Unworthy to Unloose His Sandals; Mark 1:1-11, Luke 7:36-50, John 13:3-17

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Going Home Another Way; Matthew 2:1-12

 One of the big pieces of local news for December was the opening of the Havelock Bypass.  Anyone been on it yet?  We went on part of it.  It’s definitely been a lot easier to get around town, but this coming week is full school and base traffic, so we’ll really see what kind of difference it makes in traffic patterns.  Is Miller going to get busier, like they think?  We’ll see.  When I travel, I like to take the scenic route when possible, especially if I can avoid the busy parts I-40 and I-95.  There are parts of those highways that are so crowded and scary that even going a slower road doesn’t make much difference in time.  Whenever I go to Fayetteville, I take backroads, and the difference is at most 5 minutes, but it sure is a lot more peaceful and scenic.  Jim’s cousins moved from Raleigh to Wilson.  Sometimes we take the interstate way to Wilson, but take the more rural highways home.  Again, it’s generally not more than a 5-minute difference, 15 if you get stuck behind the big farm equipment on the two-lane road.  In our gospel reading today, we see the wise men needing to go home another way.  In the life of our church, we are finding ourselves in a position of needing to go another way and getting ready to embark on that journey. 

            There are different reasons we find ourselves needing to go a different way.  Sometimes, we are forced to go a different way because of construction detours.  Sometimes, it’s a traffic accident.  It may be because of a washed-out road.  Sometimes we go a different way for peace and beauty.  Sometimes a different way saves us time.  For the magi, they were specifically warned in a dream not to return to Herod.  We don’t know how many of them had the dream, but it was probably more than one.  We don’t know what details they got in the dream, but they were convinced not to go back to tell Herod what they had seen and heard.  They didn’t go back through Jerusalem at all.  Because they didn’t go back via Jerusalem, it bought time for the Holy Family to flee to Egypt, even though it wasn’t very much time at all.  An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream that night telling him to flee immediately and take Mary and Jesus to Egypt because Herod wanted to kill the child.  They didn’t get much of a head start before Herod figured it out and made sure all the male babies 2 and under in Bethlehem were slaughtered.  Still, it was enough time for them to get far enough away to be safe.  They stayed in Egypt 3 or 4 years before resettling in Nazareth.  The magi’s going home another way was a life-saving detour for Jesus.  But I’m sure there were other benefits of the magi going home by another way.  Like the shepherds, I bet they told people of what they had seen. 

            We are called this year to go a different way.  We are embarking on a new journey as Trinity Presbyterian Church.  Some people in here are being called to go a different way in their personal lives.  2026 is bringing major changes.  Going a different way can be nerve-wracking as well as exciting.  It’s an unfamiliar road for most of us, and new for all of us.  It is a road we were called to take.  Part of it is life-saving.  We were getting a point of financial insolvency and possible dissolution.  We could have reached that point much sooner.  It wasn’t looking good on paper, but by your generosity, the session’s frugality, and God’s grace, we have been able to meet all of our obligations.  It’s been like the widow’s jar of oil that never ran out because she was faithful to take care of Elijah, the prophet of God.  But we are called not to survive or to coast but to thrive.  We have an opportunity to thrive.  We can be generous.  We can look outward.  We can try new things, and we must.  We will have to learn where to focus our attention.  We will need to decide what to take on the journey and what to leave behind.  We will meet new people along the way.  And we need to be prepared to see unexpected blessings. 

            There was a time when going a different way for me proved to be an unexpected blessing.  I was on my way to a concert in Ithaca, NY coming from seminary in South Hamilton, MA.  I had never been to Ithaca before, so I gave myself an extra hour of time, hoping to get there early and check-in to my hotel before the concert.  I was on a toll road interstate.  This is before cell phones and GPS.  I missed my exit due to poor signage, so I figured I would turn around at the next one.  That adds toll to the route, but I did it.  Then I missed the exit again! I was not going to pay that extra toll a third time, so I ended up getting off at an earlier one, pulled out my map and planned a new route, and commenced to driving on twisty, two-lane backroads.  As I was going up a hill, I noticed a ton of smoke in my rearview mirror.  Thankfully, when I go to the top of the hill, there was a gas station.  I pulled in.  And immediately 3 men came out of the gas station to help me with the car.  It was clear that a hose going to the radiator had burst.  An easy fix if you can get the part.  I always kept tools in the car.  If I had been on the interstate when that happened, I wouldn’t have been able to pull over easily and get help.  One man offered to take me to the auto parts store to get the new hose.  On the way to the store, we stopped by his house, and I got to meet his family.  In the car, he told me his life story, and I got to share a little bit about Jesus to him.  We got the part, and he helped me get it back on, which was much harder than getting it off because you had to trim the hose and wrestle it on the fittings in freezing weather in which snow had started falling.  We topped off the antifreeze, and I was on my way.  The time it took was all the cushion time I had allowed in my trip. It was getting dark by the time I arrived in Ithaca.  I pulled in to the concert venue just as it was about to start, not having checked into the hotel ahead of time. But I didn’t miss any of the show.  There was so much of the hand of God in what happened.  I didn’t end up broken down on the highway.  I had people to help me.  I got to witness to the stranger who showed me kindness. We don’t know what the unexpected blessings will be, but we can trust that God will give them to us.

            But there are also blessings that God has and is already giving us as we go another way.  Some of us have more experiencing the less travelled routes than others.  We aren’t given a GPS, but we have God to guide us.  We have the Holy Spirit to gift us.  The magi brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Jesus.  Joseph could’ve come home and thought their financial struggles were solved, but that gold was needed as they had to relocate to Egypt and live there for a number of years.  God’s timing was perfect.  God gives us gifts for the journey as well. How will God call us to use the financial resources He has given us?  I hope that you are still praying about what God wants us to do.  How does God want us to engage next with the Matthew 25 Vision of eradicating systemic poverty, dismantling structural racism, and building congregational vitality?  What new vision might the Lord be giving?  God has also already given us other gifts.  But there are some gifts we know that we don’t have, but we are going to need.  I have given you two footprints.  On one of your footprints, I want you to write a gift that you have that you can offer that might come in handy as we go another way.  Think of one word or a short phrase.  Maybe you have the gift of patience, enthusiasm, of being a calm presence, creativity, encouragement, friendship, evangelism, hospitality, networking…It can be anything you think that you have to offer.  During the offering today, I will collect these footprints, and we will offer our gifts to God and to each other.  But none of us have everything we need for the journey.  Think about what you don’t have that you need.  Maybe it’s patience, peace, courage, positivity, creativity, love, curiosity, guidance…again, a word or phrase that comes to mind.  This route is not necessarily a shortcut.  It might be the longer route.  What do you need from God to sustain you?  I’m going to collect these shortly and redistribute them.  Make sure you don’t get your own footprint, but you may receive a footprint from someone else who needs the same thing you do.  We are going to spend a couple of minutes in prayer for one another using these footprint words.  You don’t necessarily need to know whose footprint you have, but I guarantee what is written is something that is needed for the journey.  Maybe it’s a gift that you have.  As you pray for the person who needs it, thank God for what God has already provided.  I hope that you will take the footprint home that you have received and continue to pray about it this week.  Put it in a place where you will be reminded to pray.     

A Psalm of Praise for Christmas; Isaiah 63:7-14, Matthew 2:13-23

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His Arms Are Still Outstretched; Luke 2:1-20

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It's Almost Time!; Isaiah 66:7-17

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Tired of Being Walked On; Isaiah 55:12-23

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An Answered Prayer for Peace; Isaiah 33:2-24

 

It used to be and maybe still is that when asked what you would like to see in the world was world peace.  And truly, most of the world’s citizens just want to live their lives in peace.  They want to be able to raise their families.  They want safe communities.  We have a President who ran on being a peacemaker, but that certainly hasn’t happened.  I’m angry about Venezuela.  I’m angry about Syria, where historic Christian communities have been wiped out.  I’m angry about Gaza where only 500 Christians and one church building remain.  The Ukraine/Russia conflict continues to rage.  Militias in Sudan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other parts of Africa continue to terrorize citizens.  Myanmar has been in a state of civil war for decades.  Our own cities are riddled with crime and violence.  Children can’t even go to school without wondering if they will go home at the end of the day.  Yes, we need peace!  While some places have been more peaceful than others at various times, we have always lived in a world of violence and conflict.  The devil, whose modus operandi is to kill, steal, and destroy, is very active in the world.  People continuously come up with new ways to harm other people.  And still we pray for peace.  It is not a futile prayer, for it reminds us that there is only One who can bring lasting peace.  And one day, He will. 

            In verses 2-9 of today’s text, we have a prayer for peace.  Verse 2 gives us the specific request:  “O Yahweh, be gracious to us; we have waited for You.  Please be our strength every morning, and also our salvation in the time of distress.”  In this short prayer request is a cry for mercy.  Asking for mercy is sign of repentance.  The request for salvation is also from a people who have come to the realization that no one else and nothing else can save them.  Repentance is a key to answered prayers.  If you are harboring sin, don’t expect God to grant your request.  Self-reliance and trusting in other things or people are blocks to answered prayer.  If you can do it, then you don’t need God’s help.  If someone else can do it, you don’t need God’s help. The truth is without God, we can do NOTHING, but we must acknowledge that fact in order to see God at work.  When we reach the end of ourselves, God says, “Now I can do something!”

            Verses 3-9 provide the confidence in asking this request.  When God gets active, people pay attention!  When God starts to judge the nations, they scatter like, as our text says, “locusts rushing about”.  I would say like cockroaches when you turn on the light!  I think Eugene Peterson missed it when he didn’t use that as his metaphor when he wrote the Message.  He leaves metaphor out altogether.  God is going to collect what is His.  Verses 5-6 are written in present tense.   This is who God is even now.  He is exalted.  He is in control.  He reigns.  He fills Zion with justice and righteousness.  He is our stability.  His wealth is salvation, wisdom, and knowledge, all of which He graciously shares with His people.  And He values when people fear Him.  For us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  Knowing who God is we can make our requests confidently. 

            There is debate among scholars as to whether the brave men and peace ambassadors who are crying at their wits end because they have failed belong to Zion or Assyria or the other nations.  I don’t know that it matters who they are.  We all know that peace treaties get broken, negotiations fail, and covenants get broken.  We have seen Israel break them with Qatar, Yemen Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.  We have seen efforts in Ukraine and Russia fail.  We saw our own country fail miserably in Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam.  Often sabotage has come from the inside.  We have seen good people die and be permanently wounded in body, spirit, and mind.  We have seen honest people betrayed, people who have dedicated their lives in service to their country.  Only God can bring lasting peace.  If Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is not involved, peace cannot last.  Peace takes trust.  If people prove to be untrustworthy, then the best you can ever have is a temporary truce.  Broken covenants are hard to remake.  What’s so great about the covenants that God makes with us, is that He takes full responsibility if they are broken, even though we do the breaking, and He does not.  He did this in the Garden of Eden, when He promised the Seed of the Woman would crush the serpent’s head.  He did it with Abraham, when He alone passed through the sacrificed animals as a firebrand and smoking pot.  And Jesus Himself did it when, at the Last Supper, He gave us the New Covenant of love of the forgiveness of our sins, by the giving of His own flesh and blood for us and not requiring ours.  He is the repairer of broken covenants because He alone is fully trustworthy.  When we are praying for peace, we must put all of our trust in Jesus, and ask Him to take His rightful reign over the nations, in our communities, and in our relationships.  People will betray our trust, but Jesus is the restorer of covenants.  He is the only One who can make lasting peace. 

            In verses 10-16, we have Yahweh Himself answering the prayer for peace.  Because God’s people have humbled themselves, God declares that He will take action in such as way that His reign is made more evident.  God rightly says that we reap what we sow, and in our case, it’s not good fruit, but that which will be burned up in fire.  Just in case we think God is only talking about the people of the nations, He says in verse 14, “Sinners in Zion are terrified.”  But God tells us how to avoid the fire.  He says in verse 15-16 that the one who walks righteously, speaks with sincerity, rejects unjust gain (doesn’t exploit others and isn’t greedy), who agrees via handshake instead of bribery, who doesn’t engage in evil via gossip or gory fascination will dwell on the heights, will find refuge in the impregnable rock, and will have daily bread.  We heard that Jesus is the Rock in a weary land last week.  We avoid the fire by taking refuge in Jesus.  Paul puts it this way in I Corinthians 3:11-15:

"For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames."

  The only way we can be the kind of person Isaiah writes about in 33:15-16 is if Jesus is our foundation.  Then we do not have to fear the fire of God.  It is a purifying fire, not a punishing fire.  The peace we find in Jesus is not just peace between nations and people, it is eternal peace, peace within our own soul, and peace with God. 

            The final part of our text, verses 17-24, is an oracle of God’s ultimate answer to our prayer for peace.  Our eyes will see the King in His beauty.  Everyone will be able to understand everyone else.  There will be no violent people.  Jerusalem will be permanently established in peace.  Yahweh will be there, and He will be for us.  He will save us.  There is no need for boats as there will be no need for trade, because we will have no needs.  Everything will be provided for us by the Lord.  There will be no need for warships because the city cannot be attacked.  There will be no sickness.  The weakest will thrive in abundance.  And the people who will live in this new, peaceful Jerusalem are those whose sins have been forgiven.  Notice the language in verse 22—Yahweh is judge, lawgiver, and king.  These are words used to describe Jesus.  We can see the oneness of God.  Jesus is the same as Yahweh.  Jesus is coming again to reign on earth.  All will be peace. 

            On this second Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of peace, we join in the billions who’ve gone before us and around the world who have prayed for peace, knowing that one day soon, that prayer will be answered.  Peace begins with Jesus, not with us.  We can’t make peace without Him.  When we confess our sin, the failures of our efforts, our trying everything but Jesus, then Jesus will bring us peace and transform us into peacemakers, even then, we cannot bring peace on earth, but Jesus will when He comes again as King.