Elevator Stories

Isaiah 35:1-10, Matthew 11:2-11
The Rev. Sara Fischer

Go and tell John what you see and hear.

I have occasionally talked to some of you about the concept of an “elevator statement”: You and a stranger get on an elevator at the same time. You are going to the 12th floor; they’re going to 14. As other people are getting on and as the doors close the stranger asks you: Do you believe in God? Do you go to church? Why? I’d love to hear your life story. You can’t tell them your whole faith story from here until the 12th floor, but if you’ve thought about it, you can probably tell them something that will speak to them, that will make them remember what you have to say.

Today’s readings are full of “elevator statements.” Someone 8th-century B.C. Judea asks the prophet Isaiah: what is God going to do with us? How will we get out of the spiritual desert we’re in? What will become of this desperate, broken world where we live in fear of foreign domination, where we are barraged with the false Gods of materialism and power, where we fear we have been abandoned by the God who called us his chosen people? Those are big questions, hardly questions that can be answered in a brief elevator ride. And yet Isaiah does it:

There will be streams running in the desert, waters breaking forth from dry ground, dry grass will become reeds and rushes. The eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame will leap like deer, the speechless will sing for joy. If you want to know more, come be part of a faith community working to quench your thirst for God, feed those who are hungry in body and spirit, and make a difference in the world.

Ding…time to get off the elevator.

Mary, who has just said “Yes” to the angel Gabriel, goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea, and Elizabeth asks: How can this be? To what do I owe this incredible grace that the mother of my Lord should come to me? We all know Mary’s answer to Elizabeth’s question:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. He has done marvelous things, the best is yet to come. In giving us the Savior and choosing someone like me to be his mother, God has lifted up the lowly, scattered the proud, cast down the mighty, filled the hungry with good things, come to the help of his beloved people, and made good on his promise of mercy. If you want to know more, come worship in a community that proclaims God’s greatness every week and tries to live as an instrument of God’s favor with others.

Ding….time to get off.

Jesus’ “elevator statement” in today’s Gospel is particularly poignant, John the Baptist, who is in prison and probably realistic about his prospects for living much longer, wants to know if he was right about Jesus. He was the one to proclaim the coming of the Messiah, but now, in his hour of darkness and vulnerability, he is not so sure. He sends messengers: are you the one? Jesus would probably rather sit down and have a long talk with his cousin about what it means to be the Messiah, how his ministry has been challenged and taken shape since the last time the two met, what his hopes are for the future. But he needs to deliver his message to John in just a few words so that the messenger can get it right. Here’s what he says:

You tell John what you see and hear: the blind now see, the lame are walking, the untouchables are welcomed into our community, those who could not hear can now hear, the dead have come back to life, and the poor are filled with Good News. All the things the prophet Isaiah promised are coming true, so John got it right. You go tell him that, okay?

Ding….

What is your elevator story? What is the short version of the story that connects your life to God’s promise of salvation?

Former slave captain John Newton told his elevator story in a song:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now, I see. ‘Twas Grace that taught...my heart to fear, and Grace, my fears relieved. How precious did that Grace appear...the hour I first believed.

Ding….that’s my stop.

Here’s my elevator story:

When I was a teenager and young adult I had a tough time with just about everything, particularly with alcohol. I probably would have died if God had not intervened and given me a new life, made richer by the suffering I had endured first. When I discovered the Episcopal Church when I was about 24, the story of death, resurrection, and a church gathered together to celebrate resurrection every week with a holy meal not only made sense to me but seemed absolutely necessary to my life. The church where I worship now celebrates resurrection every week with that same holy meal, glorious music, and a community carrying on the work of Jesus in the world. Sundays, 8 and 10 in downtown Milwaukie.

Ding…

What is your elevator story?

I recently came across a website for a movement called “The Advent Conspiracy.” (Anyone seen that?) The Advent Conspiracy is defined as “an international movement restoring the scandal of Christmas by worshipping Jesus through compassion, not consumption.”

The scandal of Christmas. The scandal of Christmas is that the signs of God testified to by Isaiah, by Mary, by John the Baptist, and by Jesus himself, are that everything gets turn upside down. The blind see, the deaf hear, the hungry are fed, the hopeless are filled with hope, slave-ship captains become abolitionists, those that have no faith see a glimmer of light, and the Good News is heard by unlikely people in unlikely places.

Last Sunday, I began by talking about words the Bishop says to the whole Church about the ministry of the whole Church: “All baptized persons are called to make Christ known as Savior and Lord, and to share in the renewing of his world.” One of the ways that we—all of us—can make Christ known and share in the renewing of Christ’s world is to tell our own elevator story, our own experience of the Good News.

Another way is to help to God’s plan of salvation by making the blind see, the deaf hear, and the speechless sing for joy. This is the work of all of us. When Jesus sends the message back to John the Baptist about what has been happening, he does not say: “I am making the deaf hear and the blind receive their sight....” Jesus speaks for the whole community of disciples. So how do we do that? What about a simple act of kindness for someone unlovable, so that they see themselves as a child of God, beloved. This is the kind of scandalous seeing called for in the kingdom of God, seeing the good in others and in ourselves, the kind of seeing that has the power to turn the world upside down. What about speaking words of grace—perhaps your own elevator statement—in such a way that someone who has never heard about God’s grace in that particular way can hear? What about tearing down a crippling barrier so that someone who has always been on the outside can come in?

The big block headline on the Advent Conspiracy home page is “Give life. Coming this Christmas 2007.” Let’s remember this as we move through the last nine days of Advent. Jesus came to give life and Jesus calls us to give life, through finding new ways to see, hear, walk, talk, and live. Jesus came to turn the world upside down. Go and tell what you see and hear.