The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling
Save us and help us, we humbly beseech thee O Lord.
What exactly does it mean to save someone when all seems lost? Is it a matter of parental love like parents who try to save their child from the scourges of mental illness and addictions by pouring time and money and repeated heartbreaks into the hope that redemption will finally come? Does it mean still believing in family and friends when they lie and manipulate you in order to feed their own illnesses and desires? Does it mean watching someone crucify your loved one with nails, knives, and guns and still find a way to forgive them?
I don’t know. It’s too late to ask some people; for they have been slaughtered, murdered, and destroyed by the evil deeds of sick people. And for those of us who are still alive to bear witness to the current world-wide violence headlining our news, when exactly are we “too little too late” in our responses? As the world descends into darkness is all hope for our salvation gone?
The prophet Isaiah, speaking to his people in Israel, paints vivid pictures of what destruction looks like. Perhaps there will be more violence in the end he suggests: “Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense." Tongues hanging out, panting from repeated invasions and wars by foreign countries, the Israelites find themselves in marathons not of their own choosing. According to Isaiah, they have weak hands, feeble knees, and fearful hearts. Are they too exhausted to pray at times like these? Too tired of the “same old same old” of violence that never ceases? Too discouraged to light one more candle?
Who indeed will save us from our insanity?
You know the saying, often referred to as one of the 12 step community refrains: “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Or another favorite of mine is that having expectations is really nurturing premeditated resentments. Indeed anger turned deadly cold leads to resentments that kill. “A refusal to forgive is called a resentment. And the victim of resentment is always the one who carries it. The people we refuse to forgive may neither know nor care about our resentment. To hang on to resentment is to harbor a thief in the heart. By the minute and the hour, resentment steals the joy we could treasure now and remember forever. It pilfers our energy to celebrate life - to face others as messengers of grace rather than ambassadors of doom. We victimize ourselves when we withhold forgiveness. Today, I will remember that forgiveness is a giver and resentment is a taker.” (Today’s Gift, Hazelden Betty Ford, 12/19/25)
So, shall we discard those Advent expectations of hope and joy because nothing has changed and these holy expectations may lead to resentment? Shall we ignore the good news proclaimed over and over again? “"Be strong, do not fear! The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." (Isaiah 35:1-10)
Before we commit once again to God’s promise of salvation we have another question. When exactly will that salvation occur, we demand, as we sing along with the chorus of cynics that surround us? St. Matthew responds in Advent 4’s gospel message. Despite questions of fidelity, Joseph stood by Mary in her distress. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:18-25) And yet, decades and centuries have passed away since then, and still we repeat this same old good news/gospel story: God’s promise of our salvation. Is this insanity?
My grandchildren have found great delight in watching Winnie the Pooh cartoons. Similarly, I take great delight in watching them as well. Oftentimes the message is one about friendship and what it looks like. Sitting on a bench side by side, friends share bits and pieces of their lives: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Like St. Matthew, they suggest that “God is with us” throughout the good, bad, and the ugly. But wait, is that all there is? Is there a time-line limit to our salvation? Does God’s promise have an expiration date like some of the food in our refrigerators?
If I am to remain faithful to my personal, communal, and universal belief in our salvation by God, then I believe that the promise of God not only means companionship and friendship here and now, but a healing and restoration that looks nothing like the insanity of today’s violence and hate. Rather, the salvation of God includes the beautiful images painted by Isaiah 25 and repeated in the Revelation to John. It imagines our arrival on a mountain where there is a feast of well-aged wines and food for all God’s beloved children. Weapons of destruction have been converted into farming tools; lions lie down with lambs, streets are pure gold. God’s love wins both then and there, here and now, and forever after that. For God’s salvation was assured in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus,
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.” (Isaiah 25: 1-10) Even creation rejoices!
“Mind the gap” the conductor will tell people as they leave the train, finally arriving at their final destination, our “grand central station” in the end. Mind the gap I say to myself when I find myself stuck between Advent and Christmas, between despair and hope, between hate and love. Mind the gap I tell myself, when I realize that God’s promise of salvation is somewhere, not only here and now, but somewhere beyond that rainbow, where my tears and your tears have mingled with the bright sunshine of God’s love. Mind the gap reminds me that my expectation will not lead to resentment because God has forgiven us; and God is in the gap!
Mind the gap I tell myself, until we arrive on God’s holy mountain and realize that God has saved us from ourselves.
