River restored. Again, that certainly sounds like a moment and place of new direction.

So as eccentric as his actions were, John the Baptist was tapping into a tradition, and he was transforming it anew for a present movement of life-change.

But beyond what he was doing out there, what was he saying out there? His message was eccentric too. All four gospels associate John with a passage from the prophetic book Isaiah. John is the one in the wilderness crying out, “Prepare the Way of the Lord! Make his paths straight!” And this message of preparation wasn’t passive by any means. The message was to “Repent!” – “Turn around!” Pay attention! “The Kingdom of God is at hand!” Something incredible, life-altering, and cataclysmic was on the horizon. Get ready! Enter this water and move in a different direction! Leave here, and live in expectation!

And although each gospel tells John’s story with different nuances, they all speak of him as a forerunner to Jesus – one who is preparing the way for Jesus’ ministry. Here John says, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” What an eccentric message! “Get ready! Prepare! Because another Baptizer is coming – one so powerful that I am not worthy to bend down before him and even untie his shoes. Get ready! Repent! Turn around! Make your life a preparation to meet this one who is coming! The Kingdom of God is at hand! It’s more near than you can imagine!”

What a strange, eccentric message.

And so here we are in the Advent and Christmas season of 2011, and we’re profoundly distanced from whatever happened historically in that river. And yet, we’re somehow connected to it. Maybe it’s more near to us than we can imagine.

As eccentric as he is, John the Baptist is an important figure in the Christian tradition, and in the season of Advent, we always consider his witness. And it makes sense to do that. Advent is a season of preparation, and John the Baptist teaches us to prepare the way for Christ’s coming.

This week, as I looked at this passage, I learned something that peaked my curiosity. The word that gets translated here as “prepare” – Prepare the Way of the Lord – can also be translated, “Keep in readiness.” “Keep in readiness.” That’s strange too. It got my attention. It adds a new layer of meaning,doesn’t it? “Keep in readiness the Way of the Lord.” We’re called to prepare. But we aren’t called to prepare once. We’re called to “Keep in readiness.” That means we’re preparing all the time. That must mean that Christ is coming to us all the time. We need to be ready – ready to prepare his way and ready to recognize him as he is graciously revealed to us again and again.

And our faith teaches us to follow his Way. Somehow the Christian life involves preparation for the Way, and once that Way is revealed, we’re called follow in it. We prepare. . . we follow. . . prepare. . . and follow. These are somehow the rhythms of Christian living. These are somehow the rhythms of Christian discipleship.

What a strange, eccentric way to live.

Karl Barth is a man who wrote a lot of books. A lot of books. In his professional life, he wrote eight publishable pages a day. Can you imagine doing that? That added up to volumes and volumes of writings – writings of theology to be exact. Karl Barth is generally characterized as the most influential theologian of the 20th-century.

In his study, Barth kept a painting of John the Baptist right where he could see it. And in that painting, John stretches out a finger – a very long finger pointing away from himself. In the fourth gospel, John says about Jesus, “He must increase. I must decrease.” Barth kept this painting in his study to remind himself that all these volumes and volumes he was producing shouldn’t ultimately point to himself but to Christ, the one he was writing and writing about. John was Baptist was preparing the way – keeping in readiness – always pointing and witnessing toward the one who was forging the Way for us to follow. Karl Barth to be this kind of witness too.

So here’s a question: Do you ever think of yourselves as witnesses? Well, let’s face it. The words “witness” and “witnessing” get a bad rap sometimes. Maybe they conjure up pictures of people who think they’re always right, have everything figured out, and want to hit people over the head with it. Images of “Bible Thumpers” come to mind – people who seem to use their faith against others, pushing them down -- people who seem to use faith as a weapon against those who share their own humanity.

But maybe there’s a way to witness that affirms what is most human.

Have you ever considered how important you are? You -- you strange, unique, eccentric people? Have you ever considered it? Have you ever considered that you have been chosen and empowered to be a witness, a witness like John, pointing to the one who forges a Way for us to follow, pointing to the one who shows us what it means to be fully human? We point to Jesus Christ who Karl Barth called the True Human. We’re challenged to be human in the same way Christ lived his humanity. That’s a witness. And though we stumble and make mistakes, we look to him as our example. He leads us in our attempt to be human. We keep in readiness for him. We expect him around every corner. And when we find him, we’re called to follow him..

And where do we find him? Don’t we somehow find him in the lives of our fellow human beings? “As much as you do good to the least of these – the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned – you do it to me,” Christ says. Christ is always beyond us, but don’t we somehow also find him in each other?

Friends, wherever there is need, wherever there is humanity, there is Christ. Keep in readiness to receive him always. Wherever there is greed, wherever there is malice, wherever there is selfishness, wherever there is hatred, wherever there is sin, there we find actions that are inhuman. Point to Christ in those places. Witness to him there. Point to Christ in the inhuman systems such as these. Point to Christ in the inhuman places within yourselves. And keep in readiness for him to show up again and again. Be ready for him to baptize you into a new direction.

Have you ever considered how vital you are? Have you ever considered that your need and your humanity witnesses Christ’s presence to the world? Your lives and stories just might reveal his Way to others. Keep in readiness. Prepare his Way. Watch for him to come to you – to enrich you, to turn you around - any second. He is more near than you can imagine.

What wonderful, eccentric things to believe!

Have you ever considered that you are ministers, ministers and proclaimers of good news? You are part of a faith and a tradition that takes part in eccentric actions. How strange they are!

How eccentric it is that we baptize each other? How strange it is that we’re told to remember our baptism – that we’re invited to ultimate life-change every day as Christ comes to us ever anew. Have you ever considered that baptism is a type of ordination? You have been ordained to live as Christ’s faithful ministers– as God’s own children – when you were brought to waters of baptism by others.

Some of you were baptized as infants or young children, some of you as adults, and there may be some of you who haven’t experienced the physical act of baptism, but who are nonetheless beloved children of God who are being called ever anew to keep in readiness and follow.

In baptism, you have been ordained as ministers and witnesses. How will you live out that identity? How will you keep in readiness, always remaining open to Christ’s presence, which will form and transform that identity? How will you live out such a strange, incredible calling?

Well, you will certainly be eccentric ones, Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

Picture yourselves: Loving, living into a human calling, wearing deeds of justice and kindness, eating dinners of fellowship and broken bread.

Yeah. You’re eccentric ones, Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

Keep in readiness.

Amen.

-Renee Roederer, Director of Young Adult Ministries at Pasadena Presbyterian Church

Young Adults in the News!

As a young adult community, we want to stay aware of the particular gifts that young adults bring to our world as well as the particular challenges that young adults face. We are also curious to learn about culture and trends among young adults.

Here are some recent stories that concern young adults:

Young Jewish Adults Celebrate Hanukkah as Point of Pride

One Third of Young U.S. Adults Have Been Arrested: Study

Study: Most Young Adults Go Online for No Reason

Young Adults Drop Exercise With Move to College or University

Christmas Services at Pasadena Presbyterian Church!

We will have several special services at Pasadena Presbyterian Church as we celebrate Christmas this weekend!

Christmas Eve

We invite you and your friends in the community to join us for two meaningful Christmas Eve services this season.

At 4pm on December 24th, we will have a special family-friendly service. All are invited to hear our children sing in the Rainbow and Carol Choirs. They will present "Fiesta!" a Mexican legend of the poinsettia. We are grateful for all the ways that children lead us in worship at Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

At 9pm, we will have a Candlelight Communion Service. There will be special music by by the Kirk Choir and the Van Etten Handbell Choir, and Dr. Mark Smutny will preach.

Christmas Day

As a multicultural congregation, we will worship on Sunday, Christmas Day, in three languages.

The English-language service will be held in the sanctuary at 10am. The focus of this service is carol singing, so please come ready to celebrate with us! Renee Roederer will also share some words of reflection.

The Spanish-language service will be held in the Freeman Chapel at 10am. There will be singing and a message from a special guest preacher. We also celebrate the great ministry of important annual event called Happy Birthday Jesus which was held on Sunday, December 18th.

The Korean-language service will be held in the sanctuary at 12:00pm. There will be joyful praise music and a sermon by Pastor Hyun Sung. There will also be a festive meal held after the worship service.

We invite you to join us this weekend!

North Korea: Kim Jong-Il Dies

We are mindful and prayerful for the people of North Korea this week after the death of long-time ruler Kim Jong-Il. We pray for support among the people and for justice in the nation. We pray for safety for the most vulnerable people in North Korea.

Here are some news stories concerning the death of Kim Jong-Il:

Kim Jong Il's Death Elicits Plea for End to Human Rights Abuses in North Korea

Mystery Surrounds Son Set to Succeed Kim Jong-Il

Inside Secretive North Korea and More

Mystery Surrounded Kim Jong-Il's Health

Text of NKorea's Statement on Kim Jong-Il's Death

The Mystery and the Majesty!

We invite members and friends of Pasadena Presbyterian Church to join Korean-language ministry in a Christmas Celebration THIS FRIDAY NIGHT at 8pm!

There will be a time of praise music together, and the Trinity Choir will perform 30 minutes of beautiful music from the Christmas Cantata "The Mystery and the Majesty" by Joseph M. Martin.

Please support and enjoy the wonderful music ministry of The Trinity Choir!

L.I.F.T. Bible Study Tonight!

We're excited to gather again this evening for the L.I.F.T. Bible Study at Pasadena Presbyterian Church!

L.I.F.T. stands for Living In Faith Together and is a small group for young(er) adults at Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

We meet on the first and third Wednesdays of every month from 7-8:30pm in Room 201 of the Parish House at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. PPC is located at 585 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena.

This is a Bible Study where people are invited to share their lives in conversation - coming to the scriptures with questions and celebrating the insights we discover together. This is a safe place to explore faith and to discover the ways that God is calling us as individuals and as a community.

You are invited!

If you would like some more information (particularly if you're curious about where to find Parish House 201) please email Renee Roederer at renee.roederer@yahoo.com.

Young Adults in the News

As a young adult community, we want to stay aware of the particular gifts that young adults bring to our world as well as the particular challenges that young adults face. We are also curious to learn about culture and trends among young adults.

Here are some recent stories that concern young adults:

No Stigma Group Helps Young Adults With Mental Illness

Lack of Jobs Drives Young Adults Back Home

Marijuana Use Among Young Adults at Highest Levels

Candlelight and Carols - This Saturday!

We invite people from Southern California to join us at Pasadena Presbyterian Church on Saturday night at 7:30 pm for an annual tradition: Candlelight and Carols!

The 66th edition of this Pasadena tradition will include music by the Kirk Choir, Pasadena Singers, Rainbow Choir, Carol Choir, Van Etten Handbell Choir, an instrumental ensemble, and the Sanctuary organ.

The Kirk Choir featured work will be "Veni Emmanuel" by local composer Elizabeth Sellers, and there will be plenty of audience caroling, as well.

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS to this concert that has been a Pasadena tradition for more than half a century. A festive dessert reception will follow the concert.

Admission is FREE!

Sermon: What Shall I Cry?

Pasadena Presbyterian Church

Sermon • 12/4/11 • by Robert D. Thomas

“What Shall I Cry?”

Scripture: Isaiah 40: 1-11

Elder Robert D. Thomas is chair of the Personnel and Music Committees and produces the church’s weekly bulletin. He is presently completing the Commissioned Lay Pastor program at Dubuque Theological Seminary.

___________________________

“Comfort, O comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 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. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry out!” and I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings; lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!’”

See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

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.

(Isaiah 40: 1-11)

Last night at Totality, Ted Bruins remarked that we were reading the wrong Isaiah scripture today; given the widespread power outages after Wednesday night’s windstorms, we should have chosen Isaiah 9: 2 (Those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them has the light shined).

Nonetheless, today’s lesson is among the most familiar texts in the Old Testament; the 23^rd Psalm and The Ten Commandments are better known but these come close. The first eight verses are the basis for today’s processional hymn, Comfort, Comfort Ye My People, and the passage is also used in our final hymn, Prepare the Way.

Of course, this scripture is particularly familiar to those who love classical music. Librettist Charles Jennens used verses 1-5 and 9-11 in the first part of Handel’s oratorio, Messiah, and Brahms set verses 6-8 in the second movement of his German Requiem. The texts sound a mite different from what Mary read this morning because Jennens used what we now call the King James translation and Brahms used the German Luther Bible.

Nonetheless, this is VERY familiar scripture and, as often happens, our eyes tend to glaze over when we hear it read or even sung. Of course, if you really want your head to spin, try reading the 15-page introduction in The Interpreter’s Bible to what we have for centuries called “Second Isaiah. The commentator spent three pages trying to find a diplomatic way of saying one of his predecessors didn’t seem to have a clue about the subject of the authorship of multiple Isaiahs.

However, I think there are three things about Isaiah Chapter 40 that speak to us here at PPC today.

A word — a BRIEF word — about the three Isaiahs. I say “brief” because you could probably construct an entire seminary class out of this issue. For the greater part of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, most scholars believed that two or possibly three different people or even teams of people wrote the book of Isaiah. In the last two decades, there has been a swing back to the concept of one author or perhaps editor, only, despite the generally recognized belief that the first 39 chapters and the last 27 chapters appear to have been written in different centuries.

Dr. George W. Stroup of Columbia Theological Seminary and others believe that “First Isaiah” (i.e., chapters 1-39) was written in the eighth century before Christ’s birth, during Assyria’s attack on Israel, and that “Second Isaiah” (i.e., chapters 40 and beyond) was written in the last half of the sixth century during the exile from Judah.

More importantly, writes Stroup, are the theological differences. “What is announced in First Isaiah is God’s judgment by means of Assyria on Israel’s sin. Hence the news in First Isaiah is not good … The news in Second Isaiah is altogether different: not bad news but good. The message of Second Isaiah is good news about God’s comfort, and God’s promise of redemption for a people who have lived in exile for 150 years! Theologically that means God’s judgment always serves the more encompassing purpose of God’s forgiveness and redemption of the sinful community.” ¹

One should note that Dr. Stroup’s distinctions are not exact; the descriptions of the Savior who is to come in Isaiah chapters 9 and 11 are among the most hopeful verses in the Bible.

So the first thing to say about this passage is that the prophets are using very different language and thinking in the final 27 chapters of this book. Whatever the reason, it’s radically different from the earlier chapters.

Second, the message in chapter 40 begins with God offering to the Israelites words of comfort: “ ‘Comfort, O comfort my people,’ says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.” Some comfort! That sounds like pretty harsh judgment to me — Israel has received DOUBLE for all of her sins. How comforting is that?

But now, in fact, does comes the comfort, and a new commission: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 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. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

What I find interesting about this message is the time frame. When the prophet proclaimed these words of hope, the residents of Judah had been in exile for at least 150 years. That means that they had never known anything BUT exile. Seen in this context, the words, “Comfort, O comfort my people,” seems like an outrageous statement — at best — even more so when you consider that it would take perhaps six more centuries before the one who embodied that hope would come to earth in the form of Jesus, the Christ.

This, I think, accounts for the inclusion of II Peter as today’s Epistle lesson in the Revised Common Lectionary. Last week, we heard apocalyptic words from the Gospel of Mark. Today’s lesson from II Peter 3:8 says: “Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise as some of you think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.” However long it takes, the salient point is that God was speaking words of comfort through Isaiah.

The third way this passage spoke to me as I prepared this sermon was the command beginning in verse 9: “Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings; lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold, your God!’ ” (5) Our offertory anthem today puts it this way: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be lifted up ye everlasting doors.”

That, I submit, is our challenge to meet at PPC in the year of our Lord 2012 and beyond. We need to find new and innovative ways to lift up our heads, our hearts, and our voices — both as individuals and as a congregation — and to do so in winsome ways, reaching out to people who have perhaps never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the unique way it is proclaimed here at PPC.

Our task is to say — not to the cities of Judah but to the cities of Pasadena, Altadena, Arcadia, Highland Park and throughout our region — “Behold, your God!”

That’s what the pledges will receive shortly mean. Our pledges are not simply ways to balance a budget; they are to help us to find and fund new, vigorous ways to prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight in the desert where we live (figuratively and literally) a highway for our God.

We do all of this trusting that God is in charge and that Christ will come again — perhaps soon, perhaps not — but in the fullness of God’s own good time. That’s what we will say again this morning as we lift the bread and cup in communion: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” That is the ultimate expression of God’s comfort to all of us. Amen.

_______________________

¹ George W. Stroup, J.B. Green Professor of Theology, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decauter, Georgia. Quoted in Feasting on the Word. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors. © 2011, Westminster John Knox Press. Lectionary Cycle B; Second Sunday of Advent.

Sermon: The Arriving One

Mark 13:24-37

‘But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened,and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. . .

It's hard for us to identify with this scripture passage. It's difficult for us to connect with it.

This is not the typical, everyday faith language that we use, right? I mean, let's be honest here: How many of you can imagine yourselves sitting down in a nice, serene coffee shop with a good friend, and when that friend asks you, "What role does faith play in your life?" or even "How has Jesus changed your life?" how many of us could imagine taking a sip of that coffee. . . and then launching into the question with cataclysmic language about the destruction that is soon-to-be-awaiting the sun and moon? How many of us would do that? Or how many of us would lovingly reach our hand across the table and say, "Well, you know, for me, it's really been like a fig tree. . ."

It isn't as though this passage has nothing to teach us. It has much to teach us! But let's be honest from the beginning. It's hard to identify and connect with this scripture passage, at the very least, on a surface level. This isn't our typical, everyday faith language.

Then, of course, there's this too: When we hear or read scripture passages like this one, we often associate them with people and religious movements that teach about the immanent destruction of this world. Sometimes, these people and religious movements even put a date on that destruction. Just out of curiosity, I find myself wondering, how many of us thought of Harold Camping when we heard this scripture read aloud a few minutes ago?

Harold Camping and Family Radio recently ran a huge campaign to let people know that the rapture was going to happen on May 21st of this year, followed by the cataclysmic destruction of the earth and nearly all of us (after all, this rapture was going to be extremely exclusive, limited to those who believed that May 21st was the very date at hand). But to the embarrassment and dismay of Camping and his followers, May 21st came and went this year, and when Harold Camping recalculated his numbers and then pushed for an October 21st date, that day came and went too.

In response to these teachings and to this very visible campaign, many of us wanted to quote a sentence from today's scripture lesson and say, "No one knows the day or hour." And yet the very scripture we find ourselves wanting to quote is part of a larger framework that makes us a bit uncomfortable because we associate it with movements like these.

This scripture lesson has much to teach us, but it's hard to identify and connect with it. It's not our typical, everyday faith language. And perhaps we don't want to be associated with such language because we don't support how some people tend to use it.

And then, more honesty. There's this too: We just came out of one of our favorite holidays. Only a few days ago, many of us sat around tables filled with turkey and some of our favorite side dishes. And while some of our relatives may have annoyed us, many of us were grateful to experience several of our favorite traditions.

And then Thanksgiving suddenly rolled over into the Christmas season, at least as far shopping is concerned. I would say that this happened overnight, but if you've been following the news, you probably know it rolled over this year in a matter of hours, because stores began opening at 11pm on Thanksgiving night. We naturally want to bring this Christmas transition into our faith life too. So we come to church after this great transition, excited to begin Advent, and this is the scripture lesson? Seriously, Renee? Seriously, organizers of the Revised Common Lectionary? Really?

There are many reasons that it's difficult to identify and connect with this scripture passage this morning. But let's hang with it because this scripture passage does have much to teach us. And it is part of the language of Advent.

The Bible is a canon of scriptural writings - writings that use different voices, faith perspectives, and genres of stylistic language to give expression to who God is and how God claims us, loves us, and works for the ultimate good of creation. This passage is part of a genre in the Bible, and that genre is called Apocalyptic Literature. It might not be our typical, everyday faith language. It's not even the dominant language of the Bible, but it is a particular type of language that has been used at different moments within faith-history - within faith crises - to express deep convictions about who God is and how God cares for those who are enduring intense suffering.

The Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Scriptures contains large sections of Apocalyptic Literature. Revelation, the last book of our Bible, is classified as Apocalyptic Literature. And I guess that makes sense. The original Greek name of that book is simply "Apocalypse," taken from the very first word of the text. And then there's today's lesson - this chapter from the Gospel of Mark. This is Apocalyptic Literature as well. In fact, since it's just one chapter long, Biblical scholars like to call this chapter "The Little Apocalypse."

It may be cryptic language. It might be a bit foreign to us. But "The Little Apocalypse" makes big claims about God. And as we begin the Advent season, we can add our voices to these claims. We can add our convictions to this proclamation: God arrives. God shows up.

Apocalyptic passages of the Bible were often written centuries apart from one another, but in every case, the authors and the communities of faith behind these writings were experiencing political oppression or religious persecution. And most often, both were happening at the same time. The ability to practice one's faith was at stake. Human lives and human wellbeing were at stake.

So authors and communities of faith used cosmic language to speak to one another in symbolic terms. God is powerful and mighty, and though human powers of oppression and persecution are threatening to destroy us, God has not forgotten us. God will arrive. God will show up. God will save us. God will make all things right, transforming our lives - transforming the entire cosmos.

God is arriving. Watch. Wait. Endure. God is about to show up.

This is what the genre of Apocalyptic Literature conveys to us. Just when we think we can't endure any longer, God arrives, ready to make all things new.

Some of us have experienced political oppression and religious persecution on a large scale. Most of us have not. But we have all suffered. We have all wondered in dark times if we've been forgotten or if we're even going to make it one more day. The particulars may be different for each one of us, but as a community of faith, we are connected in that kind of experience.

We've probably all had a moment - maybe some of us are having a moment right now - where we've been in so much pain and confusion that it feels like our very cosmos is being torn apart and the world is ending.

It hurts. It doesn't make sense. But thanks be to God, the conviction of the Christian faith, is that God is arriving. God is showing up - God is willing to show up! - precisely in the messy, insecure places where we think we can't endure on more day.

God is arriving. Watch. Wait. Endure. God is about to show up.

That is the language of faith. That is the language of Advent.

With the Christmas shopping season encroaching other seasons of our lives and other holidays, perhaps it's helpful to say that the liturgical season of Advent is not Christmas. It's not. We're going to wait a bit longer for that, and we actually have a church-wide liturgical season for that. It's actually called Christmas. :)

Advent is connected, but Advent is its own autonomous season with its own language and its own questions to be asked of us. That's how we get scripture texts like this one in the lectionary. Advent says that the God who was, is, and is to come is the very God who loves us enough to make our lives new, the very God who is arriving into our pain and into the pain of the world, the very God who judges the oppression of this world so that it ceases and is no more. That's what Advent is about.

In 2007, when Advent was about to begin, I was in one of the most formative periods of my life. On one hand, it was such a rich time, but on the other, it was also one of the darkest, most difficult periods of my life. Months before in February, I had learned that someone deeply close to me was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, and the dreaded word 'terminal' was part of the diagnosis. The news of this impending loss was more than enough for me to carry, more then enough to make my last year and a half of seminary a challenging time. But on top of that, as many of you know, grief is often cumulative. A new wound sometimes brings up intense emotions of unresolved grief. And that's what happened to me. During that period, I remember telling one of my seminary professors, "I feel like this news has brought up everything that's ever upset me from any point during my life."

I brought those emotions with me one night into an Evening Worship service that was held weekly in our church for college and seminary students.

The sermon addressed much of what I needed to hear. There was a refrain of a few of a questions that was voiced several times. "Where will we see the Kingdom of God among us now? Who will be there when we see it, and where will it take us?"

It was our custom to share communion every Sunday in this Evening Worship service. On this night, as we transitioned from sermon to communion, my emotions felt heavy.

But then I overheard something. It was simple. It was such a simple moment that transformed where and how I was. I've never forgotten it.

"Will the communion servers please come forward?"

Laura and Amanda received the bread and the cup from the table and stood in front of us. We were all invited to come and receive. The person leading music approached them first, and Laura and Amanda voiced the typical liturgical words. "The Body of Christ." "The Cup of Salvation."

And since I was sitting in the front row, I overheard something. Amanda turned to Laura and asked, "Why do we always whisper it?" "I don't know," Laura said back to her, still whispering.

Then they started doing something very simple, but for me in that moment, it was transformative. They started speaking their words more substantially, as of they were something to actually proclaim, as if this moment of bread and cup was a gift of love that was actually meeting us in the present moment. "The Body of Christ." "The Cup of Salvation."

So when I went through the line and stood in front of Amanda, before she could speak, I said, "I want you to really say it."

"THE CUP OF SALVATION!!!!" she said. She practically shouted it.

Naturally, as I dipped my bread into the cup, my first response was to start snickering. Amanda wasn't trying to be disrespectful or silly, though the gesture was a bit playful. Like so many moments of play, the gesture carried meaning to me.

I sat down in my chair after that, filled with transformative joy. God had arrived. God had shown up. God had been there all along - not apart from my pain, but right in the midst of it. God wasn't far off, waiting to swoop in in some distant future. God was in front of me right now in THE CUP OF SALVATION of all places! God had encountered me with love and presence right in the midst of some playful but profound words.

How will God arrive for us in the season of Advent even now?

Watch. Wait. Endure. God is about to show up.

Let's walk the road together and see it for ourselves. Amen.

-Renee Roederer, Director of Young Adult Ministries, and the Community at Pasadena Presbyterian Church