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Today’s sermon is strongly inspired by the interfacing of several theologians. The Rev. Frank Hegedus, an Episcopal priest serving in California, wrote a hit home sermon posted on the internet. The Rev. Caroline Fairless, another Episcopal priest in our own backyard, practices and writes about children at worship. I look forward to meeting and learning more from her soon. So many wonder-ful children with big eyes and bigger hearts inspire me through their witness and teaching. Theologians in residence, the adolescents in our midst, encourage and challenge me to preach this sermon. And of course, there is God’s leading. Prepare ye!

Prepare ye the way of the Lord! Prepare and slow down. Prepare by going on retreat. Use this time, this set aside hour of worship, to let go of the noisy consumer frenzied lines in parking lots and shopping malls. Advent is a time to be awake to the Christ growing within our wombs, longing to live in our hearts. Growing life in our womb requires stretching. Jesus’ entry into our personal and communal world leaves stretch marks.

Advent offers us an opportunity to grow deep, not just tall. What do I mean by that? It could mean a number of things I suppose. This morning I am thinking about roots - the fingers of life stretching far below the surface simultaneously finding nourishment and giving nourishment. Imagine this church as a big tree. Note how big are its branches, how many nests are teeming with life. The sky beckons and we stretch. Look everyone. See how beautiful and thriving we are?

Imagine the roots of this tree. How do we experience Christ nourishing and creating our reality? How do we understand our church community? Who are we beneath the beautiful new building and engaging ministries? What do we believe Christ calls us to be? Let’s forget for awhile what Christ calls us to do. What and who is this community called to be?

“And you child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.” (Zechariah’s prophecy as his little son John was new from Elizabeth’s womb. Lk 1:76) We hear elsewhere in scripture, “And a little child will lead them.” Picture a creche. Where is the focus? On the cow? Sheep? Parents?

Suppose for a moment that our worth and wages were not determined by our adult jobs but by a different standard. Imagine we were evaluated not by our adult skills but by our childlike abilities – our capacity to be vulnerable and spontaneous, to show our real feelings and to live fully in each moment. Imagine our supervisors, the ones heading up our annual review, were children.

Consider the evaluation criteria. There is a scale reflecting the ability to lose all sense of time and place for hours on end. Writing and editing high quality academic publications would be replaced by interesting bedtime stories, peer reviewed by panels of children in the neighborhood. Imagination would trump efficiency. Our priorities would change if kids under 6 shaped the rules. Consider our politics and financial dealings if “No hitting” and “plays well with others” were expectations.

Suppose for a moment that youth and children were part of our faith community. Imagine our worship services including everyone. Would there be little pews and big pews like we have little chairs and big chairs in preschool? Or would we figure out that pews are not necessarily conducive to a meaningful worship experience? Would we discover that storytelling is a good way to teach everyone, regardless of age? Imagine our children learning to be patient and tolerant. Imagine our adults learning to be patient and tolerant.

I have used the phrase “child friendly service” to describe what I hoped to be a welcoming service for all ages. Caroline Fairless is teaching me that this is a mistake. Child friendly goes in the category of accommodating. Let me quote from Caroline’s book, Children at Worship:

We try to convince ourselves that the accommodation of children doesn’t really require a change in the patterns of the adult worshipping congregation. That’s correct, by the way. The accommodation of children does not have to change much of anything.

If we do a children’s story or have youthful acolytes or invite the children into the procession or teach them to sing an offertory hymn…we console ourselves that a little disorganization is a small price to pay for the continuity of our worship.

When we think about children and liturgy, we use words like hospitality and welcoming and accommodating. These are good words, friendly words, useful words. But the problem is, when we use them in reference to members of our own congregations, we create a division by definition. We and they. We are welcoming them. We are providing hospitality for them. We belong. They are the visitors.

I often imagine after Time with Children, inviting the adults to leave. What is the message? We send this message routinely. Consider our Sunday morning schedule. There are two services with church school happening simultaneously. Who goes to church school? The 9 o’clock hour has two adult oriented classes and one children’s class. The 10:30 hour has several classes for children and youth up to 6th grade. Worship happens minus the bulk of our children, on purpose. We exclude a significant part of our faith community and all of our own spiritual growth potential with this practice. This exclusion includes teachers. We ask our volunteer teachers to choose between worship and Christian education. I think this is tragic.

Many of us experienced Godspell last weekend. What a powerful, energy packed performance and ministry. Many of you experience our youth sharing music in our 10:30 and 5PM services. They are good people and good worship leaders. We need them. And guess what, they need us. God’s spirit moves among us in this space. Music, the spoken word, silence, the prayers of our companions, … If we took our baptismal vows seriously, if we understood church to be inclusive, if we honored the child within us and the children around us, we would notice something is not quite right here.

It is advent, the season that sets our hearts and minds preparing for the coming of a little child. It is advent, the season of God’s gestation of a new thing in our lives. It is advent, a season to consider change and being changed.

Adult John the Baptist quotes Isaiah. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make the paths straight; every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

It’s a lot of work to make way for God. We have to get our stuff out of the way. That’s why we need advent.

On a more literal note, imagine what would be required to make an easy passage to the Retreat House. Asphalt has done much of the work over the century but consider the winding turns and gravel road. The way is narrow and rocky. When the road washes out, the ruts swallow sedans. It is not easy to prepare the way in or out under these conditions.

According to legend, during the Babylonian Empire, when a king would travel to a less inhabited region, a cadre of royal engineers would prepare the road for the king to pass. They would smooth out the road so that the king’s chariot would not get stuck in a hole. They would level out hills and valleys so the journey would not be so treacherous and the king would have safe passage.

This second Sunday of Advent theme is peace. Peace is much more than the absence of war. Peace is what we seek and often find by growing deep as well as tall. Take note of the Christ child growing in your womb. Let God be an intimate part of your soul. May we say yes to change for God’s sake. Lead us in stretching exercises, Lord. Let us prepare the way for you.

Amen

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