A Unique Mold
First Sunday of
Advent
November 30,
2014
Isaiah 64:1-9
1 Corinthians
1:3-9
When
I was growing up my grandmother made my birthday cake every year. Every cake was different, extraordinary,
extravagant. We never knew what it would look like until she brought it out,
yet year after year she managed to surprise and awe me. It was not until I was
older and started cooking that I realize the labor of love she did every year.
The amounts of detail, the sheer magnitude of each cake were not just hours,
but days of commitment and patience. It was always fun to hear about her
inspiration and how she finagled some odd shape to complete her vision. Her drive and determination is something I
will never forget, her love for my sister and I, is truly apparent.
As
I get older its funny how memories like that one take on a different meaning, a
deeper meaning even. My grandmothers molding and shaping is just what God does
for each of us. Our Isaiah passage starts off rather harshly proclaiming that
"we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds
are like a filthy cloth." Yet this proclamation is not the end for any of
us. Rather this glimpse into the vengeance of God is a reminder that while we
are unworthy and could be considered as such God loves us and cares for us
anyway. The prophet Isaiah ends by appealing to God to not judge to quickly
because we are his, we are clay worked by the potter’s hands.
We
are clay my friends! This means we are dirty, imperfect, and malleable. We are
to be shaped and reshaped, formed into the image of God in this world. This is
a process. How easy would it be for God to create us all from the same mold?
Yet the world would be boring! We are each promised and called to amazing works
in Christ, but what does that even mean?
It
means that we are not just followers but each partner’s with Christ. To be a
partner means that we work together to a greater purpose. In our New Testament
lesson Paul is writing to the people of Corinth. This community is full of many
people from all walks of life. This community is by no means perfect but Paul
is proud of them. I love how he addresses his brothers and sisters "I give
thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given
you in Jesus Christ". Always? Really? But friends how different would this
correspondence be without this piece? Paul gave them encouragement, reminded
that God is faithful, and reminded them that they have been blessed with a
variety of gifts. But "I give thanks for you"-was it even
necessary!?!
I
puzzled over this as this week unfolded. With the decision in Ferguson, the
violence that has followed, protests during Black Friday, holiday travel and
thanksgiving all occurring in this world how do these words ring true today??
As I explored this text and read commentaries and articles about these
passages, one person wrote "We might employ this affirmation during Advent
in place of the exchange of peace. Who knows what might happen if the
strangers, friends, enemies and indifferent parties who make up any
congregation on a Sunday morning could say this to one another, and discover
that they mean it?"
Oh
beloved that shook me, how can I thank God for someone when they have taken a
life? How can I thank God when a parent is mourning the loss of a child? How
can I thank God for someone when I don't have my stuff together? How can I
thank God for someone I don’t like or agree with? How, how, how?
But
how can you not?
Friends
these scriptures are meant to shake us, wake us from our complacency and call
us to question what we consider "normal". But they are also meant to
provide us with one of the greatest tools, hope. In my email to the young
adults this week I wrote, "Yet amid my confusion, frustration and anger
there is a glimmer called hope...I continue to hope; hope for a world full of
equality and love, a world of peace and joy, a world that God will be proud of."
During
this season of Advent, this season of preparation, how do we as a hopeful
people live out what God has called us to do? Beloved we live, we trust in Gods
power and presence, we take on an attitude of clay-ready to be shaped for what
God needs us and calls us to do.
Friends
when we leave this place I challenge you to adopt a thankfully spirit, one
where we greet each person, not just in this place but in every place, with an
attitude of gratitude. For in each of us is the desire for better, hope for
futures that look brighter than the dimness of today. I hope during this season
that when the star appears and wherever it leads us that we are transformed.
Creator God, you are the potter, we are the clay.
You form us in your image. Shape our spirits by Christ’s transforming power,
that as one people we may live out your compassion and justice in this world,
that as one people we may love one another, that as one people our actions and
interactions lift the realm of your peace. Amen
