Fourth Sunday in Advent

Sermon for Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 23, 2018

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista, UCC

 “Love Everlasting”

Text: Luke 1:39-45

By Rev. Elizabeth Aguilar

 

Friends, we’ve reached the fourth week of Advent which is Love. We focus today on the greatest Love of all, which is God’s love for human kind and all creation in sending us His Son, Jesus Christ. Of course, the temptation is to preach on the birth of Jesus as Christmas is around the corner and yet we aren’t quite there, yet.

            To be honest the biggest challenge is to be able to focus on a particular part of the Christmas Story without focusing solely on Christ’s birth. But, for that, you will have to return tomorrow, for the Christmas Eve service.  Instead, today we will indeed focus on Love but on one particular form of love as seen in the story of Mary and Elizabeth.

            I found it interesting on reviewing the Christmas Story that inserted with in it, is this story of true friendship. We quickly get the sense that although they were cousins, that they were much more than cousins, they were true friends. We can imagine how easily these two cousin friends must have bonded over the fact that they were both pregnant over miraculous situations. One was advanced in age and one was a virgin. Those three months must have been full of wonder and expectation. Perhaps they prayed, laughed, worried, and hoped together. For that is what true friends do together.

            One of the spiritual marks of discipleship according to Richard Foster and Darryl Tippens, two Biblical scholars and theologians, is spiritual friendship. You might recall that there are several marks of discipleship. They are: prayer, worship, service, giving (as in times, talent and treasures) and last but not least- there is spiritual friendship.

In Darryl Tippens Book, called, Pilgrim Heart– he states that Spiritual Friendship is probably the least obvious mark of discipleship. For all others are those that the Church teaches, promotes and lives out- we have prayer circles, prayer chains, we pray with and for each other in and out of worship. We certainly worship together, we promote and encourage giving of our time and treasures. We also promote and encourage serving others. But spiritual friendships is not that obvious. And yet, we do have examples of special friendships in scripture and today’s example of Mary and Elizabeth is one of them.

Now what do spiritual friendship look like according to Biblical examples?

  • they speak the truth in love. They share their opinions and insight in a way that will not hurt the other person but will respect the other person. That truth might be hard to share but it is shared in love- carefully and respectfully.
  • Spiritual friends pray for and with one another. They present to God, the needs of that friend, asking God for God’s will in the life of the other friend. They don’t ask God for what they think should happen but on what God’s best interest is for that person because we know that God loves our friend with a perfect love, which is not like our love b/c we ourselves are not perfect.
  • Spiritual friends are of course, loyal and reliable. They will not share your secrets with others and break confidence. They won’t use your faults to hurt you in some way.
  • Michael Foss adds: “it is in interpersonal caring friendships between committed disciples that real growth takes place.” They pray for each other, encourage one another, share insights into scripture, and help one another reflect on the ways God is present and active in their lives.

So let’s think about this some more- what would the world look like if we exercised healthy relationships and communication? There would be less wars, more sharing of resources, more peace and consequently, prosperity. In society there would be less loneliness, depression, suicides, less consumerism and obesity as we know that over-eating and over- spending are ways to avoid loneliness and boredom.

Then I also wonder- what would our church look like if we cultivated more spiritual friendships. Where mutual accountability, encouragement, play, and prayerful support were the norm?

As we look at Mary and Elizabeth- notice that they came from different areas and towns. They were of different ages and probably social backgrounds for Mary was very young and poor and Elizabeth would have been well known as the wife of a priest (Zachariah.) So they would not have had much in common except for the fact that they were both pregnant at the same time, both under very unusual circumstances.

            So, you see, to have a good spiritual friend, you don’t have to have everything in common with them. But you do have to love God and be willing to trust, pray, and share with each other.

            This kind of love is agape love or filial love. It is true love that lasts and endures time. It isn’t a shallow love that comes and goes according to one’s mood. It is the kind of love the endures time and all circumstances.

My prayer is that we can grow in spiritual friendships here in our congregation. That you find a spiritual friend here- someone you can trust in, grow with, pray with, laugh with and share with.            

Let us remember as we hold on to the rock that was given to you as you entered, that Jesus is the rock of our salvation! Like this rock, which says “love” on it, God’s love for us does not change. It isn’t penetrable. It isn’t changeable in any way. It is strong. It is everlasting. Amen.

 

 

 

 

Pilgrim Heart. Darryl Tippins. Leafwood Publishers.2006., Abeline, TX.

Power Surge: Six Marks of Discipleship for a Changing Church. Michael Foss. Augsburg Fortress Publishers. 2000., Minneapolis, MN.

Sermon for December 16, 2018

 

Sermon for December 16, 2018

Third Sunday of Advent

The Joy of The Lord Is My Strength

Text Luke 1:11-20, 23-25; Isaiah 12:2-6

 

We have reached the third Sunday of Advent. Notice a shift has begun from waiting and longing to excitement and expectation. We have arrived to JOY! I wonder, what gives you joy? And is joy the same thing as happiness to you?

 

In today’s gospel lesson we are focusing once more on the parents of John the Baptist again- Elizabeth and Zachariah. In this portion of Luke’s account, we read the about the Angel Gabriel’s announcement to Zachariah- who was a priest, that he and his wife were indeed going to have a child.

 

I always found it interesting that despite Zachariah being someone who would have spent much time in prayer and worship, leading others in worship that he was not able to immediately believe Gabriel’s words.

 

Now, Gabriel started out by saying, “Do not be afraid, Zachariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you will name him John. You will have JOY and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.”

 

Gabriel was letting Zachariah know that his prayer had been heard and honored by God. Not only heard but that it would be fulfilled.

 

Have you ever had something you prayed for come to fruition? Do you remember how that felt?

I have- and I must confess that I was like Zachariah at first- not about to really believe it. You see, sometimes I think we get so used to praying and hoping for something that it is hard for us to accept that what we were praying for has really occurred. Perhaps that is what happened to Zachariah. Maybe he had even given up all together? He is old, after all. Perhaps he and Elizabeth had been praying for decades to have a child but weren’t successful.

 

Well, contrast his reaction to that of Elizabeth’s. Elizabeth did believe it and embraced it. Her reaction is one of gratitude toward God for answering her prayer.

 

Why would it have been such a big deal for them to have a child?

Specifically, a boy? Because sons would be able to carry on the family name. They would be able to help sustain the family economically. Because in this patriarchal system having a male child meant you had value as a woman and as a couple. That is why Elizabeth states, “this is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.” Indeed, she would have been living in disgrace all of those years and now she no longer had to. Their prayer had been fulfilled.

 

So what about you? How did you react when your prayer was fulfilled What did you think? What did you feel? Who did you share your good news with?

 

Now, I need to pause here and clarify that I am not saying that joy

is ONLY about receiving what we pray for. We know that God is not a genie or Santa Claus. Sometimes what we pray for isn’t for us or it isn’t the time for us to receive it.

I am saying, however, that what we pray for IS being heard by God and when we are given the answer to our prayer, we need to embrace it and give God thanks for it. Not doubt it, as Zachariah did but embrace it, as Elizabeth did.

 

I prayed for many years to become a pastor again. I interviewed, I spoke to churches. I searched. I prayed. I waited. In the meantime, I worked as a chaplain. You all know that. Some of those years were very hard but also very rich with opportunity to remind many hurting people that God was truly with them.

But it took 8 long years for my prayer to be answered. I don’t think I doubted it. I was just over-joyed! That finally God was sending me to a church setting again. That God would allow that place to be here in California which made most sense for my family and I.

 

I remember wondering why it took so long. I can only imagine that it was because I needed more time to learn to completely rely on God. Perhaps i needed to be a blessing to all of those patients. Perhaps you weren’t ready for me or my kind of leadership? It happened in God’s time.

 

But notice that Joy and happiness are two different things- are they not? For I am not speaking of happiness. Neither was Isaiah or Luke. We read over and over how Jesus came to bring JOY to the world. Had it been just happiness that He brought, it would have been something momentary and not the event that it was that changed the world forever.

 

Joy is enduring. Happiness is fleeting.

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit that bears more fruit.

Joy is choice, not just a result. Archbishop Oscar Romero said this of Joy- “Christians must always nourish their hearts the fullness of joy. Try it brothers and sisters; I have tried it many times and in the darkest moments, when slander and persecution were at their worst: to unit myself intimately with Christ, my friend… it is the deepest joy the heart can have.”(quoted in The Saints Guide to Joy that Never Fades by Ann Ball, 120)

 

Joy sustains us- This is what my friend, the Rev. Matthew Crebbin said on NPR, one year after the Sandyhook massacre when 12 children and teachers were struck down. Matt is the senior pastor at Newtown Congregational Church and went to seminary with me. He said in his interview- “we are not people who look at happiness- the root for happiness is the same root as happenstance or haphazard. Happiness is really rooted in this notion that somehow, we are dependent upon circumstance around us as to where the well be happy or not. And really for people of faith, joy is a deeper sense that we are held in something that sustained us, beyond envy our ability to recognize, sometimes even in the moment.”

 

Friends- the Christian message is not one of happiness. Where we are meant to have faking smiles on our faces all day. It is one of deep joy. A joy that only God can provide. A joy that give us peace in the midst of whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.

 

If we are a people who only lived by circumstances, we would not be able to survive. We wouldn’t want to get up in the morning. We wouldn’t want to keep fighting for what is right, we wouldn’t want to live out our faith through acts of kindness, justice, and transportation. If we were a people who only existed on happiness, we would not come to worship Sunday after Sunday.

 

We would only do it if we felt happy. We would only do it out of habit and not because we chose to believe and serve a God who stopped at nothing to show us what love looks like!

 

We are people of Joy. As such we are called to spread Christ’s JOY into the world. Where is the darkest place in your life- take joy, there. Who in your life needs joy- tell them why you believe in God and how Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s love for them.

What will joy call you to do in your own life? Pray and meditate on it. Ask God- who or what situation needs you to bring Christ’s joy to them? It isn’t about being happy. It isn’t about “fake it ‘til you make it.” It is about the joy that comes from God, that give us strength that IS our strength!

Let us be a church that embodies, embraces, preaches, teaches, demonstrates JOY in all circumstances. That is what will give us strength.

 

12.2.18 Isaiah 30

Communion Meditation

First Sunday of Advent

“Waiting and Hoping for Christ’s Light”

Texts- Isaiah 30:18; John 8:12-16

Rev. Elizabeth Aguilar

 

 

Several years ago, while I was still a young pastor, it came to me that everyone is waiting for something. This came to me as I witnessed a series of tragic illnesses and death occur in one of my congregations. It was my honor to walk with these good folks as they waited. All of us are waiting for something. Some are waiting for medical test results. A young person could be waiting to hear if they were accepted in a university or if they were given the new job they had applied to. Someone might be waiting for just the right to time to ask someone to marry them. Others might be waiting for a child to return to their family or for full recovery to happen after surgery or chemotherapy. We wait…

The good news is that we do not wait alone, friends. Christ waits with us.

Advent is a season of waiting and preparation. We wait to celebrate the birth of Christ as we wait for His return someday.

I wonder, what is it that you are waiting for now. How is it that you wait? Do you sometimes believe that your waiting is futile?

Yesterday was World Aid’s Day. I was reflecting on the first patient I had who was dying of HIV/AIDs. He was a beautiful young man. His family lived in Atlanta. They had flown in to be at his side. In ICU, in UCLA.

The way they waited for the end of his life was to read scripture, listen to Gospel songs, tell me stories of his childhood. Wipe his brow, whisper in his ear that they loved him.

They told me the only way they could do what they were doing was because they knew Jesus was with them. How we wait matters.

I don’t want to wait until someone I love is dying to be reminded that God waits with me. And so I am reminding you today that whatever you are waiting for God is waiting for you.

This Advent we have chosen the theme “Surely The Light is Coming.” Every Sunday we will have an opportunity to reflect on this them as we also reflect on the sub themes of hope, joy, peace, and love.

Today as we remember that we wait and that God waits with us, we also acknowledge that as Disciples of Jesus we not only wait but we wait in Hope.

We are a people of hope.

In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus reminds them of the truth of His identity and purpose. He said, “I am the light of the World.” Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.

Then the Pharisees questioned him. His answer was to say that He knew where he came from and where Jesus would go to next and that it was the Father who had sent him.

Disciples know who they are and where they are going and who is with them. Just as Jesus did.

We know we are Christ’s disciples. We know who we are because we know who HE is. We know that Christ IS the light of the World and it is He that came to this world to bring light to it. It is HE that we worship, that we serve and that we find our hope in as we wait.

In a moment we will approach the communion table. AS you do so. Ask God to help you to wait. Thank Him for waiting with you. Tell him to fill you with Hope.

And then be encouraged because you do not wait alone. You wait with each other. You wait with Christ and remember that surely the light IS coming!!