November 29 Happy New (Church) Year
Happy New Year ... Happy new church
year. Today we
begin a year of reading from Luke’s gospel - and a new church season: Advent,
probably the least understood of all our church seasons. Advent is a time of
preparation ... a time to reflect... a time of waiting - a time for us to focus
our attention on God in a specific way.
The church seasons were established for just that reason - to help us focus.
Many other denominations do not recognize the church seasons. "I just don't
understand this Advent business. You guys play strange music while everyone
else is playing Christmas carols."
Remember in high school we had a period during which
we focused on English .. and
another for algebra, and then another on biology. We were not excluding the
other subjects during those periods, but we needed to focus on one subject at a
time. That is the purpose of the church seasons: to encourage us to focus on a
given aspect of Christianity for a while, and then move on to another aspect.
In the Advent season our primarily focus is Jesus'
arrival in the world - Advent means “arriving” or “coming”. We remember not
only His first arrival or Advent in
An Advent question for each of us is:
How does God become part of your life?
Or, "How did God become part of your
life?" or even, "How will or could God become part of your
life?"
Why is that
question important?
We will all face challenges in our lives - set-backs
or tragedies that really knock us down and test us. Situations we can’t
handle on our own. There’s
the telephone call from your doctor after your physical - or that odd pain in
your chest - or the call from a relative with bad news.
And what do we do at such
moments? Most of us reach out or dig
down for resources to deal with the crisis in an attempt to get back to normal.
Fred Craddock tells of a person who, in time of
crisis, reached down, but had no resources upon which to draw. She was lady from his church who was facing major surgery. Fred visited her in the hospital. She had never been in the hospital before and
was a nervous wreck. She started crying. He prayed with her. By her bed were a stack
of magazines -
In the Peanuts comic strip, Linus
and Lucy are standing at the window looking out at the rain falling. Lucy says
to Linus, "Boy, it’s been raining for days and
days. What if it floods the earth?" Linus, the
resident biblical scholar for the Peanuts, answers, "It will never do
that...in the ninth chapter of Genesis, God promised Noah that would never
happen again, and the sign of the promise is the rainbow." With a smile on
her face, Lucy replies, "Linus, you've taken a
great load off my mind." To which Linus
responds, "Sound theology has a way of doing that."
That’s what the woman in the hospital
needed – sound theology, helpful thoughts about God’s love and power. By coming
to church and Sunday School you are building up a
reservoir of theology, Bible passages, prayers – resources that you can reach
into when life presents an unexpected challenge.
Perhaps we ought to think of church as training,
building up spiritual muscle, to prepare for whatever life throws at us.
The gospel I just read, like all Bibles passages
about the end, are like your alarm clock.
The sound of that alarm clock in the morning isn’t
pleasant, as it rudely jars you from slumber.
It’s a wake up call. Jesus’ words in the gospel today are like
that - their message is disturbing. But that’s why they’re there. Their function is to disturb, to shake up, to blast us into wakefulness.
There will be signs in the sun and
moon and the stars, and on earth distress among nations... People will faint
with fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world... Luke 21:25
Jesus speaks of His second coming in a dramatic
fashion. A wake up
call. The lives you and I know
are not going to go on forever. Advent is a time of waiting not just for the birth
of the Christ child, but it is also a reminder - Christ will come again in
glory to judge us, at a time we don’t expect. Be prepared.
A pastor was watched a TV evangelist hawk a book
about the end of the world. “Buy this book and you will learn how to read the
signs of the times, so you will know that Jesus is coming soon.”
On impulse he called the
800 number on the screen, and asked the representative to please send him the
book for free.
She was sorry she told him, but she couldn’t do that. the book cost 15.95 plus shipping. If he could supply a major
credit card number...
“No. I can’t figure out why you’re asking for money at all. If you really believe Jesus is coming soon
you won’t need money.
You should be giving the books away.
On this first Sunday in Advent, in our first lesson,
the prophet Jeremiah looks ahead to the coming of the Messiah, the Christ. A descendent of mighty King David will come
to his people.
Jesus birth is the fulfillment of that prophecy, and
in the gospel he looks forward to his second coming in
glory. Before he comes, Christ says there will be signs heavens, and on the
earth distress.
When you see these things begin to
take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing
near. 21:28
Decades ago, in the era of the cold war, Americans
feared a missile attack from the
Today, of course that seems absurd. That’s why schools
stopped conducting duck-and-cover drills. Jesus’ advice to his disciples is
just the opposite of duck-and-cover.
Rather than advising them to hunker down in hard times and hope for the
best, he instructs us to “Stand up and raise your heads.” Sounds counter-intuitive.
Who would think of raising their heads when the fury
of judgment day is raging all around? A Christian who
believes God’s promises and knows them to be trustworthy. Jesus tell us all our fears are as nothing
when laid up against the great plans God has for this world and for us.
Despite the chaos in the world and all the anxiety
it produces, the resurrected and glorified Jesus promises to use his Lordship
to set the world to rights once again.
Rather than being a day of despair, it will be a day of hope for it
points to our redemption. When disciples
see these things enfolding before them, they are to remain steadfast in their
faith.
The point is that followers of Jesus are not to
become discouraged, even when they see and experience disturbing events. Because Jesus taught his disciples about
these events before they took place, there is no reason to give in to despair.
And we should not become disheartened
or think that all is lost and life is hopeless. We are not to let the worries
of this life distract us.
Why?
It’s because these kinds of things will come
upon all who live on the face of the earth. 21:35
Instead of saying “Why me? Why is this happening to me?” we
should realize that tragedies befall all of us at one time or another.
Be careful so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and
worries of this life... 21:34
Don’t let your mind and spirit be
weighed down by careless living, drinking, or foolish pursuit of pleasure. And don’t let the
cares of this life burden you. Just keep
working faithfully at the tasks God has given you.
Wake up and be alert at all time, praying that we
may have the strength
v.36
Jesus urges us to keep our heads up and knees bent,
praying for the strength to weather the storm.
Jesus says be alert and pay attention, approaching life with faith,
rather than fear.
The journey
may be tough but it will be as good at the end, because the Lord is ultimately
in change. God will have the last word,
and Jesus will deliver it.
We don’t have to get
everything together on our own. We don’t have to make the world work out right. The Advent
message is that our Lord not only loves us, but also comes to us. God not only cares, but also acts - God not
only hears, but also intervenes.