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More or Less – A Sermon on who we are during Advent
More or Less
Matthew 11:2-15
† Jesus, Son & Savior †
As we continue our journey through Advent, my you be blessed knowing that neither God’s grace, nor His presence will ever be far from you…
Some Concern
As we hear about John sending His disciples to ask Jesus if He is truly the Christ, the Messiah, the one Chosen and set apart to save humanity, there is both comfort and concern.
The comfort comes from knowing that John’s faith was challenged, even as my faith waivers now and then. Perhaps more often it is now rather than then.
It is not uncommon to know that feeling that leads to John sending out his people to ask. Even though John knew in the womb that Jesus was the Messiah, even though John saw the Holy Spirit and Heard the Father’s voice when Jesus was baptized. Even though we sing John’s song, the words he said the day after the baptism –
“There is the Lamb of God! He who takes away the sins of the world!”
Now I can hear John crying out the words added to that liturgical hymn…. “Lord, grant me peace.”
That’s really what is behind his question about whether Jesus is the Messiah. As John sits in the dark, dank jail cell, with breaks only to confront the man who is sinning, sleeping with his brother’s wife.
“Jesus, are you truly the Messiah or do I need to find peace somewhere else.”
It’s comforting to know I am not the only one to ask that… it’s concerning because if John’s faith couldn’t withstand the challenges of life,
how can mine…?
Compared to this greatest of the prophets, the man who testified about Jesus while in his mother’s womb…. Who are you and me?
And how can we have the faith to endure?
More Concern
As the gospel goes on, as we read the words St Matthew, the insignificance of my faith seems to multiply.
As John’s disciples leave, Jesus starts to praise John to the crowds.
John wasn’t weak and hollow like a willow reed. He wasn’t spun around easily by life, or bent and broken by the storms. He wasn’t a fashion plate, he wasn’t rich and famous, yet people flocked to hear him speak, which tells us he was not just a powerful speaker, he had a message that people needed to hear, and desired too, even if it was painful!
He was a prophet, and more than a prophet.
And people came to hear him, they couldn’t stop themselves.
Jesus says that as great as John was, and no who has ever been born is greater, he can’t be compared to the least in the kingdom of God.
Ouch.
What hope does that give us?
How do we compare to the prophets of prophets?
How can he who is so much more than us, and so much less than them… Hearing that, how do we know joy, on this third day of Advent?
Listening and Understanding
To understand this, we have to listen to Jesus,
He says, about John being the fulfillment of the promise of Elijah’s return, that those who have ears to hear should listen and understand.
Understand what?
That he is our Messiah. Just as He was John’s.
It’s the same answer, the answer to John, and the answer those who listen and hear.
Hear the answer to John again,
the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. 6 And tell him, ‘God blesses those who do not turn away because of me.*.’ ”
It took me a while to see it, but the answers are the same – and the challenge is seeing that Jesus is the Messiah.
Not just the He is here to save the world,
He is here to bring you and me, and every other broken person we know, into the Kingdom of God.
For those He heals and cleanses, the poor souls that hear the gospel, the good news, and cling to Him, they are the ones dwelling in the Kingdom of God.
They are those who are greater in faith than John the Baptist. “They” includes you and me.
That’s you and me, for we depend on the promises of God, that He will never leave or forsake us, that He will let nothing divided us from His love.
You and I have been raised to life with Christ, we dwell with Him.
We dwell in God’s kingdom by His invitation, by His declaration.
So we are more, even as we see ourselves as less.
We need to know this, we need to count on the fact that we are children Of God. We live in His kingdom, we can’t run from Him, because He abides within us.
He is here, he dwells with you, and though we can’t sustain our faith based on our observations, He sustains us anyway. That is why He came. That is why John/Elijah came and set up his ministry.
That is why Jesus points to his ministry, and the important prophecy about Elijah’s return, these all point to Jesus’ role as the Messiah. They point to His role as the one God sends to restore His people, to give up His life, to redeem us from the bondage of sin, to make us pure and holy in the Father’s eyes.
As the Messiah – as He is lifted up on the cross, he draws us into the Kingdom of Heaven, we become its citizens, we become the children of the King.
We are there, secure in Him, our hearts, our souls, our faith, and trust sustained, even on the dark days, for it is about His strength, His power, His love…
Love that never fades…Love that provides peace, and comfort, and when we see Him providing that love, we even know the joy that shatters the darkness. Love that we can see, through the word, as He reveals Himself in the sacrament, as He renews our spirits.
AMEN!
Loving God With All Your Soul – The Blessing of the Incarnation.
Loving God with All Your Soul– the Blessing of Incarnation
Isaiah 61:1-10
† I.H.S. †
May Jesus’s incarnation in your life be so real, so tangible that your love for Him grows with every breath you take!
My eyes are dry…the broken soul
It seems that many people this year would describe themselves with one word.
Tired.
There may be some factors that cause us to be so weary, so many it seems like all we do is go from trial to trauma, from prayer request to prayer request. And as we talked about hearts being broken and needing Christ’s healing presence last week, the song talks about another part of us that is just worn down.
Our souls.
The part of us, that inner part that provides our courage, our character, our desire and the holiness that we need to walk through life in love with God, and to love our neighbor.
As we look at loving God as He asks, with all our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength, this one is hard.
When our soul is weary, when it is worn and broken, we hear the encouragement to love God, and we think about trying, and our soul cries out,
I’ve got nuthin. Nuthin.
It’s that dryness that causes us to wonder why we pray, or if God is listening, or if He cares at all. It is that dryness that causes us a spiritual exhaustion that robs us of hope, and leaves us thinking we still abide in the darkness.
He incarnation changes us… it dresses us.
Which is why we need to think about the incarnation, not just the incarnation when Mary is carrying Jesus in the womb, although contemplating that helps us contemplate His incarnation into our lives.
He came then, and angels sang. They sing as well as Jesus draws us into Himself on the cross, taking all of our sins into Himself, and cleansing us of it. He takes that dryness as well, as we understand the cross, as we understand he is not distant. He is here.
Isaiah’s second reading now makes sense –
I rejoice Heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul!
We are in Him, we abide in Him, and as we realize this, everything begins to change as well.
This is the joy we find in Advent, the restoration of our soul when we realize that Holy Spirit is there, despite our dryness, that He is here to comfort us, to restore us, to translate our prayers as Paul tells the church.
26 In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. 27 And God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his will. 28 We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose. Romans 8:26-30 (TEV)
See that?
So, even in those periods where we aren’t sure if God is listening, He is listening. Hearing and responding to the deepest cries of our heart. Even when we don’t know what to say. Even when we are too dry to say anything.
He is with us, He is here, ministering to us, assuring us of His presence. Using speed bumps to help us slow down, and know He is God, and He cares. As we realize this – so much happens, our souls come alive, as we realize His power saving us, as we are dressed in His righteousness, as He treats us as His beloved bride. Our reaction, from the deepest part of our soul, is to love Him back… with all we are.
This is why our services include the Lord’s Supper, even before our eating dinner.
Because as we commune we stop and we find ourselves giving Him everything, our burdens, our anxieties, our fears, our sins, our dryness. In his presence they actually fall off us, God removes them…as we stop and receive His blessed Body and Blood, given to us, His beloved, which strengthens our faith, helps us to depend on Him all the more, and dwell in peace. AMEN!
Where One Finds Hope….
Devotional Thought of the Day:
30 And why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour? 31 For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you. 32 And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus—if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!” 33 Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all. 1 Corinthians 15:30-34 (NLT)
Heaven, then, is none other than the certainty that God is great enough to have room even for us insignificant mortals. Nothing that we treasure or value will be destroyed. As we ponder all this, let us ask the Lord on this day to open our eyes ever more fully to it; to make us not only people of faith but also people of hope, who do not look to the past but rather build for today and tomorrow a world that is open to God. Let us ask him to make us who believe happy individuals who, amid the stress of daily living, catch a glimpse of the beauty of the world to come and who live, believe, and hope in this certainty. (1)
These days, from just after Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve are called the season of Advent, the time where we wait for the second coming of Jesus, and eternity to be revealed.
It is a time of hope, of expectation.
Time we need, for many of us are experiencing a time of life that seems hard, and one without any form of hope.
Advent is not the answer to the hopelessness in and of itself. It simply seeks to remind us of the hope. It is a time where we go through, recognizing our need for hope, our need for something more, that this life is not all there is.
When we know there is something, we learn to wait for it, fully expectant in the promises of God. That hope gives us the ability to depend on God for the strength to endure.
For heaven is waiting, the place we can’t describe, yet what we know is enough. For we will be with the one who loves us! As Pope Benedict points out, this gives us a sense of happiness, a sense of joy, even amid the stress of daily living.
Which is why the Lord’s Supper is the ultimate moment in Advent. It is that piercing the curtain between our mortality and our immortality. The Body and Blood of Jesus, a feast that God our Father serves us, is the moment we find ourselves in His presence so clearly, so completely. From that moment, as with our baptism, the hope of heaven is more than a dream, it is real, the presence of God quite tangible.
Which is the point of Advent, amid the stress of life, as it seems we are in the midst of darkness, affected by disease, division, depression and even death; it is then these extra moments, assuring us of God’s promises, and His faithfulness, are so needed.
This is life, as we don’t just walk with God, we let Him carry us… and safe in His arms, expecting a new day, we find peace.
(1) Ratzinger, Joseph. Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Ed. Irene Grassl. Trans. Mary Frances McCarthy and Lothar Krauth. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992. Print.
Ready, Are We? A Sermon on life as We Await Jesus’ Return
Ready, Are We?
Matthew 24:36-44
†I.H.S.†
As you encounter the grace, the mercy, and love of God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ, may your desire to experience His presence grow, as will your desire for Jesus to come again!
2 A.M. Somewhere….
Most of us picture Jesus returning based on a passage in First Thessalonians,
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NLT)
We see him, His long hair and robes flowing in the wind, his hand stretched out and a look of pure serenity on His face, with just a few high clouds in the sky, and the sun shining brightly, but no obscuring his glory.
But did you ever think – that somewhere when he returns – it will be 2 a.m in the morning? That somewhere people will be sound asleep; and in another home, a mom will be feeding her baby, as some will be taking their delivery trucks out, as bars and clubs close.
And somewhere, in the midst of their lives, at some time of the day or night, some people will be engaged in sin. Someone will be cursing using God’s name, and another forgetting to pray for an enemy. Someone will be killing with physical weapons, and others simply using their words to do damage as significant. Some will be committing adultery, and others gossiping., and some, just struggling to depend on God who they can’t see.
And out of the clouds, whether 2 p.m., 2 a.m. Jesus will return.
Our gospel tells us we must be ready always, for Jesus will not only return, but he will also return when you least expect it.
So as I share God’s love this morning, I want you to think about a couple of questions.
First – Do you care?
The first is challenging, well, they both are. But here is the first question:
Do you, or do you think the church cares about whether Jesus is coming back?
Is it on your radar at all? Do you wake up in the morning, and wonder if this will be the day? Do we ever consider it given our decisions to do this or that?
Do we even think about Jesus coming back?
Think about that for a moment.
second – why?
if you do think about Jesus returning, the second question comes into play.
Why do you want Him to return?
Is it to escape the pressure and depression that this world and the evil in it causes? I have to admit; there are days I don’t want to hear any news, to see any headlines.
Is it to stop having to struggle with life and the complications we have in our lives? Complications like aging and sick bodies, challenged relationships. ( Great line from Skorpion – Thanksgiving is about having meals with people we don’t get along with the rest of the year!)
Is it to stop having to deal with our sin, our guilt, shame, brokenness?
When we pray for Jesus to return – is it to be rescued from something, or to be delivered into the presence of God?
That’s what the issues were in Noah’s day, they forgot about the presence of God in their lives, and they lived life without thinking about God.
And to be honest, many of us get trapped in the same kind of life.
Unaware of God, and only turning to Him to be rescued.
Walking with Jesus is much, so much more meaningful than that. Eternity will be so much more than simply being free of the crap of this world! Eternity with God is dwelling with Him, in the purest peace, the most mindblowing joy, in fellowship divine.
It is to live, as we are being drawn into the glory of God…..
And it will happen… sooner than we have prepared for…
Ready, Are we?
SO then, the questions change a little….
How do we get ready for Jesus to return?
We turn to the words of Paul in the epistle…
12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes,
This speaks of two things – first our baptism, and the incredible work of God that started there, as God cleanses us from all our sin, just as He promises. But it also speaks of repentance – the continuing action of our being transformed – what we see when we confess our sins and expect God to keep His promise there as we and then the question of how we stay read
14 Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this speaks of baptism too – as God the Father clothes us in Christ’s righteousness, in His holiness. As we see the work of God drawing us closer, and it is so incredible, so peaceful and so joyous that we begin to desire it more and more.
And we see that not only in baptism, but here as we kneel, as we receive Christ, as we have a glimpse at our relationship with God, and the height and depth, the breadth and width of His love for us, this endless joyous love.
Advent? TO desire Jesus presence, to have nothing hindering it, not guilt, no shame, no brokenness, this is what advent is about – and why we desire Him to return…
And may that desire grow – as you know His love, as you dwell in His peace.
AMEN!
Are You Ready for….What are we getting ready for?
Devotional & Discussion Thought of the Day:
37 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. 38 In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. 39 People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes. Matthew 24:37-39 (NLT)
50 Just as God’s name is holy in itself and yet we pray that it may be holy among us, so also his kingdom comes of itself without our prayer and yet we pray that it may come to us. That is, we ask that it may prevail among us and with us, so that we may be a part of those among whom his name is hallowed and his kingdom flourishes.
51 What is the kingdom of God? Answer: Simply what we learned in the Creed, namely, that God sent his Son, Christ our Lord, into the world to redeem and deliver us from the power of the devil and to bring us to himself and rule us as a king of righteousness, life, and salvation against sin, death, and an evil conscience. To this end he also gave his Holy Spirit to teach us this through his holy Word and to enlighten and strengthen us in faith by his power.
This word of promise and joy thus turns into a question for us, making visible the challenge and meaning of Advent. Only when all flesh beholds God is his coming complete; the new heavens and the new earth can come about only when available to all. This word constantly intends to open the heart of Christianity, indeed our own heart. Adveniat Kingdom tuum [thy Kingdom come]—this plea of Advent, put on our lips by the Lord himself, is prayed by us correctly only if we allow it to transform us; if we let it open us up to all of God’s children, all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
As many of us prepare for Christmas, for the parties, as we gather gifts, even as we get ready for the abundance of church services over the next week, we may hear the following question.
Are you ready?
We get nervous, for most of the time we are not ready, otherwise the concerned friend wouldn’t wouldn’t recognize the fear and anxiety that has gripped our very lives.
The problem is we are getting ready for the wrong thing. We are, like one Ebenezer Scrooge, trying to deal with Christmas past and Christmas present, and not looking not to Christmas future, but the Advent of Christ in our future. We are like the people in Noah’s day, not always doing things outside of “normal” life, but not questioning what normal life should be.
How many of us have given any thought to Christ’s return since Thanksgiving? How many of us have seriously considered whether our lives are being focused on that time, of the Christ-mass – the gathering of Christ that will happen on that day.
We can’t run around to prepare for it. We can’t check out all the stores; we can’t do anything special to prepare for His coming. Matter of fact, if we are trying to do something special, we’re are even less prepared. For being ready for Christ’s second coming isn’t a special event, it is life itself. Life abiding in the presence of God. Life being comforted and lifted up by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Life as Joseph Ratzinger, who would become Pope Benedict XVI, described so well in the green quote above. A desire for God’s kingdom, His reign to come to all, a prayer of desire and desperation, a prayer born in brokenness. Our individual brokenness, our communal brokenness.
Luther agrees of course, as he notes that the reason Christ came was to bring us to the Father. And the Holy Spirit is given to reveal this to us, and support us in the life that is until we see God face to glorious Face.
When we consider the normal life in view of Jesus’ return, in view of death for those who are not here, we end up depending on God in a far different way. Our life is transformed by the His love, as we look forward with expectation, as we look forward with joy, as we trust in Him, and we are filled with life.
This is why we ask are we ready. Not to stress us more, but to cause us to be still, and know He is God, that He is our refuge, our sanctuary, our life.
May your normal life find you not just ready, but desiring His return, and the homecoming that follows. AMEN †
Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (pp. 426–427). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (I. Grassl, Ed., M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans.) (p. 399). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
3rd Week of Advent: He Gathers Us!
He Will Do All the Good Things He has promised!
He will gather (JOY)
Zephaniah 3:14–20
† I.H.S. †
I pray that the mercy of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ so overwhelm you, that all you can do is rejoice as you think of His coming…even as God does!
How Can I….Know this Joy
A pastor once wrote,
Day by day we encounter the world of visible things. It assaults us through billboards, broadcasts, traffic, and all the activities of daily life, to such an enormous extent that we are tempted to assume there is nothing else but this[i]
Sometimes I feel like that, like all of world that I encounter wants to assault me, attack me, trample all over me.
I so understand those words, that we assume there is nothing else but this….
struggle.
And this week, when the darkness of the dark “blue” weeks of Advent are interrupted, as if a hint of a new day were peaking through, even as the darkness still threatens, we are encouraged to rejoice. Not just look forward to the day of rejoicing… but to rejoice.
Now, today, even as we struggle with world events, with national and local problems; as we struggle with our finances, or families or maybe it is just our personal struggles, we are urged to sing and shout praises, to be glad and rejoice with everything in our hearts and minds and souls. We are called to cheer up, and not be afraid.
Thank God that He gives us a reason too…
Are We?
The people that rejoice in the presence of God are described in the following ways,
Those who need to be calmed, for they are afraid and anxious,
Those who mourn as they consider the state of appointed festivals like Christmas, and how they have become less about God and His people.
The people who will rejoice are those who are oppressed, to those who are weak and helpless.
Those who were chased away, or exiled.
This is referring to those who were run out of the camp in the days of the Exodus, who were cut off from the people of God because of their sin, yet will be welcomed back and restored.
Those who were exiled because of their sin and shame, for they too will be drawn back by God and restored.
Yeah, those who will rejoice in Jesus’s coming will include those who are burdened by shame and guilt, but who will be called by a new name, who will be given a new name, whose life will be restored. The prodigals who return, those crushed by their sin. For that is what Jesus does, as He was lifted up on the cross.
Lifted there because Jesus wasn’t just called a friend to tax collectors and sinners, He is a friend to them. And lifted up on the cross, the very image of God’s mercy and grace, He draws people to Him, as He desires.
Gather, for the Lord Will Live Among US
The pastor quoted earlier, who talked about the world assaulting us, following those words with these,
One single soul, in Pascal’s beautiful words, (your soul) is worth more (to God) than the entire visible universe. But in order to have a living awareness of this, we need conversion, we need to turn around inside, as it were, to overcome the illusion of what is visible, and to develop the feeling, the ears and the eyes, for what is invisible. This has to be more important than anything that bombards us day after day with such exaggerated urgency. Metanoeite: change your attitude, so that you may see God’s presence in the world—change your attitude, so that God may dwell in you and, through you, in the world.
There is the key to seeing where our joy comes from, in the midst of a world that will try to make life a living hell.
Realizing the worth of a single soul, your soul, to God.
And that is why we are gathered by God together. For in this Old Testament prophecy, over and over it mentions this promise – six times! – the fact that God will gather His people together, that He will make things right, and twice more just so we understand, he explains that happens as God lives in the midst of His people.
God living among His people
God gathering His people together
God living among His people
23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 1:23 (NLT)
The apostle John said it this way,
14 The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father’s only Son. John 1:14 (TEV)
and
The hardest thing to get theologically is a concept known as “now, and not yet.”
Jesus has been lifted up, He has drawn us into Himself in His death, and in our baptism, bringing us into life everlasting. We celebrate now the feast that is the first taste of the feast to come. We can live free of the guilt and shame, free of what separated us from God.
We don’t see it yet, but we get glimpses of it. As we gather, and as we do, our hearts should cry out His praises, for He is our Savior. And I want you to hear one more “now and not yet
For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
Know this, like the prodigal’s father, our Father rejoices as we are gathered into His presence… that is His love and mercy… AMEN!
[i] Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans., I. Grassl, Ed.) (p. 391). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
He Will Refine Us! An Advent Sermon
This sermon can be heard at https://youtu.be/Jmc2Pt_Be0M
He Will Do All the Good Things He Promised!
He Will Refine!
Malachi 3:1-7b
† I.H.S †
May the blessing of God’s grace, the mercy, love and peace you should know, become more and more real as we expect the glory of His coming!
How Can we return if we’ve never left?
In less than a month, many people will make resolutions. My gym will probably go from the four that were there yesterday morning to fifty or so. Diet companies will push their solutions to our weight problems, people will join 12 step programs, and perhaps a few more people will try church.
I was thinking about that, what if resolutions came out of our evaluation of our lives during advent. For that is one of the purposes, you know, to take a inventory of our lives, of our behaviors, thoughts and deeds of the last year.
How many times did we trust in our man-made gods rather than Jesus?
How many times did we let our covetous, our jealousy, greed and desire cause us to damage relationships with those we are called to love?
How many times were we unfaithful in our thoughts or words, or in those thoughts and words damage each other, or killing others reputation by talking about them behind their back?
Could we blindly say what the people in Malachi’s day said?
“How can we return to God, if we have never gone away from Him?”
Do we deny that we need God working in our lives, not just working to bless, but working to heal, to cleanse, to refine us into the image of His Son, prior to Jesus return?
If we say we are not sinners we are liars we confessed early. Do we mean it?
Or do we think everything is good and holy in our lives?
Do we tolerate injustice, do we practice it?
The prophet Malachi gives a few examples of things people do, while claiming they are God’s people,
5 “At that time I will put you on trial. I am eager to witness against all sorcerers and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people do not fear me,”
Do we do any of these things? Very few of us may admit to doing sorcery, but what about the other things on the list? Are we only counting actions? What about words or even our thoughts?
John the Baptist talked of this same attitude, when he called out the crowds for there sin,
Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.
It doesn’t matter what we claim, whether we think we are God’s people because we are American, or because we vote the right way, or even because we go to church and have the right name on the church, and can say the right things when asked what we believe about the Trinity, or Communion, or how the end times will come to occur.
You see, everyone sins, that is a simple fact. The excuse given by the people of Malachi about not wandering off from God is either done in ignorance, or in denial.
Either way, if we say we haven’t sinned, the is nothing we should expect from God, nothing to give us hope. No wonder Malachi says,
The messenger of the covenant, (talking of the Messiah) whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 2 “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears?
But if we do confess, if we do acknowledge our sin, there is hope, for we can expect that which God promises.
Our hope… His patience and promise!
Remember our theme, from last week,
14 “The day will come, says the Lord, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good things I have promised them.
Hear again from this week,
“I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed. 7 Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,”
God could, and some say He should destroy evil Especially this week, as our thoughts and prayers have surrounded people, friends and friends of friends, who have been effected by evil. Who have had to deal with grief in ways we say no one should. Not that any grievous situation is one we welcome.
But God is patient, Peter’s epistle tells us so that none perish, but that all come to the transformation that we call repentance.
For repentance is not just feeling sorry, or confessing the sins, it is a change, of heart, of mind.
A change that is the greatest part of the promise,
The promise today – refining!
For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. 3 He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord.
God will purify us, God will make us holy, God will transform us into the image of Christ. He will burn away that dross, and make us so clean that we can offer acceptable sacrifices to God. This idea of God refining us isn’t a simple one second change, but means He has to apply the heat in such a way that what is normal to us, is burnt away, purified away. Scrubbed us like in the old days, as lye soap was applied to clothes, and then they were scrubbed against a washboard.
That is how sin comes to the surface, like dirt, like impurities in metal.
It is what happens to us, what God has promised. Not just to punish us, but purify us. It is what He does to establish a holy and perfect relationship with us. To rid us of the things which stop us from returning to Him, the sin, the desire for that which is not good and right, the resentment which stops us from knowing His peace. Paul says he nails that sin to the cross, and it cannot be resurrected. It is dead. That is why we celebrate this refining, this necessary work of God in our lives.
He rids us of everything that would stop us from expecting good from God. Everything that would stop us from knowing He has come to us. Saved us to Himself, Set us apart to Himself.
Everything that would rob from us, the peace which passes all understanding, and guards our hearts and minds as we dwell in and with Jesus. AMEN!
Why Advent is a Blessing for Sinners… (like me)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.f 8 If we say, “We are without sin,” we deceive ourselves,* and the truth is not in us.g 9 If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.h 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.1 Jn 1:7–10) NAB-RE
“Confession has not been abolished by the preachers on our side. The custom has been retained among us of not administering the sacrament to those who have not previously been examined and absolved.
2 At the same time the people are carefully instructed concerning the consolation of the Word of absolution so that they may esteem absolution as a great and precious thing.
3 It is not the voice or word of the man who speaks it, but it is the Word of God, who forgives sin, for it is spoken in God’s stead and by God’s command.
4 We teach with great diligence about this command and power of keys and how comforting and necessary it is for terrified consciences. We also teach that God requires us to believe this absolution as much as if we heard God’s voice from heaven, that we should joyfully comfort ourselves with absolution, and that we should know that through such faith we obtain forgiveness of sins.”
Part of the purpose of Advent within the Church year consists in reviving once more this awareness in us. It should urge us to confront these truths, to admit the extent of our lack of redemption, which did not simply exist in the world at some time and perhaps still exists somewhere but which is a present reality within ourselves and within the Church. The Christian existence, therefore, includes this as well: that we, out of the distress of our own darkness, like the man Job, dare to speak to God. It also means that we do not think we could present to God only half of our existence and must spare him all the rest because it might grieve him. No—to Him in particular we may and must carry the total burden of our existence in complete honesty.
There is a patterned to which the church year flows, one reflected in the Northern Hemisphere’s calendar. As the year ends, and begins, the days grow shorter, the amount of light we see daily diminishes, as often with it, hope. People deal with more depression, and grieve deeply, as the oncoming holidays remind them of the loved one’s they miss.
Sins become more magnified, as we have more time to dwell on them. Both those sins that were committed against us, and those which we ourselves commit. Again, because of more time in darkness, we have more time to think, to ponder, to feel the guilt, to be weighed down by the shame. To realize how much we are beyond any help,
save the help of God.
I think Pope Benedict nails it, in the third quote above, when he say we shouldn’t spare God the grief of dealing with half of our existence, we may and MUST carry the total burden to Him, in complete honesty. (I am reminded of people who filter out their pastors and priests from seeing ALL of their facebook/twitter feeds, because they feel ashamed, or are afraid of feeling that way!) If we need help, if we need to be rescued from the crushing weight of sin and shame, then He is the person, He is our Hope, He is our answer.
As the Lutheran Confessions say, when the pastor/priest speaks the words absolving you of sin, they aren’t just his words, they are the words of God you need to hear, that you must hear. This absolution is the comfort that relieves the guilt and the shame. That is why we talk of it as such a great treasure.
As I’ve been contemplating Advent, and the nature of repentance, penitence, I am realizing more and more we need to go through such times of self-evaluation. of coming face to face with our sin. Of realizing the depth of it. Not to end up drowning in guilt and self-loathing, but because it will bring us to the Father in heaven, it will cause us like Job, like Abraham, to work with God honestly. To run to Him, because He is our hope.
This is what confession is, the very thing God knew we needed. To hear his voice, through others He called and commanded to be there for you, to say the words, “you are forgiven, in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
So take the time during this advent, during this time when darkness seems to hide all that is good and holy, to consider, confess, and be comforted by God.
AMEN
Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (pp. 61–62). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans., I. Grassl, Ed.) (p. 382). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Advent Message #1 Psalm 51 Have mercy on me!
Have Mercy On Me
Help me to know your unfailing love!
Psalm 51:1-6
† IHS †
David’s Scenario
The pastor descends, and heads straight toward a member of the church. The look on his face is serious, there is no humor in his eyes.
He walks up to one of the most respected leaders of the church, the man respected for his faith. He zeroes in on him, heads straight at him, and as he stops, he reveals to the man that he knows about that specific sin. The sin that was serious enough for the people to take up stones and kill him. The sin which didn’t just break a commandment, but shattered several of them.
He calls him out on it, in front of everyone
What happened to David, happens all over again.
Except that it happens to Tom. Or Al, or Doug, or Wanda..
I want each of you to think how David felt in the first reading, as Nathan revealed to the world David’s sin. The sin he thought no one knew. The sin that ate him, that continued to eat at him.
What if tonight, instead of David’s sin, it was yours that was revealed.
What terror would you feel, what pain?
Even though we are looking at the Psalm during this advent, we can’t understand the strength of David’s plea for mercy, we can’t understand how desperate His cry to God, without hearing the depth of despair, as David’s sin was found revealed not just before God, but before all.
How Can this Be?
It is in the aftermath of this scene, that David writes these words,
Have mercy on me, o God, because of your unfailing love!
Have mercy on me, I am a sinner, I am a wretch.
He cannot deny it. He cannot simply say, no, I’m good with God. Nope, don’t worry pastor, that Confession thing, hearing you tell me I am forgiven, it’s not a big deal. It’s the other people that you have to worry about.
You know, those that rip their neighbor’s off, those who are sexually immoral, those who lie and cheat and gossip. That’s for them, not for me.
David’s sin is laid out. Undeniable, horrid, sickening.
It would still make every headline today.
You are the man.
You are the woman.
You’ve sinned.
And revealing that sin, in a way you can’t deny, in a way you have to confess, is part of the healing. It is why Luther and the early reformers didn’t get rid of confession, either public of private.
Because we know in our plea for mercy, that it will be answered.
Just as David’s was, just as Moses’ was, just as Peter’s was.
Just as Tom and Al and my plea’s for mercy will be answered.
Hear David’s words again,
Have mercy on me, o God, because of your unfailing love!
That is what Advent is about, learning to depend on God’s unfailing love. Learning to cry out what has been called the Jesus Prayer, Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.
Crying it out, knowing the heart of God, knowing the heart revealed at the manger and the cross, as God comes into the word to show us that mercy,
Crying out, not based on anything but the unfailing love of God. For that is our only refuge when we come face to face with our sin. When we realize how wrong it is, and that we can’t fix it.
To do as David would continue to pray,
Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.
4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.
5 For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.
7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:1-7 (NLT)
A prayer of despair, a prayer of recognizing what we had done, a prayer of faith, knowing the heart of God.
The heart of God that answered David, and answers you and I
“Yes, you have sinned, but I have forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin..”
Amen!
The Joy of… Suffering?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
8 “But as for you, Israel my servant, Jacob my chosen one, descended from Abraham my friend, 9 I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. 10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:8-10 (NLT)
254 An incurable illness restricted his movements. And yet he cheerfully assured me: “The illness suits me well and I love it more all the time. If I were given the choice, I would be born again this way a hundred times!”(1)
Moreover, the people are instructed often and with great diligence concerning the holy sacrament, why it was instituted, and how it is to be used (namely, as a comfort for terrified consciences) in order that the people may be drawn to the Communion and Mass (2)
I have the honor to visit a 97 year old lady for about 10 minutes a week. She lives with some other eldery people around the corner. It isn’t much of a visit by the world’s standards, but it is one I treasure.
She has lived a fascinating life, one that would have me asking her to tell the stories from, for she has worked in places that I find extremely fascinating. But with the strength she has, just a few minutes of hearing about God working with our preschoolers, and a prayer of blessing, and it is time to leave.
Yet her contentment is amazing, her joy as she sees me is so evident. She doesn’t mind her weakness. She seems to treasure our brief moments together. This incredible lady, me, and the God who loves us so! A few moments that make such an incredible difference.. in my life.
It is hard to look at her weariness, for the smile and the assurance of her love for God overwhems it. She is more at peace than so many I know. So much more full of joy. Despite the suffering, despite the hours spent alone.
There are all different types of suffering. Suffering can be caused by evil oppression, by poverty, by health, by age, by loneliness?
But what we find in the suffering makes all the difference in the world. In this time of Advent, can we find Christ there? Can we find the joy of having no other hope but that which is found in Christ Jesus? The hope of sharing in His glory?
When we do, when in the midst of the pain we hear His voice; when we realize the comfort Jesus brings to us in the Lord’s Supper; in those moments of prayer when we can only listen, and allow the Holy Spirit to minister to us, that is when the quiet joy comes flooding through our souls. That is when the brokenness finds healing.
That is when we know we are loved.
Such a joyous thought…
I pray that you and I would know God’s love that deeply, with that assurance, at any age, in any situation. Because of that love, may joy be generated at our very core.
AMEN!
.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1244-1246). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 56). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
