Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
December 23, 2007

Scripture:

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

This Advent season we are considering three aspects of what it means to call ourselves disciples of Christ. Specifically, we are considering three commitments that Christ expects of his disciples that are suggested by three of this year’s Advent readings from the prophet Isaiah. We have considered the demand of discipleship that our lives be devoted to peace and to justice. We saw that those are political demands, although not necessarily partisan ones. Today we consider a demand of the life of faith that isn’t at all political. It is personal. Indeed, it operates at the most personal of levels, the level of one to one human relationships. It is the demand that we relate to all whom we encounter with care, especially pastoral care for each other’s spiritual health and wellbeing. This aspect of the life of discipleship too is suggested by our Advent scripture readings, beginning with our reading from Isaiah.

That reading is one of Isaiah’s restoration prophecies. The great writing prophets of the 8th century BCE, including the author of chapters 1 through 39 of the book of Isaiah known to scholars as First Isaiah, prophesied doom and destruction for the Hebrew kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Some of those prophets, including First Isaiah, also included in their writings other prophecies that told of a brighter future beyond the coming calamity, a future of restoration, peace, and prosperity. The verses we heard this morning from Isaiah are one of those restoration prophecies. Much of it speaks of a transformation of the earth itself in the joyous days to come. Much of it speaks of “the Holy Way,” a highway through the desert. Those verses refer to the way by which the exiles would return to Israel and Judah from exile in Assyria across the desert to the east. Some of the verses paint a picture of God that we don’t share, namely the line in verse 4 that says that God “will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense.” All of those passages are important and interesting in their own right, but they aren’t the lines I want to focus on this morning.

Isaiah has other things to say about what life is like in the restoration, when life will be more like God wants it to be, that have, I think, more meaning for us. He says: “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God’….” Isaiah 10:3-4 NRSV Isaiah may have meant these lines to apply to those who had no faith in God’s coming restoration of Israel of which Isaiah spoke. They have, however, a much broader meaning than that. I understand Isaiah to be speaking not so much of people with physical problems as of those with spiritual problems, although of course he doesn’t exclude the physically sick from the admonition of care. Isaiah’s words are a call to us to care for all whom we encounter who are in need of care. Care of the other is a central part of the life of faith.

Our reading from Matthew says essentially the same thing. In that passage Jesus answers the question of whether he is the Messiah indirectly, by pointing to the work that he has been doing among the people. He heals them. Like Isaiah, Matthew’s Jesus talks about healing physical afflictions to be sure, but he includes one marker of the coming of the Kingdom that is not physical. He says: “The poor have good news brought to them.” Matthew 11:5 NRSV Now, we know that when Jesus said “the poor” he meant first of all those who are poor in an economic sense, but in the Gospel of Matthew “poor” has another sense as well. In the Sermon on the Mount Matthew’s Jesus says “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3 NRSV Much ink has been spilled over the question of what “poor in spirit” means, but one of the things it surely means is those whose spirits are troubled, those who mourn, or who live in despair, those who are fearful or anxious. To me this morning it means those who are in need of spiritual care, whatever the cause or specific nature of that need might be. And that, my friends, is all of us at some time in our lives. One sign of the presence of the Kingdom is that these poor, we poor, have good news brought to them, to us. Bringing the good news of God’s love and God’s presence to those who are troubled in spirit is one of the callings of the life of faith.

Now, it may seem to you that bringing such care is the particular calling of those of us who are ordained to pastoral ministry. Indeed, bringing such care is the most important thing that those of us who have discerned God’s call to ordained ministry do. I now have the privilege of doing it for you and for others who come into my life. I have, however, experienced the kind of care that the life of faith calls us to give to one another from the other side as well. Fifteen years ago my late wife Francie had a mastectomy. She was scared. I was scared. Our pastor at the time, the Rev. Steve Hanning, now serving as interim pastor of Everett First Congregational UCC, went to the hospital with us. He prayed with us before Francie went in for the surgery. He sat with me in the waiting room throughout the surgery. His presence with me in that time of spiritual need remains to this day one of the greatest gifts of pastoral care I have ever received. Several years later, when Francie’s cancer returned and we learned that it was incurable, one of the first things I did was go to my church at the time, University Congregational UCC, asking to see any of the pastors who might be in. I saw Pastor Don McKenzie. Don prayed with me and comforted me. He continued to provide my pastoral care throughout Francie’s final illness and death. He was a great help to me in surviving that most difficult experience of my life. Our friend Rev. Dennis Hughes was a great help to Francie in the same way. I know how powerful professional pastoral help can be in times of spiritual turmoil not only because I have tried to give it but because I have received it in the most spiritually painful times of my life. Pastoral care is indeed a particular calling of those of us in ordained ministry, and as always I ask all of you never to hesitate to call me if you have a need—any need—for that kind of professional pastoral care.

But providing pastoral care is by no means only a calling of the ordained. It is a call to all of us who call ourselves disciples of Christ. And I know I don’t really have to tell you that. I have seen you providing it to one another in my time among you. The care that the members of this congregation give to each other in times of need is, for me, confirmation that you take your call as Christians seriously and understand much of what it means for your lives. Because I know you care so much, I never hesitate to say to any of our number who is experiencing difficulties in life “just let me know if you need anything. The people of the church will be happy to help.” In this way, as in so many others, you are a great blessing to me and to each other; and you are truly disciples of Christ.

The Christmas season which now commences—it’s just commencing for us in the church despite the fact that it’s been going on for weeks in the secular world—seems to me to an especially appropriate time to remember our call as disciples to care for all who come into our lives. Tomorrow night and Tuesday morning we will welcome the newborn Christ child in worship, with scripture reading, prayer, and song here at Monroe Congregational UCC. We welcome one who came to us as a tiny baby, as one, that is, who needed love, care, protection, and nurture, just as we all did when we were infants and as we all still at times do. We recall the love and care that Mary and Joseph gave to him, and we remember the way that later in his life he cared for all whom he met along life’s journey. We remember how he affirmed and healed them, how he told those most in need that they were God’s special ones, the ones God loves the most. And we remember how he said that the way we do those things for him is to do them for “the least of these,” those whom we meet who are most in need.

So over these next few days, as we gather together as Christ’s church and as we gather with our family and friends to celebrate His birth, let us truly care for one another. Let us resolve that as we continue to live out our lives of faith we will extend care and compassion to all whom we meet along the way. It is the way of the one whose birth we celebrate. It is the way of the disciples of Christ. Amen.