Great Visions,
Little Tasks
A Sermon of The Rev. Dr. David A. Killian, Rector
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
Second Sunday of Advent
December 5, 2004
Text: Matthew 3:1-12
I
Last Sunday, I asked the small congregation at the 8:00 am service to reflect with me on the meaning of Advent. We had what might be called a "dialogue sermon." One or two people recalled what Advent had meant for them as children, a couple talked about how they were observing Advent this year. Then one person asked, "Just what is Advent? What does Advent mean?" I answered that the word "advent" means coming; the Advent season is when we reflect on the coming of Christ -- past, present, and future. Past: when Christ was born at Bethlehem; present: that Christ may be born again in our lives now; future: when Christ will come again.
Today's first reading from Isaiah is about the future, when God will bring justice to the earth. Isaiah tells us that God "will kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them." That's a picture of the world to come, a beautiful vision of harmony, of the way things ought to be. It is a powerful vision, which has gripped the human imagination and inspired artists such as Rousseau's famous painting of "The Peaceable Kingdom" where the cow and the bear, the lion and the ox, and the child and the adder all living peacefully together.
The second reading from Romans also is a powerful vision of harmony -- this time not among animals, but between Jews and Gentiles. St. Paul proclaims hope to the Gentiles, who formerly were segregated and excluded from the covenant, but who now are welcomed into God’s family. This is not just a vision of the future, but of the present. Christ is coming now to break down the barriers and to admit Gentiles to the promise.
John the Baptist in today’s Gospel passage also has a big vision of the future when God will put an ax to "the root of trees; every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." "His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and he will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
II
Now, if John the Baptist were to come into this church today -- dressed in camel’s hair with a leather belt around this waist, eating locusts and wild honey, and talking about a winnowing fork in his hand and burning the chaff with unquenchable fire, what would we make of him? I know we would be welcoming, because we are very welcoming parish, but we would probably say, "He's not our typical Episcopalian." He's not a typical Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist or Baptist either. John the Baptist is a bit extreme. He was extreme in his own time, and yet he had a vision of justice, of God overturning the tables of the arrogant and proud, of God standing up for the little guy, of God righting wrongs and bringing fairness to all who had been maligned and mistreated. John is the powerful prophet who proclaims that you can mess with me only so long -- and some day justice will come.
That's the message I want to take from John the Baptist this Sunday. All of the horrors in the world: the children who die of AIDS, the innocent people caught up in war; the families trapped in poverty, the children who never get a good education and a decent chance in life -- God cares for them. Those who do not get a just hearing in this life will one day have their case vindicated. Count on it.
III
Sometimes, we look at the world and its problems and we wonder what we can do to make a difference. We have strong feelings about what needs to be done but we seem far removed from the levers of power. What can we do? It reminds me of the joke comedian Bill Cosby tells to explain the peace and harmony of his marriage. He says: The reason that my wife and I get along so well is that we divide the responsibilities in our family. I make the big decisions and she makes the little decisions. I decide whether or not we should renew our country's trade agreement with China or Japan; whether we should lift the embargo on Cuba; and whether we should start a new peace initiative between the Israelis and the Palestinians. My wife makes the little decisions, such as which neighborhood we are going to live in, which house to buy, and where the children are going to school.
This Advent, I suggest that we hold onto our big visions of justice in the world -- even if we do not control the levers of power to put those visions into practice. But that we also do something very practical, local, and specific to put our vision into action. We may not be able to change the whole world, but we might change a small corner of it.
For example, you may have seen in Tuesday's Boston Globe the story about "students at North Cambridge Catholic High School, who gather one day each week at 7:30 am.: dozens of boys in neatly pressed shirts and ties and girls in jackets and knee-length skirts. Once a week a fleet of vans and buses whisks the students away to various companies around Boston and along Route 128, and they work an eight-hour day. The students don't get paid; their school does. The students have signed over their paychecks to the school, raising about $1.1 million, so the school can remain open.
"There are a growing number of high schools that pair religious studies and work. In the case of these students, there is a strong likelihood that their school would close if the students didn't bail it out. The students are working so that they will have a school to go to." The students are not changing the whole world, just a small corner of it. Now, it may seem like a small corner of the world to us, but it is a big corner of the world to these students.
Isaiah, St. Paul, and John the Baptist each had a great vision of the future when God's justice would reign, hostile nations would make war no more, all of God's children are treated with respect and dignity, the hungry are fed, the naked clothed, the sick and those in prison visited, and all of God's people are filled with joy. May that vision, beautiful and powerful as it is, inspire us to do something practical, local, and specific this Advent season to bring God's love to our small corner of the world.
Amen.