Imagination

There was the struggle of getting something on the page, following all the rules about spelling, punctuation, margins, and form, while at the same time actually saying something.

No matter how diligent the effort, each student knows that it could be better.

And then there is that feeling of panic or terror as the deadline approaches, and it has to be finished.

Now multiply that by 70 or so times, to cover Sundays, Lent, funerals, and special events, and that is what a pastor does week after week for 40 years or more.

And it is not just any written work, but a work with a particular kind of imagination: a word-picture of the now and not yet of the kingdom of God.

It involves that vision- thing.

A sermon is not a statistical summary or a historical report, it is not mere opinion nor reflection of what everyone else is saying.

After careful reading of the scriptures, thought, and prayer, with a large dose of humility it is taking a deep breath and saying “Thus says the Lord....”

So why would anyone volunteer for the task set in front of John?

You only have to wake up the people for what new thing God intends to do, likely roiling the religious establishment and developing powerful enemies, and do it in a memorable and effective way.

“Repent, for God has forgiveness for you, and you sinners really need it!

Prepare the way of the Lord; now the long-awaited actions are going to happen, with you involved.

Wake up!”

His was a particularly effective blend of perspiration and imagination; he worked hard at it and did so with a clear vision of what he was doing for the kingdom of God, and why.

Of course it got him in trouble with powerful people, but he did not turn back from the course.

How is it that Christians are able to persist in the middle East and elsewhere while under tremendous pressures to conform to something other than the Lord God?

It is because of the sermon that they write with their lives is inspired by the vision of the kingdom of God.

They know that God will ultimately and completely win, despite so many circumstances that are currently so dismaying.

In the meantime, though, there is that business of the refiner's fire that Malachi mentions.

Every three years or so our catechetical trip to SE PA includes a visit to Hopewell Village, a national historic site which was an iron-making plantation in colonial America.

Iron ore, charcoal, and limestone were dumped into the top of the furnace and set on fire.

The great water wheel ran the bellows that forced air though the mixture so that the fire turned to a raging inferno that melted the iron and separated out the junk and impurities which combined with the limestone.

At the right time, the melted iron was drawn off to make useful items and the slag was thrown away.

Life was hard at Hopewell, but not as difficult as in ancient times in southern Israel, where archaeologists have discovered smelting operations where the methods used probably poisoned and killed the workers at a relatively young age.

There is nothing neat and tidy about this refiner's fire that Malachi proclaims.

It is difficult and costly.

One would engage in the process only because of the vision of what could be produced at the end.

And Malachi specifies that end: “...until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.”

--Not in an attempt to manipulate God, so that when I do good things for him, he does good things for me.

--Not out of guilt, to pay off the judge for some infraction of the law.

--But rather in thankfulness for past blessings and in anticipation of what wonders lie ahead.

We're not there yet.

There is so much that needs to be done with us, so much refining needs to happen.

One of the functions of this Advent season is to remind us that when we get to thinking that we have made some great progress by ourselves, we are mistaken.

A hint of this is hidden in Isaiah's words quoted by John the Baptizer:

“every valley shall be filled and every mountain shall be made low....”

With modern machinery we may do a little more leveling than in ancient times, but it is still a very small effort against an impossibly large job.

It seems likely that John's hearers might be reminded of the return from exile in Babylon in the 5^th century BC, and hope that God's actions this time will make it an easier time for the establishment of God's kingdom.

But there could be an additional level of meaning.

The valleys to be filled in may be the valleys of the burning garbage heaps, Hinnom, the place where child sacrifice was practiced during the times of the apostate kings.

The mountains laid low might refer to the high places where the worship of all sorts of gods went on.

One might ostensibly worship the Lord God, and be tempted to still keep a little shrine to another god or two, as an insurance policy, just in case.

John saw that this was an inadequate response to the Lord 's blessings: I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other. !

How many children are sacrificed on the altar of convenience in our day?

How many other gods are worshiped on these days of “buy me more stuff”?

Indeed, there is much refining and purifying that needs to happen in our lives.

The image on which we need to focus is much different that what we regularly see.

And also, we know that it is budget-adopting time today.

The budget is a tool to help us project the image of the kingdom in this community and around the world.

It helps to shape our work.

Each of us will be writing a sermon this week.

One or two of us will be writing with pen and paper, but all of us will be writing a sermon by what we say and do day by day.

These sermons will be a blend of work and imagination; the hard work of reflecting that image of the rule and Lordship of Jesus that is breaking into this world.

Each day it will be inadequate; we know it could be better.

There is a new deadline every day, and yes, it is terrifying when we know that our lives are to proclaim “Thus says the Lord...”

But, we join Paul ... “confident in this, that the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ,”

and pray: Come Lord Jesus and do all this, calling, purifying, and saving us. Let all expectantly say... Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.