Presented to the 230pm service of Warehouse
Mission 614 at 252 Carlton St., Toronto, on the second Sunday of Advent, 10
December 2017 by Captain Michael Ramsay
To see an abridged version presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, 05 December 2021, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2021/12/luke-31-6-isaiah-401-8-straight-paths.html
To see a 2024 version, click here:
To see a 2023 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2023/12/isaiah-401-8-28-31-luke-31-6-straight.html
To see a 2021 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2021/12/luke-31-6-isaiah-401-8-straight-paths.html
Today we heard classic words of God through
Isaiah and Jesus that are quoted by John the Baptist. Last week we had the
Santa Shuffle. Heather participated and got a great metal. Since my 30s, I have
off-again and on-again done quite a bit of running. When I lived in Vancouver I
faithfully ran every second day. I lived about 5km from my office – I used to
run there and back. In Winnipeg
“...make straight
in the desert
a highway for our God.
Every valley
shall be raised up,
every mountain
and hill made low;
the rough ground
shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
This is a great verse to ponder when you are
running up and down hills and around curves, looking towards a time when
obstacles will disappear. I also used to do a good deal of hiking and some
backpacking. After a few hours following switchbacks up and down mountains, you
can almost feel the relief of Isaiah’s valleys raised and mountains levelled.
This is part of the Good News of Isaiah 40. This is the Good News also that
John the Baptist proclaims: when Jesus’ returns with His Kingdom, obstacles
will be removed. As during Advent we mark waiting for Jesus’ birth, we also
hope for His return so that our mountains of trouble will be levelled and our
valleys of despair will be raised to abundance. The crookedness of our paths
will be straightened. That is hope.
Last week we lit the candle of hope. Today we
lit the candle of love. First one has hope and then one can dare to love. One
of the key things about hope and love in the context of Isaiah is that both are
to and from God and an humbled people, a conquered people, an exiled people.
There is no hope when you are on top of the world...only fear that you will
fall off.
In college, I remember looking at the marks
going into one final exam and noticing that I had the 3rd highest
mark in that class. I then heard the people with the two highest marks brag to
each other about which of the two of them would finish top of the class, like
no one else was their equal – it was at that moment that I resolved that I
would beat them both. And I did.
There was a small city on the prairies where
each Christmas we would raise more money per capita for The Salvation Army than
any other place. At first this was a victory – and then it was fear. What
happens if we are not the best? What if someone beats us? What if I do not beat
my previous record? What if I fail?
It was the same in university, once I became
addicted to ‘A+’s, a ‘B’ was infuriating. There was no inherent joy in
achievement anymore only a fear of failure – and that fear of failure can stomp
out hope and it can stomp out love.
It was not always like that though in school. I
remember a time when I would hope and pray and celebrate even a passing grade.
I remember grade 11 French. The only French words I remember from that year
we’re ‘ne lancer pas la papier’ which means ‘don’t throw the paper’. Apparently
the teacher didn’t like that we threw paper airplanes in class. So every time
we made one, we could hear her say, ‘ne lancer pas la papier’ – still my most
recalled French phrase.
I also remember that our teacher took attendance
at the beginning of the class and though we didn’t want to go to class, we
didn’t want to explain absences on our report cards, so some of us had a habit
of sneaking out of the class right after the attendance sheet was handed
in. The teacher then moved my desk from
near the back door to the opposite corner of the room she could to hinder my
escape. As the class went on then, when the time was right, I would slowly move
from my desk to an empty desk one row closer to the door, then when she turned
around, I would move to a desk in the next row and then when she turned around
again. I would keep doing this until I’d get to the seat by the door and then
just run out. It would have worked a little better if the whole class wasn’t
trying this – I think she caught on half or more of the rows of desks were
empty.
I don’t think I was her favourite student. One
day I was in the counselling alcove and I saw my French teacher and she asked
me what I was doing, I told her I was switching out of her French in 3rd
period... ‘That is a very good idea to be out of my class’, she said. ‘...to your
class in fourth period,’ I continued. She was not impressed.
She caught on to our sneaking out of the
classroom and decided that she would check each of our homework everyday and
use that as attendance. You only got your attendance mark if she saw your
homework. One day I forgot my homework
and I was the first desk in front of her and she was coming around the class to
check everyone’s homework, what could I do? Well, the person who sat behind me,
Edmund, I think he had the best mark ever in the history of French 11; so, just
as Madame Kalfon was coming around I quickly turned around and took his
homework off his desk and presented it as my own. He protested but Madame
Kalfon was oblivious and put a red tick mark on the paper; I then returned it
to Edmund who was too stunned to protest further. Madame Kalfon then looked at
the same homework and put a second check mark on it and continued on her way. I
thought this was great fun so I took his paper and gave it to three or four
other students so they could get their marks as well before I returned it to
Edmund. She must have put 4 or 5 checks on Edmund’s homework each day! I had a lot of hope in French 11 – Hope I
wouldn’t get caught and hope I wouldn’t get kicked out… at the end of the day I
also got a tutor and a good mark but when I had nothing in the way of academic
pride I had hope and I still love to tell those stories. For any teenagers who
may be listening – I did study very hard and I still went to university on
scholarship... so do your work!
But forget my tales of youth. Don’t we all have
stories of a more carefree time? Look back on those times: these are usually
times when you didn’t have a lot except the love of a few good friends and the
hope that the future will be better. There is a lot of freedom in not having
much. Is it Janet Joplin who says that freedom is just another word for nothing
left to lose?
Sometimes this is right. Sometimes I think we
get to a place of fearing loss so much that we no longer have hope and we no
longer have love. Sometimes when we have enough to get by, we don’t share what
is ours for fear that we might not have something. This is reflected very much
in tithing. A person who has tithed or knows they should tithe, does not
tithe... this is a sign that we are not doing well at trusting God. This is a
symptom that we are not free but instead bound up in fear or pride or something
else that keeps us from tithing. I remember in one church in Tisdale we
pastored, there was Ralph. He had a limited income. He only made $52.30 a week
and you know what? Every week he tithed $5.23. I think of him when sometimes I
am tempted to keep God’s tithe from Him, when sometimes I fear for my finances.
Fear can be a crippler of hope and fear can detract from Love. Our candle today
is love and perfect love drives out fear.
Pride can also rob us of hope and rob us of
love. Sometimes we can be proud of our accomplishments – not in a bad way.
Laura is an architect. I can only imagine what it would be like to look upon a
building you have designed and built. Krys here wrote many songs and a book
that was significant to me long before I ever met him. These congregations of
Warehouse Mission and 614 have gone through a lot and God has used us to
accomplish Kingdom objectives. There are things we can boast that the Lord has
done in many of our lives here. I know friends who have been sober for years,
who have been sober for months, who have been sober for days, who have been
sober for hours and minutes... these are things to boast in the Lord about.
The problem is when we
have pride in ‘our own accomplishments’ as if they rely are ‘our own
accomplishments’ then you run into the problems I mentioned of fearing a
failing mark in school or in life. Sometimes we build empires for ourselves.
Sometimes – maybe like Jerusalem
In Advent we talk about the Good News of the
Salvation of the world. Do you know where in the Bible this shows up for the
first time? Genesis 12:1-3: “All the nations of the earth will be blessed” and
do you know what happens just before then... Genesis 11: the tower of Babel
The other week, we read about how God destroyed
Nehustan that the Israelites used for centuries in worship of God, and how the
LORD had it destroyed because the people were destroying themselves by
worshiping it.
Isaiah records how God destroys His own temple,
the holy city of Jerusalem , the independent
nations of Israel and of Judah
This is the love that God has for us today as
well. He loves us so much that if there are any valleys, mountains, crooked
paths or Babel-like buildings of traditions, pride, fears, hate, or something
else in our lives; He will flatten those mountains and tear down those
buildings, for only then can we be rebuilt on His foundations.
There is a new song by a Canadian Band, Glorious Sons, whose first two lines
have been stuck in my head for a few days now:
I spent all my money on a pack of cigarettes,
for a lady that I love with a name I forget.
The song tells a story with some troubles as it
moves to the chorus which proclaims ‘Everything will be alright.” And for those
of us who have already had the walls come tumbling down and are now in stages
of exile in our own lives, for those of us who may feel like all is lost, for
those of us who have seen our lives come crashing down around us, for those of
us who are grieving, for those of us whose life feels like it is lost. God is
here. When the people scattered from the ruins of Babel
When our life is in exile maybe even from our
own view of God; He will never leave us nor forsake us. Sometimes life is sad.
Sometimes life is hard but God promises that someday our valleys of despair
will be filled in, our mountains of trouble will be levelled and our crooked
paths will be straightened – and, even until then He will journey with us every
step of the way offering to bring us along in hope and in love. Today and this
week let us all walk in God’s hope and love as we look forward to the day of
Christ’s return when those valleys will be raised, those mountains will be
levelled and our paths will straightened for ever more.
Let us pray.
Video of the 2021 remake:
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