Sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent

Texts:
Malachi 3:1-4;
Philippians 1:3-11;
Luke 3:1-6.

Do you ever browse the internet for a list of this year’s top ten gifts? It’s that time of the year after all. Perhaps you remember the gifts you longed for over the years: the toys of childhood, the technology, music, or clothing of adolescence, or later on just a day of complete quiet and rest. Do you wonder, what do people hope for this year?

Our web-based ionospheric source of all knowledge and insight will not let you down. In fact, it will probably over-deliver. It turns out that it is no longer possible to judge the top ten best gifts of the year. There are just too many variables to quantify in the gifting universe, and countless numbers of merchants eager to help us choose.

Now instead of a list of the top ten gifts, there is a list of the top one hundred gifts for children, for women, for men, for girlfriends or boyfriends, for grandchildren, for pets, for neighbors, for co-workers, and on and on and on.

When you add them all up, and take into account that there are hundreds of websites with dozens of top one hundred gifts in every gift-able category, it comes to….well, you do the math. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots. And that’s only for gifts you buy. It doesn’t take into account home-made items which are another whole universe of options.

Alternatively, you might look for a website that operates differently. One that gives some basic gift-ee categories and a few suggestions for each category. One such website offered this simplified approach to gifting. And scrolling down the page, near the bottom was this final suggestion: if your friend or loved one isn’t into material gifts, consider something thoughtful and meaningful instead.

Who knew that a thoughtful and meaningful gift is something in a category altogether different from material things? What a startling revelation!  If that website’s insight were to catch on, why, just imagine how it could revolutionize the whole spirit of gift-giving, and even the whole spirit of Christmas itself!

Thoughtful and meaningful.  What would gifts like that be? Probably not anything you can get in local stores or on the internet.  Maybe not even something hand-made, but maybe something heart-made instead?

Perhaps something like what Malachi offered…thoughtful and meaningful advice that God’s messenger is coming and yes, you’re looking a little ragged, but hey, you can be refined, redeemed, returned to factory specs and made presentable by God’s by taking God’s word to heart.

What an extraordinary gift to hear that no matter how much you’ve let yourself or others down, made poor choices, fallen short, or been red-tagged, you’re gold and silver in the sight of God; you are precious and beloved.

Or maybe consider a thoughtful and meaningful gift such as what Paul said to his friends in Philippi. I give you the gift of appreciation. I thank God every time I remember you, he said.   I am constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for you.  I wish you the gift of being God’s good work for others just as you have been to me.

Or, I give you the gift of wisdom: may the knowledge and full insight that wells up in you be conditioned always by love that leads you to do what is best in all circumstances.

Or the gift of agency: I pray that you will be a source of the kind of good thoughts and words and actions that encourage others. Be the kind of person who works against destructive forces such as anxiety, addiction, self-doubt, anger, the need to be right, and every kind of human failure. And may you be so effective that that you will be an honored and cherished friend, sibling, neighbor, child, parent, or co-worker.

These are great gifts; truly thoughtful and meaningful. We expect this kind of spiritual guidance from Malachi and Paul. But what is the best gift we can bring in this category?

Luke prods us to consider the gift that John the Baptist gave the world. All John had to give was a word from God. A message that John spoke without regard for anyone’s station of life. He said the same thing in the presence of the Emperor, the foreign Governor, the regional rulers, the high priests, and the common people.

John said, Prepare the way of the Lord. Straighten out what is crooked, raise what is low and level what is high. Make smooth what is rough and uneven.

You will need no tools for this labor. You will carry no weapons. You will need no money to accomplish the task. It can be done by anyone, of any age or gender or race or creed. By those who are able and those who are disabled.

All you need to prepare the way of the Lord is to receive one single gift which God is eager to give you, and to pass it on. It is arguably the most thoughtful and meaningful gift known to humankind. It is the gift of forgiveness.

By forgiveness the whole landscape is changed, healed, and prepared. When you are forgiven your world is changed. When you forgive you change the world.  It is a gift that no political or religious authority can take away from you, or restrain you from giving freely to others.

Forgiveness comes as naturally from God as from one person to another. When we are forgiven and when we forgive, we see God and the salvation of God. Forgiveness is the result of thoughtfulness and it is profoundly meaningful. It cannot be bought. It is priceless.

God has poured out the gift of forgiveness time and again. It is what the prophets proclaimed to Judah and Jerusalem. It is what Paul confidently believed all people could do with God’s help. It is why Jesus came to be born among us. Are we ready for such a gift?  This is what Advent is for.  It is for getting ready.