Worship > Sermon Archive

The Reverend James Derkits
Advent IV, December 23, 2007


Matthew 1:18-25
Psalm 80: 1-7, 16-18
Let God Come to You
There comes a time in every Christian's life, and that time for you may be now, when you let God come to you. We are all very well trained to try to be good people, or at least to appear to be good people, and that can take a variety of forms: we perform for others, we work hard, we try to be perfect parents or spouses or priests, or Christians…and all of those are good an noble efforts. But from time to time, it is good to sit back, and remember that God is the perfect one, and we are who we are.

Laura and I like to have our friends over, or family over to our house, and to entertain. I like to think we're decent hosts. We enjoy cooking, inside and outside. We enjoy creating whole meals, and sometimes I can even serve up homemade beer. I've noticed that when we are getting ready for a dinner party, I slip into this busy mode: I am running all around the house, distracted by a dust bunny, or remembering it's time to turn something on the grill, or making the bed. If I'm not careful, the first or second guest will arrive, and I'm still running around trying to get something, anything done...I become so focused on getting things ready, that I forget to be present and welcoming to the guests. And, really, what's the point of having people over if you're not going to spend time with them . If I am careful, I remember what that gathering is about, and even when I am cooking or cleaning, I carry a lightness, a sense of humor about the mess of my house, a joy in preparing a meal, and when guests arrive, if everything is perfect or not, I am already prepared, what ever is happening is okay, because the gathering is more important than the next task.

Well, here we are, at the fourth week of Advent. The church reminds us these four weeks that we are to be ready for the coming of Christ, and our culture has told us that we are to be ready to give gifts, and light our house, and balance an amazing schedule of parties this Holiday Season…and are we ready? The time is here to let God come to you.

Joseph was a righteous man. He seems to have led a respectable life, honoring Jewish law and custom. He was marrying this young woman, which would have been fine and well, and fit into his respectable life, but it turned out that she was pregnant before they slept together. And that was a shameful thing for that respectable man. He had the option of having her put to death, a respectable, law-abiding thing to do in his situation in his time, but he chose, mercifully, to dismiss her quietly. This may have brought some shame to him, for letting that adulterer off the hook, but I suppose he was willing to live with that. He was doing the right things, trying to remain prepared for God, following the custom. Fortunately it was not just a charade, he really was ready for God. He slept, and he dreamt, and he listened to his dream: an angel told him the child was God's, and he, Joseph, had a responsibility not to dismiss her, but to risk stepping deeper into shame by going through with the marriage, and even naming the child. Naming the child not the Hebrew word for "not my kid" but the word for "God Saves." Joseph, instead of busying himself with saving face, and keeping up a respectable image, listened to God, and realized that that messy family situation, not of his own doing, was God's work, and the apparent source of Shame would become the true source of salvation. The angel showed him that he was not to busy himself, but to let God come to him.

Letting God come to us sounds like an easy thing, it is an easy thing to say as a preacher, but as I've already confessed, I tend to get caught up in trying to make things right by myself. We all tend to think we just need to do one or two more things, and then we will be ready for God. If we just get our prayer life in order, then will be ready for God, if we just straighten out our family then we will be ready for God, if we only knew the Bible a little better then we would be ready for God. But God isn't waiting for our new years resolution, and when everything is out of order, when we feel the most vulnerable, and out of control, that could be the best time to say, ok. I'm done, I'm here. That seems to be what's happening in our psalm: Restore us, O God of hosts. Show the light of your countenance and we shall be saved. The community who sings this song doesn't have everything perfect and in order. They are have bread for tears, and bowls of tears. They are the derision of their neighbors and their enemies laugh at them. They see their lives as being utterly disordered, and cry out Restore us, restore us, restore us. God is the restorer, not the community. And in their desperate state, they are ready for God to come to them.

One of my favorite things to do during Advent and Christmas is sit in the glow of the Christmas at the end of the day. Even if all the ornaments aren't on it yet. It is a time for me to just be, to look at that tree, to experience memories of Christmases with my family. To rest, and sometimes to fall asleep like Joseph did when he was prepared for Christ's coming. Being prepared isn't about a list. It is about openness, it is about welcome, it is about recognizing that we can never get everything done, and saying, Oh well, the guest is here. We are the community of the psalmist, in the midst of imperfection and disorder and we are preparing to receive a special guest. Of course, this guest is actually our host. Christ is the one who created us, and welcomes us, and already knows that our house or our family is not in perfect order, but it is what it is. The fourth week of Advent is here, the fourth light of the wreath is adding it's light to the others. The time is here to let God come to you.

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