Making Room

 Jeremiah 33: 14-16 (CEB)

The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill my gracious promise with the people of Israel and Judah. In those days and at that time, I will raise up a righteous branch from David’s line, who will do what is just and right in the land. In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is what he will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.

Psalm 25:4-5 (CEB)

Make your ways known to me, Lord;

    teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth—teach it to me—

    because you are the God who saves me.

        I put my hope in you all day long.

Today we begin advent, the four Sunday period before Christmas in which we are called to prepare.

The last two years, as we have struggled through a worldwide pandemic --- one that just doesn’t seem to want to go away --- these last two years has shed light on many societal injustices and even the widened economic disparity --- not just here in Indianapolis but throughout the world.

During this season of Advent, we are going to ask how we: --- as a church --- can become a place where the Holy can be born anew

A sanctuary

offering respite 

sustenance 

and care.

How can we open our doors ever wider to those seeking shelter from the onslaught of life? 

Of course, we cannot do it all --- but we can do something!

Each week during this season of Advent we are going to hear from the ancient prophets.

We will listen carefully to their call and their expectations for us.

We will hear, again and again, that the prophets of old called Israel (and call us) to care for our neighbors and to make room.  

To make room in the inn

To fill the lonely and frightening spaces within us --- and our neighbors --- with the light of the Christ --- the light of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.

I think the challenge for us this Advent is larger than many others --- the pandemic has made us wish that time would go faster --- that we can get beyond this pandemic to what we perceive of as normal.

But Advent also has the tendency to make us pine for the past.

To wish for a return to a simpler time

Maybe it is a Christmas in our childhood

Or a time when our children were young

We want to be any place but right here --- right now

But we are here

And wishing it wasn’t so --- will not make it so

We need to live in THIS ADVENT

We need to not miss this opportunity

This advent will never come again.

Let’s take advantage of this time

In this place

And hear what God has to say to us --- today!

The medieval monk and mystic, Bernard of Clairvaux, during an Advent sermon, preached: 

of a first advent when Christ came in the vulnerability of the flesh 

and of a second advent when Christ would come in the brightness of glory. 

Between these two advents, Bernard said there is a middle advent (adventus medius) when the Christ comes to his people in Spirit and in power.

It is in this middle advent that we find ourselves today.

We celebrate the first advent --- when Jesus was born in Bethlehem

As we prepare for the second advent --- the second coming of the Christ.

But right now --- we are in the midst of this middle advent.

The question is --- what will the coming of Christ in Spirit and in power bring out in us?

The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed:

The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill my gracious promise with the people of Israel and Judah.

Jeremiah wrote down those words to address a dire situation. 

The armies of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, were advancing on Jerusalem. 

Jeremiah tells us in chapter 33:4-5 that the streets of Jerusalem will soon be filled with the corpses of her people 

We are also told that Jeremiah is imprisoned by King Zedekiah --- for preaching that God would deliver the kingdom of Israel into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar for their failure to keep the covenant with YHWH.

Jeremiah’s world is in a state of collapse. 

The inhabitants of Jerusalem are desperately attempting to protect themselves from Nebuchadnezzar’s inevitable invasion.

The worst has not yet happened, but it is inevitable. 

Any reasonable person can see that the city is doomed.

Yet now, in the midst of catastrophe, Jeremiah speaks words of promise! 

In what we know of as chapter 32, Jeremiah has purchased a piece of land, 

a foolish thing to do in a country soon to be conquered by invading armies. 

Nevertheless, he has purchased the land as a pledge --- because God has promised redemption:

“For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land” (32:15). 

In the midst of impending doom, Jeremiah shares a sign of hope.

Not only is Jerusalem ultimately destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar 

--- and the inhabitants of the city taken into exile in Babylon 

--- but the Davidic dynasty is brought to a tragic end.

For nearly four hundred years, descendants of David had occupied the throne of Judah.

In scripture are told that God had promised that there would always be a descendent of David on the throne.

Your dynasty and your kingdom will be secured forever before me. Your throne will be established forever. (2 Samuel 7:15)

Or as we are told in Psalm 89

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,

    I have sworn to my servant David:

  ‘I will establish your descendants forever,

    and build your throne for all generations.’”

Yet now the promise of God seems to have come to an end.

To a people devastated by loss, Jeremiah’s prophecy offered hope: 

“The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (33:14). 

All might seem lost, but God still is faithful. 

The house of David might be cut down --- but God is able to bring life out of death. 

The same promise is given to us today. 

We are called to speak a word of hope and promise into a world that is often filled with fear. uncertainty, and even despair. 

Especially in this season of Advent, we must speak words of hope. 

In the midst of darkness, light is about to break in. 

In the midst of despair, hope erupts. 

The complete fulfillment of God’s promises has not yet happened, but it is coming. 

Such is Advent faith, and Advent hope.

Advent, for us, is a time of preparation --- of celebration of the coming of Jesus.

We remember and reflect on that first advent, when Jesus born as a baby in Bethlehem, entered into the world.

The Eastern Church prepares quite a bit differently for the second advent than we do.

In the Orthodox Church they observe a “Nativity Fast” in preparation for the birth of the Christ.

We often talk of fasting as a part of our Lenten ritual --- but not during Advent.

Lent is a season of penitence

Advent is a season of joy (at least how we celebrate it)

The Eastern Church practices this “Nativity Fast” as a way of making room for the holy.

Many of us are so busy with holiday parties and concerts and shopping, that there isn’t any time --- there isn’t much room left for Jesus --- and certainly very little for our neighbor.

The East uses this “Nativity Fast” to make room and to shift their focus.

They seek to live in this middle advent as a holy people

To use the coming of Christ in Spirit and in power --- to become more aware of their neighbor.

In a time when so many are suffering the economic consequences of the pandemic, we are invited this year to create room for more hope in the world.

How are Jeremiah and the Psalmist inviting us to make room?

Maybe this idea of fasting isn’t such a bad thing.

Because the truth is --- there are a number of things that I need to let go of if I am going to make room for hope.

I need to let go of the idea of who, I think, is important?

Who gets the seat of honor?

Who gets the recognition?

I need to let go of my assumptions and biases (especially about other people)

I need to let go of the way that I talk about people --- and make room to listen

It is time we follow the advice of the Psalmist and let God show us the way.

Make your ways known to me, Lord;

    teach me your paths.

Historically, of course, the Davidic line did not return to the throne.

In time, Judaism, and the early Christian church began to interpret passages like these as speaking of the coming of the ideal ruler --- the messiah.

The descendant of David who will “execute justice and righteousness in the land” is the one for whom we wait in this Advent season. 

And his salvation encompasses not just Judah and Jerusalem, not just Indianapolis or Marion County, but the whole world.

Such is the word of promise and hope in this text. 

But let us not forget, that much like the time when Jeremiah spoke these words --- there are many today who are experiencing great loss.

The pandemic has devastated all of us in one way or another

Some have lost jobs

Too many in our city have been or are being evicted from their homes

There is a loss of security

Hunger

violence

Like the original hearers of Jeremiah there is great fear and hopelessness.

We are called to make room.

To make room for those who feel disenfranchised and left behind.

To make room, so that God’s hope is not just for us --- but for all.

In this season of Advent, we speak words of hope. 

In the midst of darkness, light is about to break in. 

In the midst of despair, hope erupts. 

After long waiting, a branch will sprout. 

The complete fulfillment of God’s promises has not yet happened, but it is coming.

 Such is Advent faith, and Advent hope.

By the Holy Spirit, Christ encounters us in church acts like the lighting of candles, the singing of carols, the reading and preaching of Scripture, and the celebration of communion. 

But Christ’s coming in Spirit and in power is not limited to the worship assembly. 

In the middle advent, the presence of the Holy Spirit gives us hearts burning for Christ’s dwelling among the least of his and our sisters and brothers.

Advent is a season of preparation for the coming of the Lord. 

We prepare for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ by inviting the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life --- who can transform our hearts.