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When I served at Holy Comforter in Atlanta for my second unit of CPE, the church undergoing a lot of change. Holy Comforter serves a congregation primarily of people who live with various mental illnesses or disabilities, and they have a program called the Friendship Center that provides programming throughout the week for these members. Within weeks of my coming to Holy Comforter, the Director got a job offer somewhere else.
Now the director was my main contact at the church. He was the primary person I had been working with. Now I would be working with the Vicar, Alexis Chase, and all I knew about her was that she’d gone to seminary out West in a place very different from my school. As a result, I didn’t know how well I would work with her. I didn’t know how well this situation I was in would work out.
Then I heard her speak to the congregation about the change. Now this is a population of people who are trying to seek some stability in what can often be chaotic lives. Change is not something that always goes over well with this crowd, as is true for many. Alexis acknowledged this, and she also said that we had gone through change before and we would get through it again. She said we would do so for Jesus.
That speech is what did it for me. I knew when she spoke of Jesus as the core and center of our work together, that she was someone I could work with. From that moment forth, I took the time to get to know her better. We had an open communication and dialogue. She taught me a great deal.
While I look on my experience that summer fondly, it was in no ways easy. Not only was there a major change in staff, we also dealt with a former member breaking into our kitchen. Yet for all the good and the bad, we made it through together. We made it through continuing our work for Jesus.
Having a clear mission rooted in Jesus is what helps us be prepared for God’s coming. It keeps us from being consumed by our anxiety. It keeps us from clawing at each other. Having a clear mission rooted in Jesus binds us together.
That is the lesson of Advent as it is the lesson of our readings today. Each of these readings reminds us to be ready, patient, and prepared for God’s coming. They encourage us to not let anything compromise us in that mission.
For some of us, that may be anger and anxiety. Isaiah speaks to that today. Here it is interesting to note that when Isaiah talks of God’s wrath, it is not just as something aimed towards the unjust or even towards us. God’s “vengeance ”, Isaiah states, is enacted when God “will come and save you.”
When we feel justifiable anger, we are not alone. God feels our pain with us, and though we may not realize it at the time, or even feel or understand it, God will come and help us. God will make things right in the end.
If we worried about getting lost on the way, God has us covered there too. We are told that God’s way, “the Holy Way” is such that “no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.”
In waiting for God we must be patient, and we must continue to do the work in Jesus’ Name as we wait for God’s return. That means being focused. As the Epistle of James tells us, “do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged.” We are called not to sabotage one another or gossip against each other. We’re not even called gripe and complain behind one another’s backs. Clear communication is the better path as it helps us do the work God has given us to do better and without all the grumbling as our Epistle states.
There’s an openness needed to being prepared. It’s that openness that John the Baptist demonstrates today. His question for Jesus shows how trusting he is of our Lord. He asks Jesus flat out if He is the Messiah expecting that He will be truthful with a “yes or no” answer.
Jesus points to the very thing we have been talking about today. He tells His cousin to look at His actions. He does so knowing this will appeal to John, for John himself called others to right action as we learned last Sunday.
John is also an example to us that at times, for the sake of the mission, we must step aside. This can be sad and painful, but it can also be the very thing needed to further God’s work in the world. As John shows us, our work isn’t about us at all. Instead, it is about Jesus.
To be prepared for God’s coming, our mission must be clear. That is the only way for us to be free of the anxiety, or other emotions, that may impact us. It can be the only thing that liberates us for our frustrations with one another and our own self-interest too.
If we are to continue to do God’s work as a parish, we must listen to these words and follow these examples. Use these lessons and prepare yourselves to continue to strive for the mission of Christ Jesus in this world.