Sermon: Child of God, You are a Firework!
Sermon: Sunday, December 4, 2011: Second Sunday in Advent Advent Sermon Series: "New and Improved: Week 2 - Project(ed) Runway/Ready to Wear"
Child of God, You Are a Firework!by Seminarian Drew Rindfleisch
Over this summer, I worked at a congregation in South Minneapolis struggling to live in the tensions between their suburban identity and the urban realities right outside their doors. Half of my time was spent doing organizing within the congregation, and the other half was working with middle school and high school youth. While I have worked at a Jewish Sports camp, managed a youth mission trip program for the ELCA, and worked with homeless, runaway, and inner-city youth in Denver, I was slightly caught off guard by this group of youth. They weren’t the disinterested, apathetic youth society claims them to be. They were smart, aware, and very hungry for meaningful conversation and intentional time with adults.
The wilderness messenger in this group of youth was not the oldest or loudest of the youth, but the youngest. Renee was a strong 11 year old girl who would tell you exactly what she thought, no holding back. Renee was honest and real. When I asked the youth to share a song with the group that reflects them, Renee brought Katy Perry’s “Firework”. If you don’t know it, here is the first verse:
“Do you ever feel like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin, like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?Do you ever feel already buried deep? 6 feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thingDo you know that there's still a chance for you, 'Cause there's a spark in you.”
By the time we got to the chorus, all of the kids had joined in singing…
'Cause baby you're a firework, Come on, show 'em what you're worthMake 'em go "Oh, oh, oh", As you shoot across the sky-y-yBaby, you're a firework, Come on, let your colors burstMake 'em go "Oh, oh, oh", You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe
As other youth told me how awesome Katy Perry’s voice was, or how glamorous she looked, I asked Renee why she felt this song reflected her so much. She told me, “Whenever I am feeling sad or feel like I am not worth anything because of what others say, or how they mistreat me, this song reminds me that I am loved.” And everyone in that community could feel the love Renee had for others, and even herself. Every Sunday, she lit up a room with her voice, her smile, and her presence; loving people and telling church members, “Child of God, you are a firework.”
In Mark’s gospel we hear that people from the entire Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to John, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. As I read this text, I couldn’t comprehend: why would an entire countryside of people leave their villages and their agricultural jobs to go see a man clothed in camel’s hair, wearing a leather belt around his waist, and eating locusts and wild honey? Why would all the people of Jerusalem leave their proximity to the temple—the dwelling place of the Lord—to go hear John preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins?
Were they part of the die hard Occupy The Wilderness movement fed up with the Roman military machine and the corrupt Jerusalem political establishment ruling over them? Were they religious reformers searching for a leader to correct the abuses of the Temple hierarchy with its system of sacrifices, offerings, and tithing requirements? Or were they simply ordinary, faithful people…looking for love and acceptance from the Creator of the cosmos, looking to live out the way of YHWH, looking…to know and experience God with others. Maybe, they thought, “Could it really hurt to listen and hear what brother John has to say at the River Jordan? After all, he is preaching about The LORD and THE LORD’s way of love. Sure, he might be a little out there, but he’s one of us. He’s one of God’s children.”
One of God’s children…I must confess, over the last five months I have questioned whether or not I was one of God’s children. I have questioned whether God could love someone like me; someone who’s anger seems to get the best of him when all he wants is to love others and help create a more loving world. It seems that the wilderness we are in desperately needs love and grace, but we can feel so lost, so alone, and so burnt out by all the pain, sorrow, and suffering we experience and see around us. In this season of Advent, Christians enter this part of the church calendar longing for God; anticipating God’s entry into the roughest parts of our lives. In this season, we are longing for God’s love to feel real again.
As Christmas draws near, we look for that promised love of God in the one who becomes human to claim us as God’s Children. In Jesus of Nazareth the Christ for the whole world, God’s grace and love meets us even in the wilderness of our own struggle to love others, or even love ourselves. In Jesus, God becomes even more intimate and caught up in our lives reminding us that God is near and not in some galaxy far, far away. God is not distant and detached, but God is with us, right here and right now. God comes to us in the wilderness through trials and tribulations; in recessions and in booms, in sickness and in health, through depression and joyful celebration. Sustaining us through the death of a loved one, or through the tumultuous birth of a child, God’s love embraces us still. Wrapping us in a blanket of love, God holds us through the ups and downs in our search for meaningful work, or in the longing for intimacy and understanding we once found amongst old friends, lost family members, and other communities. Even when we feel like we are drifting away, God comforts us through the self-doubts and the times when we feel utterly alone. Accepting all of who we are, God loves us, even the parts of our lives we don’t accept. God’s love in Jesus reminds us that we are somebody, not a nobody; we are fireworks of a divine love.
That sustaining love of God, though distant it may seem, is always present. That love of God is made real in the love we show for one another at Saint Luke’s. That love of God is made real at the table where all are welcome to dine in God’s meal prepared for each one of us. That love of God is made real as we faithfully wrestle with God’s Word, and its meaning for our time and in our context. That love of God is made real in the turkey dinner we prepare for those in need of food. That love of God is made real when we give our time and talents to this community and in Logan Square.
Through this love found in Jesus, God has inspired and continues to inspire this community to keep the lights on, to keep the doors open, and to keep faithful to the promise that God’s love for all people—all of our neighbors; those with housing and those with no place to lay their head, is real. God’s love sustains the creative partnerships you all have built to transform this part of Chicago’s wilderness into a neighborhood that serves those struggling for life amidst spiritual poverty…and economic poverty; whether it is at the Warming Center and with the Night Ministry, those struggling to be whole and healthy through the community arts and health programs hosted in Logan Square, or those working with Community Renewal Society demanding quality education for all of Chicago’s children and second chances for those coming out of the corrections system, you at Saint Luke’s are living out the love of God; in this place and at this time.
This Advent, we long for Jesus’ arrival here on Earth, but remember that Jesus’ entry into our world is not just a one-time event for those living in the Judean countryside or in Jerusalem. No! Jesus’ entry into our world is a liberating gift of love for all time that becomes ours to share with the world and with others. Sisters and brothers in Christ, God’s love is real in this wilderness of life; affirming all people as God’s Children which is echoed in the words sung by Renee and other young messengers in our time, “Child of God, you are a firework.” God cares about our human situation and God is willing to enter the harshest conditions of our lives to be in relationship with us because God is love. Amen.