I think it's going to take some time and some hard work to get better at this. Having had no training beyond a public speaking course at WSU and having generally felt nothing but terror at the thought of standing on front of people to make a "speech" I'll have a lot to overcome.
Deacons must preach... through actions but also through words. There's just no two ways about it. I like the idea of preaching and I have to say there's something about it I enjoy.
Here's a few things I'll need to do:
Immerse myself in the material.
It's ok to be serious... use humor rarely.
Pauses are ok.
Rehearse.
Here's my Homily for Advent 3, 2012:
Advent 3, 2012 Homily
What are we waiting for? Who are
we waiting for?
Advent is about waiting... and
asking these two questions I think.
I saw the cover of the USAWeekend
last week. In bold letters it read, “The End of the World is not Near”... with
a subtitle that read... “You’re in Luck! From prophetic Maya calendars to
killer asteroids, experts tell why you have nothing to worry about”.
I suppose this is good news of a
sort… but we’re waiting for Christmas... not the end of the world. We’re in
luck! The Lord is near.
Last Sunday we read that the
“word of God came to John”... this is how the career of the prophet is
typically announced in scripture. The word of the Lord came to Zephaniah as
well.
Zephaniah proclaimed the end of
the world and John makes it sound like we should be waiting for the end of the
world. And at least some those who listened to him may have been earnestly
waiting for it. John belonged to a long line of prophetic tradition in Jewish
literature. He sounds a lot like many of the prophets we read in the Old
Testament.
The themes they preached are the
same. They preached basic justice. Prophets of God say things like, “If you
have, share with those who have nothing and don’t live a lavish lifestyle while
your neighbors are starving. If you rule do so with humility and don’t think
others are less worthy than you. If you have a position of power and authority
do your duty honestly and without cheating those you should protect… “, And so
on. The third chapter of Zephaniah, from our readings today, proclaims that God
will “save the lame and gather the outcasts”. Doesn’t that sound like Jesus?
This message was the message that Jesus preached. It’s the message that Jesus
lived. This kind of message is worth rejoicing over! But the prophets weren’t
merely preaching a new and better ethical lifestyle. They were preaching the
coming of the Kingdom of God. The message was this; the Kingdom of God is
radically different than what you know. The Kingdom of God is otherworldly. The
world where God reigns, is a world completely set to rights… and so on… their
preaching really was the Good News.
But… we do have some very
colorful and fantastic language concerning the coming of this Kingdom to deal
with. That’s putting it nicely. Sometimes the language is really frightening.
This “coming” might be called the Day of the Lord, or the Great day of the
Lord... or even the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.
The book of Zephaniah begins this
way… “I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth, says the
Lord. I will sweep away humans and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the
air and the fish of the sea”. And likewise we read John saying, “You brood of
vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” and he goes on about
axes and trees being thrown into the fire… and we know he’s really talking
about people.
Prophetic language is strong.
It’s sort of a divine rhetorical device. It’s metaphor. It grabs our attention.
People are like trees… but people will not be chopped down and thrown in a
fire. I think that what the prophets were saying is that what we have now (the
kingdom here in this world) will not do. It has to go. There is no room for it
when the Kingdom of God appears. The two “kingdoms” cannot exist in the same
place at the same time.
So… what are we waiting for?
Jesus came to bring a kingdom
with him. We know now… being on this side of the story that the Kingdom he
brought didn’t come with a sword. The kingdom would be realized in the
community of faith living out the kingdom principles that have been preached
for a thousand years or more and in following Christ who came as the “suffering
servant”, the King who emptied himself even to the point of the cross.
Advent forces us to ask again…
Who are we waiting for? Clearly we’re waiting for the celebration of Christmas
but we’re not there yet.
John says, “...one who is more
powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his
hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary;
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” This sounds apocalyptic...
this must be for the Second Advent.
I’m not sure if that’s how the
metaphor works. The Gospel accounts reveal that Jesus spoke to people where
they were at and sometimes where they were at was not where they needed to be.
Just read the Sunday Lectionary for the past three months. I think you’d agree
that Jesus really did hold a winnowing fork in his hand. A few years ago a
thought occurred to me... I wondered how I could possibly in good conscience
try to convince someone to consider following Christ. I mean this could really
cost. I’m still working through this. The words of Jesus feel like a winnowing
fork sometimes... do you feel that?
I want to suggest that we are
waiting for the Day of the Lord but that day has already come and... We are
waiting for Christ who calls out to all who are heavy laden, because he will
give them rest and who is also the Lord who stands with a winnowing fork in his
hand and is already clearing his threshing floor.
Amen.
