"Meet Me Halfway"
Preached on December 9, 2001
by
The Reverend Dr. Robert A. Colman
Text: Matthew 3:1-12
Isaiah 11:1-10
Every summer, on a vacant lot a few blocks south of
the church I served in Oklahoma City, a tent would go up in which a
crusade would be held over several weeks to, quote, "save souls."
One evening, leaving my church study late, I was drawn
by the sounds of gospel singing to walk the few blocks south and enter
the tent, and in true Presbyterian fashion, take a seat in the back
row to listen and observe.
The preacher that night called up the memory of John
the Baptist as he shouted to the gathered crowd, "Repent for the Kingdom
of God is at hand." He then proceeded to preach a classic "hell,
fire, and brimstone" sermon designed to, at the very least, stir and
unsettle the emotions of those gathered and elicit an affirmative response
to the altar call with which he would conclude his words. Many
were going forward as I slipped out of the tent as unobtrusively as
I had entered.
As I walked the few blocks North to where my car was
parked, I was clearly glad that I had taken the time to experience the
unique flavor of that tent meeting (and it would not be the last time),
but I was also sad because a word, repent, with which I had struggled
over many years - alone, with friends, with colleagues, with members
of the churches I served in order to fully understand and experience
and which I had come to understand as a profound invitation and challenge
from God to begin to live life to its fullest, was once again not expressed
as such but as an angry and threatening demand "Repent, or else."
When I say the word, repent, what images dance in your
head? What meaning does it hold for you? Repent. What
emotions spring forth from your heart? Repent.
Wendi Wright, to whom, both as a person and writer,
I am indebted for the direction this sermon has taken, suggests, "repentance
consists not so much of flagellating ourselves over our "failures" as
in courageously and painstakingly reorienting our priorities, unlearning
old patterns, turning our faces, like the sunflower, toward the dawning
of the light of God."
There is no doubt in my mind that on that night in Oklahoma
City, that that itinerant preacher succeeded in scaring some people
- even made me a tad nervous at times, but, in doing so, did he not
miss the greater opportunity - to tell those of us gathered in that
tent that "God loves you!" (The word love was not mentioned once
when I was present); that God has, is, and always will love you, and
thus has, is, and always will be coming (advent) to you to tell you
so. All God is really asking of us is to, "meet me halfway"; be
open to the possibility that if you turn around (the literal meaning
of repent) you just might find me your God to have been standing right
behind us all the time. And if in case you turn around and don't
see me, wait, wait, wait, for is it not "they who wait for the Lord
who shall renew their strength, mount up with wings like eagles, run
and not be weary, walk and not faint"? "I assure you, even though
you may not see me, or even sense me, I am close by and drawing ever
closer."
Wright wrote, "Repentance is not necessarily the gloomy
and self-loathing practice it is sometimes made out to be. To
repent is not to be confirmed in what the little voice within keeps
whispering: that you are no good, that everything bad that happens to
you is your own fault, that if only others knew what you were really
like, they would cease to care for and be interested in you. No.
True repentance begins with the felt knowledge that we are loved by
God. We are children of God."
So on this second Sunday of the season of Advent on
which we hear the words once again, "Repent for the Kingdom of God is
at hand," hear them not as a threat but a promise, not as a demand but
as an invitation, an invitation to begin preparing ourselves for the
coming of God and all the surprises which accompany God's comings -
prepare ourselves by engaging in some thoughtful and prayerful self-reflection,
as persons and a community, on the content, quality, and style of our
life and asking ourselves such heart questions as, "do we really believe
(not simply mind assent to a proposition but heart receptive to a reality)
that God is really present in your, my, our lives as an intimate, dynamic,
active presence working God's own purposes and longings out with us
and for us. Is God's presence a factor in the decisions and choices
and actions we make and take every day? What is God's desire for
me, for you, for us? And when God comes, what will God ask of
us? Perhaps God might come and suggest to us that there are some
readjustments we need to make in our understandings, perspectives, practices,
and priorities of life if we are to more fully reflect who we are as
the persons and community God created us to be and better reflect, in
and through our lives, in our relationships and responsibilities with
others, God's love, peace, and justice?
On Jordan's bank the Baptist cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh.
Awake and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings of the King of Kings
Then cleansed be every heart from sin
Make straight the way for God within
And let each heart prepare a home
Where such a mighty guest may come.
Advent's message is clear. God is coming, but
if we truly want to experience God when God arrives, do we not at least
have to try to meet God halfway - repenting, turning ourselves around
so that we are moving towards God as God moves towards us? And
do we not need to be looking for God to come in the most unexpected,
surprising, even unwanted, ways and places - in the face of a malnourished
child, a homeless friend, a widowed mother, divorced father, a frightened
prisoner of war, a trembling unemployed worker, a beggar's rattling
Dixie cup plea, and yes, even in our own restlessness, anxieties,
fears of heart, - in that mirror dimly but a mirror nonetheless hinting
at what it might mean to see God face to face and thus see ourselves
as God sees us; do we not at least have to try to keep our hearts open
to receive God when God comes, open our hearts, not as a precondition
to God's coming to us but simply as a preparation - for be assured God
comes to you even when your back is turned and you refuse to turn around
because this very God of very God, this very light of very light, this
word made flesh and dwelling among us, this "hound of heaven" will never
stop teasingly and tenderly nipping at your heels to get your
attention and hopefully cause you to turn around, if only slightly,
to see who's there and realize it's God and God is telling you, "You
see, I love you! I really do!" Do we not have to try to
meet God halfway by opening and preparing our hearts for all the internal
and external implications of God's comings?
In Luke's telling of the story of the beginnings of
John the Baptist's ministry, the crowds, responding to John's call to
repent, ask, "What should we do?" He does not tell them to feel
bad, have guilt, beat your chests and cry, "mea culpa, mea culpa".
No! He clearly and simply says, "Whoever has two coats must share
with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise, and
so on."
On the most personal and internal level, repenting is
about the willingness to be still and know that
God is God and in that knowledge (heart not simply head) to know oneself
as one given the sight and wisdom to see those things in one's own life
that may be keeping you from not only experiencing the fullness of God
and life but also doing so in loving and sharing relationships and communities.
On the external and communal level repenting is about,
on the one hand, continuing to respond to God's call to care for the
poor, the lame, the weak, the outcast, the "least of these" and, on
the other hand, continuing to ask as a community the why, how, and wherefore
questions of what are the social, political, and economic conditions
that create and sustain such realities as poverty, war, inequality,
injustice, and honestly examining our own lives and lifestyles as to
any complicity on our part in perpetuating such realities either by
sins of commission or omission. At the same time we need
to be trying to discern how God may be wanting us to help God transform
these realities into new ones.
The advent of God clearly has the potential, if we meet
God halfway, to transform our personal lives but it also has the potential
to challenge us in our corporate life together to renew our faith commitment
to the doing of justice, the loving of mercy, and the walking humbly
with our God; for translating God's dreams, so wondrously expressed
by the prophet, Isaiah, into realities, and not off there somewhere
in the future but right here and now.
"Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand." Are
you ready for that? As I ask you that question, the lingering
image in my head is not that of myself as an itinerant preacher demanding
that you repent, but as a child playing with you in the backyard and
with a childlike lightness of heart, asking you to repent and sensing
your hesitation, say, "I dare you!" and then, "I double-dare you!" and
all the time I'm smiling because I know who you'll see when you turn
around.
Amen.
