Sunday 2nd December was the first Sunday in advent for 2012. I was asked to preach at the 8.00am service and this is what I shared below.
Advent – The season of preparation which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and in which the church recalls its hope and expectancy in the comings of Christ, past, present and future. The days are often titled Hope, Love, Joy and Peace.
Today is the first Sunday in Advent – Hope.
A time of expectant hope, like Mary, of the birth of Jesus our Saviour and Lord.
Why are these four weeks before Christmas called “Advent”? The term comes from a Latin word (adventus) meaning ‘coming, arrival’. We immediately think it refers to the coming of Jesus at Christmastime and that is correct. But it is not the whole story.
In fact, we can speak of three comings of the Lord and all are referred to in the Scripture readings today.
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Luke 21:25-36
1 Thessalonians 3:11-13
Three ‘comings’
The First Reading from the prophet
Jeremiah refers prophetically to the coming of Jesus, our King and Saviour:
Jeremiah 33: 14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.
Jeremiah 33: 14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.
15 “‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s
line; he will do what is just and right in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety, This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.’
16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety, This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.’
That is the coming of the Child Jesus
in Bethlehem, which we anticipate and prepare for in these four weeks. That is
what we may call the First Coming.
In Luke 21:25-36 Jesus is talking…we
read
25 “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. 26 Men will faint from terror,
apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be
shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in
a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin
to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is
drawing near.”
29 He told them this parable: “Look at
the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you
can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even
so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is
near.
32 “I tell you the truth, this generation
will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven
and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be
weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that
day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. 35 For it will
come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be
always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about
to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
This speaks in ominous terms of the
end of the world and what we refer to as the Second Coming of Jesus at the end of time.
It’s funny how signs continue to be predicted,
watched for and ignored. Jeremiah and Jesus foretold coming events, some which
were quite hopeful while others are more than a little unsettling. And there
were the predictable ones like those seen in nature. We know that as days
become shorter, leaves will fall from branches, winds will increase, skies
darken and the cold of winter will be upon us. But now the leaves are appearing
on the trees and the days are getting longer. But with it comes the dry
scorching heat that can cause drought and crops to perish. Since all of these
are normal, they don’t alarm us in any way. But when we think of end times we
tend to do one of two things: disregard or hunker down in a bunker.
In this passage we must not get lost in all
the dire signs and warnings. The point of them is neither to scare us nor to
lead us astray into calculating particular dates and events. Instead, “when these things begin to take place,
stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near”
(vs. 28). The promise is that in these events, God’s gracious purposes are
being worked out; the divine promises are being kept. Even though it may seem
like the world and our lives are out of control, God’s word of promise is given
to us so that we will not be drawn into despair or cynicism. And God’s word
will not pass away (vs. 33—another promise).
The focus is not on the apocalyptic signs but
on the God who is at work.
It is not on the quality of an individuals
faith or on one’s focused hoping but on the faithfulness of God, who will carry
out the His divine redemption in spite of all we believe we see. The redemption
here in this passage is not thought of primarily as forgiveness of sins but as
rescue from tribulation as God defeats hostile forces.
This is a time not for predicting or trying to
convince the world that the “End is Nigh”, but for testimony (v 13-15). Our
testimony. Such testimony will involve both words and faithful actions of
people like us infected by hope: we will ourselves be signs, our hope will be
contagious, and some around us may also be infected with what is seen in us.
A few years ago, an elderly resident of a
nursing home was found fully dressed sitting expectantly in her chair at
bedtime. The staff person who discovered her chided: “Lucy, what are you doing?
You know it’s time for bed. Now let’s get you into your night gown.”
With a smile on her face, Lucy responded: “No,
I’m waiting for Jesus. He’s coming tonight.”
Following her announcement, the attendant
figuratively rolled her eyes then insisted that Lucy prepare not for Jesus but
for bed. After some resistance, Lucy, the weaker of the two, was forced to give
in, dress in night clothes and get into bed. The staff person left but when she
looked in the room a short time later, Lucy was dead. Her expression was
peaceful for Jesus had, as she earlier predicted, come for her. Then it was
that the attendant realized she had ignored the signs.
We read “Lift up your heads,” “Be always on
the watch,” “Be careful”; these are not merely bits of moral advice from a
great teacher. They are God’s word to all to whom the promises have been given,
to encourage us to hope, prayer, endurance, testimony, and faithful obedience
in the knowledge that our lives have a place in the great purposes of God as
those have been decisively worked out in Jesus Christ.
This then is the Third Coming which forms an important and indispensable link
between the First and Second Comings. That is what is spoken about in the
Reading from 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13
11 Now may our God and Father himself and
our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May the
Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else,
just as ours does for you. 13 May he 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.
It is the welcoming of Jesus into our
lives in the here and now. This is something which should take place every day.
By it we both acknowledge the First Coming of Jesus in Bethlehem and prepare
for the Second Coming at an unknown future date.
The birth of Christ in itself never saved
anyone, but in the whole career of Jesus—his birth, teachings, deeds,
crucifixion, and resurrection—the God of heaven and earth has drawn near to
redeem us, and this work is being carried to completion even now. When we ask
Jesus into our hearts and believe in the promises of redemption and the
forgiveness of sins we are saved.
This message gives the church a “reason for
hope.”
If we want to celebrate the First Coming of
Jesus and prepare for his Second Coming, then the way to do it is to be aware
of his coming into every moment of every day.
In the journey of life be aware of
your surroundings, of the people around you. You may admire the beauty of a
morning sky or the loveliness of trees or buildings you pass on your way. The
journey and the destination are part of our reality. The going is as important
as the arriving and one contributes to the other.
Even though both Jeremiah and Jesus proclaimed
the coming destruction of Jerusalem, they also carried messages of hope. The
end of one era would be followed by a more glorious and peaceful one. Both the
prophet and Jesus called the people to be alert, to pay attention to the signs,
like the fig tree and other trees, around them. There would be grief in one
time followed by joy in another …the time between end times and beginning
times.
According to Jeremiah: “The days are surely
coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of
Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a
righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness
in the land.”
Jesus said: “Now when these things begin to
take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing
near.”
High school English teacher Leonard Beechy
commenting on the lectionary passages for this day thinks of this time between
the first and second comings of Christ as twilight time. Beechy writes, “Celtic
folk called it, the time between the times, the enchanted moments at dusk and
at dawn when the veil between his world and the world beyond us is thin, and we
seem to breathe its air…The church exists to remind us that we live in the time
between the times, between what is dying and what is being born, between the
‘already’ of Christ’s reign and the ‘not yet’ of Advent.” (Leonard Beechy, The
Christian Century, November 17, 2009, p. 21)
Soon the signs of the season will be everywhere.
Banners hang. Trees stand adorned. Lights shine from roof tops and windows.
Music fills the air. We stand in the in-between-time, addressing our
shortcomings, letting go of all that gets in the way of our faith, and
preparing for the beauty that is promised, the Child who will bring new life to
a dying world.
“Be on guard so that your hearts are not
weighed down…with the worries of this life, and that day catch you
unexpectedly…Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to
escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of
Man.”
All scripture is taken from New International Version 1984
All scripture is taken from New International Version 1984
No comments :
Post a Comment