Come Down, O Love Divine

Robert E. Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

November 30, 2008

Text: Isaiah 64: 1-9

“Come Down, O Love Divine” (Hymn 475 in UMH; Bianco of Siena, 1851; Ralph Vaughn Williams, 1906)

NEVERTHELESS!

Isaiah is praying that the God who freed them form captivity will not give up on them now that they are home again. In the vernacular, he is saying something like this:

“Where are you, God? Have you forgotten us? We know that we have sinned: we are in a mess as a people! Nobody prays to you anymore.

“Yes, we have sinned. We are like people showing up at a black tie dinner in our sweaty jogging suits! And yet! And yet, you are our Father and we are your children. You are the potter and we are the clay.”

It may seem disrespectful to talk to God this way. But God’s people are always in a conversation with God. Remember Moses after the people worshipped the Golden Calf? God is, human speaking, ready to take them all out and start over with some other people. Then Moses reminds God that these are God’s people that he has freed, that he has gone to great effort to free them from slavery----and what would it look like if God gave up on them now?!

It is the “nevertheless” of prayer. God, we belong to you. We help your help right now, in spite of our sins.

OPEN

And Isaiah’s prayer is insistent: “So, open up the heavens and come down here! We believe you are always reliable, always faithful. But we need some evidence that you have not rejected us, some mighty miracles like you have wrought in the past when you rescued us!”

We still pray for God to be with us. The difference is that
The presence of God-with-us has a specific description: it is the life and teachings, the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

Think about what Jesus was like: He spoke the truth without hedging. He said it was the time for a change of mind and direction in our lives He lifted the heavy burdens off the backs of the poor. He demonstrated God’s mercy for the most flagrant of sinners: traitors, women of ill repute.  He healed those who were mentally and physically ill. He opened the doors and invited people to come inside to life-giving, loving God. He said that no one’s past disqualified them from having a blessed future. When on Christmas Eve we celebrate the birth of Jesus, it is the man Jesus grew up to be that we thank God for. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.”

LIVE LIKE THE ONE WHO HAS COME

And so when we cry out for God to rend the heavens come to help us, God tells us to prepare for this Christ by being the body of Christ, by incarnating Christ’s ministry here and now.

Do you remember the old poem about this?

 “You are writing a Gospel, a chapter each day,
 by the deeds that you do and the words that you say.
 People read what you write, if it’s false or it’s true.
 Now what is the Gospel according to you?”
 (Donovan @ Epiphany 2, 1-20.08)

This is a heavy responsibility; one which we cannot dare attempt unless God continues to rend the heavens and come to live in us.
 
WAITING

And so we are invited to enter into the annual Advent drama. We intentionally wait for Christ again. This time, knowing the Jesus story, we do not expect God to come with armies. God will come like Jesus came. As at first he came in a Manger, in humble ways, living where we are, so we anticipate that Christ will, in Carl Michaelson’s language, “re-hide” himself in Jesus of Nazareth. He is not what we sometimes think we need. We tend to be impressed with miracles and might. But Jesus Christ is precisely the One in whom the “hopes and dreams” of all humankind are met.

Waiting does not come easy to us. Even though the prophet tells us: “No eye has seen nor ear heard a God like Thee, who works for those who wait for him,” we would like God to act on our schedule.

“Waiting” (From Elaine Ward’s Storytelling---With Stories to Tell, Discipleship Resources, 1981)

"No more waiting!" wailed Will. Will was weary of waiting. "I have to wait for dinner. I have to wait until I grow up. I have to wait for my birthday and Christmas and summer and ... all I seem to do is wait!"
Will was weary of waiting. Even his name was Wate—William Warren Wate!
"I know what I'll do," Will whispered. "I'll move to the Hurry house!"
Will walked down the street and knocked on the door of the Hurry house. The door opened in a hurry. "Well, Will, what do you want? Speak up and hurry!"
Will quickly told Mrs. Hurry what he wanted.
"Of course you can live here, but come inside quickly and shut the door."
Now William no longer had to wait! William did not have to wait to "grow up" in order to stay up late, for he could stay up as late as he liked. But he was always tired and grouchy the next day.
William did not have to wait his turn on the swing. Chuck, Buck, and Harry Hurry all sat on the swing with William at the same time. But William fell off and skinned his arm and knee, because it was very crowded.
William did not have to wait for dinner. The Hurrys ate all of the time and always in a hurry. But it wasn't any fun going to bed with a stomachache, a hurt, hurried stomach.
William did not have to wait for his birthday. The Hurrys sang "Happy Birthday" to him and everyone else every day. But his birth¬day no longer seemed special.
William did not have to wait for Christmas. The Hurrys sang Christmas songs around a decorated Christmas tree every day. But Christmas no longer was special, and suddenly William was sad. There was no one to walk with. "Stop staring and hurry," the Hurrys would say. There was no one to talk with. "Say what you want to say, but hurry!" said the Hurrys. "No more waiting!" wailed Will. Will was weary of waiting. "I have to wait for dinner. I have to wait until I grow up. I have to wait for my birthday and Christmas and summer and ... all I seem to do is wait!" Will was weary of waiting. Even his name was Wate—William Warren Wate!
"I know what I'll do," Will whispered. "I'll move to the Hurry house!"
Will walked down the street and knocked on the door of the Hurry house. The door opened in a hurry. "Well, Will, what do you want? Speak up and hurry!"
Will quickly told Mrs. Hurry what he wanted.
"Of course you can live here, but come inside quickly and shut the door."
Now William no longer had to wait! William did not have to wait to "grow up" in order to stay up late, for he could stay up as late as he liked. But he was always tired and grouchy the next day. William did not have to wait his turn on the swing. Chuck, Buck, and Harry Hurry all sat on the swing with William at the same time. But William fell off and skinned his arm and knee, because it was very crowded. William did not have to wait for dinner. The Hurrys ate all of the time and always in a hurry. But it wasn't any fun going to bed with a stomachache, a hurt, hurried stomach. William did not have to wait for his birthday. The Hurrys sang "Happy Birthday" to him and everyone else every day. But his birth¬day no longer seemed special. William did not have to wait for Christmas. The Hurrys sang Christmas songs around a decorated Christmas tree every day. But Christmas no longer was special, and suddenly William was sad. There was no one to walk with. "Stop staring and hurry," the Hurrys would say. There was no one to talk with. "Say what you want to say, but hurry!" said the Hurrys. "No more waiting!" wailed Will. Will was weary of waiting. "I have to wait for dinner. I have to wait until I grow up. I have to wait for my birthday and Christmas and summer and ... all I seem to do is wait!"
Will was weary of waiting. Even his name was Wate—William Warren Wate!
"I know what I'll do," Will whispered. "I'll move to the Hurry house!"
Will walked down the street and knocked on the door of the Hurry house. The door opened in a hurry. "Well, Will, what do you want? Speak up and hurry!"
Will quickly told Mrs. Hurry what he wanted.
"Of course you can live here, but come inside quickly and shut the door."
Now William no longer had to wait! William did not have to wait to "grow up" in order to stay up late, for he could stay up as late as he liked. But he was always tired and grouchy the next day. William did not have to wait his turn on the swing. Chuck, Buck, and Harry Hurry all sat on the swing with William at the same time. But William fell off and skinned his arm and knee, because it was very crowded. William did not have to wait for dinner. The Hurrys ate all of the time and always in a hurry. But it wasn't any fun going to bed with a stomachache, a hurt, hurried stomach. William did not have to wait for his birthday. The Hurrys sang "Happy Birthday" to him and everyone else every day. But his birth¬day no longer seemed special. William did not have to wait for Christmas. The Hurrys sang Christmas songs around a decorated Christmas tree every day. But Christmas no longer was special, and suddenly William was sad. There was no one to walk with. "Stop staring and hurry," the Hurrys would sayThere was no one to talk with. "Say what you want to say, but hurry!" said the Hurrys. "No more waiting!" wailed Will. Will was weary of waiting. "I have to wait for dinner. I have to wait until I grow up. I have to wait for my birthday and Christmas and summer and ... all I seem to do is wait!"
Will was weary of waiting. Even his name was Wate—William Warren Wate!
"I know what I'll do," Will whispered. "I'll move to the Hurry house!"
Will walked down the street and knocked on the door of the Hurry house. The door opened in a hurry. "Well, Will, what do you want? Speak up and hurry!"
Will quickly told Mrs. Hurry what he wanted.
"Of course you can live here, but come inside quickly and shut the door."
Now William no longer had to wait! William did not have to wait to "grow up" in order to stay up late, for he could stay up as late as he liked. But he was always tired and grouchy the next day.
William did not have to wait his turn on the swing. Chuck, Buck, and Harry Hurry all sat on the swing with William at the same time. But William fell off and skinned his arm and knee, because it was very crowded.
William did not have to wait for dinner. The Hurrys ate all of the time and always in a hurry. But it wasn't any fun going to bed with a stomachache, a hurt, hurried stomach.
William did not have to wait for his birthday. The Hurrys sang "Happy Birthday" to him and everyone else every day. But his birth¬day no longer seemed special.
William did not have to wait for Christmas. The Hurrys sang Christmas songs around a decorated Christmas tree every day. But Christmas no longer was special, and suddenly William was sad. There was no one to walk with. "Stop staring and hurry," the Hurrys would say.
There was no one to talk with. "Say what you want to say, but hurry!" said the Hurrys.
There was no one to tuck William into bed and tell him stories and
listen to his prayers. "Go to sleep, so tomorrow can come in a hurry,"
said the Hurrys.
The Hurrys were always in a hurry, so one day William slowly packed his suitcase. He slowly walked down the street to his own home. He quietly knocked on the door.
"William!" exclaimed his mother, hugging him.
"William!" his father cried. "I've missed telling you stories."
"William!" his brother shouted. "If you'll wait a minute, let's go for
a walk." William was glad to wait. And as he waited, he told his family,
"There are two things you can't hurry. You can't hurry growing up
and you can't hurry love!"

We begin advent by disciplining ourselves to wait: Wait for gifts and parties; wait even a little while for the Christmas story to be told and sung. We restrain ourselves. We know it is coming. But we want to prepare the way of the Lord to be born in us again anew---and to be born anew into a suffering world. And we need God to empower us to be Christ’s representatives in the world.

Bishop Will Willimon states the waiting game this way: “If we are to see the fragile light which dawns among us in Christ, we must sit awhile in the darkness. If we are to hear the songs of the angels, we must first be silent. What could you do (or avoid doing) which would make you better able to see God’s subtle incursions among us?”
(www.chapel.duke.edu/worship/sunday/viewsermon)

PRAYING ON BEHALF OF OTHERS

The agony of our present world, with such huge suffering and deprivation; such terrible violence perpetrated on people; such emptiness and numbness; such deep fear for our future: drives us to pray Isaiah’s prayer. The world is not good enough to be true.

And so we ask God to break through, not only for ourselves, but for the sake of the whole world which God is determined to redeem.

We pray on behalf of the boys in Darfur who are forced to be soldiers when they not yet 12; for the parents of children in the Colonias along our border, who hope for a brighter future for their children; for the Christians in Pakistan who are the subjects of repeated attacks and killings; for the poor in nations where the price of basic food for survival has risen above their means to buy it.

We do not deny our own needs, which are real, and our longing for God to intervene in our lives, in the lives of those we love. There is a solidarity of suffering among all humankind.

I visited Lebh Shomea, the Roman Catholic house of prayer many years ago. There, the residents pray daily for the world in all its need. My first response was to think, in good Methodist fashion, “Why don’t they do something instead of merely praying all the time?” But I think differently now. Sincere prayer for people in their needs, and for God to come, is doing something. I often think of my sisters and brother in that prayer community and I am encouraged to know that, in this hurried world, someone is praying Isaiah’s prayer every day.

And, so, as we wait for Christ and Christmas, we will pray: Not fancy words, but the prayers of our God-awakened hearts, for our needs and the needs of others----for God’s heavenly dream to become a reality on earth.

I know we are accustomed to associate Lent with disciplines for repentance. But, in concert with the relatives of Jesus, in the year of our Lord’s birth, we wait in hope for Messiah, for peace and joy and hope on the earth. Let our hymns be more than a longing for the good old days of the past. Nostalgia has become a powerful idol in the Christmas marketplace. No, let our prayers be hope-filled, persistently imploring God for the fulfillment of God’s dream of peace on earth, good will to all!

As a people who have already met Jesus (though we seem always to cover him over with images that hardly fit the actual person!), we cannot merely be satisfied with a month of good deeds for the needy. This Advent, why not pray for the whole kit and kaboddle:  for a New Creation, for God’s new heaven and new earth to be real in us and in God’s aching, beautiful world!