St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen & Church of the Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
December 16, 2018
Year C: The Third
Sunday of Advent
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Canticle 9
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:7-18
Tikkun Olam
Advent
is a short season in a busy time and so it always, always, flies by so quickly.
Even
I can hardly believe – and, I’ll admit that I’m trying to suppress a little bit
of panic that there’s not enough time to get done everything that needs to get
done for Christmas – I can hardly believe that it’s already the Third
Sunday of Advent.
Today
is called called Gaudete Sunday from a Latin word meaning “rejoice” – it’s the
Sunday when we switch the liturgical color from blue to rose (not pink!)
– it’s the Sunday when we begin to rejoice that Christmas is so very close.
Of
course, even if we’re sticklers about Advent like we are around here, we certainly
don’t have to wait until Christmas to feel joy.
Although
there are plenty of problems and challenges and tragedies all around us, there’s
also a lot to celebrate – a lot of joy.
For
example, last Sunday afternoon – on a tough date and at a difficult time for
church people – Jersey City Together packed New Hope Missionary Baptist Church
– packed that sanctuary with over 500 people willing to sacrifice a Sunday
afternoon in the lead-up to Christmas – people willing to speak up for
affordable and decent housing, safe streets, and schools that have the resources
they need to educate and nurture our kids.
The
speakers at this action were particularly excellent.
One
was Christine Keller, a junior from McNair Academic High School – consistently
rated the best high school in the state and one of the best in the country. Yet,
this poised and eloquent young woman spoke about the lack of resources for
extracurricular activities and field trips.
She
spoke about how a sink in one of the girls’ bathrooms fell off the wall and
remained on the floor because apparently there wasn’t the money to fix it.
She
spoke of being unwilling to go into the school basement because it’s infested
with vermin.
Left
unsaid was the thought that I’m sure a lot of us had: if this what it’s like in
our premier and elite high school, what in the world is it like in our other
high schools and the many elementary schools scattered throughout the city?
The
sad truth was left unsaid because we all know the answer – it’s at least as bad
and often even worse.
Another
speaker was Tanisha Johnson, a woman who lives in the Holland Gardens housing
project – it’s a public housing complex built decades ago in what is kind of a
no man’s land near the Holland Tunnel – nearly inaccessible without a car.
If
you’ve been down that way lately you know that many new and expensive luxury
high rises are going up all around Holland Gardens – making residents wonder
how much longer it will be until they are pushed out.
Meanwhile
though, Ms. Johnson spoke about the miserable living conditions in her home,
including an infestation of mice. She talked about trapping seventeen
mice at one time!
In
one of the most dramatic moments of the action, Ms. Johnson turned around to
face the mayor and invited him to switch homes with her.
The
mayor didn’t take her up on that offer, but, to his credit, he did seem to take
her misery seriously and even, he said, personally.
The
other moment of high drama came when Rabbi Elliott Tepperman from Montclair
rose to address the issue of gun violence.
He’s
a leader in the anti-gun violence group called Do Not Stand Idly By and he
spoke passionately and powerfully about gun violence – gun violence, which, by
the way, is the highest it’s been in our country in forty years – gun violence
which continues to shed blood in our city, including our most recent homicide
on Friday night at MLK and Orient.
The rabbi spoke
about how gun violence has affected his own life and the lives of people in his
community – how gun violence affects people even in a place as leafy and
prosperous in Montclair.
The
rabbi really got worked up about this issue – and, in fact, he went overtime,
putting our friend Rev. Laurie, who was the timekeeper of the day, into an
awkward spot – but as I was sitting there listening to him speak so
passionately about the scourge of gun violence I realized that he was living
out one of the most important concepts in Judaism.
It’s
called Tikkun olam - and it means
“repair of the world.”
And,
many Jews interpret Tikkun olam as our
duty to help others and improve the state of the world – and that if we do that
not only do we help other people, but we also glorify God.
Tikkun olam: to repair the world.
If
you were here last Sunday, you may remember that we were reintroduced to one of
the central characters of Advent, that very Jewish prophet: John the Baptist.
In
the wilderness, John heard the voice of God and began preaching a baptism of
repentance – calling people to be washed in the River Jordan and to change
their minds, change their hearts, and change their lives.
Now,
today, we pick up right where we left off last week – and we get to hear a
little bit of John’s preaching.
John begins by
calling the people who come to him “a brood of vipers” – definitely not a
compliment and it certainly doesn’t seem like a very effective church growth
strategy, but what do I know? – and John warns people that it’s not their
heritage that matters – God can make children of Abraham out of stones, he says
– but what matters how we live our lives.
Tikkun olam: to repair the world.
Notice
that we don’t hear anything about baptism itself.
Instead,
the focus is on what happens after baptism.
John
the Baptist says, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none;
and whoever has food must do likewise.”
And,
notice that this honest and generous behavior is not just for special
super-religious people.
No,
absolutely everyone is called – and expected – to live this way, even the tax
collectors who were so despised in that time and place – even the soldiers who
were given the awesome responsibility and power of enforcing the will of a
brutal empire.
John
calls all of them – absolutely everybody – to live an honest and generous life.
John calls everyone to Tikkun olam –
to repair a very broken world.
At
the conclusion of today’s gospel reading, John the Baptist reminds everyone
that he is not the messiah – that he has come to prepare the way for one more
powerful – the one who will baptize not with water but with the Holy Spirit.
John
the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus of Nazareth.
And,
the very Jewish Jesus will also teach that we are to live honestly and generously
– that when we feed the hungry and quench the thirsty – when we welcome the
stranger and clothe the naked – when we console the sick and visit the
imprisoned – when we do these simple but profound acts we do them to and for
Jesus.
Unfortunately,
over the centuries our focus changed and many Christians became more concerned
with believing the right things and performing the right rituals – more
concerned with checking off the boxes seen as necessary to get us into heaven –
more focused on baptism instead of what happens after baptism.
But,
in more recent times, as the church has been pushed to the margins of society,
we have rediscovered that we’re not just called to believe the right way – not
just called to worship the right way – not just called to avoid sin – although
that’s all important - but we are also called to live generously and honestly –
to allow God to work in and through us - to, yes, repair our rundown schools,
to ensure that everyone has decent and affordable housing, to remove the tools
of death from our streets and homes – to allow God to work in and through us to
repair our very broken world.
And,
when we do that, there is and there will be, on earth and in heaven, so much rejoicing
– so much Gaudete - so much joy.
Tikkun olam: to repair the world.
Amen.
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