Showing Gratitude for God's Sunrise

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Luke 1:68-79
at Batesville Presbyterian Church on December 10, 2006.

Early Wednesday morning as I was walking my dog, Pal, I noticed across the field a beautiful stream of gleaming sunlight break through an opening the thick dark clouds. The hole through which the sun shone looked like an eye in the sky. It seemed as if the eye of God was looking at me and the energy of the light of God's eye filled my being. I was grateful to God for filling me with God's light. Gratitude is the natural response when you see God's sunrise.

Our Bible story this morning is a story of the coming of God's sunrise. The people of Israel had been dwelling in the darkness of oppression and the misery of domination by the Roman government. They were looking for a savior to free them from Caesar's mighty hand. The family of King David in particular were expecting God's salvation to come to the world through their family. They looked forward to one of their kinfolk leading them to salvation. When that savior was born into their family, they would be grateful for God's sunrise dawning upon their nation.

So it was that into the family of King David in Israel were born two young boys: Jesus and John who would later be known as John the Baptizer. These two little cousins were born to families of faith amidst great expectation for the salvation of their people. Today we will ponder the birth of John the Baptist. The story of the birth of John the Baptist is a story of God's sunrise coming into the world.

The story begins with John's father, Zachariah, who worked as a priest in the temple. Let's set the scene. An angel announces to a priest, Zechariah, that he and his wife will have a son. Zechariah laughs at the divine messenger because his wife is too old to conceive a child. As punishment for his lack of faith the angel makes Zechariah mute so that he cannot speak from the next nine months until his son is born.

Finally, Zechariah's son is born and he is brought by his family to his circumcision and his naming ritual. The family and friends gathered for this happy occasion expect the child will be named Zechariah, Jr. or some other family name. But Zachariah's wife says the child will be named John. Zechariah is asked what he wants the child named and he writes on a piece of paper: "John." Then the Lord opens Zechariah's mouth and he breaks forth in a song that is a blessing, a berakah in Hebrew or a benedictus in Latin, the official language of the ruling class.

Now Zechariah takes center stage and breaks forth into song about the birth of his son, John, a child who will come to be known as John the Baptist, the messenger who prepares the way for Jesus Christ. Zechariah's song begins in Latin Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel ("Blessed be the Lord God of Israel"). Thus it is called "The Benedictus" which in Latin means "the blessing."

Listen to Zechariah's blessing upon the naming and circumcision of his son, John, and see if you can feel the sense of gratitude with which it is delivered:

Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
God's Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way,
one foot at a time,
down the path of peace.

Zachariah was so grateful for the birth of his son. For this child represented more to his father than just the long awaited birth of his firstborn son. This child represented to his father, the temple priest, God's sunrise shining on the people Israel. Zachariah's gratitude was the gratitude of a father for the birth of a son and the gratitude of a priest for the coming of a prophet who would herald the savior Jesus Christ, who was also coming into the world.

Zachariah's son, John, was not the savior. As John would later say of himself, "There is one who comes after me. He is the savior who was promised. I am not worthy to untie his sandal. I baptize you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." John the Baptist knew that Jesus was God's sunrise, God's smile, God's loving forgiveness, spread upon the earth like sunlight from the morning sun.

Gratitude is the key that unlocks the  experience of God's sunrise in our lives. We have much to be grateful for today as individuals and as a congregation. We are grateful to those who serve our congregation with dedication, effectiveness and humility. In particular we are grateful for our church secretary, Marilyn Elliott, who will now be moving on to bless another church with her loving service. We are grateful to those who bless our community such as Robin and Michael Fair who have brought us such pride through their work with the young people on the South Panola football team.

Advent is a season of preparation for God's sunrise in our deepest heart. Yes, Advent is a time for gratitude and we are most grateful for the birth of God's Son, Jesus Christ, who is God's true sunshine that breaks upon us and gives us hope and joy. We come this morning to express our gratitude to those who serve us well. We come to say thanks to Marilyn and Michael and their families. We come to worship God and give thanks. We express our gratitude also through our giving and Advent is certainly the time of year to be giving to the church so that we can pay our bills and meet our responsibilities and continue to serve the God who brings sunshine into our lives.

When we express gratitude we experience God's Sunrise breaking in upon us. May God's Sunrise shine a light into the darkness of our sin, revealing those areas of our heart where we experience lack of awareness. May God's Sunrise shine a light into the darkness of our despair, showing us that we are not alone but that at the center of the universe is the beating heart of God's love which draws us into the light of God's love. May God's Sunrise shine a light on those sitting in the shadow death, illuminating their sorrow and drawing them back onto the path of life.
  
Then may God show us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace. One step at a time is all the light God gives us. We can't see where the path ends. We can't see where the path will take us next year or even next month. But we can see enough light to take one more step. One more step down the path of peace. That is all God asks us to take. One more step. One more step.
  
We can't jump ahead on this path. We can't solve all the problems of the world in one fell swoop. We can't feed every hungry person. We can't cloth every naked person. We can't give a Christmas toy to every child who has none. But God doesn't ask us to meet every need. God just asks us to take one more step down the path of peace. One more step, give a coat. One more step, give a toy. Give a coat or a toy as a sign of God's coming kingdom. God's kingdom isn't here yet. But it has come in some measure in the coming of Jesus Christ and it will come even more when Jesus comes again. In the meantime, let us take one more step, just one more step down the path of peace.

Our task and our joy is to be presenting God' sunrise through our attitudes and actions. Like Elizabeth and Zechariah, the parents of John the Baptist, we are bringing God's sunrise into the world through our worship, singing, ringing and service of God in the world. God's Sunrise shines on us and through us. We are showing God's sunrise every moment of every day. Our very being functions as a holographic mirror of God's sunrise.

We are grateful for God's sunrise. We are grateful for women and men like Elizabeth and Zechariah who rear their children in the faith. We are grateful for prophets such as John the Baptist, who pave the way for God's sunrise. We are grateful that God's sunrise breaks through the darkness of our unawareness, mindlessness, and carelessness. God's sunrise comes to us and enlightens our lives. We are grateful for God's Sunrise in the form of Jesus Christ. God's sunrise will shine in our hearts as we show gratitude for all God's blessings and especially as we show gratitude for the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ into our world and into our hearts.