“Let’s Talk”

“Let’s Talk”

Text: Isaiah 35:1-10

© December 16, 2007 by C. Edward Bowen at Crafton United Presbyterian Church.

When it comes to Christmas, there sure are a lot of traditions that we have. But when it comes to Christmas, what’s your favorite tradition? Is it stringing lights and decorating the Christmas tree? Or is it going out on a snowy night and caroling? Or is it sitting in your favorite chair and watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” for the 42^nd time? When it comes to Christmas, what’s your favorite tradition?

Well, back in the 1700s there was a Christmas tradition called “barring out the schoolmaster.” You see, nowadays when it’s December, if you’re a kid, you just take for granted that you get a nice long Christmas vacation from school. But back in the early colonial days, children were lucky if their teachers gave them Christmas Day off, and then they were expected to be back at their desks ready to go bright and early the next morning. The reason was that back then teachers got paid for only for those days when class was held. So most teachers weren’t inclined to schedule a Christmas break, because with no classes in session, that meant money they’d lose out of their own pockets. And since teachers back then were the ones with all the power, what they decided was the way it was.

Well, back in the early 1700s in Williamsburg, Virginia, some students decided to do something about that. What they did was they picked up on an old tradition that had been going on in Europe for quite a number of years. That tradition was called “barring out the schoolmaster.”

What the students would do was they all would show up for school very early on a certain day before Christmas. And all the kids would go inside the school, lock the doors, and barricade themselves inside. And then when the teacher arrived and found himself locked out, he would have to negotiate with the students to let him in. And usually, in order to get the students to unlock the door, the teacher would have to agree to a one or two week Christmas vacation.

Apparently the first time students tried that in Williamsburg in 1702 the teacher wasn’t exactly amused at what the kids were doing, and he kept ramming his body against the front door, trying to break it down. Eventually one of the students leaned out a window and fired a pistol in his direction to try and tell him to give up. And finally the teacher did, and he granted them a Christmas break.[1]

Now I guess I should add a statement like they add to some TV commercials: “Don’t try this at home.” I can just picture a story on the news tomorrow night: “Crafton Elementary School overtaken by armed 5^th graders. When asked why they did it, a spokesman for the group said, ‘Our minister gave us the idea.’” But for quite some time, “barring out the schoolmaster” was a sort of Christmas tradition in many schools. It was a tradition where there was a reversal, where those who normally were powerful – the teachers – found themselves in a position where they were powerless, while those who normally were powerless – the students – found themselves all of a sudden in a position where they had the power.

A reversal is also what we find here in this passage that we just listened to from the prophet Isaiah. Here in this passage Isaiah speaks about a vision that God has given to him, a vision of a day that’s going to come when things truly will be reversed: a day when the sick will be healed, a day when the sad and the grieving will rejoice, a day when those who have given up hope will sing and shout for joy. Those were the words that Isaiah spoke to the people of his time, and those are the words that Isaiah speaks to us even today: Despite how things might appear, despite what we might think, a day is coming when things are going to be different, a day is coming when things are going to be changed to the way that God wants them to be.

And that is indeed good news. It’s good news because Isaiah’s words tell us that the way that things are right now isn’t the way they always have to be. And so, because of Isaiah’s words, when we pick up the newspaper and read about murders at shopping malls and killings at churches, and when we hear about robberies and beatings and schoolyard bullies, instead of losing heart and becoming depressed, we can rejoice and be glad because we know the day is coming when there’s going to be a reversal. A day is coming when those bad and evil things are going to come to an end, and the world is going to be the way that God wants it to be.

But of course some people might say, “But those are just words! That vision of a day when God is going to bring about a reversal and make things right – that’s nothing more than a bunch of talk. And considering the way the world is, what good is a bunch of talk?”

But we shouldn’t underestimate just how powerful talk is. Consider this: For quite a few years during the 1970s, several dictators in Central America made it illegal to read a part of the Christmas story in public. You see, in Luke 1, which we listened to just a few minutes ago in our first reading from the Bible, after the angel Gabriel comes to Mary and tells her that she is going to give birth to the Son of God, Mary sings a song, a song that is often referred to as the Magnificat. And in that song that Mary sings, she speaks about how God is going to bring down the powerful from their thrones and is going to lift up the lowly. She speaks about how God is going to fill the hungry with good things and how God will send the rich away empty.

But some might wonder: “Why would those dictators have cared if people got together and read some words like those out of the Bible? After all, they’re just words. It’s just a bunch of talk.”

But those dictators realized that words like those from the Bible are far more than just talk. No, they realized that words like those from the Bible have the power to change people. Words like those from the Bible have the power to cause people to see that the world can be different, that our lives can be different from the way they are right now. Words like those from the Bible have the power to cause people to see that instead of looking at all the evil and violence and fear in the world and figuring that all we can do is get used to it and deal with it – words like those from the Bible show us that a day is coming when there’s going to be a reversal, a day when God is going to change things to the way they were meant to be.

But until that day comes, what exactly are we supposed to do? Well, certainly we need to be patient and wait. Certainly we need to pray. But perhaps most of all, we need to talk. We need to talk and speak the words of hope that God has given to us.

But the reality is that quite often we don’t talk about the hope that God has given us. The reality is that quite often we don’t talk about what God is doing in our lives or in the world. But why is that? Because we sure don’t have any problem talking about our neighbors. We sure don’t have any problem talking about the Steelers.

So often people say, “You never hear any good news these day. All you ever hear on TV is bad news. How come you never hear any good news?” Well, the truth is that if people aren’t hearing good news, it’s not the TV’s fault. It’s our fault. Because as Christians we’re supposed to be in the good news business. After all, as Christians we say that we believe in the gospel. And quite literally, the word “gospel” means “good news.” And when you receive some news, when you receive some good news, what are you supposed to do with it? When you receive some news, when you receive some good news, you’re not supposed to just think about it, you’re not supposed to just believe it. No, when you receive some news, when you receive some good news, you’re supposed to share it – you’re supposed to tell it to others.

In the adult Sunday school class and in Bible study each week, we start off our gatherings with each person sharing some piece of good news – some piece of good news about something that they’re thankful for or about some way that they’ve felt God at work in our lives. And what people choose to share as their piece of good news varies widely – some talk about how they sensed God’s presence in the beauty of nature as they took a walk around their block. Someone else might talk about how God answered a prayer and healed a relationship that had fallen apart with a family member.

You see, we do that to help train ourselves to do a better job of being aware of the good things that God is up to in our lives and in the world around us, and then putting it into words and talking about it. Because by doing that, by talking about those pieces of good news like that, what we’re trying to do is remind ourselves that even though there is a lot of bad news in the world, there is also a lot of good news. Even though there is a lot of bad news in the world, God is at work for good, and the day is going to come when the bad will finally all come to an end.

And along the same line as what we do in Sunday school and in Bible study, in the coming year in our worship services we’re going to plan on having a Moment for Sharing each month. That’s something we started last year, but then kind of got away from it. A Moment for Sharing is an opportunity for someone to come forward and talk, to come forward and talk about some way – large or small – that they have seen God at work in their life or in the world around them. And the aim of doing that is to encourage each other, to help each other realize that even though there is a lot of bad news in the world, God is real, God is still with us, and God’s not going to let us down. That’s good news. And so I hope that in the coming year many of you will feel led to take part in our worship in that way by agreeing to come up and talk about some of the good news that you’ve experienced in your life.

As Christians, we’re not called to ignore the bad news that’s going on around us. After all, there’s almost no way you can ignore all the bad news about robberies and murders and wars that you hear about every day. But as Christians, our mission is to help keep people from feeling overwhelmed and defeated by that bad news. And the main way we do that is by talking – by talking about the good news, the good news of Jesus. So when it comes to the good news that you’ve experienced in your life, don’t just keep it to yourself. Share it. Talk about it. Because the words you speak just might be the words of hope and encouragement that someone around you desperately needs to hear.