Sermon, December 17, 2006
Third Sunday of Advent

"HOW IS OUR MEMORY?"

copr.2006 by
Rev. Michael Poage, pastor
Fairmount United Church of Christ

Scriptures: Isaiah 12:2-6; Luke 3:7-18

Advent tells us that God knows, first-hand, what it is like to be human. From the prophet, Isaiah, we hear these words…"With joy you will drink water from the wells of salvation…."

We have been created, I believe, in the image of God, but also by the ethics of God, that is, the love of God. Therefore, we each have been given a kind of internal well, filled with the hope and love of God. Sometimes, as with any well, the level of hope and love can diminish, even get dangerously low, almost to the point of drying up.

You know what I mean! All of us have had that experience, perhaps more often than we want to acknowledge or remember.

Maybe we are in the midst right now of the well becoming dangerously low -- but right there in our path is the word, transformation, and John preaching about the coming of the Messiah.

All of this is a reminder of the possibilities of the well, the deep well, within each of us, the possibilities for hope and love and grace as we drink from our own wells.

In fact, we can serve as reminders to each other of the fullness and the depth of the well given to us – it is a part of the purpose of this Advent and Christmas season.

Ten years ago this week, as I stood next to my mother in the emergency room in California, after having spent the previous three weeks at her bedside, it was time for a decision. She had suffered a serious stroke only a couple of hours before and was now in a coma.

I asked the doctor, "What do you think?" He was honest and helpful; he had faced the same situation with his own mother. But, he could not make this decision.

I asked the nurse, "What do you think?" She was honest and helpful; she had faced the same situation with her own mother. But, she could not make this decision.

When I did make the decision to remove all life support systems from Mom, the nurse said, "Even though you will miss her very much, she will not love you any less." My well was almost dry but those words reminded me of the depth of hope and love and life especially during this Advent season.

I also remember some words from a book that I had been reading by Kay Redfield Jamison: "After each seeming death within my mind or heart, love has returned to re-create hope and to restore life."

We drink from our own wells. But sometimes, even as vipers (John’s words, not mine) we need to be reminded of just how much there is, and of the depth of the gift. Isaiah says to us: "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." "Salvation" will be defined in different ways by each of us. But the well remains. The world may pass away, but My Word, My Love will not pass away.

In today’s gospel reading, John the Baptist calls people to transform the way they live:

Those who have more than they need must share with those who don’t.
Tax collectors are asked to collect no more than is legal.
Soldiers are told not to extort money form the vulnerable.

John does not ask the tax collectors and soldiers to abandon their jobs. Instead, he asks of them a more difficult task. He invites both groups (and, therefore, anyone listening) to transform their behavior and do their work, live their lives, ethically – abandoning greed and exploitation (human actions very much a part of us today), for lives of justice and hope and transformation.

What specifically are Isaiah and John saying to you and me today?
Are they reminding us of the well and of the image and of the ethic?

I want to close with a true story I heard recently.

A young couple had a baby and soon after the birth they brought the baby home. This couple also had a four-year-old daughter who was waiting anxiously for the arrival of her sister, waiting very anxiously. As soon as the couple brought the baby in the front door the four-year-old wanted to see her newborn sister.

The parents took the baby and placed her in the crib so their other daughter could then finally see her sister. But to their surprise the older daughter said: "I want to see my baby sister alone." And the parents were asked to leave.

Being somewhat cautious they refused. They had heard about sibling rivalry and jealousy and were very reluctant to let the four-year-old stay in the newborn’s room without a parent. This brought tears to the four-year-old’s eyes. The couple asked why she wanted to see her sister by herself and they were told that she wanted to talk to her and it was private. The parents still refused.

After a couple of days of the same request by the four-year-old, the couple talked it over with each other, and decided they could put the portable sound monitor in the room just in case something should happen, then they could hear what was going on, and get to the room quickly if they needed to.

So they said, "Yes," to the four-year-old, who was very relieved and excited.

Having placed the sound monitor in the baby’s room they invited the four-year-old to come in and they left, closing the door behind them. They went to another room to listen to the other sound monitor. They heard nothing for about 30 seconds, just silence. Then…they heard the sounds of their four-year-old walking up to the crib, then some more silence.

The parents were nearly ready to run to the baby’s room when they began to hear the four-year-old speak. It was a short sentence as the older sister asked her baby sister a favor.

She said:

"Tell me about God,
I am already forgetting."

How is our memory?

How can we help each other restore our wells?

We are here -- created in God’s image and by God’s ethic -- to remind each other of the hope we are born with, and of the well from which we can drink…just in case we may begin to forget.

Amen.