"Bleach Queen, Refining King"

      During this Season of Advent we've been considering scriptures that constitute Handel's Messiah. Next Sunday at the 11:00 service we will have the joy of hearing what the choir has been preparing for several weeks. Today we have a foretaste of it, to help prepare the way for the full offering next week.

      Today we find ourselves listening to the prophet Malachi, whose words provide a bridge between the Old and New Testaments.

      Malachi is a very short book, about two pages in most Bibles. It is the final book in the Old Testament. I encourage you to go home and read it. Malachi means 'my messenger' in Hebrew. The message we hear today focuses on purification. God is going to send a messenger who will purify the people. Listen with me for the Word of God as it comes through the prophet Malachi:

      “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.

      “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

      ‘For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

      It is already the second Sunday of Advent. The Christmas catalogues have been coming since October. We are excited! We look forward to Christmas. Still, we may feel vaguely uneasy, unsure how best to prepare for Jesus in the hustle and bustle of holiday parties, holiday crowds.

      Malachi's message tells us God draws near--- in judgment. Malachi points to the return of the Lord, the return of God's justice. It is a part of Advent we don't often think about. Malachi reminds us, Advent is not just about the arrival of a baby. It is about expecting the return of the Lord, with everything that comes with that.

      Malachi promises a messenger. Who might this be? Christian tradition says John the Baptist, or even Jesus, but here we get ahead of Malachi. Before we get to John, or Jesus, first we have to listen to Malachi.

      “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.

      "Bring him on!" we say. But hold on. Maybe we don't really want the kind of preparations this messenger has in mind. His message may be one we may not want to hear. Malachi goes on to say, "Who is able to stand his awesome presence?" Who can endure the heat of the Lord's gaze? Who can stand the sting of his cleansing process?

      Two images are given to describe the process of purification: fuller's soap and refiner's fire. These two images may need just a little translation.

      A "fuller" is one who occupation was to "full" cloth, to beat it for the purpose of cleansing. So fuller's soap was something that cleanses and purifies. I think a good 21st century translation is: bleach. Bleach purifies, cleanses, whitens, and sanitizes. It is both powerful and toxic. It can be dangerous. Bleach can be used to promote beauty (whitening fabric) and health (killing germs). However, if used incorrectly, it can ruin fabric or, much worse, kill someone.

      Thus, one image---a feminine one---for God's messenger---Bleach Queen. If you don't know what a bleach queen is, well, just ask someone who loves to use bleach in every possible way to clean, sanitize, refresh and renew. Generally these people are women! We know who we are.

      The second image Malachi uses is the refiner. It's a dirty business, refining silver and gold. It's also dangerous business. It's many thousands of years old. Today it is done at huge refineries mainly in the northeast, with chlorine (there's your bleach again!) and chemicals. That is, after the fire. Even the big refineries still use fire as a first step, to burn off impurities.¹ Today, it's big business. But in the time of Malachi, it was craft.

      Thus another image---a masculine one---for God's messenger---the Craftsman Refiner.

      The question before us today on this second Sunday of Advent is: do we want to be cleansed? Are we open to purification? Are we willing to submit ourselves to the Bleach Queen, the Refining King? And if so, how does this happen?

      The short answer is, it happens through the power of God. The power of God pricks our consciences, the power of God acts through beloved friends or family, the power of God sets particular circumstances or challenges our way, the power of God even acts through the various avenues in the church: through worship, preaching, teaching, mission, support and care of church members one for another. There is even such a thing as church discipline, which is practically nonexistent in today's world.

      If we are honest with ourselves, we do not welcome the corrective, purifying power of God. We bristle at "constructive criticism;" we shun discipline. We avoid people who don't wholeheartedly agree with us. We resist the bleach queen, or the refining king, in whatever guise they appear. We resist in part because we think it is negative to be judged. We overlook the possibility of great positive change that can happen with a good judge. People can change. People do change. Sometimes the change is dramatic and obvious. More often, it is slow, bit by bit. Sometimes change is relatively easy, more often, it is difficult, painful, effortful.

      God judges us because God desires to shape and mold us. God's judgment is a life-long process of transformation. God's judgment will not destroy us, though it may hurt. The good judge shapes us---by telling the truth in love.

      You know as well as I that it is the people who call us on our bad behavior who love us the most. The one who says, "Dad, I am worried about your drinking." "Mom, you're spending way too much time with negative people." "Son, we need to talk about the friends you've been hanging out with, and what you've been doing." "Daughter, I hate to see what is happening to you." "Friend, I think you are in over your head."

      God works through these painful correctives and confrontations.

      We have to know God is not just looking to purify for the sake of purity. He intends to shape us into his treasure. God calls us his "treasured possession" time and again in the Old Testament (Exod 19:5 Deu 7:6, 14:2, 26:18). He gives us rules in order to mold us (Exod 19:3). He boldly confronts liars, adulterers, those who take advantage of others, those who ignore the needy, those who are too self-focused. God is a merciless bleach queen, a relentless refining king. Why? Because God loves us.

      A little later in Malachi, it says "They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, On the day that I make them my jewels" (Mal 3:17, KJV). God's jewels. Is this how we see ourselves?

      I think not. Not usually.

      Malachi gives us the image of the refiner working the raw material. These precious metals will become even more precious after they have been through the fire. The Master Crafter, Yahweh, bends over his work. Sweat pours from his brow. His whole being is clenched in concentration. He works the precious metals; the fire makes them pure. The intense heat removes the part that is not silver. The trash (the lying, the cheating, the pride, the laziness) is thrown into the slag heap, leaving a shiny molten mirrored surface. Leaving a treasure to be molded into something beautiful. A jewel. A silver cup of blessing, a wedding ring.

      The refining process leaves a glowing bit of molten metal. There is a dramatic moment when the refiner knows that all dross is gone from the silver. Peering over it, the silver suddenly becomes a liquid mirror in which the image of the refiner is reflected. Then, he knows his task is done.

      The image of the Refining King is reflected as in a mirror. The mirror which is us. Created in the image of the bleach queen, the refining king. Then, and only then, God knows his work is done.

      Sitting on this side of Christmas, we cannot help but look at the final book of the Old Testament as we peer through the doorway of the stable, as we squint toward the shadow of the cross. We cannot help but see the vaguest outline of God's revelation waiting to unfold. We cannot help but hear the whisper of John, "His love is perfected in us" (1 John 4:12).

      Because, you see, the Refining King, the Bleach Queen, sends an Apprentice. An Apprentice who is just like the Master. Who loves the image of himself reflected in the stuff of creation that is us. The Apprentice who himself becomes the stuff of creation, LIKE US, in all things, but for the slag, the dross. The Apprentice who first walks through the hot refining fire ahead of us, who comes out on the other side, and who calls to us, "Come. Let me see myself in you."