Grace and Peace to you, from God our Creator and awaited Messiah, Jesus Christ, Amen.
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.”
John was being scrutinized by the authorities at that time. Why WAS he dunking people in the water? Yes, dunking. Immersing. In Greek, the word, βαπτίζω means to literally sink, dunk, immerse. When you eat your doughnuts with your coffee, many of you may βαπτίζω your doughnut into your coffee. I βαπτίζω my chicken nuggets in my ranch dressing. Dunking. It’s what we do. It’s what John was doing in the Jordan River a couple thousand years ago. The authorities saw what he was doing, and were asking; on what authority HE had to be βαπτίζω-ing people. HE wasn’t Elijah. HE wasn’t the Messiah. HE wasn’t the prophet… HE was just some wild man out in the wilderness… Crying out… that the real Messiah was coming. The Messiah; the Christ; the Savior of the world… was coming to save them from… themselves.
When have you needed saving? When have you done something terribly awful, that when you dig yourself a hole, you need someone to throw out a rope for you, BEFORE you just keep on digging? When you have Foot-IN-Mouth disease, and you need someone to bail you out before you keep on shoving it on in… When you try to repair a broken relationship, and yet, you end up breaking it even more, causing the divide between you to grow even larger. When you return home… only to realize that home… isn’t the home you left all those years ago…
This, this is my home.
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jon Rundquist. I grew up in this church; this congregation. I bring you Advent Greetings from Luther Seminary in Saint Paul; where I have just recently (as of yesterday) finished my 4th semester of working on earning my Master of Divinity. I live in Lauderdale with my beautiful wife, Tiffany and our 2.5yr old son, Samuel. Tiffany is a full-time case manager working to coordinate medical services for the elderly in Hennepin County, and Samuel enjoys pre-preschool at a daycare at Luther Seminary for five days a week. I want to thank you, First Lutheran, for your welcoming presence, and your continued financial and prayerful support of my vocational journey. It’s always nice to have a place to come home to.
I have a few days left of my Clinical Pastoral Education at Unity Hospital in Fridley. There, I work with patients on the oncology unit, and the substance abuse unit. On the oncology unit, I have the blessed opportunity to be with patients in their battles with cancer and other associated complications. Across the way, I also have the unique privilege of walking with people in their times of struggle with their own disease of addiction. The doctors, nurses and other professionals are there to walk alongside folks struggling with their disease called addiction. They are there to save folks… from themselves; from their own disease of addiction.
Who do you have to save you from yourself? Who do we have to save us from ourselves?
The prophet writes, “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners… to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion.” Isaiah 61:1-2
There’s a tremendous amount of mourning and grieving going on in our world country these days. ISIL wages war in a country we’ve left for good – twice; only for us to return a third time. Fifteen billion dollars were spent on campaign advertisements alone this election season; while millions go without enough food to eat in this country. So many mass and school shootings have happened in the last couple years that they barely get reported on anymore. Young men are dying in the streets of our country solely because of the color of their skin. As a nation, we recently found out that our country ruthlessly tortured hundreds of men for years because whoever was in charge didn’t deem basic inalienable human rights necessary to give other human beings. Who is going to save us from ourselves?
These are the voices crying out in the wilderness. These are the voices crying out for a savior. WE are the voices crying out for a savior.
Paul writes in his letter to the Thessalonians, “See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all… Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Paul was right 2000 years ago. How many people have died in the name of ‘justice’; repaying evil for evil. If we are to follow the Bible so closely, how do we seem to miss Paul’s words here so often? But then again, how many of you rejoice always, or pray without ceasing, or give thanks in all circumstances? “This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” That’s right. We can’t. We can’t follow everything that Paul says; that Jesus says; that God says. There are 613 laws in the Hebrew Scriptures. That’s 613 times where God tells the people, “Thou shalt” and “Thou shalt not” – over and over again. Early rabbis quickly figured out that it would be nearly impossible to follow every single law. So, they follow which ones they can, and allow for human error and logic to dictate which ones are more important than others.
We as Christians know there’s more to the story. We know what savior awaits us. We know who John is crying out in the wilderness for. We know who WE are calling out in OUR wilderness. Jesus the Christ is our Savior. Jesus the Christ is our Messiah, our Emmanuel. For it is in Christ that we wait this season of Advent; in this time of darkness and patience. For it is in Christ that we βαπτίζω baptize the faithful. For it is our faith in Christ that we wait – to save us from ourselves. It is the promise of God’s Grace that is bestowed to us and everyone; through the awaited Christ. It is this Gospel message; literally this ‘Good News’ of Christ’s redemptive Grace that we must rest our blessed assurance on.
The Psalmist writes, “Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.” Psalm 126:6
Lives have been lost, and tears shed. This Advent season; we must remember that even while there is so much death and destruction in our world; so much darkness – Christ, who is our light shining through the darkness, sets us free from this darkness and bondage of sin; so that we may, as the Psalmist writes, “come home with shouts of joy” at the promise of this Grace, and work together to restore our country, so that all may come home with shouts of joy.
I leave you with some words of redemption in relation to our local community. About 450 years ago; a few years after Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Church and jumpstarted the Reformation, Protestants and Catholics alike disagreed greatly with the Anabaptists (our modern day Mennonites, Hutterites, Christian Apostolics and Amish) and would persecute them greatly; killing them in droves. Three hundred years later in the late 1800s, the descendants from these persecuted Anabaptists began settling in America, with some settling around here, in western Minnesota. Hundreds of years prior, the Lutherans and Catholics killed them in droves, but in the late 1800s, these Anabaptists settled in the land of Lutherans and Catholics. Here in Morris, we have a fine example of how our modern descendants of these Anabaptists, the various groups of Christian Apostolic church members, us Lutherans and Catholics, along with our Mennonite and Hutterite neighbors; can all live together in this agriculturally-rich railroad and college town; despite our rough beginnings. God’s Grace was shown to all then, and it is shown to all of us now.
Seven years ago, when I graduated high school, there were no Latina/Hispanic students in the high school. This year, at least a half-dozen Latina students graduated from the high school, with more in the following graduating classes. Our Latina neighbors are growing, and slowly being welcomed into this community. Who is the voice crying out in Morris? Grace abounds in this community. I foresee great gracious potential in this community for each and every one of us to show our neighbors the same Grace that God gives us all. The same Grace we see in the promise of the awaited Messiah this Advent season.
Show our neighbors that this community is grace-filled. “Till the spear and rod can be crushed by God, who is turning the world around…” “the dawn draws near,” First Lutheran, “for the world is about to turn.” Be the voice that is crying out in the wilderness. Be the face of Christ’s redemptive Grace, Love and Mercy to our community. Together, we shall prosper.
As Paul writes in today’s second lesson, the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Amen.
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