|
 |
Monday, Sept 06
| Sermon Archives |
|
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Malachi 3:1-4
Advent II
Craig Shirley
A Market Correction
“This has been the worst year in real estate that I can remember” declared the head of the local realtor’s board. Really!
It certainly doesn’t take a professional realtor to tell you that. Just living in your house, even if you have no intention of selling it anytime soon, means that you have lost somewhere between ten and twenty percent of what it was worth 24 months ago! It’s great for people who are buying – if they can secure a loan – but for those who have relied upon their home as their future financial security – it can be devastating. And the effect it has had on our economy, resulting in the worst economic downturn since the great depression, tells us that “worst year” is an understatement. Whole nations, like Iceland and Dubai are on the verge of bankruptcy!
Some people call all of what has been happening in the economy a “market correction”. Real estate values became inflated, houses were overpriced, people didn’t have enough equity to cover their loans and now “the market” was correcting itself – like some kind of a living thing seeking to purge itself after a wanton feast. It is a difficult time – especially if you are one of the people who has lost a job or your home as a result of what some would call a “necessary” time of adjustment.
It isn’t a message we like to hear, or want to hear. But it is a message that we need to hear because, like it or not – that is what is happening.
This lesson from Malachi – an unfamiliar book to most, and the last book in what we call the Old Testament – is itself a bit of a “market correction”. The writer speaks of a refiner’s fire and fuller’s soap – we speak of market corrections, but the idea is the same. Something there is about our lives is not good for us; it may be immoral, unhealthy, without merit or downright dangerous. But the status quo and the pain of correction makes it difficult to face the reality, and so we go blithely on, ignoring it until – boom – it hits us like a ton of bricks. “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me…the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight” says Malachi. Happy words indeed. But then the writer adds “But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?”
That’s the message we don’t want to hear, especially during this “happy” season of Advent leading up to Christmas. We want to hear the infant narrative – the story of this lovely baby born so gently in Bethlehem. But in truth, Advent is as much as story of Christ’s second coming as it is the story of Jesus’ birth! And it is Christ’s second coming that is probably of greatest importance to us on this day in 2009!
It’s funny how news like this works. There’s something about you that knows this is a message you need to hear. In your better moments, you know you’re not right, your world is out of kilter, but it’s so easy to leave life the way it is. It’s not until the bottom drops out of the housing market, or someone you respect backs into a fire hydrant in his front yard and lays bare his whole secret life for the world to see, or your personal life starts to deteriorate from lack of attention, or your health goes because of too much alcohol, too many cigarettes, too little sleep or too much stress. It’s not until someone reminds us that Christ will come again; in judgment and in glory, that we really pay attention to the possibility that we may one day stand before the throne of God and answer for how we have lived our lives. But Malachi is thinking about just that, and warning us to be aware. And I don’t imagine his message went over any better then than it does today.
There is a preacher on TV who on Sunday preaches to more folk than I preach to in ten years. I won’t say who he is, but he’s in Houston. One of his recent sermons began with “You are good! You mean well. You want to have a happy life, but these negative naysayers keep dragging you down.” He then advised his listeners to get up each morning, look in the mirror and say “I will have good day! I do believe in me!”
And though he didn’t mention “God” in his sermon (what on earth could God do for a congregation that’s capable of doing all that?), 16,000 people listened to his speech gladly. (William Willomen) And that’s one of the reasons that 16,000 people love him. He doesn’t call them to any kind of personal responsibility for their lives. “People don’t come to church to be judged, to be criticized, and made to feel uncomfortable.” That’s what a speaker said to a group of preachers at a sermon workshop. “Laity come to church to be stroked, to be patted on the head and told that they are doing just fine as they are.”
Thus the message of most sermons must be “God loves you just the way your are: promise you’ll never change a thing.” Such a message goes over very well. But you and I know it isn’t enough. Of course there are times in our lives when we need to hear that side of grace – that we are loved for who we are, not for who we think we should be. But just as often, the message of grace comes in another way – God tells us that more is expected from us than we are presently giving. Malachi chides the people about their gifts to the temple – they are giving blemished animals as sacrifice and keeping the good stock for themselves. They are not tithing their 10%. They are not caring for the widows and orphans in their midst, but rather are thinking only of themselves. They are not living up to their commitments. It isn’t a matter of guilt, or even of works righteousness. It is a matter of justice – God has given them so much and they are being called to give back in equal proportion out of the generosity the Lord has poured on them.
It reminds me of a story I have used before. Young Brian said to his dad one day “Hey dad! Got a minute?”
“Sure, what’s up”
“Well, you know that baseball glove Mrs. Tillie gave me for my birthday?”
“Sure! It’s a nice one.
“That’s just it. It was a great gift – especially from a neighbor and all. It’s just, well…
“Is there a problem with the glove?”
“Oh, no, not with the glove. There’s a problem with what to do about it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I feel like I should do something for her, you know? Like I should even things up a bit.
“Did she ask you to do something?”
“No, in fact she said that all she wanted was for me to use it to help the team out.”
“Sounds to me like Mrs. Tillie doesn’t want you to pay her back except by making good use of her gift.”
“You think that’s enough?
“Sounds like a lot of responsibility to me.” replied his dad.
“Hmmm. Maybe you’re right” concluded Brian. (New Journeys – Augsburg Fortress)
A recent book on preaching advises us preachers that if we want you to listen to Jesus we need to tell you that Jesus can be useful. Need peace in your life? Jesus can deliver. Need a reason to get out of bed in the morning? Here’s how Jesus can help.
And Jesus can bring these things to your life. But not in the way we too often think – like God responding to our Christmas list. Malachi begins his oracle with the words “I have loved you, says the Lord.” But then the people respond “How have you loved us?” How have you loved us indeed? Perhaps enough to allow an occasional Market correction? Perhaps enough to allow us to get so close to the heat that we get scorched and singed? Perhaps enough to allow us to get scrubbed clean, but not in a warm bath with plenty of suds but instead a cold shower with lye soap that cleans deep but chafes and scratches and irritates our comfortable way of existence while in the end, making us truly clean.
“I have loved you, says the Lord.” That is what is at the heart of everything that God does. “The justice of God is not retributive; it is not about punishment, but rather it is restorative and refining. It is about setting things right, bringing us back into right relationships with God, with self, and with other. It takes endurance. There is no immediate gratification here, and so we wait with anticipation and apprehension.”(Jeanne Hoeft) But still we wait in faith and hope – the message of Advent, of Emmanuel – “God with us” a message for a modern world. Amen
|
|
