Genesis 1: 1-5, 14-19
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
Isaiah 42:1-7
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” 5 This is what God the Lord says—the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: 6 “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
As we begin Advent, what will make the difference between another Advent—“Oh, we're in another
Advent”--and a new Advent? Come to think of it, do you notice anything that's new? The banners! Let's give it up to Marissa Crozier once again! Brand new banners! What else is new? The paraments! The paraments are blue. We haven't used these in about 120 years!
What else is new? The candles. The candles are blue. So, because of the theme that Congregational Life crafted “Following the Star of Bethlehem,” we've been sort of all playing on that. So Marissa picked up that theme and she made these beautiful banners. And then we picked up the theme with the paraments, which we haven't used in many years, and then we went to see if we could get the blue candles. It's not the same as the purple, right? Well, I'll get back to that in a little bit.
Our theme for Advent this year is all about stars and following the Star and leading others. So Genesis 1 is actually a perfect place to start, paired with this section in Isaiah 42, so that we can start Advent in a brand new way. The God of Creation leads the way by establishing the activity and the invitation of the world--the creating of the cosmos in Genesis. In Isaiah, God is still the God of Creation, but also the God of the exodus, of the exile and the God of coming home. And this God desires and wills and calls Israel, and therefore us, to be part of transforming the world. So, thank God, we have five weeks in which to do it. We should be able to get that done in five weeks, right? Transforming the world? Thank you. But there's a profound connection between these two texts and I think it's really worth pondering.
I don't want to get too technical, but for you Bible smarties, it is well attested that Genesis, along with most of the other books of the Torah were written by multiple authors. And in different authors together these books were cobbled together and now are known today. Genesis 1, in particular, is thought to be written mostly by someone who's known as “P”, short for the priestly mindset in Genesis. And, interestingly enough, this part of Genesis that we read today is something I didn't know is called, the “Priestly Hymn.”
Most of us think about Genesis 1 and think about Sunday School, right? But it's a hymn. It's the way God starts the cosmos and the world. It’s a story in all the stanzas that tells the beginning of creation. Here's what's really cool. It is widely accepted that Genesis 1 and the priestly author was writing it at the same time that Israel was in exile. So Isaiah and the Genesis books were written roughly at the same time. Wow! So Genesis 1 is the beginning of the story of creation and God's activity. And Isaiah 42, is known as the “Servant Song”, because Israel's now being called out of exile. And they're getting a brand new job description to be a light to the Nations, because Israel is God's chosen and in whom God's soul delights.
Now that's not a new concept, that Israel is God's beloved, but here's what might be. What if our thoughts and actions this Advent were so filled with light that we, too, delighted God's soul? What if we fell away from all the franticness and all the anxiety and all the lists that have lists that have lists and we focus solely on doing things, and being a light to others, so much so that we become a light and a delight to God's soul? Don't worry if you don't get your Christmas cards out on time. Don't worry about baking an extra set of cookies, besides what we're doing for Loaves and Fishes and the PW dinner. But what if we let go of the franticness and we just start looking around for those who need to see and hear and understand about God's light?
So let's go back to the new and the blue. So I did some research on this, because I was curious. Because I'm used to having purple candles, as well, and it turns out that the reason why blue came into the scene is because blue is the color of royalty. And as we wait for the King to come, blue is the appropriate color for royalty. Purple is reserved for the spring in the time of Lent, the time of penitence. So blue is that we are waiting for royalty to come in the Christ child. So, surprisingly enough, and it's a little different for all of us, myself included, we are waiting for the King to come. So now if Israel was God's royalty, the servant to carry out God's will; if Israel was assigned to work on behalf of Yahweh for the world; if Israel was the servant to become the herald of good tidings that was their call, then they're also called to leave behind the preoccupation and the self-absorption that they had when they were in exile. And we know what that's like, because when we feel like we're in exile, we get pretty self-centered. We get pretty self-absorbed; and if we don't watch it, friends, it becomes a habit. So the call on Israel and the call on us now is to leave that preoccupation with self and the self-absorption and even the perfectionism, so that we're not preoccupied with our wants and our needs and our demands or self-absorbed with our own agendas. We're still pushing our spouse or our child to do that one thing they're still not willing to do and pay attention to where there's an invitation, a need where someone needs light, someone needs joy, someone needs hope. And you don't know, but you might be the very person to bring that. You just don't know. You can be a beacon of light and hope. You can be a light to the world in the smallest of ways.
I have a very dear friend who I went to Seminary with. She was quite a bit older than I was and I think she entered Seminary in her mid-60s. A woman of tremendous privilege--her husband is an extremely wealthy man, a very successful businessman. And I thought her life was just perfect--she has five grown children; they're all successful; they're all beautiful; they also have beautiful houses and homes--until I got to know her. It turns out that her father went in the war (she's from Germany) and he died in a Russian prison at the end of World War II. She and her mother and sister moved to California to get away from the Nazi regime and started a new life here. So she had very, very, very humble beginnings. Now she could have let that darken her life and her choices, but she chose light and she found light in her husband, Jim—Jim, who has a little bit of ADHD. I'll just say that out loud and I'd say that if he were sitting here. But when he retired he didn't know what to do with himself and now he's with his wife and they're living in Princeton and he doesn't know what to do with his time. But he was an alum of Princeton University and he started looking around for some way to help somebody else. Jim has single-handedly started a ministry that cares and meets and talks and prays with those who are in the Trenton prison system. They don't know who he is. They don't know how much money he has in the bank; but they know that when he shows up, he is bringing light to those who are living in darkness.
That is not an easy call. I'm not asking you to do that and the Gospel is not asking you to do that. Maybe some of you who have those talents, but keep looking around for those who really are sitting in darkness and help them find the light. Because when you do that, you bring joy and peace and hope to yourself as well.
So I'm going to charge you to start thinking and making a list of all of those who need to hear the message of Hope and hear the message of Light and hear the message of Peace in this congregation, in this community, downstairs in Loaves and Fishes and Gateway, someone you meet on the street, someone who's going through grief, someone who's having a hard time making ends meet, holding a job, caring for their children, dealing with mental illness or just plain blah. Because, friends, if Israel was called to do that and we are descendants of David, now that call is on us and we can either say ‘yes’ or we can say ‘I'll do it later’, but today is the first day of Advent.
May it be a new Advent for us all. Amen.