An Uncomfortable Comforter

December 7 (Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; Isaiah 40:1-11; Mark 1:1-8)

I was confronted with a simple question in preparing for this message. I

wondered if being comforted the same as being comfortable? When asked to think about
comfort our minds drift quickly and with longing to recliners and sofas with warmth in
winter and cool in summer. Even if we could not picture all the expressions of being
comfortable we can sure tell when things become uncomfortable. It is a strange thing
then that John the Baptist is our image of the one preparing the way for the comforter.
And so in fact we must sit up from our recliners for a moment and acknowledge that John
is the messenger of our comfort.
John emerges from the desert dripping with Old Testament imagery. He is
wearing a coat of hair as the prophet Elijah did. He eats locusts and wild honey which
speaks to his ritual holiness and ability to remain pure even apart from the Temple as
though foods could be eaten without ritual preparation. And he is given the task spoken
of by Isaiah of one who will prepare the way of the Lord; one who will prepare a way for
the comforter to come. John comes as wild man unkempt and driven by his message.
His message is that the way is made by repentance. This message seems other neither
him nor anyone around him much comfort at all. John tells us that the comforter comes
through the way that is made by the act and discipline of repentance. What does this tell
us of the comforting face of God? Can we assume that John himself has received and
lives in the comforting presence of God? Perhaps it is John that shows us the difference
between being comfortable and being comforted.
It is possible for most of us on most occasions to make ourselves comfortable. If
we have sufficient means we are able to create an environment around us that can
eliminate most of the irritants, annoyances, and aggravations. Comfort for us is really
about being pampered, indulged, or perhaps even spoiled. We learn from parents that it
can be a fine line between knowing what is spoiling a child and what is comforting and
supporting them. The term spoiled is actually quite instructive in this case. If something
is spoiled that means it has lost its value. It has lost its ability to provide or offer the
value inherent to it. Not only does it lose its value but even being close to spoiled food
can be disgusting and even harmful to the people around it. All that was good about
particular foods is lost when it then are spoiled. It almost seems like there is a similar
analogy in the Bible where God’s comfort is often linked to our cleanliness. To be clear
being clean theologically is not about behaving perfectly or always doing what is right in
front of the right people. To be clean theologically is to be in open and active
relationship with the one who cleans and nourishes. Therefore to be spoiled theologically
is to cut yourself off from the nourishment of God by creating an environment that
insolates from God’s presence. It is too keep life on the sofa insulating our butts from the
kick that God needs to give them at times.
Listen though to the type of imagery that surrounds God’s comfort in the passages
we heard this morning. In Psalm 85 we are given the comfort of knowing that God
forgives our sins. God will not abandon us, even if at points in our journey we abandon
God. Then as the passage progresses the psalmist does not forget to turn towards God
saying that indeed God promises peace to the saints but quickly adds “but let them not
return to folly / Surely salvation is near to those who fear him.”

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And then the Psalm ends with some similarity to Isaiah and Mark. The Psalmist says that
the “The Lord will indeed give what is good.” And then says that “righteousness goes
before him / and prepares the way for his steps.” The comforting presence of God comes
but it comes along the path of righteousness. Comfort flows along the channels forged
towards God’s nourishment not those who have become spoiled on the promises of
another source.
Then in Isaiah the message of comfort is coming to a wearied people and we hear
the call to prepare a way for it to arrive. The voice says, “Cry out.” and Isaiah asks,
“What shall I cry?” And then it follows with the message that will prepare the way for
the comforter. It says,
"All people are like grass,
and all human faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
What does it mean to say that the people are like grass? We are temporal and we are
nourished by and at the whim of something larger than ourselves. This is the space in
which God our comforter comes. Then Isaiah says that those who bring this message,
this good news, should climb to the highest mountaintop and lift their voice without fear
shouting to the towns below, “Here is your God!” Comfort seems to come in knowing
who God is and this means knowing who you are in relationship with God. It is to know
that you are not God. It is to know that your job, your status, your house and possessions,
your strength or beauty, to know that all these things are not God.
To know that you are a flower that is beautiful, precious, and useful but temporal and
fully dependent on something other than yourself. It seems that John the Baptist removed
himself from many comforts with which we try and nourish ourselves so that he might
enter and make way for the comfort of God.
The church is given this call for Advent. Prepare the way for the Comforter. Go
and tell the good news on the mountain that the Comforter has come. How can the
practices of the church prepare the way for the righteousness of God? I recently read a
book by Tripp York called The Purple Crown. It is a book that explores the significance
of martyrdom for the early church and for the early Anabaptists. A martyr is someone
killed because of their beliefs. The stories of the martyrs are profound statements about
the comfort of God. Stories are passed down to us of people burned at the stake or torn
apart by wild animals. In many of these stories we hear that those about die displayed
great peace and even joy when they were experiencing what we would characterize as the
epitome of discomfort. Their comfort takes us far from the sofa or recliner.
Stephen in the book of Acts was recorded as seeing a vision of heaven and of
Jesus before he was stoned to death. He was already being greeted by the direct presence
of God before he died. Ignatius was one of the first bishops of the early church and he
was brought to the coliseum in Rome where hungry lions were to be released on him.
Right before his death he is recorded as saying to the crowds, “May I come to God, for
whom I long, and whom to enjoy is my insatiable desire. For, I am the grain of God. I
am ground by the teeth of the beast, that I may be found a pure bread of Christ, who is to

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me the pure bread of life.” Another earlier Christian Justin Martyr is quoted as saying,
“You can kill us, but you cannot hurt us.” These testimonies do not allow us to conceive
of comfort in our typical manner.
When I first heard about the stories of the martyrs I was moved by their great
commitment and heroism. I thought that they must have been given some special
measure of grace and strength in that time of suffering. My hope, of course, is that
indeed they were given special grace in that time but in his book York wants to make
sure that we do not separate a martyr’s death from their life. York argues that the martyrs
demonstrated faithfulness in death because they trained for faithfulness during their life.
York says that, “Obedience is a skill that develops after being initiated into a communal
life of holiness.” The early church recognized this need for training and so they would
often caution people from joining the church too quickly because they may not be ready
for the implications of their commitment. Because of course there were others who
denied their commitment to Jesus in the face of the persecution. The earlier church was a
tangible community where they trained to make way for the righteousness of God
through their lives in life or death. I don’t wish to glamorize the early church but I do see
them as having a greater sense of calling and presence and practice in the world around
them. York is not so much concerned that we start producing martyrs as he is that we
start following the life and examples of the martyrs.
Has our church taken time to hear the voice of the one crying in the wilderness?
If some of us have heard it have we prepared ourselves and others to carry this message?
Have we allowed ourselves to be taken out of our own comfort zone so that we might
receive the comfort of God? Do our songs stir within us a new vision of God’s comfort
that is for us and the world? Does our time in prayer form new patterns of thinking that
allow our daily lives more conversation with God? Does our fellowship encourage us to
live more faithfully at home and work? What are the disciplines of the morning that
allow you to begin your day turned towards God? What are the practices of the day that
keep you in step with the rhythm of the Spirit? How do you end your day so that you can
be at peace with God and your neighbour? These acts are not about legalism or winning
the love or approval of God. This is moment-by-moment turning towards God so that we
might be open to the channels of God’s comfort and that we might become those
channels for others.
We have a rich testimony of those who proclaimed that the comfort of this world
is not necessarily the comfort of God. They remind us of the strange logic of gospel that
flows from Jesus who says that those who will lose their life will end up gaining it. They
remind us that those who leave their comfort, to those who become uncomfortable for the
sake of the Gospel God will grant comfort. Evagrius of Pontus in the fourth century
makes the strange claim saying that “abstinence is the origin of fruitfulness.” He is
basically saying that the secret to producing much, the secret to an abundant life is being
able to do with little. Evagrius goes on to write volumes on the value of spiritual
disciplines to create straight paths for God. Richard Rohr is Franciscan priest who also
believes that many of our churches no longer open pathways and make way for a
meaningful encounter with God. He says that a big part of this is that the church does not
initiate its members into five basic truths of life. The reason we don’t do this is because
they run counter to much of our culture’s teaching and as a result will typically make us
uncomfortable.

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The first of these five truths is knowing that life is hard. There is a struggle inherent to
what is valuable and godly. Second, it is knowing you are not important. Your
importance or value comes in participating in God’s Kingdom. This leads to the third
truth which is that your life is not about you and fourth that you are not in control. And
finally Rohr feels that often avoid talking about the final truth which is that you are going
to die. In many respects all 5 of these statements are summed up in the words we already
heard from the prophet who,
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever
Are these lessons embedded in our Sunday School curriculum? Are they a part of our
milestones ministry that will help to form our children and youth? Do you talk about
these realities with your spouse or your friends or your children? Perhaps at some point
there would be interest in working through Richard Foster’s famous book Celebration of
Discipline. He is another mentor that we can look to for preparing the way of God. He
outlines the practices of faith in three sections inward, outward, and communal. He calls
us inward to meditation, prayer, fasting, and study. He calls us outward in expressions of
simplicity, solitude, submission, and service. He calls us together in acts confession,
worship, guidance, and celebration.
It is interesting that as York explores the significance of martyrdom for us today
he does not point us directly to heroic and dramatic acts of faith. Rather he says that if
we wish to prepare the way for God then we need to first turn or return to the simple
faithful act of communion and to the commitment of our baptism. York suggests “that
the most responsible thing a Christian can do, for the world, is to be true to her baptism.”
And so York asks an honest question, which is perhaps most appropriate for this time of
year. He asks, “Why has the church in North America produced so few martyrs? What
kind of church is ours if, in an era of gluttony, imperialism, [greed], and bloodlust, we
cannot produce people who threaten such an order?” York is clear that he does not raise
this out of any desire for people to suffer. He asks simply out of his hope of
understanding what it means to be the body of Christ on earth; to be the physical presence
communicating the hope of God and preparing a way for it with our lives.
I was reminded on Friday that the message of our uncomfortable comfort is all
around us. It is there for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. My sister recently left
on a trip for India where she hoped to spend the next five months helping to teach
English. However, it was not long after she arrived that she became ill and needed to
make the decision of returning home. In an e-mail notifying some of us about this she
left a link to a video on the internet. The link led to a music video by Alanis Morissette
called Thank-you. The song seems to be Morissette’s own response to a trip to India
though it is talking about larger issues in life. I think I have underestimated the way
Morissette has been able to show that the difficulties, the uncomfortableness of life, can
lead to peace and understanding. As she explores some of the difficulties and challenges
of life she returns to the refrain of the song which says,
Thank you India
Thank you terror
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you frailty

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Thank you consequence
Thank you thank you silence
And then she says something that could come right out of the Gospel; something that is in
line with its strange logic that has been already explored briefly. She says, the moment I
jumped off it was the moment I touched down.
In this season of indulgence may we learn to perceive the one calling in the
wilderness. May we learn to become the ones calling in the wilderness. May we learn of
the precious comfort that comes only from God. May we learn the practices of the
faithful who have gone before us so that we would open streams and torrents for the Holy
Spirit so that would be good news to our poverty, freedom from our imprisonment, sight
for our blindness, and release from all our suffering. May we watch and listen this
Advent season that we would prepare the way of the Comforter. May he be conceived
and birthed within and among us.

Amen.