Because sermons are prepared with an emphasis on verbal presentation, the written accounts may occasionally stray from proper grammar and punctuation.

A New Tomorrow Rev. Chandler Stokes & Mr. John Molhoek Luke 3:7-18 The Third Sunday of Advent December 13, 2015 Scripture Introduction Today I am sharing the message with the choir, who will sing stanzas of Hymn 158 throughout, and with one of our members, John Molhoek, who, as part of the sermon, offers his testimony to a very specific Advent hope. Thank you, John. And on this Advent Sunday, we have one last salvo of John the Baptist’s incongruous voice saying, “Repent!” when most are singing Christmas carols. John’s proclamation often sounds harsh to our ears, but it is described here by Luke as good news: “So, with many other exhortations, John proclaimed the good news to the people.” Listen to the crowd’s response to John. After hearing him, they want to know what to do. And John points the way. As my colleague Tom Are says, John points the way when we know things can’t be made right.

Scripture—Luke 3:7-18 7 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 10 And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” 11 In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.” 15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

* * *

So, with many other exhortations, John proclaimed the good news to the people. It’s good news that John is offering. But how is this good news?

Westminster Presbyterian Church, Grand Rapids, MI Page 2 of 6 December  13,  2015  

A New Tomorrow

Well, what if you feel the ax laid at your root? What if you feel under threat, or someone you love is under threat or at risk, whether in a marriage, a job, or bodily well-being? John says, “In such circumstances, it’s not about your pedigree (being children of Abraham doesn’t count). It’s not about your family tree, where you started from; it’s about the fruit of the tree.1 It’s about what you do, what you can do. Repentance, as John calls for, looks forward. That’s why the crowds immediately ask, “What then should we do?” They understand the implication of John’s judgment.

Judgment, remember, always says that what we do matters. As Fred Craddock reminds us, “When repentance and forgiveness are available, judgment is good news. [It matters what we do.] The primary aim is to save the wheat, not to burn the chaff.”2 Repentance is about what we can do. Repentance isn’t ultimately about feeling badly; it’s about living differently. And John offers us a way ahead. That is good news.

When the ax falls, does the world get so broken that the injuries of yesterday have no healing? Does the fabric of human community become so ruptured that we have to walk away? Or do our lives reach the point of destruction that God walks away?3

John says, “No.” John points a way ahead. Repentance invades the world that is broken, while it is still broken. This “way ahead” enters and invades the human heart that’s threatened or trapped by yesterday’s injuries.

Repentance doesn’t ignore the power of destruction, what the ax might do. It doesn’t reduce our injuries to insignificance. But John points his finger right at us and says God is coming, and you can be changed.

My colleague Tom Are suggests that maybe the real shock in John’s word is its good news: that repentance is possible and significant. In some ways, repentance involves our feeling sorry for some things, but, as I said, it’s more about our living differently, our bearing fruit. And yet beyond both of these, more deeply even than feeling bad or living differently, repentance is the word spoken to that which cannot be fixed. John’s is the word of hope offered when the broken cannot be mended. John says there’s a new way. And John can’t proclaim repentance, unless the Word of God creates a new future, a new tomorrow.4 John

1 Paraphrased from Tom Are, unpublished paper for the Moveable Feast, January 2006, San Francisco, California.

2 Fred B. Craddock, Luke, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990), p. 49.

3 Paraphrased from Are.

4 Paraphrased from Are.

Westminster Presbyterian Church, Grand Rapids, MI Page 3 of 6 December  13,  2015  

A New Tomorrow

says, “Yes, yes, there is a new way. It’s on its way.” That’s the good news. There is a new tomorrow. There is new life in the one who is coming.

Choir: Born in the night, Mary's Child, a long way from your home; coming in need, Mary's Child, born in a borrowed room.

John Molhoek: I am honored to tell you about the Barbra Molhoek – Callum McPheeters Fund for Mental and Spiritual Health.

About this time last year Chandler was preaching a sermon which, I believe, was called, “Shining a Light on Mental Illness.” During his sermon he told a tragic story of how a grieving father sought counseling to help him mourn the death of his son, Callum, who was born with severe birth defects and lived for only nineteen days. Unfortunately, the therapy he received was anything but healing. Chandler went on to explain how this was the inspiration behind the Westminster Presbyterian Church Mental Health Referral Panel.

As I was sitting there listening to Chandler tell the details of this new Panel and program, I felt very proud to be part of a church that would take this issue head on. Mental disease is almost at an epidemic state in this country.

But it seems that no one wants to talk about or address mental illness—no one except Westminster, who has a sermon called “Shining a Light on Mental Illness” and who just set up a Mental Health Referral Panel.

Mental illness is an issue dear to my heart as I witnessed the devastating effects this disease can have on a person and a family. I watched as depression completely destroyed my mother in a matter of two years. Like a parasite, it ate away everything she was (beautiful, vibrant, confident, and caring) and took away everything she wanted to be (a good friend, wife, mother, grandmother, and Christian) until she was a suicide.

Jumping back to Chandler’s “Shine a Light on Mental Health” sermon… It is what he said toward the end that resonated with me the most. He said that at that time there was not funding, but in the future he envisioned having a fund to help people who are suffering from mental illness but cannot afford treatment.

That statement hit me right between the eyes. You see, I have been looking for a way to honor the memory of my mother. I cannot think of a better way to honor my mom than to set up a fund to help people suffering from mental illness. This is perfect, not because my

Westminster Presbyterian Church, Grand Rapids, MI Page 4 of 6 December  13,  2015  

A New Tomorrow

mom suffered from mental illness, but because when she was on this earth she lived for helping others.

My mom was a champion for the underdog. She loved her neighbor more than she loved herself. Anyone who ever talked to my mom walked away feeling better about her- or himself. And that is why I am honored to tell you about the Barbra Molhoek – Callum McPheeters Fund for Mental and Spiritual Health.

This is a fund through Westminster for anyone who is suffering from any form of mental anguish, pain, or illness and needs professional help, but cannot afford it.

By design, this fund was set up with few restrictions and red tape. A few of the questions that I am sure your thinking are:

• Who  is  eligible  to  receive  funding?  –  In  the  tradition  of  Westminster,  this  fund  is  available  to  anyone  who  needs  help.  

• Do  you  have  to  be  a  member  of  Westminster  to  receive  funding?    No.  • Do  you  have  to  be  a  Christian  to  receive  funding?  No,  we  do  not  presume  you  

to  be  a  Christian,  we  only  hope  that  we  treat  you  in  a  Christian  manner.  • How  much  of  the  therapist’s  invoice  will  this  fund  cover?  Up  to  90  percent.  

 If I need help or know someone who needs help, what is my next step? Call or reach out to anyone on the Westminster Pastoral Care Team: that’s Jen, Susan, Dave, or Chandler. And that, right there, is the essence of this new fund.

If you or anyone you know is suffering from mental pain, please do not try to take it on yourself, please get help.

If you know a good therapist—great. If you do not, the Westminster Mental Health Referral Panel is here to help you find one.

If you can afford therapy—great. If you cannot, the Barbra Molhoek – Callum McPheeters Fund for Mental and Spiritual Health is here for you.

Choir: Clear shining light, Mary's Child, your face lights up our way; Light of the world, Mary's Child, dawn on our darkened day.

Westminster Presbyterian Church, Grand Rapids, MI Page 5 of 6 December  13,  2015  

A New Tomorrow

Chandler Stokes: We pray that the panel and the fund will, indeed, be some of the dawn on our darkened day. We pray it can offer a finite and concrete step, a way forward for those in pain, brokenness, and sorrow.

Does John the Baptist’s word heal all the brokenness of yesterday? I don’t know. But it offers the hope that yesterday’s brokenness does not have to govern our lives today. To be able to live with permanent scars is redemption. Now, John the Baptist was a strange guy. Even Luke sounds surprised by how many folks went out to listen and to be washed in his waters of hope. But maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. Most of us would give an arm and a leg for a fresh start. John’s no Pollyanna preacher. He doesn’t suggest that everything will be made right. He simply points the way when we know things can’t be made right. 5

There was a father once pacing the floor. It was toward the end of the school day, and he was worried about his little girl getting home. She was always on time, and this time she was late. He was trying to be patient and calm, but after waiting longer than he really wanted to, he finally went out the front door and looked down the street. Whew. There she was. When she got to him, he stayed calm. He held his thought balloon—“Where … have… you… been?!”—intact. Instead, he said, “Hey, you OK? It’s kind of late.…” She said, “Yeah. I was walking with my friend. She was carrying her china doll home from show-and-tell. While we were walking, she tripped and dropped it, and it smashed into a million pieces.” “Oh, so,” Dad said, “you stopped to help her pick up the pieces?” “No,” she said, “I stopped to help her cry.”

How often is it that we simply need a good cry? Sometimes that’s the first, critical step in the way ahead. When it can’t be fixed, when you look around at all the pieces and you put them back together as best as you can, and it’s still incomplete… when the family just isn’t going to be the way it was… when life will now forever include this faulty heart, this scar, this sorrow, this loss, this sad day, John says, “There is a way ahead.” And simply listening, hearing the sorrow, being with them in their insoluble pain is often more eloquent good news than any other word I know. Sometimes that is so much what a friend or therapist is: someone to stop and help us cry.

Choir: Truth of our life, Mary's Child, you tell us God is good; yes, it is true, Mary's Child, shown on your cross of wood.

5 Paraphrase of Are.

Westminster Presbyterian Church, Grand Rapids, MI Page 6 of 6 December  13,  2015  

A New Tomorrow

Chandler Stokes: And someone who knows our cross, someone who hears our hurt, tells us there is more than our hurt. Last week, we spoke about the infinite disproportion between us and the mystery with which we have become entwined, this God-incarnate mystery. This week, the gospel is about finite things that can be done in that mystery: concrete, finite things that can be done, even when the past cannot be fixed. Sometimes we just put one foot in front of the other. Sometimes we companion people with light, with a little dawn. We allow their suffering to be illumined as exactly what it is and we suffer with them. We witness to God’s suffering and redeeming presence. We simply keep lighting candles.

I don’t know how it happens, but it seems the Holy Spirit that John promised does miraculous things when we are present to one another that way. Somehow in allowing the genuinely broken pieces to touch us, healing comes and a new tomorrow opens up. The way is lit. Concrete steps become possible again.

We call the fire department to put out the flames. We call the police to track the crime, the doctor to fix the medical problem. But we call on a Christian sister or brother, when there is nothing to do, nothing but to stop and cry at the broken pieces of life. When it just isn’t going to be the way it was, when there is just no way to pick them up or mend them, nevertheless in our stopping, and hearing, and being with who or what is shattered, we become the presence of that promised Spirit, of our God, the One Who is no stranger to suffering, our Lord Emmanuel. And in all these graces, Christ walks in our streets again.

Choir: Hope of the world, Mary's Child, you're coming soon to reign; King of the earth, Mary's Child, walk in our streets again.