NOTICE TO ON-DEMAND WORSHIPPERS
In order to expedite posting the worship services here on our website, we are reducing the transcript to just the scriptures used and the message. Holy Communion is offered every Sunday. If you are worshipping with us online whether during the live-cast or through on-demand viewing, you are encouraged to have bread and juice or wine available as you watch the service and to participate in communion just as if you are present with us.
SCRIPTURE READINGS
God, open us to hear and receive your scriptures today as you would have us hear them, understand them as you would have us understand them, and to act upon them as you would have us act upon them.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
*Scriptures this morning are from the NRSV.
Isaiah 11:1-10
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.
Romans 15:4-13
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name”; and again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people”; and again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him”; and again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.”
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 3:1-12
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'”
Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
L: The scriptures of God for the people of God.
A: Thanks be to God.
Message – Do You Hear What I Hear?*
Rev. Val
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer, and may you see fit to use me as a vessel from which you pour out your Divine Word.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The shoot is a reference to the expected Messiah. The “root” of a family is its progenitor. Jesse was King David’s father. We know from the genealogical records (Matthew 1:1–17 and Luke 3:23–38) that Jesus was descended from the line of Jesse and his son David. In Isaiah 11:10, the Hebrew word used for “root” (sheresh) implies a root that remains alive and sends up a shoot or branch; thus, the root of Jesse was a root from which more descendants could come.
When Isaiah began to prophesy, there was a current hope among the people that a glorious earthly king—the Messiah—would assume the throne of David. Through the prophet Samuel, God had promised David that his offspring would establish an eternal kingdom: “When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. . . . Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:12–16). The messianic title “Son of David” traces back to this prophecy.
Isaiah’s use of root of Jesse expresses the promise of a messianic king who would be born of David’s family line and focuses Judah’s expectation of survival on a sparse, leaderless remnant. The prophet uses a similar metaphor—“a shoot from the stump of Jesse”—in Isaiah 11:1 to describe their future hope. This “stump” signifies the remnant of Jesse’s family that would barely survive. God’s judgment was coming on Judah, and the nation would be left with nothing but a seemingly lifeless “stump,” but there would be life yet. God promised to retain a remnant to carry on His work and the bloodline of King David. What seemed to be a dead, decaying stump would bring forth new life in the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Quoting from the Septuagint, the apostle Paul referred to Isaiah’s prophecy in Romans 15:8–13. Paul specifically acknowledged Jesus Christ as the root of Jesse in whom the Gentiles put their hope: “And again, Isaiah says, ‘The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope’” (verse 12). And in the book of Revelation, Jesus states, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star” (Revelation 22:16).
Isaiah’s use of the phrase root of Jesse calls into focus the humanity of Jesus. The Messiah would possess human ancestry. It also underscores Christ’s humble origins. As a shepherd from Bethlehem, Jesse occupied a relatively humble station in life.
The passage from Isaiah goes on to say, “The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.”
Except for that part about killing the wicked with his breath, Isaiah’s prophecy sounds more like the Messiah we know than the armored warrior Messiah the people of Israel came to expect, doesn’t it?
The prophecy has a kind of caveat, though. It prophecies the Messiah’s coming, but the level of peace it refers to … the kind where predators coexist peacefully with prey … all that happens on God’s holy mountain. And, while we are capable of ascending that holy mountain from time to time, it doesn’t take much for us to tumble back down into the valley where all bets about peaceful coexistence are off. I mean, look around. Down here in the valley, the world is totally haywire.
Or, are they? Do y’all remember that Thomas Dorsey song recorded by Elvis and a few others? It goes,
Oh well, I’m tired and so weary
But I must go alone
‘Til the Lord comes and calls
Calls me away, oh yes
Well, the morning’s so bright
And the lamp is alight
And the night
Night is as black as the sea, oh yes
There will be peace in the valley for me, some day
There will be peace in the valley for me, oh Lord I pray
There’ll be no sadness, no sorrow
No trouble, trouble I see
There will be peace in the valley for me
Well the bear will be gentle
And the wolves will be tame
And the lion shall lay down
By the lamb, oh yes
And the beasts from the wild
Shall be lit by a child
And I’ll be changed
Changed from this creature that I am, oh yes
There will be peace in the valley for me, some day
There will be peace in the valley for me, oh Lord I pray
There’ll be no sadness, no sorrow
Oh my Lord, no trouble, trouble I see
There will be peace in the valley for me, for me
The song is forward looking, most likely to the kind of peace that comes from eternal rest. But what if we could have that same “Peace In the Valley,” the kind where there’s no sadness, no sorrow, no trouble … what if there was a way to experience that level of peace … or at least something close to it … in the here and now? Would we be willing to do what it takes?
Jesus embodied everything Isaiah’s prophecy said he would. He was wise and understanding, a mighty Counselor, knowledgeable, and 100% faithful to God. He didn’t judge people based on appearance or solely on what they said or on what someone said about them. He was abundantly fair in his dealings with people, showed mercy to all, and his words healed, restored, and even drove the wickedness from the hearts of men.
Almost all of everything he did was not on top of a mountain, but in the valley of the earthly world.
It was what Jesus did that brought peace to those who encountered him, those he healed, restored, redeemed.
We would struggle to do all that he did, but we can find more peace than we have right now if we do all that we can, both individually and collectively. More importantly, we can help to bring peace to others – not just ourselves.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”
Remember that, in the passage from Matthew, John the Baptist warns us to prepare the way for the Lord, to make his paths straight, to repent or, more accurately, change our thinking?
Rev. Kliewer suggests, “if I have it right
Jesus didn’t talk much about what we believe
he didn’t offer a creed
or a dissertation on the attributes of the divine
he did in fact reveal a lot about the Sacred
indeed, as it has been said,
Jesus did not come to change God’s mind about us
but to change our mind about God
but what Jesus did was offer us a new way of doing life,
of being in the world
and he lived it
that way of being present
listening
caring
healing
serving
fellowship
sacrificing
loving
we are called to do those things
because it is by living that way
that we MAKE way for God’s new thing
this is how we prepare the way for the Kingdom of Love
for that is what this is all about
a new heaven and a new earth
the intention of God is the salvation of history.
All creation
All people being made new
salvation is collective
and we live it out, but how we are with one another
this is why the way of domination
of coercion and retribution
the way of control
of “winning”
is so wrong
what do we “make” when we walk down that path?
we make winners and losers
rich people, but also poor people
powerful people, but also powerless people
but that is not the way of the kingdom
where all are gathered at the table
where people flow from north and south, east and west
to the mountain of God
cousin John (the Baptist)
gave a clarion call
prepare the way
make clear the way
that is indeed our calling
to do the right things
the loving things
to be agents of reconciliation
in a world of alienation
it may seem hopeless
we may feel hopeless
the powers and authorities
the “elemental powers” of the world seem so powerful (Colossians)
our actions are important
what we do, every, single, day
is important
So “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right,
for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9)
This world needs healing and peace. We need healing and peace. Individually, that’s a tall order, but … where two or three gather in His name, He is there and we can do so much more with him by our sides. We can become the example of, the living role models for unity, for coexisting peacefully. And then we can carry that model out to the community, to the world.
As Bob Marley wrote, “One love, one heart . . .Let’s get together and feel all right”
If we share one love for God, for Christ, for the Spirit, and for one another … if we are of one heart, we can achieve unity and peace with one another. If we can share that out into that messy, broken world out there? We may even see Peace in the Valley.
Lincoln, in his first inaugural address, said, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
I want to share one last writing from Rev. Kliewer, this morning. He writes,
“let us be one
in this world of hate and division
in this world where politics and religion
drive us apart
let us be one
the world is full of dividers
of people with power
and power with money
who want to divide us
for they know that divided we are prey
and they are predators
They want us afraid
They want us angry
They want us to hate.
they want us to see others as threats
as competition
as enemies
and so they deny others their humanity
and make them vague and menacing
they steal their faces and make caricatures
and complicit we fail to realize that when we rob others of their humanity
we lose our own
we are no longer in the image of Love
we no longer wear our identity as sacred children
we become people living in darkness
our light has been stolen
but let us be one
for once upon a time
a light shone in the darkness
and the darkness
not even the darkness of empire
could overcome it
that light is embedded in each of us
we carry that light
and we are called to walk in the light
we are called to overwhelm the darkness
in this time of division
as the power-hungry and greedy
seek to plunder our souls
we cannot allow the dividers to bury our love
burn our hope
take all our light
we cannot let them separate us
for we are one
one
united by the One who is love
the One who is “over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4)
bound together by love
our souls connected
this I think is the great work of the Sacred
uniting
(or as Richard Rohr puts it, “oneing”)
“God is always oneing everything, making twos and threes and fours
and divisions and dichotomies and dualisms into one.”
God is about helping us find
unity
union
wholeness
everywhere
the Sacred is about re-connecting us (that is the meaning of the word religion, “re-ligio”)
to the ground of being (God)
to ourselves (our essential self)
and others (all others)
so that in the One
we are
one
one in hope
one in peace
one in joy
one in love”
Let’s pray:
Lord, we surrender our fears, our hesitations, our animosities to you. Cleanse us of them that we may become instruments of your peace. Strengthen us and give us the courage to share your Way and your peace with one another and our community.
Amen.
Credits:
- Unless listed below, all works cited within the text above.
- *Adapted in part or full from Preaching Notes, Discipleship Ministries Worship Planning Series.
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