December 7, 2008                                                           Isaiah 40:1-11

                                                                                                  Mark 1:1-8

“Still In The Game”

          A few weeks ago, while going through some boxes in our basement, I came across a letter written by our daughter, Suzanne, when she was away at summer camp.  She was twelve-years-old at the time and described her experiences riding horses.  She told us that she was having a good time, but that she missed us and, please send more stamps.

          The letters were written about 20 years ago and as I reread them, it just didn’t seem possible that all that time had already passed.  I started thinking about all that had happened in our lives since that week in camp.  She graduated from high school in Arizona, went off to Missoula, Montana to college, was married, moved to the Cape where she gave birth to three grandchildren and attended nursing school, and moved back to Missoula some five years ago.

          Surely you can all identify with rediscovering something which you had stored away years ago.  Pictures of family events and letters from loved ones which you have not seen in a long time, tend to bring back a flood of memories and you say to yourself, “Where did the time go?”

          For me, it was a 20-year-old letter that had become somewhat of a sacred document that took me back to memories of our daughter’s childhood.  Can you imagine what really ancient documents discovered by archeologists mean to them and to the people most connected to them historically?  Can you imagine what it was like to be a biblical scholar who when reading the “Wall Street Journal” saw the following ad on June 1, 1954:

          MISCELLANEOUS FOR SALE

THE FOUR DEAD SEA SCROLLS

Biblical manuscripts dating back to at least 200 B.C.
are for sale. This would be an ideal gift to an educational
or religious institution by an individual or group.
Box F 206 WALL STREET JOURNAL

            The connection of all this to today’s primary text from Isaiah is clear:  here is an independent source verifying the words of the great prophet Isaiah.  These ancient documents dated about 200 years before Christ, confirmed the words already in our Bibles.  Finding family treasures in our basements and attics is special to our families, but finding ancient primary source documents for our faith is important to the Judea-Christians traditions, and therefore to the entire world.

          Today’s reading begins the second section of Isaiah.  The book really has two parts:  part one covers 700-600 BC, and part two covers dates in 500 BC. In Book one, the Hebrews deals with imminent destruction and  Book two deal with the hope that with the military success of Cyrus II, the Jews for whom he had considerable compassion, would be able to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.

          So, this is all well and good, but why is this text the one for the second Sunday in Advent?  This is about the Jews 500 years before the birth of Jesus so why deal with it today with some 18 days before Christmas?

          For two main reasons, really.  First, looking retroactively, we Christians now believe and know that the “redemption” and “restoration” of which Isaiah spoke began to happen with the birth of Jesus.  The second reason this text appears on the second Sunday in Advent is that Isaiah brings a message of hope and the assertion that God is back in the game of history.  God is active in our lives and is going to make good things happen.  This was an important message for the Jews living in exile and it is an important message for us today.

          Our God is not only a God of history, our God is a God of today as history is being made.  As our recent United Church of Christ campaign asserts:  our God is still in the game; our God is still speaking. 

          Particularly in this year of Advent, this is a message we need to hear because with all that is going on some people are beginning to wonder if God, like Elvis, has “left the building.”  As financial conditions deteriorate, many people are beginning to feel as though God has abandoned them.  As the unemployment rate approaches 7%, the lines are getting longer and longer at federal and state offices and they are filling up with people wondering just how this all could have happened and so quickly!

          Back in the end of September I checked out the web site of the United Church of Christ Pension Boards to see how the leadership was handling the financial crisis.  During a teleconferencing call online, a woman called in saying that in the next five months she had to start drawing on her pension.  What should she do?  If she has waited for the market to improve, her portfolio is probably down 40%.  That’s not what you want to have happen a few months before you annuitize.  Thirty some years in the ministry and look what’s happening.

          But as we all know, there are many other stories out there where things are much worse.  For them the question of God active in their lives may, at best, be confusing, for their lives are falling apart as they face foreclosure and even homelessness.

          In talking with Denise Dutson this week about ways we might help families who are struggling, I discovered that there are families in this area living out of cars.  The Food Pantries at Christ the King and the Pentecostal Churches are not enough, so local community leaders have started a third one.  Denise shared a story with me that was told to her by the founder of the new Mashpee Food Pantry involving a mother and teen-age son.  As the story goes, the son was overhead begging and crying, literally, to his mother not to go into the pantry.  He said he would do whatever it would take to get food, but begged his mother not to go into the pantry and ask for help.

          I, of course, have no idea who this mother and son were, but I wonder where they are with their faith at this time.  To what extent do they feel that God is present in their lives?  Do they feel abandoned.

          This story is being lived out throughout our country right now, but it is nothing compared to what one web site reports about world hunger:

          c http://www.care.org/campaigns/world-hunger/facts.aspompared

          More than 840 million people in the world are malnourished-799 million of them live in the developing world.

          More than 153 million of the world’s malnourished people are children under the age of 5.

          Six million children under the age of 5 die every year as a result of hunger.

          How important it is that we still believe that God is active in our lives, that God is still in the game because we need God’s help to face the challenges of the day!  We need the assurance that God has not abandoned us!  We want to know as Isaiah knew 2500 years ago, that God is still watching over us and that on God we can pin all of our hopes and dreams.

          People both near and far look for the same assurance, especially in this season of Advent, the season of hope and peace.  We are giving Christmas gifts to families involved in the Boys and Girls Club.  Perhaps through your generosity, some people who are feeling shaky about their faith will see God alive and speaking through this local outreach program.  We are beginning to collect food for the new Mashpee Food Pantry.  This will be an ongoing program and based on preliminary reports, the need is growing by the week.  I want to thank all of you for being part of this.  Our new congregation is beginning to reach out to our community and truly to make a difference.  This is God’s work.  This is the work of the church.  This is our calling.

          It doesn’t have to stop here.  As your pastor and teacher, I would like you to consider sponsorship of a child through the Global Ministries Sponsorship program of the United Church of Christ.  I realize that there are many financial pressures on us at this time, but we can surely find a way to help feed some of those starving children who help produce those startling statistics.  I will share more information with you in the coming weeks, but I believe firmly God has led me to this program and I think that our participation in it could be another small expression of how God is still in the game.  For more than 40 years, the program has given assistance to some 3,000 children all over the word, one child at a time.  There are currently 900 children in the program.

          If you feel particularly called to help us with this outreach, please speak to me following the service. 

          The words of the great prophet Isaiah go back some 2700 years, but they continue to speak powerfully to us today.  We need reassurance as much as any generation and through this great voice, we hear it:  “He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

          “Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable.” (40:28)

• More than 840 million people in the world are malnourished — 799 million of them live in the developing world.

• More than 153 million of the world's malnourished people are children under the age of 5.

• Six million children under the age of 5 die every year as a result of hunger.