Sermon Details

“ROAD BUILDING”

A sermon preached at the Mint Methodist Church Exeter by the Minister, Rev Andrew Sails

on Sunday 4th December 2011, the 2nd Sunday of Advent.

“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 made low.”

Isa 40:3-4

Let’s start with the historical context - we are about 550 years before Christ

In 587, Jerusalem the great city of Israel had been captured, the temple destroyed, the city devastated, turned into the ground zero of its age – a smouldering wreck. And the leaders of the nation had been sent into Babylonian exile (587-536 BCE).

Meanwhile back in Jerusalem a poverty stricken and demoralised rump eke out an existence and lick the wounds of guilt and wounded pride.

And from exile by the waters of Babylon, the prophet Isaiah sends word back to Jerusalem: Your city may be in ruins, but - comfort ye, comfort ye my people -

for God says to the people of Jerusalem - I have not deserted you in your hour of need – I will return to be with you in the ruins of your shattered life, just as I was once with you in the pomp of Solomon’s glory.

This is God’s word - not just for Jerusalem 500 years before Christ but for every time and place, not least our own.

So often we seem to live in the ruins of life, personal, communal or global. But God comes to us in our hour of need as he came to Jerusalem of old.

Let me mention three very different issues arising in the last few days:

1. This week we have shared in two funerals, for Alan Rushton and Annie Grimes, and also had news of the death of Sino’s bother Bongi Bhebhe in Zimbabwe. Also today we dedicate hymn books in memory of Ruth Carter, as we also recently dedicated hymn books in memory of John Usher

Scripture says Hear the word of comfort - God will not turn his back on those who die or those who mourn - the end of earthly life may seem to be a final defeat, an end of hope - but out of the ruins of the end of mortal existence, God in Christ will being new life in Christ.

So when our loved ones die, we miss them, and inevitably we are sad - but we also sing, for we know that death is not the end.

2. This week we held a District Synod here at the Mint - one session was led by our

Connexional Officer dealing with sexual abuse - she said that statistically, we should expect

10% of any congregation to have suffered sexual abuse in childhood. Every Sunday morning we have an average of 180 people in this building - so that means I am almost certainly speaking right now to more than a dozen - maybe up to 20 folk who have been abused. If that is you, it is quite likely that you don’t know who any of the others are - you may well never have talked about it to anyone - yet there may be ways in which you are still struggling to rebuild your life many many years on. If that is you - please talk and share if it helps you - we are here for you - If that is you, hear the words of God to the ruined Jerusalem - I will build again from the ruins of your past!

3. Or think of the ultimate earthly ruin - the destruction of our planet.

John Prescott and David Attenborough are an unlikely pair if ever there was one - yet both have been on TV this week speaking about climate change - the very globe on which we live in danger of collapse and destruction - as John Prescott put it so bluntly, because of the greed and intransigence of the world’s richest countries.

And Scripture says to our world - Hear the words of Comfort - I am a God who comes into the ruined places of life -

I come to be with you in your need.

It has been said that this is the first generation to understand the problem of climate change and the last generation able to do anything about it.

But even if the disaster seems irretrievable and irredeemable - if indeed through nuclear idiocy or climate warming greed we destroy the whole planet the whole human race - still says God - I come as of old, amidst the ruins of your existence -

and in this world or in the world to come bring life, hope and fulfilment.

So for us, as for Jerusalem of old -

the Scriptures offer us promise and challenge -

· the promise: God is coming - he will never give up on you.

· the challenge: Make him welcome - make straight the way of the Lord.

In the ancient world, the victorious general or emperor would return to his home city in great pomp - roads were often poor with potholes and suchlike. When the victory parade was expected, the road would quite literally be mended and damage made good.  The ancient equivalent of Council cleaning squads and red carpet when the royal visit comes to town.

Isaiah says - make sure the road is ready - make straight the highway.

It is of course a metaphor - Isaiah is not telling the inhabitants of Jerusalem literally to mend the road ready for God’s chariot -

We are aren’t asked to build a motorway or a high speed train link through the desert

What God is saying is this:

Just as you would do all you could to welcome the secular conquering hero, do the same in getting your lives ready for the coming of your God!

So what does it actually mean to “prepare the way of the Lord”?

– to fill in the valleys and flatten the mountains? It means building a world worthy of God

· It means making low the mountains of racism, of sexism and of homophobia, of sexual abuse and domestic violence, of international terrorism and state repression, of economic exploitation and materialism,

· And then there are the valleys –

for where a society has mountains of sin, there too inevitably are the chasm depths of sorrow and suffering – the vale of tears, the valley of victimisation, the grinding depths of poverty, the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

So, when as God’s people we are called to prepare the way of the Lord - This is not just a religious command

to sing and pray – (though that is part of it)

– it is a very practical, social, political command to love and change the world -

to make our world, our city, our neighbourhood, our family, our Church fit and ready for God.

That is what it means to prepare the way for God.

Though I might add, we also have to be prepared to change ourselves if we want to change the world -

There is a job of spiritual engineering to be done within our own souls – to bring down the mountains of our pride, the hills of our ambition, build up the valleys of despair or half hearted commitment.

Sometimes we are tempted to give up  -

far from preparing the way of the Lord, we find ourselves

raising the barricades, laying the landmines, blowing up the bridges - determined not to let our selfish comfortable word

be invaded by the Prince of Peace, the God of the Poor, the King of Righteousness. So our Advent challenge is this -

will we build up our defences against God

or fling wide the gates of our lives and hearts and our communities and make straight the way for his coming?

God in Christ never ever gives up on us.

I pray this advent we will not give up on him.

Never despair what can be done in the Lord’s name - In the words of Martin Luther King, our God

“is a God of power who is able to do exceedingly abundant things in nature and history. …The

God whom we worship is not a weak and incompetent God. He is able to beat back gigantic waves of opposition and to bring low prodigious mountains of evil. The ringing testimony of the Christian faith is that God is able.   Just trust in God.”

Congratulations to Gill and Harriet and Rachel, our three intrepid abseilers who abseiled down a high building yesterday to raise money for the YMCA

Many of us would think twice - probably more than twice - about going over the edge of a 50 foot high building -

Half way down don’t you think -

what happens if the rope comes loose at the top??

actually you only do it if you trust the rope and the guy in charge.

God says - get to work - it may seem difficult, dangerous, even reckless - but I have hold of the other end of the rope - you are safe with me -

So in conclusion -

God calls us to a life of spiritual mountaineering and civil engineering - we are called to climb to the heights of the mountains of sin

and clamber down to the depths of despair -

to move amongst the craggy landscape of our rotten and ruined world - and not only go to those places

but to transform them and make them worthy of God - In God’s name and in God’s power we are called

to nothing less than to make the mountains low and raise the valleys up - to prepare the way of the Lord -

For be assured, our Lord is coming,

Let us make sure that our world and our lives are ready for him!

Order of Service

Hymn STF 180  “O come O come”

(during this hymn the first two Advent candles will be lit)

Prayer  (including a prayer of dedication for new Words copies of "Singing the Faith" given in memory of Ruth Carter [1913-2009]).

(Young people leave for their sessions)

Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11 and  Mk 1:1-8

Hymn STF 264  “Make way” Sermon: “Road making”

Hymn STF 720 “We turn to you”

Prayer of Confession

Minister: God of glory, you call on us to prepare the way for Jesus' birth by helping to make smooth the rough places in people's lives, by seeking to reduce the mountainous problems some people experience.

All: Forgive us when we fail to become involved with the pain of other people by pleading seasonal busy-ness.

Minister: God of glory, you call on us to prepare the way for Jesus' birth by being agents of comfort and mercy.

All: Forgive us for all the times we put our own personal comfort before that of others, for confusing being comfortable with being comforting.

Minister: God of glory, we confess that all too often we do spend more time on making preparations for our own pleasure than preparing for Jesus to be born anew in our hearts and lives - in our families, our communities, our nation.

All: Help us to prepare ourselves faithfully to receive the Christ-child. Minister: May the God of all healing and forgiveness draw us to himself, that we may behold the glory of his Son, the Word made flesh, and be cleansed from all our sins through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Prayers of Intercession and Lord’s Prayer

Peace

Leader: The peace of the Lord be with you

People: And also with you

(we share the handshake of peace with each other)

(The Young People and Members of the Korean congregation enter)

Hymn STF 401 “Come sinners to the Gospel Feast”

(During this hymn the offertory will be taken and presented)

Holy Communion [The congregation remains standing.]

Leader:   May the Lord of Advent be with you

People:   And also with you

Leader:   People of God, lift up your waiting hearts

People:   We lift them to the One whose heart longs for us

Leader:   People of God,

give thanks to the One who draws near to us

People:   Let us come to God's Table to offer our thanks & praise

Leader:   We give you thanks and praise, O God, for the night is nearly gone, and your light is dawning in the darkness.

Through your prophets, you have given us visions of our approaching salvation. In Jesus you have called all peoples to yourself, raising him from the dead, and promising a day when he will come to gather up your children and bring them home – a day when the weapons and

works of darkness may be no more, and all may be securely clothed in Christ Jesus himself. So with all you

People (sing twice): Holy, holy, holy

(STF 779) With joy my heart adores you

My heart cries out to worship you: Holy are you, Lord.

Minister:  Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take this and eat it. This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'   In the same way, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this in remembrance of me.’ People:   Christ has died.   Christ is risen.

Christ will come in glory. He is Alpha and Omega,

the beginning and the end;

the King of kings, and Lord of lords.

Minister:  Like those that look for the morning, so our souls wait for the Lord.

People:   Be known to us in breaking bread.

[The congregation sits to sing (Tune STF 777):]

People:   Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom Jesus, remember me

when you come into your Kingdom…. (repeat) The Distribution of Bread and Wine

[all who seek to love the Lord Jesus are invited to share in bread

and wine  - please come forward when the steward beckons your row] Final Prayers

All: We thank you, Lord,

for feeding us with the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation.

Keep us in your grace

and at the coming of Christ in glory bring us with your saints

into the life of your kingdom. Amen.

Hymn  STF 564 O thou who camest

Blessing