Fall on the Rock

Isaiah 2:2-12

 

        We will spend the entire month of December, minus about four hours, celebrating. Many of you began in November. I bet a few of you have already sent out your Christmas cards. Some of you have probably finished your Christmas shopping. There is a hard and fast rule at the Andrews’ house.  NO CHRISTMAS CAROLS UNTIL WE LISTEN TO ALICE’S RESTURANT ON THANKSGIVING.

        If your calendar resembles mine, your next evening with nothing penciled in, is December 26. There are obligations, parties, special events, travels and travelers that completely wear us out.  We come to church these four hours of Advent to escape the world, run away from the noise, slip comfortably into our pew and exhale. Church is our sanctuary. You are so starved for peace and quiet we could sing Silent Night every Sunday and no one would complain.

        That is why we observe Advent. While everyone else is sitting on Santa’s lap, cooking chestnuts, and decorating the tree, we will be asking the question, “Why did Jesus come?” We will sing those dark Advent hymns some swear were composed by the writer of Lamentations. We will comb the book of Isaiah looking for hints and clues concerning the identity of Jesus. We will talk about waiting and longing for something that has already happened. Where is the Joy? Where is the Love? Can’t we have at least one Ho-Ho-Ho?

        During Advent I often find myself as a majority of one. Most folks don’t want to be challenged by Christmas. They just want to endure it. Yet I feel duty-bound to take you on a journey that leads to Bethlehem and beyond. Who was Jesus? Why did he come? What does he expect? How might he heal our wounded hearts?

        I have always thought Advent is kind of like Tina Turner singing Proud Mary. John Forgerty and CCR performed the song adequately, but Proud Mary didn’t really capture me until Ike and Tina adopted it as their anthem. They made it rough. When Ike growls, “Left a good job in the city” I become very afraid. Then Tina rips the song wide open and punctures my soul. That is what Advent is supposed to do. Too often I fear we celebrate what God did without daring to ask why God did it.

        We read Isaiah 2:2-4 every year as one of the prescribed Advent passages. It is a marvelous poem describing the coming Messiah. “He will judge between the nations. He will beat swords into plowshares. He will not teach war anymore.” That is where we stop. All the responsibility is on the Messiah. He will come and everything will be fine. Only the text doesn’t end at verse 4. Listen to the next verse. “Come and walk in the light so you can see who you are?”

        Now Tina starts singing. “You tell lies. You worship money. You prepare for war. You worship power. And when the Messiah shows up, you run for a rock and hide.” No wonder we love Frosty the Snowman. Frosty allows us to exist in the delusional world we have created.

        A number of years ago I discovered a strange guitar player named Buddy Miller. He hung out with Emmy Lou Harris and Guy Clark. Buddy couldn’t write like Guy nor sing like Emmy Lou so he did the next best thing. He married Julie Miller who could do both. Soon after their wedding Julie was diagnosed with MS. Dealing with this disease had a profound and alarming effect on the songs she wrote. They became raw. They didn’t run from the truth. They revealed a well hidden secret about that “babe wrapped in swaddling clothes that we dare to call the Messiah.” Listen while I bring some friends up to share one of her songs with you.

Fall on the Rock with John, Marianne and Phyllis

O Lord, won’t you come to me, on my dying bed.

Let me from the Book of Life, hear my name be read.

Children, listen to me now, these words are not my own.

Jesus said, “A man is gonna reap what he has sown.”

(Chorus)

You’ve got to fall. (Fall on the rock)

You’ve got to fall. (Fall on the rock.)

You’ve got to fall on the rock or the rock’s gonna fall on you.

 

There’s a day that’s coming soon and it’s a day coming fast,

When God will make the last the first, and the first the last.

Man looks on the outside but the Lord looks on the heart.

He sees every secret hidden in the deepest part.

(Chorus)

Now Jesus is the rock that was rejected and refused.

But He is the cornerstone that God Almighty has used.

Now like a little lamb he came down to the children of men.

But He’ll be the king of kings when he comes back again.

        (Chorus)

 

        This year our first Advent Candle will be called the candle of Freedom. You see, before the Messiah can release us, the Messiah has to expose our enslavement. The crowd to whom Isaiah was preaching believed the Messiah was going to rescue them from a foreign invasion. Isaiah turned the tables and proclaimed the Messiah was going to save Judah from itself. Isaiah proclaimed, “You are walking in darkness and therefore in fear. Step into the light.”

        That is a hard thing to do. Instead of running toward deliverance we hide under a rock. In this dark damp refuge we become enslaved by our fears, our delusions, and our uncertainties. Our reality is no longer God’s reality. Our nightmares are void of God’s dream. By Christmas morning we have consigned our hopes to fancy dinners and the exchange of gifts. By Christmas night our hearts are as empty as our checkbooks.  

        Fall on the Rock. Fall on the ancient dreams of a voice crying in the wilderness.  Freedom! Freedom! Freedom will come to those who walk in the light of the Lord.        Amen.