St. George's Episcopal Church
Roseburg, Oregon
Advent 2
4 December 2005
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Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 85:1-2; 8-13
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8
The Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74 th General Convention of the ECUSA
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:1-8)
And For The Nightly News, Here’s John the Baptist
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector
As you know, I am addicted to movies. I subscribe to the Charter Cable Company premium cable movie channels so that we can find just the right commercial free movie for an afternoon or an evening.
Another thing that I am addicted to is news. Most often I get my news electronically via the many news services I subscribe to. I have a banner at the top of my computer screen that flashes news stories 24/7. I get several newspaper links sent daily by email; I often begin my day reading the New York Times on line.
We all remember the good old days before cable, when we would tune into a local TV station to hear the 11 o’clock news with its mixture of news, sports, and weather delivered by a somewhat passionless, robotic anchor person blankly reading the news from a teleprompter (and sometimes very badly!).
Cable and satellite have changed all that.[1] Now we don’t have to wait until 11 o’clock to catch the news. We can get it anytime of the day. And not just from a single source either. And the people reading the news are anything but robotic. At CNN there’s nasal Nancy, and at “fair and balanced” Fox News, there’s Bill O’Reilly’s outrage du jour. Scanning with the remote, there’s Jon Stewart on The Daily Show who gives us a sense of the news mingled with his particular brand of humor. His news is “fake news” – a tongue-in-cheek view of the day’s events using satire and puns to poke fun at world and national events. His “reporters” are comics who are called upon to make us laugh.
If this sounds familiar, it should. We all remember the early days of Saturday Night Live with its totally fake news designed as pure mockery and parody of the newsmakers and politicians of the day. No one took that news seriously, because it was not intended to be news. It was 100% political satire. The same is true with the more main stream The Daily Show. But the difference between now and then is that in that time long ago, “late night” was when we could expect to be taken to a no-holds-barred comedic forum. That forum was a place of relief from the serious, very gritty, and sometimes terribly harsh reality of the news.
But now, comedy is becoming mainstream news. Viewership of network news has been sliding down hill for a long time. All sorts of things have been tried to draw viewership back. Nowadays, it seems that in order to tell us the news, the anchor person has to stand in front of the camera instead of sitting at the desk. Does this make the news better? More believable? More palatable?
It seems that as a culture, we don’t want to hear the hard news any more. Perhaps the news we get from around the world is too much for us to handle. Bad news in our community and nation is bad enough. But hearing bad news from every country of the globe, every minute of every day might just be too much.
And so, to compensate, program executives have come up with “infotainment” programs like The Daily Show to give us a safe way of talking about the bad stuff that is the bread and butter of TV news programs. Bad news wrapped up in stupid by-lines and gallows humor and delivered to us with a coating of with sarcasm is easier to swallow than the raw stuff.
More than twenty years ago, Neil Postman wrote a book called, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. In that book he described the news as something that motivates us or that doesn’t. If something motivates you, like stock information might motivate a broker, or weather information might affect business travelers, it is material with a high information-action ratio. In other words, it is news you can use; that affects you in the here and now. But most news is of the low information-action ratio; news that doesn’t lead to any meaningful action or change.
In the first Chapter of Mark, we hear from that first century anchor man, John the Baptist. Like NBC’s Brian Williams or CBS’s Bob Schieffer, John stood up to tell the news. But unlike those well-groomed and dressed men, John was not slick or suave. He was about as smooth as 80 grit sand paper, and he had a wardrobe right out of Afghanistan. Although his low carb diet of bugs and honey kept him fit and trim, he clearly would have looked better sitting on a camel than he did wearing one!
His message was not jocular, funny, or sarcastic. He was not the Jon Stewart of his day. He proclaimed a baptism of repentance and announced that someone even greater was coming. So why did people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem go out to him, to be baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins?
They didn’t come because of baptism per se. Although “Jewish tradition used baptism, [it was really only something] … for proselytes who came into Judaism from other faiths. It was natural that the sin-stained, polluted proselyte should be baptized, but no Jew had ever conceived that he, a member of the chosen people, a son of Abraham, assured of God’s salvation, could ever need baptism. Baptism was for sinners, and no Jew ever conceived of himself as a sinner shut out from God.”[2] So if they did not come because of the need for baptism, why did they come and submit to it?
First century Jews were oppressed people. For many generations they had been praying for and expecting a savior – the messiah – to deliver them. And John preached that Good News to them with an apparent fervor and believability that they willingly waded into the Jordan to prepare themselves for his coming. To these people, John’s message was high information that motivated them to act.
Advent for us is the time of the year when we prepare and anticipate the coming of the messiah. Oh yes, we know the messiah is already here. But that news needs to be heard again and again – just like an important news story sometimes needs to be heard again and again to fully appreciate its significance and consequences.
As you have heard me say over and over again from this pulpit, the focus of our attention needs to be on the action; our response to the news.
Jesus’ coming into the world is high information. It demands a response. John’s response was to proclaim him to the people as the One. John’s response was to announce him. There are still people like John today telling of the Good News that Jesus represents. And they do it sometimes like John did – by preaching and teaching. But there are many others who proclaim Jesus to the world by emulating him; by treating others with dignity and respect, loving others as themselves, and giving thanks to God for sending Jesus to us to show us a better way of life.
John came to a decision about Jesus. John acted on his belief.
What will you do?
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Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
1 LORD, you were favorable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you pardoned all their sin. [Selah]
8 Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12 The LORD will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him,
and will make a path for his steps.
But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
[1] Timothy Merrill, Executive Editor. “Fake News.” Homiletics. 6(17):42-46 (November/December 2005).
[2] William Barklay. The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 1, Revised Edition. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975), 59-60.
The Mission of St. George’s Episcopal Church is to lead people to love Jesus, and, through worship and scripture, to become empowered as a servant body – to each other, to our community, and to the world. For information about St. George’s Episcopal Church and its life and mission, please contact us at 1024 Southeast Cass Avenue , Roseburg, OR 97470 or by phone at (541) 673-4048 or (541) 680-3465. Contact Bill by email at wgstroop@earthlink.net and visit our church at http://www.roseburgchurch.net |
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Copyright © 2005, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
3 December 2005
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