December 4, 2022 ~ Second Sunday of Advent ~ Sermon & Zoom Worship Video Link

This is the Video Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/xL1bIXYFoXwI2M5c-IQ4uap0sZ_FOqcXEntp5f8t_Pard8X10_cmspFQQx43SxEB.kUacNiYUxGY7zoCO

2^nd Advent; Communion                                                                     12/4/22—Highland—Meute

Advent Series—Based on “A Surprising God: Devotions for an Uncertain Time”

By Thomas G. Long and Donyelle C. McCray

“God Sees the Effort”

Amos 9: 8-15; Matthew 3: 1-12

Pearl: Your service for the benefit of others is noticed by God; you will be rewarded and respite will come.

Function: To encourage all of the doers who serve others that they will be rewarded and respite will come.

Robert Hayden remembered his father’s tireless labors in a poem, “Those Winter Sundays.”

1. Hayden’s father had a morning ritual of rising early to make a fire and shine his son’s shoes, but at the time the boy saw none of it.
2. Only later did he appreciate the affection in his father’s efforts and recognize what he beautifully described as: “love’s austere and lonely offices.”

Many people, including most of you, are busy…so very busy taking care of others and doing for others. And much of this work is behind the scenes. You who…

1. Do the work of daily caring for another person;
2. Who cook thankless meals and load the dishwasher so the other person can rest;
3. Or help someone bathe and dress and change their diaper and balance their pills in one hand and their glass of juice in another;
4. Or sit in traffic listening to their favorite music while driving them to the doctor or the dentist or the pharmacy or the physical therapist;
5. And then you lay awake at night worrying about how to pay the bills.
   1. Occasionally you need to know that God sees the effort!
6. No labor is invisible to God.
   1. Not the labor done in slippers or bathrobes,
   1. Nor the quiet labor done outside of our homes:
      1. Arriving early to make the coffee for the AA meeting;
      1. Staying late to clean up after the church dinner and walk the trash bags to the dumpster.
   1. Sometimes all of that continuing, repetitive, mundane work can lead to exhaustion, physically and emotionally.
      1. But none of this labor is invisible to God.
      1. God knows how wearying it is and what it costs for you to do it.

In part, this “service fatigue” results from the labor not being noticed or not being appreciated by those receiving the benefits.

1. The prophet Amos, who depicts God as both stern judge and as merciful deliverer, wrote that the Lord restores and raises up the weary and the desolate.
   1. “On that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen, and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old…” (8:11).
2. God judges fruitlessness and blesses unseen service.
   1. The 2009 movie Philosopher Kings explores the lives of janitors in several large American universities.
      1. Viewers get a window into the daily challenges of clearing clogged toilets, arranging chairs, mopping floors, and emptying trash.
      1. They also get a sense of what it means to do this work in plain sight and yet be ignored or in some cases shunned.
      1. Evil social hierarchies prevent students, faculty, and other staff members from seeing how wonderful these custodians are.
         1. Oscar loves to fish.
         1. Jim plays in a band that once opened for the Beach Boys.
         1. Corby is an artist who drives a van styled like Scooby Doo’s “Mystery Machine.”
         1. Josue designs a watery delivery system for a rural community in Haiti.
   1. Unseen, unnoticed service can be wearying…but God sees it and blesses it.
      1. “Love’s unseen and lonely offices” can be wearying. But when those “offices” are noticed and appreciated by others, and when they are noticed by God (and they are always noticed by God), those responding from love are blessed.

The Lord who judges fruitlessness is the same Lord who repairs, who raises up, and who rebuilds those who are weary, and worn-down, and unseen, and unappreciated, and desolate from all of their service for others.

1. God turns the tables.
   1. God promises that those who plant vineyards will finally sit and enjoy the wine;
   1. Those who tend gardens will eventually relax and feast on their fruits.
      1. This is because labor done for the benefit of others will be rewarded and respite will come!
2. One can always turn themselves around as well. John’s baptism was about turning. He proclaimed the importance of turning away from self-centeredness toward love and service for the kingdom of God.
   1. Notice the servers each and every day.
      1. Smile at them;
      1. Thank them;
      1. Tip them generously;
      1. Learn their names and get to know their stories.
   1. Be a server yourselves. Labor for the benefit of others. This is bearing fruit.
   1. Take up the cause of the well-being of others.
      1. This is what followers of Jesus do.

No labor on behalf of others is invisible to God.

Be stewards of “loves austere and lonely offices” (Hayden). In so doing you are being stewards of “God’s austere and lonely offices.”

1. God knows that thankless effort for the benefit of others can produce a sense of scarcity (weariness, fatigue, exhaustion).
   1. So, God promises restoration and abundance.
2. Remember, God has a long history of working in the background.
   1. In fact, God’s greatest miracle took place in a darkened tomb.

Prayer

God of the Shadows, you are always working quietly behind the scenes—healing, comforting, nurturing growth. When our efforts go unnoticed and our labors are ignored, assure us that we are always in your sight. Help us to remember that your greatest miracle took place in a darkened tomb. Amen.