Seeing Advent Anew: Sermon 12/3/2006
Pastor David Nicol
Jeremiah 33:14-16 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Luke 21:25-36
Wednesday morning at the Buxton Bible Study, I asked the question, “so why do we celebrate Advent?” I think it’s a good question, and if you haven’t heard the plug yet, I’m offering a 4-session Advent study that I think gets to the meaning of Christmas, and should help us understand the two natures of Advent. The easy one to discern for most of us is the preparation for our remembrance of Christ’s coming in Bethlehem. Christmas, sometimes called the Feast of the Nativity or the Feast of the Incarnation celebrates Christ’s becoming human, becoming one of us, because for Christ to be crucified for our sins, he first needed to be born in much the same way all of us were born. The second nature of Advent, which dominates our Scripture readings for most of the four weeks, focuses on Christ’s Second Advent—Christ’s Second Coming. It is in this context that we read today’s scripture lessons.
Jeremiah speaks of the coming of the Day of the Lord, when the Branch sprung from David will rule and all things will be set right. Here we have a vision of what will be when Christ HAS COME in Final Victory, and all things HAVE BEEN set right. This is a brief window of hope wedged into the notoriously dark prophesies of Jeremiah. Jeremiah provided the first jeremiads, but even he was given hope from God. This is the coming Day of the Lord, when all things will be set right, and the Kingdom of God will come.
It can be easy to write-off prophesies that speak of an eventual “Day of the Lord,” that seem to lead to an otherworldly future as irrelevant to our everyday lives, but that’s not what either Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, or what Jesus said in today’s Gospel lesson. Paul, in his first letter to the Thessalonians wrote about the Day of the Lord, but focused on our lives now. “…May he [Jesus] strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones…” Paul wrote. Paul’s exhortation to the church in Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 3:13, remains relevant for us today. The purpose of the coming Day of the Lord, of Christ’s second Advent as Judge, is to set the world right—and that includes us. Paul prayed for the Thessalonians that they might be blameless and holy in the presence of God on that day, because how we live now has great bearing on what will happen to us when Christ comes again. Paul doesn’t bother with details about what the signs of Christ’s coming will be, knowing that our human tendency will be to put off holiness of heart and life until we fear the time is at hand—instead, Paul sets prophecies about Last Things in the proper context: as motivation for Holy Living NOW. Because Jesus is coming, we want to be among the Holy Ones, the Saints…because Jesus is coming, we need to think not only of our own comfort and the pleasures we might offer to our families and friends, but we should consider Advent a reminder to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, heal the sick, and raise those in spiritual death, or who are physically near death due to homelessness or addictions that have ravaged their bodies, minds and souls and kept them from full life to new life in Christ and in Christ’s Body, the Church.
Essentially, Jesus’ message about his own coming, when all “…will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory…” speaks to the same message. If we are not careful, it is easy for us to become fixated on the details of Jesus’ prophecy. When will the time come? What is the meaning of the fig tree? What did Jesus mean when he said: “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken…?”
The truth is, none of this is so simple… Commentators vary in their interpretation of Luke 32-33 “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” What is the precise meaning of “these things,” and who is included in “this generation?” Does “this generation” refer to Israel, the wicked, humanity, or the generation witnessing the end signs? All of these proposals have been offered by numerous scholars, and all could be correct—but the fact of the matter is, whether Katrina is a sign that the Kingdom of God is near, or whether war in Lebanon is a sign that the Kingdom of God is near, or whether unexpected tornadoes, or violent Nor’easters, or tsunamis or earthquakes, or mudslides, or devastating blizzards, or bird flu, or AIDS, or flooding are signs that the Kingdom of God is near, if we are living as Jesus tells us to live, it doesn’t matter!
Regardless of when Jesus might be coming, we are called to be careful not to waste our time or our resources, to avoid drunkenness, not to become overburdened by unnecessary anxieties focused not on God’s Kingdom but on gaining prestige in this life, because if we let this world determine how we should live, if we let the pleasures and enticements of this world determine how we should live, then Jesus warns us that “…that day will close on us suddenly like a trap.”
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, our calling is not an easy one! We are not called to be merely good people, good citizens, and good neighbors, but to be Saints, a Holy people set apart for a Holy God, serving faithfully as Christ’s hands and feet until he comes again! On this first Sunday of Advent, on this first Lord’s Day of a new Christian year, we await not only the celebration of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem long ago, but also Christ’s return in final victory! For some time now, the secular world has been tantalizing us with pre-Christmas sales, trying to draw our attention from our Lord and coming King, to the pleasures of this life. I don’t want to preach against the joy of giving gifts to family and friends—I will do that too, and I’ll enjoy the time together, the feasting, and even the giving and receiving of gifts. What I fear can happen, if we do not stay alert, is that we can easily lose focus on loving our neighbors, not just our families; we can easily lose focus on feeding the hungry, not just our children; we can easily lose focus on clothing the naked, not just those we see in our homes on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning.
Despite what the young children in our midst might believe, the hardest thing this Advent is not likely waiting for Christmas morning, but probably keeping our hearts, minds, and lives holy, as we await the coming of Christ, and offer ourselves as a Holy and Living Sacrifice in union with Christ’s offering for us until he comes again. So, let us be ‘always on watch and pray…that we may be able to stand before the Son of Man.’ It is our task to proclaim the mystery of faith this Advent: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again…”
Jeremiah 33:14-16 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Luke 21:25-36
Wednesday morning at the Buxton Bible Study, I asked the question, “so why do we celebrate Advent?” I think it’s a good question, and if you haven’t heard the plug yet, I’m offering a 4-session Advent study that I think gets to the meaning of Christmas, and should help us understand the two natures of Advent. The easy one to discern for most of us is the preparation for our remembrance of Christ’s coming in Bethlehem. Christmas, sometimes called the Feast of the Nativity or the Feast of the Incarnation celebrates Christ’s becoming human, becoming one of us, because for Christ to be crucified for our sins, he first needed to be born in much the same way all of us were born. The second nature of Advent, which dominates our Scripture readings for most of the four weeks, focuses on Christ’s Second Advent—Christ’s Second Coming. It is in this context that we read today’s scripture lessons.
Jeremiah speaks of the coming of the Day of the Lord, when the Branch sprung from David will rule and all things will be set right. Here we have a vision of what will be when Christ HAS COME in Final Victory, and all things HAVE BEEN set right. This is a brief window of hope wedged into the notoriously dark prophesies of Jeremiah. Jeremiah provided the first jeremiads, but even he was given hope from God. This is the coming Day of the Lord, when all things will be set right, and the Kingdom of God will come.
It can be easy to write-off prophesies that speak of an eventual “Day of the Lord,” that seem to lead to an otherworldly future as irrelevant to our everyday lives, but that’s not what either Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, or what Jesus said in today’s Gospel lesson. Paul, in his first letter to the Thessalonians wrote about the Day of the Lord, but focused on our lives now. “…May he [Jesus] strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones…” Paul wrote. Paul’s exhortation to the church in Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 3:13, remains relevant for us today. The purpose of the coming Day of the Lord, of Christ’s second Advent as Judge, is to set the world right—and that includes us. Paul prayed for the Thessalonians that they might be blameless and holy in the presence of God on that day, because how we live now has great bearing on what will happen to us when Christ comes again. Paul doesn’t bother with details about what the signs of Christ’s coming will be, knowing that our human tendency will be to put off holiness of heart and life until we fear the time is at hand—instead, Paul sets prophecies about Last Things in the proper context: as motivation for Holy Living NOW. Because Jesus is coming, we want to be among the Holy Ones, the Saints…because Jesus is coming, we need to think not only of our own comfort and the pleasures we might offer to our families and friends, but we should consider Advent a reminder to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, heal the sick, and raise those in spiritual death, or who are physically near death due to homelessness or addictions that have ravaged their bodies, minds and souls and kept them from full life to new life in Christ and in Christ’s Body, the Church.
Essentially, Jesus’ message about his own coming, when all “…will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory…” speaks to the same message. If we are not careful, it is easy for us to become fixated on the details of Jesus’ prophecy. When will the time come? What is the meaning of the fig tree? What did Jesus mean when he said: “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken…?”
The truth is, none of this is so simple… Commentators vary in their interpretation of Luke 32-33 “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” What is the precise meaning of “these things,” and who is included in “this generation?” Does “this generation” refer to Israel, the wicked, humanity, or the generation witnessing the end signs? All of these proposals have been offered by numerous scholars, and all could be correct—but the fact of the matter is, whether Katrina is a sign that the Kingdom of God is near, or whether war in Lebanon is a sign that the Kingdom of God is near, or whether unexpected tornadoes, or violent Nor’easters, or tsunamis or earthquakes, or mudslides, or devastating blizzards, or bird flu, or AIDS, or flooding are signs that the Kingdom of God is near, if we are living as Jesus tells us to live, it doesn’t matter!
Regardless of when Jesus might be coming, we are called to be careful not to waste our time or our resources, to avoid drunkenness, not to become overburdened by unnecessary anxieties focused not on God’s Kingdom but on gaining prestige in this life, because if we let this world determine how we should live, if we let the pleasures and enticements of this world determine how we should live, then Jesus warns us that “…that day will close on us suddenly like a trap.”
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, our calling is not an easy one! We are not called to be merely good people, good citizens, and good neighbors, but to be Saints, a Holy people set apart for a Holy God, serving faithfully as Christ’s hands and feet until he comes again! On this first Sunday of Advent, on this first Lord’s Day of a new Christian year, we await not only the celebration of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem long ago, but also Christ’s return in final victory! For some time now, the secular world has been tantalizing us with pre-Christmas sales, trying to draw our attention from our Lord and coming King, to the pleasures of this life. I don’t want to preach against the joy of giving gifts to family and friends—I will do that too, and I’ll enjoy the time together, the feasting, and even the giving and receiving of gifts. What I fear can happen, if we do not stay alert, is that we can easily lose focus on loving our neighbors, not just our families; we can easily lose focus on feeding the hungry, not just our children; we can easily lose focus on clothing the naked, not just those we see in our homes on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning.
Despite what the young children in our midst might believe, the hardest thing this Advent is not likely waiting for Christmas morning, but probably keeping our hearts, minds, and lives holy, as we await the coming of Christ, and offer ourselves as a Holy and Living Sacrifice in union with Christ’s offering for us until he comes again. So, let us be ‘always on watch and pray…that we may be able to stand before the Son of Man.’ It is our task to proclaim the mystery of faith this Advent: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again…”
posted by Rev. David Nicol at 8:13 AM
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