Second Sunday of Advent (B), December 13, 2020—Isaiah 40:1–11; Mark 1:1–8

Isaiah 40:1–11

 

Elsewhere in the News

 

All people are grass, and what good will it do

To say what is right, and the truth to pursue?

How fickle the people, so blown like the wind,

And now we're embarrassed, each day we're chagrined;

Oh, where is our strength, and oh, where is the way?

Oh, what can be said in these darkening days?

 

More news is at hand than what now meets the eye,

The news of a God who no money can buy,

Who'll rescue and save, 'though you can't believe how,

Whose promise is better than all earthly vows;

The LORD is still Lord, and, yes, you are the one

To tell and to show that God's loving's not done. 

 

Scott L. Barton

 

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her 

that she has served her term, 

that her penalty is paid, 

that she has received from the Lord’s hand 

double for all her sins.

 

A voice cries out: 

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, 

make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

Every valley shall be lifted up, 

and every mountain and hill be made low; 

the uneven ground shall become level, 

and the rough places a plain. 

Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, 

and all people shall see it together, 

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 

 

A voice says, “Cry out!” 

And I said, “What shall I cry?” 

All people are grass, 

their constancy is like the flower of the field. 

The grass withers, the flower fades, 

when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; 

surely the people are grass. 

The grass withers, the flower fades; 

but the word of our God will stand forever.

Get you up to a high mountain, 

O Zion, herald of good tidings; 

lift up your voice with strength, 

O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, 

lift it up, do not fear; 

say to the cities of Judah, 

“Here is your God!” 

See, the Lord God comes with might, 

and his arm rules for him; 

his reward is with him, 

and his recompense before him. 

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.

 

 + + + 

 

Mark 1:1–8

 

Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665):  

St. John the Baptist Baptizes the People

Musée du Louvre

 

We're now in Year B, and Mark's very first sentence with no verbs in it makes it a bit unclear just what "the beginning" is; but maybe it's not just the first chapter. Maybe it's even his whole book. I thought of Julie Andrews singing "Doe, a Deer, a Female Deer" in “The Sound of Music,” and the poem took off from there. Keep the tune in mind as you read the poem, and have fun! It’s probably too late to arrange to have your choir to sing it in these remote-worship times, but maybe a soloist would be game!

 

The Sound of Mark

(Possible choir anthem for Advent)

 

Let's start at the very beginning,

A very good place to start;

When it's Matthew it's genealogy,

When it's Mark it begins with John the B.,

John the B.,

The one Isaiah calls us to see,

John the B.,

He won't grace your Christmas tea:

 

In the wilderness he cried,

"God forgives I now proclaim,"

People from the countryside

And the capital all came;

They confessed and were baptized

By the wild and crazy guy,

Even so, he still surprised,

Saying one will come not I!

 

(So stand by!)

 

Thus, the good news has begun,

Mark's whole book is just the start,

For the story's hardly done,

Each of us can play a part;

Jesus is the one who came,

He's the key for your life's scale,

Make his love your constant aim,

For his grace today prevails—

 

(prevails)

 

Lives Christ and loves! and, yes, Christ gives!

Gives, Christ, and yes, loves, and Christ lives.

Amen!

 

Scott L. Barton

 

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

 

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

 

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way;

the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight,’”

 

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “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.”

 

The First Sunday of Advent (B), November 29, 2020—Isaiah 64:1–9 and Mark 13:24–37

 

As the new church year begins, I’m excited to announce the upcoming publication of my new book, imaginatively titled Lectionary Poems, Year B: More Surprising Grace for Pulpit and Pew. With 107 poems for all the Sundays plus special days of the year, I hope this will be for you a wonderful little book to hold, pore over, and use each week for the sake of your own imagination and faith. What’s also wonderful are two indices: one of the 128 biblical references not only to the specific lectionary texts but other texts referred to in the poems; and the other of all the titles, such as “Advent Recipe in Three Steps,” “Job’s Non-Hollywood Ending,” “Does Jesus Still Thumb His Nose?” and “I Never Liked to Preach This Text.”

 

Printing should happen this week. I’ll let you know how to get it as soon as I can, but Year A is available at Wipf and Stock, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.

 

And now, for our regularly scheduled program:

http://magdalenesmusings.blogspot.com/2008/11/yearning-for-presence-sermon-on-isaiah.html)

 

Isaiah 64:1–9

 

The Present You, LORD, Might Open

 

O, that we might be the present

That you, LORD, would fin'lly open,

Tearing at the edge of heaven,

Ripping apart all the wrappings

And trappings, the prejudices,

Old animosities, new fears,

The hatred and the violence,

All that hides what we truly are,

So all might know, and all might see,

How loved, by far, is each, by you.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, 

so that the mountains would quake at your presence— 

as when fire kindles brushwood 

and the fire causes water to boil— 

to make your name known to your adversaries, 

so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, 

you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. 

From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, 

no eye has seen any God besides you, 

who works for those who wait for him. 

You meet those who gladly do right, 

those who remember you in your ways. 

But you were angry, and we sinned; 

because you hid yourself we transgressed.

We have all become like one who is unclean, 

and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. 

We all fade like a leaf, 

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 

There is no one who calls on your name, 

or attempts to take hold of you; 

for you have hidden your face from us, 

and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. 

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; 

we are the clay, and you are our potter; 

we are all the work of your hand. 

Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, 

and do not remember iniquity forever. 

Now consider, we are all your people.

 

+ + +

 

Mark 13:24–37

 

The Cup of the New Covenant

 

When the world is going to hell in a handbasket,

the chickens have come home to roost,

the whole world's at sixes and sevens,

you're up the creek without a paddle,

we're going down with all hands,

everything's gone widdershins,

everything's gone bananas,

life's going down the tubes,

it's all gone horribly wrong,

it's FUBAR, and SNAFU,

things go cattywumpus,

all hell's broken loose,

we're taking on water,

the shit hits the fan,

it's pandemonium,

the wheels fall off,

things fall apart,

and the jig

is up,

then

kairos,

peripeteia,

crossroads,

a conversion,

a metamorphosis,

the turn of the tide,

the moment of truth,

the defining moment,

everything fresh and new,

the tree suddenly leafing out,

something you somehow haven't

to deserve occurs when you least expect it.

No one knows how that is, or when it is, either;

But it's something to anticipate, like the summer.

And who knows? Maybe it will even come in a baby.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

(I'm grateful to J. Barrie Shepherd and his The Moveable Feast: Selected Poems for the Christian Year and Beyond (1990), which showed me that the literal shape of a poem can be a part of the poetry.)

 

“But in those days, after that suffering,

the sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light,

and the stars will be falling from heaven,

and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

 

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

 

“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

Christ the King (Reign of Christ) Sunday (A), November 22, 2020—Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20-24; Matthew 25:31–46

Early 6th-century mosaic from Ravenna, the Church of Appolinare Nuovo

 

Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20–24

 

The Once and Future Comeuppance of the Butters

 

The word I like the best within this text is "butted;"

I like how God's not happy with the sheep who strutted,

Who pushed and shoved their way around like some big wheel,

And turned the lives of others into an ordeal;

They make me think of big shots now, pontificating,

Who, on high horses, set about eliminating

The things that help all people in their daily living,

While claiming they know best, but to themselves they're giving!

Dear God, we need a David, shepherding the people,

Instead of those who would our commonwealth enfeeble;

You've kicked their butts in our most recent big election—

Now may kind words and acts enjoy a resurrection.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

(The last two lines have been changed from what was published in my book at the beginning of this year:

 O, kick their butts in any upcoming elections,

That words and acts for all might see a resurrection.)

 

For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

 

 +  +  +

Matthew 25:31–46

 

Surprise!

 

The Gospel is about surprise!

Forget the habit to surmise

Just how you might reap some reward,

Or fear that you might be ignored

By God, say, when you're at the end,

And wonder if you might ascend,

Or descend, so to speak. You'll find

God's system of reward is blind

To whether you had made the grade!

No matter what, you'll be dismayed,

Since God's less likely to be bribed,

And more inclined to be described

As Christ, who so inspires your love

That, focused less on God above,

You'll worry not, nor will you gloat,

To be a hero, or a goat,

But simply offer all your care

To needy angels unawares.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

 

Bonus Poem, The Turning of the Tide, November 6, 2020

The Turning of the Tide, November 6, 2020

 

Liar, liar, pants on fire;

We’re finally rescued from the mire

Through which you’ve dragged us these four years,

While sucking souls with hate and fears!

And why so many took the bait

Of all your narcissistic freight,

To us is such a mystery—

But now, you’ll soon be history!

We cheer all those who told the truth,

Who showed, above all, you’re uncouth;

You never rose to claim a place

Of greatness, but instead, disgraced

Our nation, while you could not grow.

How fitting, eight score years ago

Today Abe Lincoln, smart and brave

Was chosen, that he might us save.

We’ll cheer e’en more in two month’s time,

Inauguration Day, sublime;

But now, for Biden, send your prayers,

That he, our nation, might repair

In decency and kind behavior

The better angels of our nature.

 

Scott L. Barton

The Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), November 15, 2020—Judges 4:1­–7 [8–24]; Matthew 25:14–30

(If you're only on this single week's page, please go to www.lectionarypoems.blogspot.com where you will see my Bonus Poem, The Turning of the Tide, November 6, 2020)

 

Judges 4:1–7 [8–24]

 

Deborah sends Barak into battle 

(From the Psalter of St. Louis, 13th century, 

Bibliothèque nationale de France)

 

Wonderwomen 

 

I think that not too many know

This ancient, Wonderwomen tale,

Where, Barak asks a prophetess

To go with him before he sails

To battle a strong enemy,

As guarantee he would not fail.

 

Or does he ask to humor her,

A woman who'd command a male?

Or could it be he's worried that

His aspirations she'd assail,

And like some prequel of Uriah,

He'd be the one to be impaled?

 

At any rate, she says she'll go,

Though goes with him to no avail, 

That is, no glory will he earn;

Another woman will derail

The plans of Sisera, who burns

To conquer Israel, yet fails.

 

Soon Sisera will be no more,

His gory end makes us inhale;

But though, to us, the ethics of

Jael seem dubious and frail,

God's purposes for those oppressed

Will, by God's chosen means, prevail.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

(Note: It's a shame the lectionary designers stop at verse 7, which in my view pretty much misses the point of the story. Go at least through verse 9. But consider going even further in Sunday worship, which in this case means telling the rest of the story, which includes Jael, as long as we realize it's meant to make us smile at how God will do in a cruel oppressor by whatever means will do the trick.)

 

The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord , after Ehud died. So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.

 

At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’” [Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

 

Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and ten thousand warriors went up behind him; and Deborah went up with him. Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the other Kenites, that is, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had encamped as far away as Elon-bezaanannim, which is near Kedesh. When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, Sisera called out all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the troops who were with him, from Harosheth-ha-goiim to the Wadi Kishon. Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day on which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. The Lord is indeed going out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand warriors following him. And the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into a panic before Barak; Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot, while Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-ha-goiim. All the army of Sisera fell by the sword; no one was left.

 

Now Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground—he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died. Then, as Barak came in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went into her tent; and there was Sisera lying dead, with the tent peg in his temple. So on that day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. Then the hand of the Israelites bore harder and harder on King Jabin of Canaan, until they destroyed King Jabin of Canaan.]

 

+  +  +

 

Matthew 25:14–30 

Annette Gandy Fortt: Parable of the Talents

http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56021

 

Treasure This

 

Beware that you don't use this text

To be the means whereby the next

Year's budget you might "make" converges

With what it seems the story urges.

 

One talent being far too much

For common laborers to touch,

It speaks, instead, of what is gained

When nothing you did, you attained.

 

Those overwhelmed by all they have,

Who know that all they are, God gave,

In joy, astounded by their treasure,

Know greatest gifts cannot be measured.

 

But those who try to make it last,

In worry they'll lose all amassed,

Have entered now into the hell

Which only trust in grace dispels.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’