Sermon, 12/15/96
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Sermon for December 15, 1996

Pastor Gunnar L. Anderson

"Sundance"

Text: John 1:6-8, 19-28

My friend Joyce called the other night. Some of you will remember that Joyce is my Presbyterian pastor friend from Oregon whom I met during my doctoral program. Well, Joyce hasn't called me for a long time. I've called her on several occasions, but she would never call me back. I thought she was mad at me! It was good to talk to her. And I thought of Christmas time and how this season seems to prompt us more to call or send cards. Is there anyone who might think you are angry or have forgotten them?

Anyway, while we're talking, Joyce suddenly utters a little shriek. "Oh, it's just Murphy Brown," she said, "jumping into my lap." Now Murphy Brown is her cat, whom she's had for a little more than a year. And last summer, when I visited Joyce, she took me into the alley way alongside her church building to show me where Murphy came from. "She was living in that drain," Joyce said. "One day I spotted her crawling out of that hole in the wall."

And right away I said, "I think you should have called her "Sundance." Why? Well, you probably remember the film, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," the story of those real life turn of the century outlaws. But do you remember their hideout? That's right; Hole-in-the-Wall. They were called the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang! And remember Paul Newman and Robert Redford playing the parts? As they are trying to get away, they are pursued by this relentless posse. They are standing on the cliff looking down on the dust of the posse's horses on the plain below; and Butch turns to Sundance, pointing, "Who are those guys?"

Well, that is exactly what the priests and Levites from Jerusalem are doing to John the Baptist this morning. They are pointing at him! They are asking, "Who is this guy?" "Who are you, John? We demand that you tell us. Are you the Messiah? Are you Elijah? Are you one of the prophets?" But how does John answer? Not with a title, but by explaining his purpose, his function:

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
'Make straight the way of the Lord.'
John was a man sent from God to point, to witness. "John sees his role as being part of the supporting cast rather than as that of the star." "He himself was not the light but he came to testitfy to the light." "Who is this guy?" John the Baptist is the one who points the way to Jesus!

Jesus and John are cousins, you know. The angel came to Elizabeth, John's mother, just as he came to Mary, announcing that each woman would have a baby. But the angel came to Elizabeth first. So John was born first, six months before Jesus. So John comes before Jesus always. John prepares the way. John points to Jesus!

And can't we learn from that? Don't we tend to point mainly to ourselves? Said the doctor on this week's episode of "Chicago Hope," of what went wrong between him and his ex-wife, "Somewhere along the line, I became the most important person in my life. Are there not others around us to whom we might better point, and love, and care for? Don't we like to tell others about ourselves, but begin to lose interest when it comes time to listen?

How often do we make ourselves the message? Surely in church this is a temptation, particularly in this day and age. We speak much today of evangelism. The whole church today stresses church growth. Reams of material come through the mail. And we have "Welcome Place" banners hanging on our building. We have a brand new church sign standing on our front lawn. We have tee shirts. We have all of our church info on computer pages. And this morning we are receiving new members.

But how often do we become the center of our own attention? How often do we just sell the church? Afterall, people do church shop these days. And in a Doonesbury cartoon this week, the pastor is giving a tour to a young woman:

Let me show you around, Joanie!
There've been lots of changes at
the Little Church of Walden!

The old house is used for our spiritual
wellness seminars and various 12-step
recovery programs ...

In the new wings, we have a food court,
a fitness center, and our interpretive
dance studios.

Um, (she asks) but where do people worship?

On our Web site, (said the pastor). Keeps the
heating bills down.

We are told today in the church to be consumer oriented. Find out what people need, and then provide it. This church can give you what you want. Choose us! Join us! And this can be good as far as it goes. Certainly the church should be concerned for the needs of people. But can we learn something from John the Baptist this morning - that our focus ought to be Christ, that the primary purpose of the church is to worship God!

I like what we say on our computer page, "St. Peter's has lots going on ... but it's all Christ centered, for we believe in the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, that God's love and forgiveness unto eternal life is a wonderful free gift, and that life can be lived in thankful response.

And isn't it that grace which is ultimately attractive to us and to others? We gathered here in this sanctuary for a funeral service on Monday of this week. And I said to those people assembled that for us Christmas will mean more than ever before this year. For leaping from the Bible into your ears and hearts will be the words, "unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord." And the funeral director who attends so many funerals, two more that very day, and who likely doesn't often even listen to the sermon, said to me, "You made my day. I feel at peace."

And then on Friday morning, and listen to this, as I was arriving at the office, a woman just walking down the street midst the misting rain of Friday morning, called out from seemingly nowhere, "Are you the pastor of this church?" "Yes," I shouted back, wondering what in the world this was all about, what was she going to complain about? "Thanks so much," she said, "for the beautiful church brochure that someone dropped off at my house. It makes your church sound so good that I feel like I want to come to church for the first time in sixty years!" "Come to church, then," I exclaimed, "Christmas is such a good time. You would be welcome!"

Oh, John is a true witness. John points to Jesus. And John teaches us. "John answered them, '... Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal,'" which is the role of a servant.

Well, we too are called to be witnesses. We too are called to point to Christ by what we say and by what we do. We too are called to be servants. As three children are baptized today, they will hear words once spoken also to us: "Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good work and glorify your Father in heaven." And as new members are received into this congregation this day, they will promise what we too once promised: "to follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ."

to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to the prisoners.
And Oh, so appropriate to that text, our homeless guests arrive here this very day. Volunteers are still needed. We can give a true Christmas gift. In fact we have one man, four women, and six children coming; and if you would like you could give an actual Christmas present that we could share with them. Pat will be happy to talk to you about that. And there is as well the Christmas Tree Project to benefit the Fish Hospitality Network, and gifts can yet be given to seafarers, and there are worship services which you can attend. There are alternative ways to celebrate Christams, ways by which you can point to Christ!

For, "Who is this guy?" Well, if you think about it, Jesus was chased by a posse too! And if we change the spelling of "Sundance" by adding an "o" instead of a "u," we get "Sondance," as in God's Son dance. And we can sing:

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.

Carter

And the Hole-in-the-Wall from which Jesus came was an empty tomb, as empty as ours will one day be!

AMEN


Copyright © 1997 Gunnar L. Anderson. All Rights Reserved.
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Last modified 12/21/96