A Meditation for Judson Church
December 10, 2006
Second Sunday of Advent
Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper
Getting the Advent Temperature Right
For…the one who is coming...is like a Refiner's Fire. - Malachi 3: 1
A bruised reed he will not break and a dimly burning wick he will not quench. - Isaiah 42: 3
And Nebuchadnezzar threw them into the fire…and they came out unburned. - Daniel 3
There are a lot of mixed messages in scripture about fire. Isaiah declares: "A dimly burning wick God will not quench." One of the Resurrection scriptures tells us: "They were strangely warmed as they walked along the road to Emmaus." Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were cast into the fire but not burned to death. The king's punishment was unsuccessful - as we will soon hear more about from our Amnesty International guests.
Let me focus on the prophecy of Malachi when he declares that the Coming One will be like a refiner's fire. Will the Messiah keep the temperature right for us? So that we can be warm but not burned? Hot but not burned? Burnt out but not quenched? Dimly burning but not out? Like Chef Prodhomme warns, Don't burn the butter in the gumbo?
The temperature will be kept right by both us and the Messiah working together to fly like Icarus, close enough but not too close to the sun. Keeping the temperature right is important. We can be too cold or too hot. Sometimes when you want to light a candle outside in the wind it is important to bring a candle holder, protected on all sides but open on the top. I think I will recommend that kind of holder today, as we listen to stories from places we think are far away but are actually as close as our heart's beat. Chad is only far away to people who have burnt out; those on fire can still care.
A North Carolina associate pastor said of the senior pastor, ten years her junior, "He just ain't been through nothin' yet." She had raised four children on her own. He was a pale version of a person, an accident as a minister. Those of us who have been through less are often intimidated by those who have been through more; we are the ones who need to get closer to the fire. People who have been through more are often intimidated by those who have been through less: they think we are scary. "We ain't been through nothing yet." Some need to be kept safe from the king's fiery furnace, that place where we are ordered to go and where some of us resist and others say, coldly, "Sure."
The Messianic promise goes way back: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you: when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." When we go through things, our faith is improved. Imagine that. Suffering can improve us. No, it doesn't always improve us. Some people stay on the far side of the shore of suffering. Those who go through are improved. That is one of the meanings of Messiah: to go through the waters, through the flame, and come out still burning. Amen.
Refine us, O God, take us to and through stuff.
Fire us up, O God, give us a brightly burning flame.
Put our silence and complicity on fire and teach us to say loud and clear no's to the Nebuchadnezzar's of our lives, both large and small. Bless Amnesty International as it keeps the temperature right. Bless those whom it defends with freedom, liberation, warmth and joy.
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