Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent

Homily for December 16, 2007
Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11

So, there’s some farming or gardening tips in the scriptures today.
See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth,
being patient with it
until it receives the early and the late rains…

Well, as the song says, The weather outside is frightful...
so to help us imagine what St. James suggests here
I’ve planted this bulb in this little pot
and we’ll help it with a little early rain (pour from watering can)
and a little late rain (pour again from watering can)
- and now we’ll patiently wait… (stand back and wait… and wait…)



Well, we'd have to wait a pretty long time...

Of course, James doesn’t imagine that the farmer
would actually stand in the field
- not matter how patiently-
and just wait for seed to sprout, to grow, to be harvested.
There’s other work to do while the farmer waits for the crop
and that will often bring the farmer beyond the boundaries of the field
where the planting was done.

So it is with us as we tend the seeds of faith God has planted within us
and which the Lord has fed with the waters of baptism.
There’s other work to do,
work that will bring us beyond the field of planting.
And that’s the work of the reign, the kingdom of God.

The Advent scriptures, like today’s,
are filled with images of God’s reign.
First Isaiah identifies needs:

• feeble hands in need of strength
• knees too weak for walking
• hearts frightened and anxious.

Then the prophet gives the signs of God’s reign come upon us:

• sight for the blind
• hearing for the deaf
• muscles for the lame
• song for the mute
• and joy for the sorrowful.

The reign of God is revealed wherever:

• the weak are supported, strengthened
• broken hearts are mended
• infirmities are healed
• truth is revealed
• the burdened are freed;
• the grieving find joy
• and the poor have the good news preached to them.

Any signs of the kingdom around here?
One could point to all the presents in the Gathering Room
as a sign of God’s reign among us
but as many as they are
and as many people as will be served by that effort,
our Christmas outreach is but a seasonal blip on the kingdom’s screen.

Other signs of God’s reign in our faith community?

• Our young people working at Cor Unum in Lawrence and in Labels Are for Jars program
• Our young people serving dinner at the St. John the Divine Soup Kitchen in Boston
• Our young people serving dinner at the Boston Rescue Mission
• Our young people on their Summer Service Trips from Worcester, MA to Tijuana, Mexico
• Our young people serving the residents at Fernald School
• Parishioners who support Rosie’s Place by bringing in White Socks and Toiletries
• Those who bring non-perishable food for Lazarus House and other food pantries and those who faithfully deliver it
• Those in our parish who work for housing in Concord
• for those who otherwise could not live in our town
• The outreach of our Parish St. Vincent de Paul Society to those in need right here in Concord
• All the projects of our Parish Service and Justice Commission
• Those who minister word, Eucharist and companionship to the homebound and those in nursing homes and the hospital
• All our parish outreach to Haiti, Honduras, and the St. Bonaventure Mission in New Mexico
• And all the quiet, hidden, unannounced way that individuals and households in our parish reach out to others in need

In each instance, these works of the kingdom:

• strengthen the weak
• welcome the stranger
• honor the marginalized
• supply hope
• mend broken lives
• feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty
• comfort the afflicted
• lift up the downtrodden and preach the good news to the poor.

Walking into the Children’s Christmas Pageant yesterday morning,
I heard two boys discussing the Nativity scene outside the parish hall.
One said to another,
“Of course I know He isn’t born yet! That’s on Christmas!”
Soon enough, that little guy will understand
that Jesus was born some 2,000 years ago
and that it’s his birthday we celebrate.

But the Advent season is about preparing for the birthday of Christ
in but a small way.
It is much more about preparing for THE advent,
THE coming of Christ again in glory.
And that long, long season of preparation for his final return
is the time of farmer patiently awaiting the precious fruit of the earth,
and the season of our taking on the work of God’s reign
far beyond the edge of the planted field.

Isaiah, John and Jesus give us our job description
as farm hands on the kingdom’s land.
When the Lord comes again
will he find us busy about the works of his reign
- or standing in the field staring at the ground?

This table where we gather is meant to nourish and strengthen those
who are laborers in the Lord’s fields.
Here the seeds of wheat are harvested in the very Body of Christ;
the grapes ripened and pressed, flowing in the very Blood of Christ.
Even though he has not yet come again in his final glory,
he comes this morning to our table in the Eucharist,
a sign of the reign of God among us, even now.

- ConcordPastor