Kingdom Glasses - Second Sunday of Advent
Author: Pastor Carolyn Hetrick
December 07, 2025
I did a lot of my growing up in Pittsburgh where old-timers
would talk about how during and after the Second World War, the air was so
dirty from all the industry that you could scarcely see sometimes. It could
look like dusk in the middle of the day. Businessmen would take a second white
dress shirt with them because after you went outside at lunch, your shirt was
gray. Even your glasses were grimy. If you’ve ever had dirty glasses, or even a
dirty window, you know that what you see is different when it is clouded.
When my family was moving to Pittsburgh in the early
1970’s, outsiders would tell us “You’re moving to The Smoky City” even though
by then the air quality was a lot less smog filled. It was still smoky some
days in some places though, so the local radio station gave the traffic report
in the morning and also the Air Quality index by neighborhood and type of
particulate based upon what different steel mills were doing. People were
prepared to expect this, but they didn’t stop working. They just re-set and carried
on. Things were changing. Not all at once, but over time. Some folks outside of
the area still held onto the old vision of a Smoky City. Finally, one day in
1988 as I was commuting to law school, I listened to the traffax report and
then…nothing. No Air quality report at all. As good as that news was in one
way, no people had to prepare for what happens after steel ends. New wondering
and new journeys. A time to clean our glasses so to speak for the perspective
needed in a new time.
Both the gospel and Isaiah are trying to shift people’s
perspectives, preparing them to live into new visions. We say that Isaiah’s
prophecy was fulfilled in the coming of Christ. Until that time, the prophet
was encouraging people to see things growing even in the smallest ways. John
the Baptist encourages people to reorient how they see themselves, God and the
world. To prepare them to see anew, to see Jesus, John spoke of the kingdom of
heaven, of God, coming near. Turn your vision that way. Get rid of what is
obscuring your focus.
Some began to see it sooner than others. Some never really
did.
Years ago, when I took youth to the ELCA Youth Gathering
in Houston, one of our lessons to prepare to travel, learn, worship and serve
was the image of “kingdom glasses.” You put on your “kingdom glasses” to see
like Jesus sees. It was a way of teaching and realizing we can see the world in
different ways.
Our glasses were intended to prepare us to see and work
for the kingdom of God that is now already here. To experience, embody, embrace
and express what God’s vision of the kingdom looks like and is. Christ is in
our midst, in us and in each other.
In real life, sometimes our glasses will get dirty and
sometimes we don’t even think we need glasses. Like the religious leaders in
the gospel.
Growing up, I remember how hard I tried not to get glasses
and the adjusting it took when I did. Let’s be honest, seeing with new vision
takes work. In the time of Scripture and when we are wondering today and asked
to see anew, there are some common questions about what we should expect: Whose
kingdom is coming?
Can we let go of what is out of focus to see
more clearly?
Is the kingdom we profess one of a God of grace and mercy
and life who wants to raise us up? Or a God whose destructive judgementalism and
leaders whose deception destines people to continue to be weighed down?
This is where the clash of words of John the Baptist and
the leaders need a little unpacking. Any sentence that starts with “you brood
of vipers” acts a certain way. John is not directing this language to those who
are longing for a savior. He’s speaking to those who claim to follow God, but whose
legalistic ways keep many outside of experiencing God’s love. Part of preparing
the way is getting rid of clutter that keeps people from seeing God rightly. Unfortunately,
John’s way of speaking to those who are looking to undo his ministry can be
mistaken as words to throw around at anyone. His getting spicy with the leaders
is not intended to be what we hurl today. But there will be times that God
might remind us we have lost our way and it is time to use our glasses anew.
We can all be led to see the world and our Savior from a
vengeful point of view. It’s easier. But God doesn’t want us to stay there and
in fact calls us to turn away. Turn your vision this way instead and see God’s
heart rightly. It is always a heart of love even when God earnestly longs for
us to course correct.
Our focus point is the work of the cross. We “Advent” if
you will, in light of the cross which assures us that the kingdom of God is
here. It’s not that Jesus was near back then and now is not, and that somehow
until Jesus returns, good luck. The kingdom is greater than that- the one whose
birth we celebrate is of a God who set no limits on being God with Us. We are
being prepared to look for God’s presence, to perceive this kingdom and to
point others to it. Turn your vision this way.
As Pastor Schul shared last week, we believe that there
are three kinds of Advent- three ways Jesus is coming. We are preparing to see
each of them. Bernard of Clairvaux noted that the first Advent is Jesus coming
to us embodied in human flesh and in weakness. We look to remember his birth
and prepare to celebrate. And the Third Advent is that Christ returns in glory
and majesty to bring heaven to earth. The second Advent is that Jesus comes to
us in the here and now in spirit and in power. Let God clear away what obscures
your focus. This is what John the Baptist spoke of.
In Pittsburgh, some couldn’t wait for the air to clear,
but then folks had to learn how to live no longer bound by the reality of
industry in a new part of the story. Like a Second Advent. This is Advent for
us today, where Christ presence in our souls, now depends upon our present
recognition of the passage of Christ through our world and through our lives. [1] Every day we are traveling on the way which will sometimes feel like blessed
celebration and sometimes like wilderness. Where we will be captivated by even
the smallest shoot of new life, and at other moments feel like we see nothing, and
let others to tell us who is to blame.
One of the best ways we can get the re-set and re-focus
we need to walk faithfully while waiting, to clean our glasses or remember to
put them on, is to worship. Not worship where everything must be just so, with
a death glare if it is not. Where we come away and all kinds of us show up.
Those who are nailing it and those who are really making a mess. Those who are
eager to work for new life and those who seem like they will do anything to
stop growth. Those who see Christ and those who sure wish they could. We are
all here to experience Advent together. And by the power of the Spirit we are
being called close and reminded that while the kingdom may not be fully here in
every way, it may be near enough, and is, for us to see the clearing and follow
the light of Christ.
Copyright Rev. Carolyn K. Hetrick, 2025 All rights
reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written
permission.
Citations
[1] Diana Butler Bass, A Beautiful Year: Meditations on Faith, Wisdom and Perseverance, MacMillan Publishers (2025)
Sermon Texts: Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12
1 In
those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea,
proclaiming, 2 “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This
is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’ ”
4 Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a
leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then
Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to
him, 6 and they were baptized by
him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the
Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of
vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore,
bear fruit worthy of repentance, 9 and
do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I
tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even
now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does
not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I
baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is
more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His
winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will
gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable
fire.”
Isaiah 11:1-10
1 A
shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest
on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight shall be in the fear of
the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see
or decide by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge for the
poor
and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his
waist
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb;
the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of
the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 On that day the root of
Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him,
and his dwelling shall be glorious.
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