ISAIAH 11:1-10
MATTHEW 3:1-12
Gordon E. Ellis
December 5, 2004
MORE GOOD NEWS FROM LAKE MOORE: And a Child Shall Lead Them
Well, it’s been a QUIET week in my hometown, LakeMoore, that TINY village of 300 that sits on the MAP where Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire BLEND into a single DOT. Old Wilbur Cole died this week. He was a bachelor FARMER, 86 years old. Believe it or not, he DIED in the very SAME house, even the same BED, in which he was BORN, back in 1918. HOW many people can say THAT? Well, Wilbur’s claim to FAME was that he was BORN on the very DAY when the RED SOX won their LAST World Series. And he always SAID that he wanted to live LONG enough to see them win ANOTHER one. And he was an AVID fan. He LISTENED to them on the radio EVERY time they played. He knew the WHOLE team, and ALL their statistics, year after year. For years, people have tried to TAKE Wilbur to Fenway to actually SEE the Red Sox, but HE was a HOMEBODY. NEVER in his life did he travel more than 25 miles from his farm. SO, back in 1998, for his 80th birthday, his friends chipped in and bought him his FIRST television set EVER, along with a SATELLITE dish, so he could WATCH his beloved Red Sox. Well, it SURE made him happy THIS year as he watched them win 7 straight games, including the World Series! And the FIRST thing he said to his friends after that LAST game was: NOW, I can DIE contented…. And he DID, just a few weeks later.
There was a DEACONS’ meeting at the Lake Moore Community Church this week. And young Angela LaPlante said: I have a question. Now, Angela is the TEEN representative on the Board, and she RARELY opens her mouth, so the whole room suddenly fell SILENT. She said: People are always talking about Jesus being our SAVIOR. And at THIS time of year, we SING about baby Jesus, born in a stable, and even the ANGELS call Him a SAVIOR. And at SCHOOL, kids will sometimes ASK me: Are you SAVED? The other day, someone said to me, You know: the whole POINT of the first Christmas – and whole point of what’s become this HUGE holiday – is being SAVED. Are YOU saved? Well, I’m SORRY, but I just DON’T get it. Saved from WHAT? Can you EXPLAIN it, Pastor Peters?
Pastor Peters said: Angela, that’s a GOOD question. John the Baptist WAS, indeed, telling people to PREPARE for God’s Messiah, the One who would BRING God’s SALVATION and REVEAL God’s KINGDOM. And the writers of the Bible tell us that salvation has 2 components. First, it’s being saved from something OUTSIDE of ourselves, something OVER which we have NO control. And second, it’s being saved from something INSIDE of us. Isaiah, chapter 11, gives us God’s VISION of SHALOM, what we call God’s KINGDOM. And it’s a vision of HARMONY and PEACE in which, he says: 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. And what it’s SAYING is that SALVATION turns our whole WORLD upside down! Things that DON’T go together WILL go together, and EVERYTHING will be transformed, so that WE will have a WORLD that will NOT be defined by VIOLENCE, CONFLICT and ALIENATION, as it is NOW, but rather by PEACE, LOVE and JOY! And of course, Isaiah’s NOT just talking about ANIMALS here. He’s TALKING about a DIVIDED world. He’s talking about the RICH and the POOR. He’s talking about EMPLOYEES and employers. He’s talking about people of different RACES, religions and nations. He’s talking about ALL the peoples of the earth, and how they will ONE day come together in a NEW WAY, into NEW relationships, where people are NOT threatened, but relate to one another with understanding, TRUST and peace, so that ALL may live SECURELY. Well, THAT’S the OUTER dimension of salvation, and sometimes we get GLIMPSES of that OUTER salvation, even NOW, because AFTER ALL, Christ -- God’s Savior -- IS alive, WITH us and AMONG us. And THAT, of course, is the SYMBOLISM of the CRECHE, the MANGER, with ALL the different animals, the lowly shepherds, the angels and the WISE ONES from other lands. And it’s this CHILD who BRINGS them peacefully together! It’s a BEAUTIFUL symbol.
NOW, salvation on the INSIDE is when EVERYTHING comes together for us psychologically and spiritually. You see: WITHIN you and me are all these SAME animals. I mean: I’M a LAMB. There’s a part of me that’s VULNERABLE and passive, quiet and lovable, WEAK and submissive. Quite frankly: THAT’S the part of me that’s HARDEST to accept. The greatest spiritual struggle of my life has been coming to terms with THAT part of me. And the greatest TRAGEDY of my life is that MY struggle was MOSTLY worked out as I tried to develop a relationship with my youngest son, who was SICKLY and FRAIL his WHOLE life, so he represented to me that part of myself that is MOST unacceptable. And for ME, discovering my SOUL demanded that I make PEACE with that LAMB that is WITHIN. BUT, I’m ALSO a WOLF! I can be crafty and sneaky, opportunistic and dangerous. I’m ALSO a CALF! I’m helpless and innocent. And YET, I’m a LION! I’m aggressive, violent and powerful. There’s PART of me that’s a SLEEK, handsome LEOPARD. I want to LOOK good, and if I had the MONEY, I’d probably drive a JAGUAR. AND, part of me is a BEAR! Don’t MESS with me! You wrong ME, and I’LL wrong YOU. Yes, WITHIN my soul, there is a whole MENAGERIE of animals! And THAT is the spiritual reality of EVERY person alive! THAT’S who we ARE! SO, HOW do we hold this entire ZOO within us TOGETHER? Well, ISAIAH gives us the ANSWER! He says: And a little CHILD shall LEAD them! Now, we know that’s true PSYCHOLOGICALLY. LITTLE children are at PEACE with ALL the different PARTS of themselves. THAT’S the symbolism of all those stuffed ANIMALS of different kinds on their beds. And THAT’S why WE need to become MORE like CHILDREN. But it’s ALSO true SPIRITUALLY. This SEASON of ADVENT is about WAITING for the BABY, WAITING for the CHRIST, to be born! Well, when WE make ROOM in our hearts for the CHRIST to come alive WITHIN us, WHEN we make CHRIST the CENTER and FOCUS of our lives, HE will hold together that great MENAGERIE that is within us. HE is that CHILD who will LEAD us and keep us on the right track. HE is the One who SAVES us from all of our INTERNAL strife and CONFLICT.
Oh, I THINK I GET it now, said Angela. THANKS!
Yes, said Pastor Peters, but there’s ONE more thing I need to tell you. And it’s ESPECIALLY important to understand as you interact with the students who TALK so much about being SAVED. In Isaiah 11:1, it’s written: A SHOOT will come OUT from the STUMP of Jesse, and a BRANCH shall grow out of his ROOTS. Well, that’s a VERY significant prophecy, and while you don’t need to know all about it NOW, it DOES tell us the OTHER thing we DO need to understand about SALVATION. It’s telling us that salvation is NOT a big, showy, fanfare kind of thing, as SOME people try to CONVINCE us that it IS. It’s like a little TWIG growing out of a STUMP in the MIDDLE of an ORCHARD or FOREST. It’s SMALL and HIDDEN. Henri Nouwen once said: Our salvation comes from something SMALL, tender and vulnerable, something HARDLY noticeable. GOD, who is the Creator of the universe, comes to us in SMALLNESS, WEAKNESS, and HIDDENNESS. I find this a HOPEFUL message. Somehow, I keep expecting LOUD and impressive events [and FEELINGS] to CONVINCE me and others of God’s SAVING power; but over and over again, I am reminded that spectacular power plays and big events are the ways of the WORLD. And our TEMPTATION is to be DISTRACTED by them, and made BLIND to “shoots that shall SPROUT from the STUMP.” You see, Angela: salvation takes place in the midst of a world that continues to SHOUT and scream and overwhelm us with ITS claims and promises. But GOD’S promise is HIDDEN in that tiny, little SHOOT that sprouts from the STUMP, a shoot that hardly ANYONE notices. SO, DON’T expect being SAVED to be some BIG, life-changing event. For MOST of us, most of the time, salvation comes SO slowly and inconspicuously that it’s BARELY noticeable.
Would you like a good EXAMPLE of that, Pastor Peters, asked the NEWEST Deacon, Serenity Stinchfield? Let me tell you what’s happening to my son, Ricky, this Christmas season. Now, RICKY is her 10 year-old son. He has AUTISM, and has been SEVERELY handicapped BY it. And her FAMILY has REALLY had to learn how to SLOW down at Christmastime, because Ricky just CAN’T tolerate ANY of it. He just can’t HANDLE all the CHANGES: the twinkling lights everywhere, the changes in store displays, the changes in the sanctuary at church, and of course, having a Christmas tree show up in his living room, and the FURNITURE moved, and all these PRESENTS under the tree. ALL of it just makes the boy CRAZY, and he falls on the floor SCREAMING, UNABLE to move, and AFRAID to open his eyes. And THIS goes on from Thanksgiving until well after Christmas EVERY single year. And EVERY year, you’ll see the Stinchfields LEADING him through the grocery store with his head covered by his COAT. OR, they’ll sit with him, huddled in his room, for HOURS. And LAST year, when their NEIGHBOR across the street bought every new outdoor DECORATION on the market, Ricky slept on the SOFA in the living room, trying to stay awake ALL NIGHT, so that he could make sure that ALL the lights across the street were functioning properly. And if ONE light went out, OR if the lights came on or turned off at some time OTHER than when they were SUPPOSED to, Ricky would scream and panic until it was FIXED. In fact, LAST year his parents spent an HOUR in the MIDDLE of a very cold, snowy night on TOP of their neighbor’s garage, replacing ONE light bulb in a Santa Claus display, so that Ricky could FINALLY get to SLEEP! And Christmas DAY is ALWAYS a NIGHTMARE! Ricky screams and cries as EACH new present is moved and unwrapped. And he doesn’t CARE about GIFTS. EVERY year, his gifts sit totally IGNORED until he OUTGROWS them and his parents GIVE them to some OTHER little boy who can APPRECIATE them. You see: Ricky WANTS nothing. Ricky ASKS for nothing. And Ricky never reacts when he GETS something. He just screams and cries through it ALL. And his FAMILY has had a VERY hard time COPING.
SO, what’s happening with RICKY? asked Tom McKnight.
Well, said Serenity, the day after Thanksgiving, we asked the kids WHAT they want for CHRISTMAS this year. And as our 14-year-old, Amanda, started rattling off her list, RICKY, for the FIRST time in his life, ANSWERED that question! He said it SOFTLY, but he said: PlayStation 2. I want PlayStation 2 Christmas. Well, WE just about fell OVER. Amanda gave him a piece of paper. On the TOP, she wrote: Ricky’s Christmas List. And UNDER it, HE wrote, PLAYSTATION TOW. And THEN he said: At BEST BUY. Go to CAR! SO, WITHOUT hesitation, we drove ALL the way to HOLYOKE to Best Buy. Now, WE’VE been IN that store before, but Ricky has NEVER looked at ANYTHING there, and NEVER seemed to even NOTICE that they MIGHT just have something that HE wants. BUT, he LED us DIRECTLY to the Playstation 2 sets, picked out the BUNDLE that he wants, PUT it in the cart, and then said: Open Christmas! Open Christmas! And WHEN we got home, he watched SMILING as I wrapped it up. And THEN, he TOOK it and placed it under the Christmas tree HIMSELF. SO, a PlayStation 2 set now sits under our Christmas tree, all wrapped up, with HIS name on it. And HE keeps LOOKING at it and saying: December 25th. Open PlayStation 2 December 25th.
And THEN, last night when I got home from CHOIR rehearsal, Ricky found a Best Buy ad in the newspaper and turned immediately to the PlayStation games. He circled Harry Potter and John Madden Football, handed the ad to my husband, and said: I want Christmas. Well, I’ll tell you: I had TEARS in my eyes. It's such a small thing, I know, but it’s such a MIRACLE to US. It’s ONE more little bit of HOPE that, ONE day, he will be able to function with SOME semblance of normalcy as an adult, and that MAYBE, just MAYBE, he MIGHT be able to LIVE just a BIT more independently, and WANT the things that he NEEDS in order to survive -- and maybe WANT them ENOUGH to WORK for them. You know: I began thinking, as I was falling asleep last night, that consumerism MAY well be our ENEMY. And I truly BELIEVE that IS! BUT, I HAVE to tell you that it feels GOOD when you have a kid who understands NONE of it. And I am extremely grateful to be able to appreciate the MIRACLE that is involved in such a small and SELFISH act as WANTING something for Christmas and expressing that WANT to someone ELSE. And I’m GRATEFUL that my SON is able to enjoy SOMETHING of Christmas, EVEN it’s the commercial and cultural TRAPPINGS. BUT, I’m ALSO grateful for the many ways that Ricky helps me to stop and look again, at even my most CHRISTIAN conclusions. And I’m ESPECIALLY grateful that my son helps me to see Christ’s HUMBLE birth, over and over again, EVEN in the midst of nightmares and worries that I could not even have IMAGINED 10 years ago. And even though it’s TINY and HIDDEN, and NO one KNOWS about it, or even CARES about it but US, it IS such a MIRACLE!
Wow! said Tom McKnight, that IS a MIRACLE! And the Deacons began HUGGING Serenity, who COULDN’T hold back her TEARS any longer.
Well, that’s the GOOD NEWS from LakeMoore, where ALL the WOMEN are strong, all the MEN are good-looking, and all the CHILDREN are above average. Amen.
Quote taken from Gracious! by Henri J. M. Nouwen
My thanks to Jenee Woodard for sharing “Ricky’s” story.