Making A Name For God

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-End  John 1:6-8, 19-28

I was walking in foreign lands far from here and as night began to fall, there was no sign of anywhere where I might spend the night

Before me stretched a barren wasteland, where nothing grew and not a soul lived.

It was all just empty and dead.

But as I walked I spotted a little figure on the horizon.

He seemed to be kneeling down, all alone amidst this desolate scene.

As I drew near, I saw that, surrounded by a few scraggly sheep he was digging little holes in the ground.

He was not a man of many words, but he saw I was cold and tired.

He led me to his hut where a lovely warm fire burned and he served me the finest soup I had ever tasted.

I drifted off into sleep and woke only when the sun was rising.

The man was already up and washing little acorns in a bucket, then setting them out to dry.

I thanked him for his kindness as together we stepped back out onto the wild, open plain.

I made as if to go on, but I watched as the man resumed his kneeling position and planted those acorns in the holes in the ground he had made.

Lots of years passed since that strange meeting, but I always carried with me image of that man planting acorns, day after day, all on his own.

Curiosity got the better of me and after some  years I couldn’t help but go back.

To see, well, I don’t know what I expected to see.

The barren land, had become a woodland.

Green and fertile and beautiful.

There were houses there and a river and children playing.

I knocked on one of the doors and enquired about the man who planted acorns in the ground.

“I don’t know who you mean” they all said to me

“We’ve never heard of a man like that”

I walked through the beautiful woodland. It stretched for a mile or two.

Then it all stopped and there was more barren land.

It was all just empty and dead.

But as I walked I spotted a little figure on the horizon.

He seemed to be kneeling down, and as I drew near, I saw that, surrounded by a few straggly sheep, he was digging little holes in the ground, and by his side was a little pile of freshly washed acorns.

He was still there and still doing it.

More weather beaten than when I had first seen him, hands more gnarled and scarred than before.

I had done so many things, since I’d last seen him.

Trying to make a name for myself.

This man had been getting on with that same task all that time.

Unrecognised. Unthanked.

He was slowly but surely changing the world.

Our Old Testament reading sets out a task.

It does not give the name of who the task is for though.

But it sounds like it’s work that might change the world.

Binding up the broken hearted.

Proclaiming liberty to captives.

Opening the prisons of those who are bound.

Comforting the mourning.

Giving garlands of victory to those who know only ashes.

Repairing ancient cities.

And doing the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified

As what is planted become oaks of righteousness.

That last bit sounds familiar.

But it doesn’t say who?

It doesn’t give a name to the one assigned the task!

Our Gospel reading maybe solves the mystery.

“There was a man sent from God whose name was John”

Well, that’s good news then – because John is not my name.

This can’t be my task then can it?

And I read that this John is to bear witness to the light.

That all might believe through him.

Later on in the reading this John speaks for himself.

He doesn’t seem to want any recognition or any glory for his work.

He just says:

“I am a voice crying in the wilderness”

That’s all he has to say about himself.

The Good New is brought to the world by an anonymous Old Testament messenger and a voice in the wilderness.

Isaiah and John – but they want to say – Look we are nobodies – don’t remember us – just see who it is we point to and remember him.

I think of them and I think of the man who planted trees and I think then what it is that my discipleship and, I guess yours is really all about.

Making a name for God.

And you can’t make a name for God if you also want to make a name for yourself.

I’ll tell you a secret about myself.

The first time I saw a church noticeboard with my name on outside.

I was pathetically proud of the fact.

I used to look at it and think…that’s me that is.

Too often in the church and beyond – we seize hold of things – to make names for ourselves.

We are restless and discontent when what we do remains hidden and seemingly ineffective.

We then either brush one another out of the way in a final desperate bid for stardom, or we lose confidence in ourselves and fall back amongst those we consider to be also rans’.

The story that we shall soon begin to explore shows us where true godliness lies.

Incarnation – God made man – is about making the small thing, the greatest thing, the routine thing, the miraculous, those who are of no account, the most treasured.

The truth is that blessings fall from the fingertips of those who never realise it.

A mysterious messenger. A voice in the wilderness. A man who planted trees.

The vision of the prophet and the will of God coming to pass through the dedication and the holiness of anonymous disciples.

Could we discover such a contentment in the service of our God?

Could we get so caught up in his love

That we make a name for God at the expense of ourselves.

RH 14.12.08