Bill Cosby does a great stand-up routine about Noah, placing him as a modern day man - and hilarity ensues.  Cosby’s Noah responds with typical sarcasm - “It’s the Lord Noah!” 

To which Cosby’s Noah responds with a hearty “RIIIIIIGHT!”

By the last bit, Cosby’s Noah absolutely loses it with a typical modern man’s rant -

“Yeah, well I got news for you.  I’m sick and tired of this whole mess.  The whole neigbourhood’s out there laughing at me.  They’re all having a grand time at good old old Noah there. I went out there at my best friend Larry and said I’ve been talking to the Lord, Larry.  Larry said Oh, really? Yeah yeah.  Lord, Larry, Larry, Lord.  You walked off laughing.  And I hear ‘em all laughing at me.  You know I’m the only guy in this neighbourhood with an Ark?  People around here laughing.  Picket signs walking up and down.  I’m sick and tired of this stuff here.  People walking around here - “How you doing Tarzan? How’s everything up there?”  Sick and tired of this mess here.  You supposed to know all and see all.  You let me go out there and bring in a pregnant elephant.  You give me no manual for delivery or nuthin’. Never told me the thing was pregnant.  There’s good old Naoh waitin’ underneath the elephant there - Brrrrroooooooooom - Right on top.  Sick and tired of this mess here.  Had enough all this stuff.  For you runnin’ around.  You supposed to know all and see all.  Like I said before.  You let me go out there and do all this stuff here…You never even looked in the bottom of that Ark - Have you looked down there?  No?  Who’s gonna clean up that mess down there?  That’s me.  I tell you I’ve had enough of this stuff. I tell you what I’m gonna do - I’m letting all these animals out - And I’m gonna burn down this Ark - And I’m going to Florida somewhere ’cause you haven’t done nothin’.  I’m sick and tired of all this mess.  You foolin’ around. And you haven’t done nothing!…..And you got it rainin’….It’s not a shower is it?….Ok Lord me and you right - ‘Cause I knew it all the time!”

Job was a little more poetic, but no less despairing, lamenting that life is nothing but drudgery, and our nights drag on.and our days pass without hope.

But life isn’t meant to be that way.  That doesn’t mean that it is suppose to be easy.  To the contrary, we are meant to live our lives with purpose.  We are meant to use our lives for advancing the good of mankind, and living the life that we were called to live.

Paul knew this - and he was called in a dramatic fashion on the road to Damascus.  He lived to preach - and he lived, despite the trials and toils with joy and purpose.

Jesus too knew his mission - to teach and heal and suffer for our sins.  But he too craved peace and quiet, retiring to the desert to recharge, think, and pray.

But he knew what his job, what his calling was - and moved on to the next village.  He persevered.

But like Noah, and Job, and Paul, and Jesus - sometimes we too get tired with where we are, we question what we are to do.  We have to recharge our batteries.  We need to get out in the desert to pray, and think.  We need to follow our calling.

And sometimes, like rain on the ark, or the realization that we are weak - but still called to be strong and carry out His will…we know the wisdom in call - “Ok Lord, me and you right - ‘Cause I knew it all the time!”

 I didn’t understand them at first, little comments on Facebook, some emails, a few text messages, a few dropped hints on phone calls with family and friends….

So yes, I’ve got a confession to make…I’ve fallen behind…a two week vacation has now stretched into over a month of limited posting.

But, like a child, I’ve got some excuses…and some good stories.

Camping near Ninety Mile Beach, watching the mighty Snowy River head out to sea, losing two tires on one trip, going through the ancient Iron Bark forest, a day at the races, a trip to Singapore, Chinese New Year….and a whole host of other stories and observations, as well as stories of growing up on the wind swept plains of North Minnesota…

By the way, did I mention that I was beginning preparations to move back to Minnesota?

Yup, for those who haven’t heard, I’ll be heading back to Minnesota in about four months time…just in time for summer.

So I’ve got a little work to do, hopefully you’ll be coming back to check in now and then.

 The majority of people are extroverts.  They get their energy from being around other people.  About twenty-five percent of us are introverts, while we might love and enjoy being around people, they sap our strength, and we need some good quiet downtime to revive us.

As an introvert, I presume that all other people just know how to act, how to lead, how to do the right things at just the right time - how to live their lives with confidence…and I’ve found that confidence is something altogether different than being introverted or extroverted.

Confidence is going out with belief in yourself, belief in what you are doing - so that come what may, you think you have what it takes to conquer what comes at you.  Either an extrovert or an introvert can have confidence.

Confidence is not bravado.

I’m reminded of the battleship cruising through the stormy seas late one night.  All of a sudden, it spots lights, dead ahead of it.  The captain gets on the radio and hails it:

“To the ship in vector 145, we ask that you turn your course 30 degrees to the south immediately.” The captain said with confidence.

A reply came back, “We request that you turn your course 30 degrees to the south.”

The captain was agitated, “Repeat.  Repeat.  Turn your course immediately.  Or else.”

“The reply came back, “Hear your request, we repeat our request to turn your vessel immediately.”

The captain lost it, “Do you have any idea who you are dealing with?  This is the captain of one of the greatest battleships to ever sail the seas.  We request again, for the last time - turn your vessel immediately!”

The voice came on again, “This is Private Jones, I’m the nightwatchman on the lighthouse, you’d better turn your vessel captain.”

One had confidence….one had authority.  It didn’t matter the rank, it didn’t matter the age…it mattered about who had their feet, in this case, firmly on rock.

There is an old saying, that might makes right…and the converse…right makes might…and I believe they apply in this case, one speaks with great confidence, with great bravado even.  The other speaks with confidence - but it is the voice of right, of truth, of justice. 

The demons in today’s Gospel had to listen to Jesus, not because he was confident, but because he had dominion.  The people were amazed that Jesus spoke as he did - because he wasn’t trying to interpret the law, but he was giving it, he made the law!

Speaking with confidence might be all well and good, but it is that authority…that power of right, and justice, and truth, that turns it into something powerful.

But we are not the Son of God!  True…but even in our hearts and minds…in our conscience…we know what is right and wrong.  We are God’s people here on earth. We must not judge…but we must speak with authority on the wrongs.  And there are plenty of them out there - from bullying in our schools to genocide around the globe.  Each of us is given the voice and the authority to speak…without counting the cost.

 It is amazing what an expiration date can do.  If you have milk in the refrigerator or mayonnaise, you always check the date on the package…or at best get a mouth full of something chunky, at worst…food poisoning.  That said, it is amazing how much people will work on those dates, a day over and the product is thrown out, or the dates are closely managed to reduce waste.

If only we would understand that we too have an expiration date.

The people of Nineveh got their warning - they had an expiration date put on them.  Jonah told them, they had forty days to mend their ways, or else they would be destroyed.  They had that expiration date on them.  Saint Paul tries to warn us too - “the time is running out.”

If only someone would tell us when our number is up - when our days are done.  If only people would give us an expiration date, then we would live up to our potential.

But we do have an expiration date - and it could happen anytime.

When faced with life changes, those dates become all the more present.  I know that my time in Australia is running short.  I’ve got four months to finish the work I’ve started.  Four months to create the change that I want to see.

I’ve known the day was coming for the last two years, at some point I’d be going home, but now, when there is an expiration date, the urgency seems much more real than it did before.  There is a tremendous amount of things that I’d like to do, that I’d like to see, so many personal things that I’d like to change…

But my time is near…I’m going home.

In truth, we are all going home, and we all have a deadline…but it is a deadline and a journey much longer and impressive then Australia to Minnesota.  This is our journey of life.

We are called to repent, to renew ourselves and our faith - before it is too late.  We are called to be better people, better children, better partners, better parents, better friends.  We are called to ‘build a better temple of the body,’ we are called to make the world better then we found it - to fight the good fight, run the good race.

In short, we, like the people of Nineveh, the Corinthians, or the people of Galilee that heard the Lord with their own ears…must repent, turn from evil, and do good.

Let’s do so, before we find our expiration date.

 ”Did you ever think growing up milking cows that you’d be living in Australia?”

My friend Frank, a dairy farmer himself from rural Australia asked over lunch.  Frank has farmed his entire life, and knows the dedication that dairy cows entail.  Frank and his wife have a wonderful home and build, and continue to build, a life and a home on the land, as their children scatter throughout Australia - and many of them traveling abroad.

Frank asked, because I believe he knew the answer first hand.  It is hard to believe that those early morning milking sessions can lead to some pretty extra ordinary things.

The prophet Samuel probably felt the same way.  Promised to the Lord and learning under the sage Eli, how could he have guessed that the call in the middle of the night was coming from our Lord - at a time when the idea of being called from God was uncommon.

Yet Eli knew the response, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”

The Apostles that were called by Jesus as he started his ministry, how could they have known - these simple fishermen that the response to the simple question, “where are you staying?” Was the cryptic, “Come and you will see.”  Which would forever change their lives.

Each day, thousands of people ask for things, ask for help, advice, and guidance.  Most people, like Samuel, might not understand or hear the answer.  But I’m guessing more often than not, there is one.  Often times, those answers are not the ones that we want to hear, sometimes, they are.

There is an old adage, that in the end, we are exactly where we need to be.

Frank was right, as a kid, though reading books and hearing tales from my parents, you imagined some pretty extraordinary things, when the hours, days, and years go by in an endless rhythm of chores and school, it can seem as if the world stops on the end of the pasture…

Yet here I am, 26 months into my 11 month assignment in Australia, on the far side of the world from that pasture, in a place where spring is fall and winter is summer.  But home really isn’t far away - and the call has come in.  When the calendar hits 30 months, about the middle of May, I’ll be heading back to Minneapolis - to Minnesota.  It won’t be the pastures of my youth, but it will be a far sight closer.

Though I’ve carved a life here in the land down under, and friends that I will never forget, it feels good to be going home.

 John the Baptist, the voice crying out in the wilderness, during Advent, that sounds, well, glamorous.  It sounds like a great gig.  Can you imagine John and his cousin, Jesus, sitting around at family reunions, weddings, Christmas and Easter…oh, wait, scratch those last two…talking about what they want to be when they grow up?

Let’s face it, John had a mandate - he knew what his role was.  Reading in Isaiah, it sounds, well - great - “He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to announce a year of favor from the Lord.”

Who wouldn’t like that message?

And John knew who was coming after him, he knew that the King of Kings was coming, would be triumphant.  It had to be a great feeling.  To speak to the priests, Levites and Pharisees and say, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am no worthy to untie.”

John must have had a great deal of confidence, a great deal of bravado, a great deal of faith to speak his mind - and his beliefs - as the voice crying out in the desert.

Being that voice is something we are all called to do, to reach out to those around us, to try to make the world a better place, to bring glad tidings to the poor, heal the broken hearted, proclaim liberty to captives….

But it is hard in our world today.

Walking through the city today, it was all a little overwhelming.  Mobs of people on a Sunday morning waiting to get into department stores, lights and sale advertising were everywhere.  One of the stores that I walked past advertising campaign was so blatant to simply state, “Get What You Want.”

That is the type of world we are living in.  Constantly bombarded by messages and advertisements luring us to a life or material gain, a life do what we want with, a life centered around the material things in life.

Walking down the street, lost in thought, a distant sound made me think…well made me think I was going crazy.  It sounded like a lone trumpet belting out “Joy to the World.” The sound was faint and rose and fell on the breeze…but walking towards the train station, it great more intense, more defined.

Sure enough, at the top of the steps, right on the path for me to go home were two teenage kids playing a trumpet and a trombone for the Salvation Army - collecting money for the poor and needy.  Amongst the hustle and bustle, with people seeming to pass and ignore them, in the cold, rainy day, they played on.

Though with much to do, I sat and listened for a bit - Silent Night, Little Town of Bethlehem, O Come All Ye Faithful….

I thought of John, confidently speaking to the priests, Levites, and Pharisees.  I thought of the end of the story, years later, when he was in a prison cell, preparing to die, and he sent a message to Jesus, asking, “Are you really the Messiah?”

Even John, the original “Voice Calling Out in the Wilderness,” needed his spirit renewed.

Jesus’ reply, “The blind see, the dead rise, the sick are healed.”  A vague reply, (ah, free will), but enough for John to know, be strong, have courage and believe. 

This Advent, and in our lives, may we hear the trumpet, get the call from the friend, or have some little piece of goodwill to show us too, He Comes - so that we can continue our roles as voices in the wilderness.

 Planting and Advent don’t normally go together.  For those of us born and raised in the northern hemisphere, harvest and Advent don’t normally go together either.  But living in Australia, it is a perfect time to go out in the fields, to watch crops coming out of the ground, and crops going in.  So in that regard, this weekend was a good weekend.

Actually, it was a great weekend.  It was a weekend out in the Australian bush with good friends and good people.  I got my fingernails dirty….at least a little bit.  I’ve been told that if you surround yourself with good people, you can do darn near anything.

And truth be told, we did some amazing things.  And we had a good time doing it.  It was with a high spirit that I went to bed last night.  My brain filled with big dreams and high hopes.

Then reality slapped me upside the head this morning.  It is fun to get out and dream big, but you need to live in the here and now.  And life’s little ills and disappointments can build up to a boiling point.

I’m normally pretty up beat…pretty happy…but I almost lost it tonight…then I picked up a book and read the following….

“An old fable tells how the devil was asked to show all of his weapons.  Many people came to see them.  Some were familiar - power, greed, pride, envy, jealousy, lust.  He unveiled all of his best weapons attractive to the eye and beguiling to the heart, useful to lure the unwary to destruction of spirit and flesh.  But one weapon in a special container he saved for last.  Slowly the devil removed it and said, ‘This is my best weapon.  This is discouragement.  It is the wedge I use to try to break the strongest soul.  When it is effective, I always win the battle.’

Discouragement is always a possibility in our lives, often as a result of stress and strains of living.  When discouragement comes, we are admonished in scripture to turn to prayer, support one another, and believe that God is with us in the struggle.  There may be no easy answers.  But with God’s presence there is always hope, and hope can triumph over discouragement.  Today’s hope can become the seed of tomorrow’s victory.”

• - Author unknown

Well, considering I’d spent the weekend in the fields and farmsteads of Australia, I reckon that there was no better story to open my book too, especially as we enter the second week of Advent.

Our hearts, and our world, is encouraged to wait, for hope is coming - A voice cries, ‘Prepare in the desert a way for Yahweh. Make a straight highway for our God across the wastelands. Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be levelled, every cliff become a plateau, every escarpment a plain;  then the glory of Yahweh will be revealed and all humanity will see it together, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.’

Or in the Psalms: “His saving help is near for those who fear Him, His glory will dwell in our land.  Faithful Love and Loyalty join together, Saving Justice and Peace embrace. Loyalty will spring up from the earth, and Justice will lean down from heaven. Yahweh will Himself give prosperity, and our soil will yield its harvest.  Justice will walk before him, treading out a path.”

Note the harvest!

Then there was the voice of John the Baptist: In the course of his preaching he said, ‘After me is coming someone who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’

Regardless how bad the day, terrifying the night, disappointing results, or despairing our souls, now is the perfect time, now is the perfect season…for the seeds of hope to be planted to bear the fruit of joy.

 The Monday after Thanksgiving was a busy one back at St. Michael’s School.  There was much planning that was going on.  That first Monday back to school after the long weekend was the first day of Advent, the start of the new liturgical year, and the time to start preparing for Christmas.

At St. Michael’s, that preparation was taken very seriously.

Each of us students had to write out two or three things that we would do for the next four weeks before Christmas.

Sister Rosella and Sister Baptist explained that this wasn’t a case of ‘giving up’ something, like we would for Lent - this wasn’t a penance, it was something entirely different…it was to prepare ourselves and our world for Christmas.

We each had a small list of things that we committed ourselves to doing and they were taped on our desks - so that we saw them every day at school.

Today marks the start of Advent, the start of a new church year, and the preparation for Christmas.  You can’t miss the signs, the store fronts are decorated, Christmas trees are finding their way into lobbies and homes, Christmas specials are making their way on the television.

But there is a difference between the physical preparation and spiritual preparation, between the trees and the gifts, and the reality of what is behind them.

One of the lessons from those St. Mike’s Days was about the preparation - it was very much an active thing.  Simply giving up something wasn’t the point, it was about doing.  It was about putting our feet, our hands, our head, and our heart into motion and trying to make the world a little better in any way we could.  Doing our chores without being asked.  Writing a letter to an aunt or uncle.  Being nice to brothers and sisters.  Spending some extra time in prayer.  Reading a good book each week. Shoveling a neighbors driveway…..

It was clear…preparation isn’t waiting.  Waiting implies sitting around, well, waiting.

Prepare means doing something.  It means planning things out, it means thinking about what you are doing, making sure that your actions count, it means thinking ahead, it means work, and sweat, and tears, and discomfort for something in the end.

And we are preparing for something - we are preparing for Christmas. We are working to make our lives and our world a little better as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour as Man.

But in a larger sense, we are preparing for our final meeting with our Lord as well.  We do not know the time and the place that will happen, but it reminds us that just as we prepare to celebrate our Lord’s birthday, so we must prepare for our own appointed time with our Father, so that we might be found worthy - so that our faith, proven through actions, will find us in His realm and called a good and faithful servant.

Sister Rosella and Sister Baptist might not have said it, but it sure came through it their laser focus.  And in their lives, lives of preparation - of hard work - and never waiting.

 At its height, the British Empire covered over 25% of the earth’s landmass, from the home islands in the North Atlantic, across to Canada, down into Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, over into South America…the sun never set on the mighty British Empire.

The British monarch, the king or queen, depending upon the year, ruled from London and commanded loyalty from their subjects.  Much pageantry went into ensuring this. In a place like Singapore, the subjects of the crown would attend military parades, sit through long speeches, and pledge their loyalty to an empty chair, set up to represent the mightiness of the British Monarch.

But there is another kind of king, another kind of monarch, one less concerned with the size and scope of the land, and more concerned with the hearts and the very souls of the subjects.  Today is the day we celebrate Christ the King.  The last Sunday of the liturgical year, before Advent.  It is fitting that we end the church year on such a day - celebrating the kingship of our Lord over all the heavens and earth.

But the readings today are strange for the day honoring a sovereign.  Instead of a king wrapped in majesty and splendour, it is a shepherd king.  Instead of a monarch wreathed in glory, it is the farmer concerned with his flock - with each individual sheep and lamb.

It is not a king by earthly standards, one concerned with taxes, and wars, and tribute and gold…but a king non-the-less, and with even greater concern for things of a nobler standard…..a king concerned with the poor, the sick, the lame, the imprisoned.  A king concerned with the souls of his subjects.  A king, very much at war with the evil that lurks in the world, and in the very hearts of his subjects.

And he is a demanding master - he orders us to feed the hungry, cloth the poor, stand up for those being persecuted.  He is not asking us to give our word to an empty chair…he is ordering us to act - to do, to live the deeds that he has called us for, to fight the good fight.  

He is the king triumphant.  He will not settle for empty words. He warns us that though he will lead us like sheep to verdant pastures, he will also separate out the wheat from the chaff.

It is fitting and proper that the king of kings is celebrated today with the image of the Good Shepherd, while in only five weeks time, we will celebrate his very unconventional and unceremonious birth in a manager in the little town of Bethlehem.

 Years ago, I remember reading a story of three trees that sat upon a hillside.  Each tree had a dream of doing bigger and better things.  The first tree dreamt of being made into a treasure chest, where he would hold precious stones, jewels, and gold.  The second tree dreamt of becoming a mighty ship that would ply the seven seas and carry magnificent cargo from throughout the world.  The third tree dreamt of nothing more than to sit on the hillside, straight and tall, and point the way to heaven.

One day, a lumberjack came and with his mighty axe, fell the first tree - where his dreams of becoming a treasure chest excited his thoughts as he was carted off to a carpenter that specialized in making boxes of all sorts.  The second tree was felled as well - and this one carried off to a boat yard.  The third tree, who wanted nothing more but to stand then and remind people of God’s love and the path to heaven was felled as well, cut up, and carted off to a forlorn lumber yard, and stuck in the stack.

The first tree was cut up and formed into a box, but rather than a beautiful treasure chest, he was formed into a rough feed box for feeding animals.  The second, who found his way to a ship builder, wasn’t made into a magnificent ocean vessel, but instead was fashioned into a little fishing boat.  The third…languished in the back of the lumber yard.

All were disappointed.

The first tree, the feed box, regaled to a small stable next to an inn, one day found a man and women enter the stable.  The inn was full, and the woman was very pregnant, so the innkeepers let them into the stable - a warm and private respite.  As the woman gave birth to a son and laid him in the manger - angels sang, shepherds and foreign wise men came to pay him homage.  They called the babe King of Kings, and Wonder Counsellor. The tree realized that though he had wanted to be a magnificent treasure chest to carry jewels and gold, instead, he was holding the mightiest treasure the world had ever known.

The second tree, the fishing boat, passed his life in the quiet waters of the Sea of Galilee.  There were no treasures to return, there were no wonders to behold, but fish.  Tons and tons of fish.  Until one day, when a man literally walked across the waters of the sea and got into the boat.  The same man would command the seas to, ‘Peace, be still.’ And they did.  Truly, there was no ship that carried a greater treasure, a greater ruler.

The third tree, who wanted nothing more than to sit on the hill and direct people to God and reveal his wonders, languished in a back stack of rough wood.  Soldiers grabbed him, carried him off, and set him on the back of a man condemned to die.  The man struggled under the weight, until finally, this tree - who wanted to be an object of beauty, was turned into the most hideous sign of the age - a cross, on which a criminal was hung to die.  But this was different - as the man died, the earth shook, the skies opened up, and it was clear…that he held the Son of God, and that forever, he would stand as a symbol of the love of God for eternity, and point the way to heaven.

God grants us each gifts, God grants us each talents, God grants us all faith.  While we are not lifeless like the trees - we have the freedom, like the servants in parable of the talents, to make choices, to use our talents to multiple, or to lose them - we are given the choice, to live, to die, to listen to the word, to make the world a better place.

We have the choice, how will we use our talents? We may not understand why God is directing us, but in the end, if we follow his word, our conscience, our heart, we will be made right - and be called the good and faithful servant.