Advent 3

“ADVENT 3”

Philippians 4:4-7           Luke 3:7-18

Third Sunday of Advent, Year C, December 12, 2021

First Presbyterian Church, Sandpoint, Idaho

Andy Kennaly, Pastor

          We have eyes on the front of our face.  When we open our eyes, we look straight ahead and see what’s in front of us.  There may be some peripheral vision, but mostly what comes to focus is only where we point our eyes.  In doing so, the back of our body tends to be ignored.  Things that happen behind our back might go totally unnoticed.  We assume this is normal and don’t think twice about consequences involved as we face one direction and put such a high value on sight.  The limited view of seeing one thing at a time filters the rest of reality.  Philosophy that shapes culture, paradigms that form beliefs; these are all skewed from the beginning from restricted viewpoints and limited perspectives.  But today God’s voice cries out good news to our Advent ears tuned toward hope, love, and joy.

This is the time of year many people bring a tree into their living space.  Christmas trees are often a primary part of the season’s decorations.  Many are artificial but some are real, grown outside, then cut down and placed in a stand.  Whether it’s artificial or natural, when you look at a Christmas tree, use your spiritual imagination to picture in your mind this tree still connected to roots, planted in the ground as a seed helped sprout this young tree that year after year grew into a living participant of creation.

Trees have roots and through them they chemically communicate with other trees, draw nourishment from the soil, and find moisture which helps them survive.  Brother tree also has branches.  Brother Tree has a 360-degree experience and simultaneously interacts with the world all around.  Brother tree grows and reaches vertically into the sky.  Trees are aware of what’s all around, and below, and above; they participate multi-dimensionally, simultaneously.  Time becomes more than sequential as trees sprout, grow, fall, die, and are reabsorbed as nutrients for future generations.  One tree contains an entire forest, and an entire forest is held in one tree.  Time is more than linear, but a collection of moments, a unity of “right now’s” with each connected to the fullness of eternity.  Time and space is hallowed, holy, permeable, and filled.

This is part of what Paul’s talking about in his letter to the Philippians as he says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”  Joy is continuous, forever re-newing the fullness of each moment.  Re-joice, re-joice.  Joy’s renewal leads to gentleness because the opposite is impossible when joy is primary.  He says, “The Lord is near.”  This points to Paul the Mystic’s experience, which is kind of like Brother Tree; Christ is experienced all around, multi-dimensionally, infused in everything, and time itself participates in eternal mysteries revealed in Jesus.

Richard Rohr, in his book, The Universal Christ, puts it like this as we read with our getting-closer-to-Christmas, Advent ears tuned.  He says, “Christians believe […] the universal presence was […] ‘born of a woman under the law (Gal. 4:4) in a moment of chronological time. […] We daringly believe that God’s presence was poured into a single human being, so that humanity and divinity can be seen to be operating as one in him – and therefore in us!  But instead of saying that God came into the world through Jesus, maybe it would better to say that Jesus came out of an already Christ-soaked world […], out of God’s loving union with physical creation.”  Then he adds, “When I know that the world around me is both the hiding place and the revelation of God, I can no longer make a significant distinction between the natural and the supernatural, between the holy and the profane.  […]  Everything I see and know is indeed one “uni-verse,” revolving around one coherent center.  This Divine Presence seeks connection and communion…” (Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ, Convergent Press, 2019 by Center for Action and Contemplation, Inc., pgs. 14-15).

Look again at Luke’s gospel as the story shares John who claims the absolute holiness of the moment.  The people are clinging to the past, to tradition, and don’t see the Christ-mystery that is imminent.  In the context of a Christ-soaked world, John proclaims that God “is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”  The axe lies close to the roots because in the flow of history, God’s love is on the move, justice bends an active arch of creative power as good news draws out the wholeness that is already there.

As John’s message continues, two groups that are usually despised are mentioned by name: tax collectors and soldiers.  Tax collectors were notorious for taking more than the state required and using the excess as personal wealth.  They made their profits by abusing their authority and people had no recourse, no way to fight back for fairness.  Soldiers were similar as the Roman army occupied the land of the Hebrews.  They used threats, intimidation, and false accusations to extort from helpless victims.  In today’s vocabulary we would call this government corruption and the headlines are full of this, foreign and domestic.  In Luke, both groups ask John what they should do in response to his message, and in both cases his answer is the same.  He says, “Do you job properly and be satisfied with your wages.”

In Philippians the themes are joy, rejoicing, gentleness, not to worry, thankfulness, and the peace of God.  These qualities pivot around the reality that “the Lord is near.”  This theme carries over as John tells these groups to live as they ought to live because the Lord is near.  Christ permeates all creation, and Luke reminds us that even the outsiders, the marginalized, are included in the central dance of the Trinity, the imminent presence of God.  Even tax collectors and soldiers can be content because the Lord is near and joy is abundant.

As we go deeper into the season, in the days ahead try and exercise your awareness.  As you see a Christmas tree, for example, picture roots, alive with the Earth, and branches reaching the sky and stars.  Ask yourself, how is Christ expressed in this moment?  Close your eyes, and allow your heart to see all around, in and through the uni-verse.  From the spacious depths of your soul rooted in Christ, Re-joice.  Re-joice.  Again, and always, always, and again.  Re-joice, Rejoice, Amen.