(For the link to other sermons, see bottom of this page)
Note: This is the first in a series of five sermons based on the Christmas song: Star Child.
Isaiah 11:1-10
11:1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
11:2 The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
11:3 His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;
11:4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
11:5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
11:6 The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.
11:7 The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
11:8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den.
11:9 They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
11:10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.
Nov. 30, 2003 Isaiah 11: 1-10
Advent 1 Movie: Radio
And a Little Child Shall Lead Us
Star Child, earth Child child, go between of God
Love child, Christ child, heaven’s lighting rod,
This year, this year, let the day arrive
That Christmas comes for everyone, everyone alive.
S. In front of our house was a yew tree. It was tightly pressed up against the house, and not very attractive. Although it was only 10 feet high, the trunk measured 12 inches across. When we moved into the house we decided to cut it down. And then to make certain it wouldn’t come back, we drove nails into the stump and put poison. And yet a year later, very tiny, very green shoots have sprung up in abundance! I do not want another Yew tree there… but I marvel at the tenacity of this tree and it’s will to survive and send forth the next generation.
The prophet Isaiah used this image to give his people hope. They
were about to be trampled on.. gobbled up by a superpower. Where were their glory days? Their epoch, faithful kings: David and Solomon? They were about to disappear into oblivion. And Isaiah gives them a promise… the same kind of promise we see in a little shoot of a tree.
But he goes farther…. He paints an amazing picture of what “Real Time” will look like because of this new leader… a time like “Alice Through the Looking Glass” where nothing makes sense, and yet it is what we yearn for. A time of peace…. Where everything is changed… there is no fear… no fright … no fighting … no food chain.. no pecking order. And in all of it … “A little child shall lead them”
Can we imagine a time like that? Advent is a time to imagine… to wonder… not just about 24 more shopping days, and fitting everything in on the calendar, and fitting into our clothes. But it’s a time to wonder about the Child that has led us for some 2000 years.
Are we any closer to this Peaceable Kingdom? Do we really want it? Would we recognize this leader if we saw him, and would we follow one who “wears righteousness around his waist…. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”
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Have you gone to see Radio? In a simple way, it looks back 40 years ago to a small town in South Carolina. There in the midst of everyday life, a football coach, Harold Jones, notices a black retarded older boy, or younger man (we don’t know) who silently pushes his grocery cart all around town.
To the dismay of team members and adult supporters, Coach Jones starts befriending this young man who finally lets it be known that his name is Radio. Radio starts helping with practices and then becomes an official sideline rooter for the team.
With child-like simplicity he treats everyone the way they wish to be treated. And yet, he’s different, and that makes some uncomfortable. Never mind that he asks for nothing. Never mind that he gives love, acceptance, and forgiveness unconditionally. He’s not the norm. He is at times an embarrassment. He requires folks to slow down.
And yet little by little, he works his way into peoples’ hearts. The town rallies to give he and his mother Christmas presents. Only to have Radio on Christmas morning secretly deliver the presents to others who have nothing… only to have a new policeman pick him up and throw him in jail.
The dramatic moment comes when the star athlete tricks Radio into going into the girls’ locker room, and Radio faces expulsion from school and sports. Yet, even with that looming, Radio will not give the name of the person who made him do the deed.
In the end, the child-like Radio led a coach and a whole town to look beyond the easy and expected… the normal and nice … the pretty and popular and politically correct … to judge not by what their eyes saw or decide by what their ears heard.. but in a wholly different and uncomfortable way with fairness and self-giving consider the poor and meek.
The wolf and the lamb…Intelligence and retardation …. Rich and poor … Radio really did lead them into a deeper form of knowing themselves and each other.
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From the beginning of Radio, we want the lion to lay down with the lamb, and wait to see how “they’ll” do it. But would we? What would our objections be? Deep down in hearts, if we are the lions, would we really even want to lie down with the lamb… because if we hold the power, it’s hard to give that up. And if we are the lamb, perhaps we already hold resentment over the lion.
We have lots invested in not having peace. War is lucrative. Power seduces. We pass bitterness to our next generations in an unforgiving legacy.
But in Radio we see one of God’s lambs who holds no resentment over his lions, and indeed transforms them by his child-like love.
Advent is a time to imagine.
The Muslim shall eat dinner with the Israeli, the American soldier shall embrace the Iraqi militant … and the Irish Catholic shall worship with the Irish Protestant, and the white Afrikaner shall live next door to the black South African … the cheer leader shall dance with the Special Ed kid..
Would we vote for this kind of King… president? the Prince of Peace is a different Kingdom. Peace will look different than just an absence of war.
To follow Jesus on his mission of peacemaking is to accept the fact that his peace is not natural … it goes as much against our human impulses and wiring as eating grass is for the lion to eat straw. That kind of peace takes a divine transformation … and I wonder if before that happens, we really have to want it to happen!
What the Coach was trying to do with and for Radio was not natural… he was “fighting” people every step of the way from Radio at first, to his mother, to his wife and daughter, the principal, the students and their parents.
How Radio responded to his world around him was not natural. He saw the goodness and possibility and joy, in spite of the hurt and disappointment.
Our Advent this year is not only a waiting the 25 days till Christmas.. it is a waiting… a longing for this Kingdom… this Peace. But it is not a Peace that will come as a Christmas present wrapped under the tree… it is a Peace that will involve a radical change not only in society and circumstances around us, but in our very natures as well.
But bringing peace is not only in the bigger picture of Iraq and Israel. This Peace and radical transformation begins within our hearts and minds and daily decisions. Each of us has places that are war-torn… Is it in your feelings of jealousy or inadequacy or depression… how you handle finances .. addictions to little things, but still control your life? Those are the first places the Child can bring Peace this Advent season.
And there’s peace that the Child brings to relationships. With our children? .. our parents … our past. Our neighbors? At the workplace?
Can you see yourself as the struggling little twig on what seems like a dead tree? In the mist of this Advent… I’m not going to tell you not to worry or stress.. not to feel guilty or try to do everything. But I will say that you are the stump, the struggling shoot where Jesus wants to make a difference…. Wants to begin to piece together his peace-full Kingdom.
If you can change your focus… put on a different set of eye glasses to help yourself and those around you touch the Holy in this season.. the Sabbath Rest in this season.. the Hope in this season, and the Peace in this Season; then Christmas will truly have come.
Advent is a time to imagine … the Reality that is not yet.
Radio is a true story. At the end of the movie, they show the real Radio.. now in his 50’s … still cheering on the football team in his official sideline jacket … still an honorary 11th grader … and still showing that in a Kingdom not yet of this world, …. A little child will lead us. Amen.
Star-Child FWS 2095
#1 Star-Child, earth Child, go between of God,
Love child, Christ child, heaven’s lightning rod,
Chorus: This year, this year, let the day arrive
When Christmas comes for everyone, everyone alive.
#2 Street child, beat child, no place left to go,
Hurt child, used child, no one wants to know, Chorus
#3 Grown child, old child, memory full of years,
sad child, lost child, story told in tears, Chorus
#4 Spared child, spoiled child, having, wanting more,
wise child, faith child, knowing joy in store, Chorus
#5 Hope for peace Child, God’s stupendous sign,
down to earth child, Star of stars that shine, Chorus