Union Church

November 29, 2009 Advent I
Luke 3: 1-6
I hate line-ups.
I avoid them like the plague but with the flu shot and my sermon about “just get it” I have been dealing with my issue of avoidance.

How is your avoidance index these day?
Who are the people we desperately want to avoid?
Which relatives are on the list? Which neighbour? Which co-worker?
Is there a church member on the list?
What situations have we told to avoid?

As children we were taught to avoid many dangers. Don’t talk to strangers.
John had to be in the house before the street lights came on to avoid the trouble he could get into in the cover of darkness.
I had to ride my bicycle along the gravel shoulder of the country road and stop every time a car or truck went by.

Then as teenagers what were we taught to avoid?
For my generation it was sex and drugs, but it was too late for rock-n-roll.
What was your generation’s taboo?
How about after you got married?

Grandparents know they are supposed to avoid interfering with the younger generations family dynamics.

What are the things we are supposed to avoid these days?
Holidays are the times we eat all sorts of fancy dishes that taste oh so good, but somehow we are supposed to avoid gaining weight.

In our Gospel lesson, John the Baptist certainly isn’t a parent, or a spouse, or a gourmet cook for that matter. But in talking about repentance he is really talking about avoidance. He is saying God is in our midst and we have to wake up and stop avoiding this fact.

John the Baptist takes this challenge to the religious rank and file, the serious folk who come to him from all over Judea and even Galilee.

"Stop." He says. "Wake up. Look around. Turn from your habits of avoidance. Straighten the path. Smooth out the situation. Level the road bed. God is in our midst."

This isn’t avoidance. We are talking about major engagement here.

Now I believe, we are here at worship today, because we too are serious folk who want to be closer to God. We want to wake up to the God who appears to us especially in Advent.
The problem is we get caught in the tangle of avoidance.
We get caught in the tangle of avoidance because we find other ways to cope with our crazy lives throughout the rest of the year.

You see, we live capable lives. Coming to church regularly in this day and age is a sign of a capable life. Being capable is good, in fact, it is necessary. But all too often we can become so capable, that we think there is no need for God’s daily leading. We believe there is no place for God to make an appearance let alone participate in our lives except at Advent.

"We have always done it this way" are the 7 deadly words of the church.
They are the words of the capable. As long as we even think this way we are caught in our capable selves.

When we are held hostage to our past capabilities, there is little or no availability to the new things God is up to.
So much capability without enough availability keeps us from straightening the path within, smoothing out the situation for grace, leveling the road bed for blessing.
So much capability without enough availability keeps us from the God who appears to us at Advent.

Think about a difficult situation you have encountered or fallen into.
How did you cope?
My guess is that we hold everything together by being very capable and under control when the situation cries out for some emotional and spiritual availability.

Let’s think of a difficult family situation we’ve had or are having right now.
How would it be different if we exchanged a little capability for a little more availability, to the moment?
What might happen if we exchanged a little capability for a little more availability to the person or persons involved?
If we exchanged a little capability for a little more availability to the stirrings of the Spirit?

Finding the balance: Balancing being capable with being available, creates an opening for God, that grounds us no matter what.

Finding the balance: Balancing being capable with being available breaks the habit of avoidance.

It stops our over dependence on our own ability.
It wakes us up to the pitfalls of works righteousness.

Finding the balance: Balancing capability with availability redirects us to the God who appears to us in Advent.

The Application for Advent is we can stop avoiding.
We can wake up, look around and welcome God’s grace.
Just imagine the availability that transforms our most important relationships.
Just imagine a world available to God and one another.
Just imagine Advent the journey from avoidance to availability. Amen.