Cry Out!

Luke 3:1-6

 Here we are in the second of four Sundays of Advent. This week I want to encourage you to cry out! Make your voice be heard! Lift your voice. don't be shy. Say what you gotta say! When we have something on our heart that is important, it should be said. The good, the bad, the ugly. Whatever it is that you feel compelled to say, cry it out!

Let me tell you about Nathan. Nathan was a man in his early thirties. He lived at home with his parents, worked at Little Caesars, volunteered in his community and was loved by many, many people. Nathan, in all the time I knew him had significant health problems. Since the time he was a baby his whole life was one medical crisis after another. They cried out! They prayed to God for healing. They cried out! They praised God for healing. When things were going well with is health, it got to the point that they would all prepare for the unknown next thing that would happen because experience had taught them that there would always be a next thing. It the four years that I knew him he almost died twice from inexplicable internal bleeding. In May of 2010, right around the time that we got the call that Eli had been born, I also got a call that Nathan was sick. I went with his family to a hospital in Lansing. Tests were ran, then a biopsy was done. Then the diagnosis came. Liver cancer.

In November of that year I helped carry Nathan's dad carry him into the family home so that he could spend his last days on this earth in a familiar place. He was gone by the weekend. .

I officiated his funeral and the place was packed. Nathan touched many lives. His parents were obviously devastated. But his mom told me that if the same thing had happened 10 years before, both she and her husband would not have been able to cope at all. It was in the past 10 years that their faith life really started to blossom. They weren't new Christians. They were Christians that at some point decided that their faith life was something worth deepening and developing. When I think about the things that get me down and frustrate me, I think of my friends and the strength that God gave them. And I find strength. I tell you the story of Nathan and his family because it is a time in this world when God acted. When they came to the end of their own strength, God held them up. When they grew tired, God helped them along. It happened in a year that Barack Obama was president, Rick Snyder was elected governor of the state of Michigan and I was the Pastor of the Greenbush United Methodist Church.

The eternal God was active at a particular time and a particular place. Yes, Nathans life ended earlier than most. But the miracle is that he has eternal life through Jesus Christ. Another miracle is that his parents and all who love him have the hope of reunion in the life to come. Still another miracle is that we can live in hope and confidence in this life because of what Jesus has done to assure us of the life to come. Its a miracle that his mother and father can think back on those days and smile knowing that God was there.

As it is written in Scripture:

So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Holy Scripture is a record of people crying out to God. It is a record of God's action in this world. It is the story of how God was active in history and I the lives of individuals. Our faith also tells that story. It tells the story of redemption, of regeneration, of forgiveness, of starting over, of being holy, of being pure. Its a story of grand ideas and of our eternal purpose that the stories of scripture tell. But it's more than that! In our Gospel lesson from the book of Luke it says that it was in a particular time and in a particular place. It was when Herod was ruler and it was when Pontius Pilate was governor, God did something. God was active through John who would later be called the baptist.

It was John. It was a particular man. It was Zachariah's boy! He went out to a particular place, to the region around the Jordan and he was telling people to turn from their way of living and turn toward God and to receive the forgiveness of God. All this was to fulfill what God had said through the prophet Isaiah. And then the writer of the Gospel quotes Isaiah.

He was saying, 'we were waiting for it. We were expecting it. We were taught it by our religious leaders. And now that I saw it, I am going to tell people about it; I'm going to write it down; I'm going to cry it out because I want you to know about it.

So yes. We are going to witness. We are going to tell people about what Jesus said in the Bible. We are going to tell people about what Jesus did in the Bible. But that won't mean a thing to most people unless they know that all that makes a difference in your life. Yes we cry out to Jesus. We cry out to Jesus with our hurts, our joys, our worries and our victories. Cry out to Jesus with all those things! But don't forget to cry out FOR Jesus. Don't forget to tell people about what Jesus has done for you. Don't forget to tell about what Jesus means to you; what the difference Jesus has made in your life.

 God is not closed off. God is not dormant. God is active! God is dynamic! God is the Eternal One! God created the heavens and the earth with action of a spoken word. God is still creating. The potter of this earthen clay is still molding and forming, kneading and working.

How is God acting in your life right now? How is God speaking to you today? The words from the prophet Isaiah come through the experience of John the baptist and are before us today. “every valley shall be filled.” What are the low parts of your life? Where does the undesirable stuff settle? How can those places be filled? “Every mountain and hill shall be made low.” What are the obstacles that stand in your way today? What holds you back from living the way God created you to live? How can those obstacles be leveled? “And the crooked shall be made straight.” What is diverting you? What is distracting you? How can you be more intentional about getting to where you need to be? “and the rough ways made smooth.” The rough road is often the only rout available. Cry out to Jesus. He will be with you.  

On Kinney Down

As we are preparing for Christmas at our house, Jaylen has rekindled his love for the Christmas tree.  Jay Loves, LOVES the Christmas tree.  Last year he spread out his arms and made motions like he was hugging the prickly bows of this centerpiece of our living room.  This year we often find him lying on the arm of the chair next to the tree singing to it, touching it, rearranging the ornaments on it.  Sometimes things get knocked off the tree as he tries to squeeze in behind it.  I don't worry about any of that.  It's not that he is being careless, he is enjoying a decoration and a symbol of our faith like I have never witnessed before.  God is blessing him through visual, tactile and olfactory senses in a way that I wouldn't have anticipated.