"Close to Home: A Home for All" a sermon on Luke 3:7-18, Zephaniah 3:14-20

Luke 3:7-18
Zephaniah 3:14-20
“Close to Home: A Home for All”
Preached Sunday, December 12, 2021

I know a lot of people got all their Christmas shopping done early this year because of shipping delays and supply chain shortages - or perhaps some decided to buy mostly local or off the shelves at stores to try and avoid those issues. Some of you may have been done with Christmas shopping for weeks while others may not even have started. Anyone here done with their Christmas shopping?

I got a lot of my shopping done already but I still have a little to go. While I was looking over wish lists for family members this year, I got into a conversation that there are really two kinds of gifts that people ask for - those that are wanted and those that are needed.

Some people like giving gifts that might be a little more indulgent - something the recipient would appreciate but maybe not spend money on themselves. A treat if you will. For me these kind of things are Starbucks gift cards, chocolate, face masks, fancy hand lotions and candles - stuff I may not buy myself but, you know, things I’m thrilled to get as gifts. Of course, what the indulgent gifts are vary from person to person! Sports tickets, power tools, cars, vacations, video games - you know the person you shop for.

Still others prefer to give or receive more practical gifts. What does this person need? It can be anything from socks to home improvements, to cooking utensils. Maybe this is the kind of person who appreciates practical gifts or, for whatever reason, doesn't send money on themselves for the necessities or practical items - even when they'll make their everyday life better. I was recently talking with a friend who was sharing how excited she was to get a new good chef knife for Christmas - it was just gonna make her cooking every day that much better. And I have definitely gifted someone a toaster oven before.

So which kind of gift do you usually prefer to get? Indulgent people? Practical people? I'm an indulgent gift person. I mean, sure, I'll buy gifts of necessity for others but I love that stuff that I just wouldn't buy for myself - and this is also because, and I say this coming from an immense place of privilege, I recognize that, I am not sure there is any gift that I really need. Like really *need.* Recognizing that there are those who daily struggle for things they really need - money for the gas bill, or debt collectors, the high cost of prescriptions, food on the table, clothes for the kids… As Christians we are called to meet the needs of our neighbors in this season of gifting and beyond. Out of love of God and love of neighbor, knowing that what we do to the least of these we do to Jesus himself.

I want to acknowledge these very real and pressing needs first so they are not diminished as I pivot and talk about another kind of need: our spiritual needs. I said there is no gift I really need this holiday. Of course, I think, there are things I need that aren’t tangible things you can wrap under a Christmas tree - for example: a nanny, more hours in the day, a date with my husband... And still, those are superficial, surface level things even if you don't buy them in a shop.

It can be hard to let people know what you need. When someone asks what you need, it may be hard to admit you need something physical to meet your basic needs. It might be a little bit harder to admit you need help or to invest in relationships.

And still there is another layer: What do you need? What do you really need? What does your soul need? These aren't the kinds of things we put on wish lists - they might be hard to admit to ourselves, or to confide in a friend, let alone broadcast to the world. So in an effort to model transparency and vulnerability, I reflected on this question for myself: what does my soul need? And I’ll share a little with you today.

(deep breath)

Right now, I believe at a deep level my soul needs:

To know that I am enough and that I am loved because of who I am, who God created me to be.
To know that I am no more or less worthy of love based on my productivity, my to-do lists, my never-ending tasks.
I am not my failures, faults and struggles. I am also not my successes, wins, and gifts.
I am a child of God, inherently worthy of love and life, as I am.
God loves me. God equips and empowers me. God leads me to serve the Lord and to rest.
And I have to chuckle because you have probably heard this very message from me before. We preachers really do only have a couple of core sermons and, most of the time, we preach to ourselves.

This talk about needs, of spiritual needs, about what we really need, brings me to today's Gospel lesson where John the Baptist says “Merry Christmas ya filthy animal"- oh no wait - that's not it. What John does say is:

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance..."

Has anyone ever wondered why so many people went out to the desert to hear a wild man wearing animal pelts call them snakes and then dunk them in water?

In reading the text, we don't have personality or inflection taken into account. I think because of his words, we imagine him yelling them. I sometimes wonder if John said them with a laugh or a wry smile? Or gently, with love… John must have been a charismatic man for people to come from near and far to hear him, to be convinced they needed to repent, to be convinced they needed to be baptized - to turn their lives around based on his words and the experience they had in his company. Due to his preaching those who heard him began to treat each other differently, to live differently - and began to be prepared to follow Jesus.

I think it can be stated like this: John gave people a gift they needed, he gave them what their souls needed. He said the things that they really needed to hear.
He tells them that there is a way back to God, even if they've messed up, drifted, fallen short.
He tells them that God is waiting for them with open arms.
He tells them that there is One coming who will bring justice to all the injustices, who will set things right, that will liberate them.
He tells them that another way of life is possible - for those with two coats and those with none. For the tax collector, for the soldier, for every one. He even calls out some of the most powerful rulers of the day, telling them that there is still time to repent! Now, that does end up costing him his life but it was still something their souls needed to hear.
The point is, John had the unique spiritual gift of telling people what their souls needed to hear.
Most importantly, he told people that someone greater than he was coming. He pointed them toward the thing they needed above all else: Jesus.

"One who is more powerful than I is coming... So with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the Good News to the people."

Indeed - what better news is there than for someone to give you what you really need? And when what you really need is Jesus, a Savior, a Messiah, one who forgives, who teaches, who guides, who walks with, who saves, who is Lord, Ruler, Redeemer of ALL, who above all Loves - that is indeed GOOD news.

And when you are given exactly what you need - there is a deep joy in that. And so people flocked to John to find not only the waters of the Jordan River in baptism but also to find a deep, deep reservoir of joy in being shown exactly what their soul needs. As I said, I think John was a charismatic figure who himself was filled with joy - we read in scripture that he leaped for joy in his mother's womb out of knowing that the one was coming who he would spend his whole life pointing others to, that the one was coming who would be the Savior of the world. That joy, trust in his Savior, carried him through his life and ministry so that he could give others what they needed.

So in the spirit of John the Baptist, today I ask: as the church, what message are we giving people? Are we giving them what they need? Both their pressing physical needs and what their souls need to hear?

We often talk about church as a home - a church home, a faith home, a place where we find what our souls need: community, hope, peace, joy, love - and above all, Jesus who brings and gives these things.

Now, if we want others to find a church home here, to find a home in Jesus, we have to ask: Are we giving them what they need? What their soul needs. Are we giving them the heart-felt, deep soul knowledge that Jesus came to be Emmanuel, God-with-us, God-Incarnate, human and divine. That Jesus loves us and wants us to love others. And that there is absolutely nothing, nothing you can do, no power in heaven or earth that can separate you from the love of God.

And that this God, who loves you unconditionally also came for the redemption of the world, and that includes you. He came, to paraphrase the prophet Zephaniah that was read in church today:

To rejoice over you with gladness
To renew you in love
To exult you with song
To remove disaster from you
To free the oppressed from the oppressors
To save the lame and gather the outcasts
To change shame to praise
And to bring you home - home in Jesus, a place where the needs of your soul are known and met with love.

And this gift - the knowledge of Jesus’s Love - is not just a gift that people need but in a world that tells us that unconditional love is scarce, in a world that tells us to satisfy our longings with material things, in a world where we think our worth is based on how much we do or what we do, in a world that always tells us that we’re not enough - to be given the gift of becoming aware of God’s love for you in THIS world? That is a gift that is not only needed, but can feel indulgent too.

Church, we need to give this gift to people. Sometimes I think the message of Christianity that we try to give to others can get watered down to pithy sayings, surface level platitudes that do not bring deep joy because they are not what people need to hear. For example: Everything happens for a reason, God helps those who help themselves, God won't give you more than you can handle, Thoughts & Prayers, Christianity is about following rules, how you vote, and where you are on Sunday morning - these aren’t things that people want or need. None of these things are the Good News that our souls need and they mostly aren’t even biblical!

So today, I want to leave you with two things to ponder as we get nearer to the miracle of Christmas:

1 - What does my soul really need? Like *really* need. Spend time in prayer and reflection. Tell God your needs. Yes, God knows them - tell God anyway. Turn them over to God. And, share with a friend who it’s safe to be vulnerable with.

And 2 - how can you give people what they really need this Christmas? If able, to meet the needs of those who are struggling to have their pressing needs met this season. And, how to share the gift that is God’s love with a world that so badly needs the joy that the Good News of Christmas brings: that there is hope, peace, joy, and love in this world - and we call him Jesus.

Amen.