“God isn’t fixing this!” I've thought about that statement a lot over the years as I've watched people pray earnestly for their lives to be changed- a terminal illness to go away.
And Maybe God isn’t the fixer that we think he is. Maybe God doesn’t wave his magic wand over our lives and our world the way we might want him to. Maybe God is not a great vending machine in the sky that drop a few coins into and press our selection.
Maybe God is more like the God the psalmist describes in the 23rd psalm—a God who goes with us into dark valleys—Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me—your rod and your staff they comfort me.
What if God wasn’t in heaven on Tuesday, but was at the Inland Regional Center walking with the victims.
What if prayer isn’t about fixing our problems, but rather about changing us and how we see the world and who we are?
Changing us to see God’s presence in the dark valley.
What if prayer is about changing us by connecting us to the people so that we care more deeply and love more fully?
What if prayer is about helping us to embrace the ways of God then propelling us into action?
What if God fixes the world through us and by us?
Now I don’t want to discount the miraculous, because I do think that God does on occasion break into our world in unbelievable ways, a terminal illness thrown into remission-- but I don’t think it’s his modus operandi.
This week on the second Sunday of Advent we’ve continued the parade of Old Testament prophets- last week Jeremiah—this week it’s been Malachi.
Malachi lived around 515 BC—the Jews had returned from exile – he saw the temple had been rebuilt- but there was still something lacking in the religious leadership of the day— We’re not really sure what was going on but there may have been some corruption within the religious leadership—there may have been some questionable practices going on during worship.
Ultimately, Malachi or better yet God did not like what he was seeing and it had to change.
The oracle we hear today is an oracle about a time when the religious leadership will encounter another prophet, not Malachi but someone else who lead a great reformation to set the religious leadership straight.
And it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a lot of fun—Malachi uses the images of fuller soap and a refiner’s fire--soap will be used to scrub away the dirt and a refiners fire to strengthen and purify the metal.
I did some research this week and when gold is refined it’s refined at a temperature of about 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. So the changes that need to be instituted were not minor simple things. The refiner’s fire is violent.
This week as I’ve followed the shooting in San Bernardino—there have been reports that the shooters might have been radicalized. I’m not really sure what that word “radicalized” means— If they had been radicalized into their Islamic faith this probably wouldn’t have happened.
Islam, as I understand it is a religion of peace and built upon five pillar---faith in God, a vibrant regular prayer life that happens five times a day, regular almsgiving or giving to charity, periods of fasting and the making of a spiritual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Obviously radicalized does not mean that- but the shooters might have been radicalized by some sort of twisted evil pseudo-religion- that looks nothing like Islam.
As this word radicalized has been thrown around—I’ve wondered myself what might it look like for you and I to become radicalized-not in the ways of the shooters in San Bernardino—but what would it look like for you and I to be radicalized in the ways and teachings of Jesus Christ?
What would it look fully to embrace our faith is such a way that we could radically live into the great commandment to Love God and love neighbor without reservation— what would it look like to pray for our enemies, for those who persecute us- Could we put ISIS on the prayer list –what about forgiving seventy times seven—to turn the other cheek- to embrace tenets like blessed are the peacemakers?
How would our lives be different? How would our church communities be different if they were filled with radicalized disciples of Jesus Christ? How would our nation be different if embraced the radical tenets that Jesus invites us to live into?
On this Sunday when we hear from prophet Malachi about a purification process and a fire that will radically change the religious institution of his day-- I wonder—how God might be refining, purifying you and I ---what are we being asked give up so that we might be radicalized into the ways of Jesus Christ? How might God be refining our churches to be the churches God needs in the 21st century? How might God be working to transform our nation so that we might live in harmony with God and with each other?
Perhaps these are some of the questions that the refiner might be asking us?
What attitudes deep within us need to go? For me-- Self-centeredness and jealousy. What about you?
What phobias do we still harbor? Who are we afraid of Muslims, strangers, those who look are different.
What areas in our lives do we hold God at arms length? If someone opened our checkbooks –what would they find? Would they find God in our checkbook and in our finances? Where does the world see our generosity?
The refiner’s fire is difficult and his questions are hard.
How might we better steward this beautiful planet so that generations from now people will be able to live vibrant healthy lives? Where are we working against global warming? Air Pollution, water conservation? Urban sprawl?
What changes need to come to our nation? Where do our laws and policies fall short of creating a just society where all can be safe—where all can have opportunity where all can find life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Do we have gun laws that adequately protect our citizen and do vibrant mental health programs that give access to the ill and the services they need?
The refiner’s fire is violent and difficult- it changes the metal radically – it strengthens it and what emerges is something more beautiful.
One person I read this week said that a silversmith he knows knows that his refining work is done when he can perfectly see his image reflected in the silver.
God is working to reflect his image in each one of us. He is doing that work in our churches and in our nation.
As I said at the Beginning God isn’t fixing this alone--no he’s fixing it with us and through us and by us. It’s just going to take some work- hard, but holy work- hard, but good work.
AMEN
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