Dualing Urgancies

I know I live deep in the south of Pittsburgh…but there’s something coming that has me deeply concerned!

In 2025, they’re closing the Parkway!

At an easy, always light portion of the Parkway?

No…right after the Squirrel Hill Tunnel.

Which is already the source of most of my commuting frustration.

It means that in 2025, I’m going to have to take the long way most of the time, which is going to add at least another 20-30 minutes to my daily commute every day.

We rely so much on highways in our modern world, don’t we?

What does a highway do?

Bridges make the valleys filled.

Instead of having to dip down into the valleys, our bridges allow us to float right over them as if they weren’t there.

Tunnels make the mountains low.

Even though most people will hit the brakes on their way in to the Fort Pitt tunnel, it makes it like Mt. Washington wasn’t there.

They help us with our sense of urgency.

We don’t have time to take the scenic route!

You can say a lot about the Parkway, but scenic it is not!

We bypass some of the more interesting sights and landmarks in an effort to go faster.

The point of a high way is just to get us from point a to point b in the least amount of time and hassle.

We don’t have time to wait in traffic!

There are no red lights on the highway!

They’re specifically designed to make it “easy” to get on and get off the high way (looking at you Squirrel Hill outbound exit).

The goal is actually to keep you moving.

We have things that need to be done!

We have homes and offices that we need to get to.

We have Christmas shopping to attend to!

We’ve got places to be, and we want to cut out as much of the getting there as we possibly can.

We’re living with a nearly constant state of urgency in our lives.

And highways help us in our efforts to get through the urgency.

John the Baptist is meant to aid the urgency of Jesus.

This is John’s job description, as Luke quotes it from Isaiah:

Make the valleys filled for Jesus.

Make the mountains low for Jesus.

John’s job is to prepare the way, to create a highway for our God in Jesus Christ.

Which means…there must be some kind of urgency around who Jesus is.

What do we mean when we talk about the urgency of Jesus?

There’s one mindset that tends to take over whenever I hear someone talking about the urgency of Jesus.

“If you got hit by a bus on the way out of here…”

Would you know where you’re going to spend eternity?

The idea being that you could literally die at any minute…

And so it’s deeply urgent that you come to know Jesus so that you can avoid the dangers of hell, and get yourself in to heaven.

And the clock is ticking!

I don’t think this is a good kind of urgency.

I think it’s a spiritualized anxiety attack!

Yes, we should spread the gospel.

Yes, we should with all that we have let people know that Jesus loves them.

We should let them know that there’s a better way to live in this life.

We should let them know that they have a place in the life to come.

We should speak the Gospel, and do so urgently!

But our urgency isn’t Jesus’ urgency.

First of all, any message that kind of indicates that death is possible at any moment isn’t exactly a hopeful message.

Also, we need to preach a gospel that’s more than insurance from hell.

We need to preach a gospel that’s more about the life it offers than the death it protects us from.

And we need others to know that this isn’t just some kind of product, the urgency of which is to buy now.

We want others to know that this gospel is life giving and for everybody.

Every week we have our staff Bible study and talk about the sermon…

One of the folks who was there raised a good couple of questions:

Jesus isn’t bound by time.

How can Jesus have the same kind of urgency that we do?

Jesus doesn’t have to act fast before it’s too late.

Jesus doesn’t have to beat the traffic to get to work.

Jesus doesn’t have to live under our deadlines.

Why do all those valleys need to be filled and mountains made low?

Why does there need to be an efficiency for Jesus?

Why does John have to make this way straight for Jesus?

Defining Urgency

So of course I turned to the source of all knowledge and information in the universe: Google.

Of a state or situation- requiring immediate action or attention.

This is the kind of urgency that we’ve been talking through this morning.

How many more shopping days are left until Christmas?

There are two minutes left in the fourth quarter and we’re down by 3

That bone shouldn’t look like that…time to get to the hospital.

This is the kind of urgency that runs our world.

But it’s also the kind of urgency that just doesn’t make sense for a Jesus who is outside the bounds of time.

The other definition of urgency though…

Of a person or their manner- earnest and persistent in response to a pressing situation.

Jesus Christ is always earnest- sincere in his deep love and affection for us.

When I was a kid, every now and again I’d question the love that my school counselors would have for me.

Not in kind of a negative way or anything, but in a like “Of course you love me, you have to! It’s your job!”

And every now and again, I get the feeling that some of us see Jesus the same way.

It’s not that we question the love Jesus has for us, it’s that we feel like because we’ve been told for so long that Jesus loves us we’ve kind of lost sense of the earnestness of it.

Jesus loves us not because he has to.

Jesus loves us because he chooses too.

Jesus loves us not from a place of obligation,

But Jesus loves us from a place of urgency.

And it is worth, in this advent season of waiting, to sit with that love for a little while.

It’s worth setting aside the first definition urgency of our lives, so that we can settle into the urgency of Jesus’ love.

It’s worth basking in Christ’s affection for us.

It’s worth reminding ourselves of our worth as seen from Christ’s eyes.

Jesus Christ is persistent in the face of our pressing situation- Jesus won’t give up on us.

I had a memory flash the other day…

A bunch of Christmas’s ago, I remember our family had just gotten a new golden retriever puppy.

He was my buddy, through and through.

His name was Tucker, like Freyer Tuck…get it?

Anyway…sometime ago we were sledding out in the front yard of my house, and Tucker was in the front of the sled while I was driving.

And as we were making a run, Tucker all of a sudden jumped out of the sled.

And I was so worried about whether he was ok or not that I hadn’t noticed that I was accidentally piloting the sled directly into a tree.

Tucker was with me in that moment…until he wasn’t!

And as silly as that story is, I think more than a few of us have had friends who stuck with us through everything…until they didn’t.

They were with us until the going got tough.

They were with us until the pain got intense.

They were with us until the struggle was real.

The urgency of Jesus isn’t like that.

Jesus is with us no matter what we’re walking through.

Jesus is with us no matter what we’ve done, or how far we’ve wandered from his way.

Jesus is with us no matter how broken or lost the world seems to be at any given moment.

Jesus is with us when we are completely full of hope, and he’s with us when we don’t think we’ll see another sunrise again.

Jesus has not, does not, and will not ever give up on us.

No matter how many trees we’re piloting the sled toward!

It’s an urgency marked not by immediate action, but by persistent love.

I think so often we want to put the first kind of urgency on Jesus.

We’ve been praying for a certain situation, and we can’t imagine what Jesus is waiting for to answer it.

We’ve got this pain in this exact moment, so why doesn’t Jesus show up.

We understand the sentiment of Martha in John’s gospel, saying to Jesus “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

The truth is Jesus isn’t exactly known for immediate action.

He doesn’t work on our timelines.

He is however deeply known for persistent love.

And so…we train ourselves to wait.

So let’s wait…with (the right kind) of urgency.

Let’s ask ourselves if our urgent efforts are necessary.

I think it’s kind of funny that this season of Advent waiting is met with our perceived urgency of the Christmas season.

We urgently have to get that perfect gift for our loved ones, hopefully while it’s still on sale.

We urgently have to clean up our houses, so that we can entertain our friends and families.

We urgently have to get to all those holiday parties that we over booked ourselves for, so that we can celebrate with people before we get too stressed out.

And yet in Advent, we’re being invited into Jesus’ urgency of persistent love.

And so a hard question is whether or not we need that which we consider urgent.

Do we really need one more gift for our loved ones, or would that time be better spent with them?

Do we really need to have our houses perfectly put together in order to entertain, or can we just welcome someone in to the realness of our lives?

Do we really need to be at 13 holiday parties in a weekend, or could we settle for one or two in exchange for being more present?

And trust me, I know, these are hard questions to answer.

Dialing back after you’ve convinced yourself that every part of your life is urgent is a difficult journey!

But this season of Advent waiting actually gives us the discipline and the space to set aside those urgencies, and live in the love of Christ.

Let’s help John clear the path for Jesus’ urgency.

Look, the real reason they’re closing the parkway is because that bridge we drive over is falling apart.

How bad is it falling apart? That’s not a question I want to spend a lot of time on!

But they recognize that if that bridge isn’t in working properly, it’s going to be a hinderance to what we need to happen.

And question that John was asking and that we ought to consider: What’s getting in the way of us experiencing the urgency of Christ’s persistent love for us?

Maybe the valleys of our self doubt are getting in the way of our remembering that Jesus never gives up on us, so that self doubt has to go.

Maybe the mountains of our to-do lists need to be cleared away, so that we can hear clearly the call of love over us from Jesus.

Maybe the rough ways we treat other people need to be smoothed out by the persistent kindness and mercy that Christ has already shown us.

Maybe when we get there, all flesh will see the salvation of our God.

And part of that clearing the path for Jesus is getting honest about where we’re hurting.

I was listening to a preacher this week who was talking about how messed up it is that we in the church are not set up to be honest about what’s in the way.

We can’t confess our deepest sins, because we’re worried we’d be judged.

We can’t confess our insufficiencies, because we’re afraid others would take advantage of us.

We can’t get real about our situation, because no one else is getting real about theirs.

This is exactly the kind of place where we should be getting real about what we need in Jesus.

What are the valleys in your life that need to be filled in?

Where are the mountains that need to be made low?

Where are the crooked paths that need to be made straight?

Let’s bask in the persistent love of Jesus Christ.

This weekend I was away at Camp Crestfield.

I was the speaker for the Middle School winter retreat up there.

Yes, that meant I spent my Friday and Saturday surrounded by 80 something teenagers.

And if you think that was chaotic, loud, insane, and intense, you are correct!

In the best way possible!

One of the best things about being a speaker at a camp like that is that while I’m there, I don’t really have any responsibilities other than speaking.

So during the day yesterday, all the kids actually left camp to participate in some service projects, and I was left essentially alone at the camp with just the other speakers and worship leaders.

Have you ever been somewhere when it went from 80 something voices screaming all at once down to zero?

Amazing!

So, I took a few minutes to finish writing the sermon…and then I walked outside to the court yard.

And I just sat in the stillness.

It was cold, but it was refreshing.

It was still, which stilled my heart.

It was quiet, yet I could hear pretty clearly.

And I took just a few minutes, not many, to reflect on that persistent, urgent love that Christ has for me.

I wonder, what does it look like to make that a practice this week of Advent?

To set aside our own urgencies for a little bit, and to bask in the power of Christ’s urgency?

To set aside some dedicated time to clear the path of distractions and loud voices, so that we can sit with the still small voice of Christ?

To allow ourselves to hear the truth over and over again: You are loved…you are loved…you are loved…

And so my friends, this week let’s wait…

Let’s wait in the urgency of Christ’s love.