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“Comfort Like A Warm Blanket” Sermon: 12/10/2017

Sunday, December 10, 2017

2nd Sunday of Advent
Sermon Text: Isaiah 40: 1-11


Winter is when I dwell on creature comforts: hot cocoa, seat warmers in my car, turtlenecks and warm scarves and gloves, fluffy blankets, what I deem “comfort” foods, and going caroling. Comfort is also consoling those whose world has turned upside down through illness, death, financial or legal problems, relationship blowups, alone or any number of life situations.

How many of you have seen the TV show “A Charlie Brown Christmas”? There is a scene in the show when Linus shares “what Christmas is all about”. As he is sharing, he drops his security blanket. You remember that Linus NEVER parts from his security blanket. Someone put an article online about this and his point is this: “I am convinced that this is intentional---and most telling is the specific moment when he drops it---which is when Linus utters the words, “fear not”. Looking at it now, it is pretty clear what Charles Schultz (the Charlie Brown creator) was saying, and it’s so simple that it’s brilliant.” 


All week, as I have been visiting patients, I have been reading Scripture passages to them—and because it is the Christmas season---I have been reading from Matthew and Luke—the Christmas story. I begin with Matthew 1---and the angel appearing to Joseph in a dream. What does the angel tell Joseph? “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” To me that says in comforting words: Joseph, you do not need to put aside Mary as you fretted that you would have to do. In a time when Joseph’s world had turned upside down, God comforted. Then I read Mary’s story. The angel Gabriel comes to her and says: “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” In a time when Mary’s life was about to change, the angel’s first words---do not fear. God has a plan and you are part of it. “For with God, nothing is impossible.” The shepherds were watching their flock by night and an angel of Lord came to them with God’s glory shining brightly around them. And what is that angel’s first words: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”  The Messiah, the long-awaited “Savior of his People” is here! Words that not only comforted the shepherds who were in the presence of God’s messenger but words that also gave hope. COMFORT GIVES HOPE.  Just as we hope and pray that these blankets and other warm items give hope to those who receive them!
 Isaiah 40 begins with: “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem….” The word translated “comfort” is to “encourage” as is “speak tenderly”. Isaiah sees a day when God’s servants will be crushed to the ground under the burden of their sins. They will feel sure that all is lost and that all the promises have been nullified by their rebellion. BUT the message to be proclaimed to them is that this is not so. The Exile is not to destroy them but only to punish them. Now that punishment is complete and God has a word of hope for them. The Good News is the coming intervention of God in the world. The Creator breaks into his world (our world), both to break the power of evil with his strong arm and like a shepherd to gather up the broken in his gentle arms. One of the most comforting passages I have read this week is verse 11: “He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.” How comforting that is---being so close to God that He can hear our heartbeat and we can hear His!  Just like we crawl up into our Mom’s or Dad’s lap when we need consoling, so to our God will hold us!


A few words of comfort can ease our feelings of grief or distress. Imagine the feelings of grief the Israelites were feeling as they were in Exile? Imagine the feeling of distress one has when one knows one has done wrong but doesn’t know how to make it right! John the Baptist in Mark chapter 1 was bringing comfort to the people through his baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. But he also pointed to the Good News: “ The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”


Peter, in his second letter (2 Peter chapter 3) writes good news: “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.”


Now, back to Linus and his friends. The author of the article posits that the birth of Jesus separates us from our fears. The birth of Jesus frees us from the habits we are unable or unwilling to break ourselves (sin). The birth of Jesus allows us to simply drop the false security we have been grasping so tightly, and learn to trust and cling to him instead. Our world can be a scary place and most of us find ourselves grasping to something temporal for security, whatever that things may be. Essentially, our world is a place in which it is very difficult for us to “fear not.” But in the midst of fear and insecurity, this simple cartoon image from 1965 (when the show first aired) continues to live on as an inspiration for us to seek true peace and true security in the one place it has always been and can always still be found.


No, the end of the blanket story in A Charlie Brown Christmas is not over. It has been noted that at the end of the scene, Linus picks the blanket back up. Why? Here is the rest of the author’s ponderings: Just like Linus, we may stand tall in a moment of faith and conviction, a moment when Scripture hidden in our heart comes to life, and all else is flung aside as we experience and proclaim the true freedom and security that only Jesus can give. But at some point, out of habit, we reach down and pick that thing right back up. Faith, while powerful, is also delicate.


Linus clearly knows the truth and clearly proclaims the truth. The knowledge is there and the wisdom is there and the passion is there. So why does he pick it back up? BECAUSE we all do the same thing. We know. We feel. We proclaim. Yet we gaze in the mirror one morning to find that tattered old blanket draped over our shoulder yet again. And we realize that we have become so used to it being there that we hardly even noticed it.


But the story doesn’t end here. The show ends with the Peanuts gang not just singing but clearly and unquestionably singing in worship. The obvious choice could have been “O Christmas Tree” but instead the focus is no longer on the tree. The focus is on Jesus. Now the kids begin to sing “Hark the Herald Angels Sing!” and we witness an impromptu worship service.


But before any of this happens, Linus parts with that blanket yet again, and lays it down for good at the base of that Christmas tree---just as we should strive to not just lay our blanket down just anywhere, but leave it forever behind us at the foot of the cross, for our own good and the good of others. Linus and his friends have moved from speaking truth and hearing truth into a deeper place of worship where they finally respond to that truth, much like those shepherds who were instructed to “fear not” so very long ago. At the end of the show Linus lays that blanket down again---and this time he doesn’t look back or take it up again. (author Jason Soroski  “The Moment You Never Noticed in A Charlie Brown Christmas”)


God comforts us not only in our moments of fear and tragedy but also in our moments of sin. The comfort is in the laying down of our tattered blankets, leaving them at the cross, and moving toward Him at the end of our days, the end of the age with His coming again, and standing blameless and spotless before him by living holy and godly lives. Be comforted this day like a warm blanket!