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The Experiences of Advent Week: 1 Experience Great Joy! A sermon on 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
The Experiences of Advent Week 1
Experience Great Joy!
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
† I.H.S. †
May the grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ help you to experience joy as we enter His presence!
The Experiences of Advent.
In Matthew 13, Jesus describes the Kingdom of God with parables comparing the Kingdom to the great harvest. The first to be gathered up are the wicked, to be gathered and tossed into the fire. Then the good are gathered up, and enter into God’s presence!
Right in the middle of those parables, Jesus says this, “17 I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.” Matthew 13:17 (NLT2) It echoes the thoughts of Jesus regarding Abraham, “56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see the time of my coming; he saw it and was glad.” John 8:56 (TEV)
You think of all who waited, from Adam and Even to Abraham, to Moses and Johus who knew the promised land wasn’t real estate but a home with God; to David—whose psalms looked forward to His Lord coming, and all the prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who warned taught people to prepare and long for the coming of the Messiah-Savior, to Mary and Joseph, and finally the shepherds, the first to leave everything behind them to see Jesus. And finally, we hear the words of Paul today,
“Because of you we have great joy as we enter God’s presence.”
What incredible joy they had, as they considered the coming of Jesus, of seeing people come into the presence of Jesus!
Hmmm, did anyone catch what I did there?
When would Paul enter the presence of Jesus?
So, what in the world does that have to do with preparing for Jesus’ coming to His people in Advent?
Simple, the joy of knowing you are coming into the presence of God.
Think back to the quote from Augustine…we started with…
“Let us love him, for he made these things and he is not far off,44 for he did not make them and then go away: they are from him but also in him. You know where he is, because you know where truth tastes sweet. He is most intimately present to the human heart, but the heart has strayed from him. Return to your heart, then, you wrongdoers, and hold fast to him who made you. Stand with him and you will stand firm, rest in him and you will find peace.”[1]
What were they experiencing prior?
I want to take a moment to think about these people who longed for and looked forward to Christ’s coming, before hearing the good news of being in the presence of a loving, merciful God.
Abraham was a businessman from Ur. Moses was a foreigner, a man wanted as a criminal, an alien who worked in the fields of his father-in-law, tending his animals. David was pretty much written off by his family, given the most menial and meaningless job in the family. We can go through them all, servants and lesser priests. This is especially true after the destruction of the Temple and the removal of the Ark of the Covenant from the people of God.
They had one thing in common: they didn’t have a hope in the world beyond the next day.
What sense does life, suffering, and brokenness make if we don’t know what comes later? How do we deal with broken sin, both your sin and your brother’s sin, if you don’t have the encouragement and comfort that comes from knowing God’s mercy and comfort?
So what were they thinking? How in despair could they have been, or what were they ignoring in their life?
Just like the world, when they are stressed and overwhelmed, dealing with guilt and sin and resentment, with anxiety. Haunted by the past, anxious about the future, unable to find peace….
Wait- that sounds like some of us, as we forget the blessings we have in Christ…
Being reminded of them is the purpose of Advent – to remind us of life before Jesus entered our lives and cause us to rejoice as we look forward to the day Advent prefigures.
What were Paul, Mary and the Shepherds thinking.. “on the way”.
The Advent journey isn’t about the time before we knew about Jesus. It’s about the time we find out about Him and are driven by the Holy Spirit into His presence. It’s the reaction of the Shepherds when the angels told them the Messiah was born.
It’s the same reaction that Paul had, as he thought of the people of the church in Thessalonika… whom the Spirit was driving into the arms of Jesus. Hear his prayer for them, which has been our benediction for the last year,
“May the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. 13 May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen!
This is the effect of the work of Jesus, as the Holy Spirit prepares us to appear before the Father on the judgment day. It is the work we refer to as Salvation, as deliverance, a work driven by love and compassion, a work that knows what it means to come into the presence of God.
It is why Paul knew he would enter God’s presence with great joy, because of the work he witnessed in the lives of people, as He spoke and wrote to them—telling them about how God would cause them to love each other, strengthen our faith, set us apart as His kids—all looking to the day that Christ rejoiced He would bring about, as He died on the cross – to make sure it happens…
And this is the source of our joy – as we gather together to share in the laughter and tears that come along the way.
Enjoy the journey, and the knowledge that God will sustain you until that day…. And rejoice in His work in your life.
AMEN!
44 See Ps 99(100):3; Acts 17:27.
[1] Saint Augustine. (2012). The Confessions, Part I (J. E. Rotelle, Ed.; M. Boulding, Trans.; Second Edition, Vol. 1, p. 104). New City Press.
He’s a Bit Possessive…
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, on the cross
“However, God’s solid foundation remains standing, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” ”” (2 Timothy 2:19a, NET)
Many of us are interested in walking with God and pleasing God and resting in the promises of God. We have discovered that such a life on this earth begins with a complete change in relationship between God and the sinner; a conscious and experienced change affecting the sinner’s whole nature.
Preaching—the preaching of Christ crucified—is the word of God. Priests need to prepare themselves as best they can before carrying out such a divine ministry, the aim of which is the salvation of souls. Lay people should listen with very special respect.
St. Josemaria makes a bold and very accurate statement – that preaching only happens when Christ is shown to be crucified. That is what preaching is, the revelation of God’s love for us, shown in the death of Christ. (he would have gotten extra points if he had tied out baptism to it, for there we die with Christ that we may live with God forever!)
This cross is the foundation for who we are, it is the basis for our knowing we are his. Our baptism, in the God’s name, is where He marks us HIs own. It is no coincidence we make the mark of the cross over the person’s head and heart as we baptize them on God’s behalf, as as noted, in His name. It is that name that seals us to Him, that marks us indelibly as his
It is that promise that begins our walk with Him, as we have been born again, as we have been risen with Him, a new creation. The relationship changes, as we become His born again children, friend of Jesus, as we become part of the community, the family.
That is why preach has to be the proclamation of Christ crucified – for us. It is the reason we have hope, it is point of union with our incredible God.
Who is, more than a bit possessive of us, why He is a jealous God, and why the first commandment is that we can have no other God, but Him.
We are His… sealed into this relationship in Baptism.
AMEN!
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2008). Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Moody Publishers.
Escrivá, Josemaría. The Forge (p. 200). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Christians are simply beggars… if we do things right.
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the Cross:
“In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!”” (2 Corinthians 5:19–20, NET)
They are expressions of the one great heresy, which is as old as fallen mankind: Man refuses to accept the external word and the external means of grace and develops his own religion, which places man where God alone has the right to stand: “Ye shall be as gods!”
I have met Christians who were so intent upon winning souls to Christ that they would not talk to you about anything but God and His goodness!
Such a man was the Canadian, Robert Jaffray, one of our early pioneer missionaries. His family owned the Toronto Globe and Mail and as a young Christian he was disinherited because he chose to follow God’s call to China rather than join the family business.
That good godly man spent his lifetime in China and the south Pacific, searching for the lost—and winning them! He was always reading maps and daring to go to the most difficult places, in spite of physical weaknesses and diabetic handicap. He sought out and lived among the poor and miserable, always praying to God, “Let my people go!”
On my bookshelves I have numerous books about church growth, about having a missional spirit. Others talk about forensic apologetics and evangelism. Many of these approach the topic with a clinical approach, looking at statistics, looking for patterns that can be replicated, looking for logical presentations of the gospel that give overwhelming proof – which we hope will covert the heathen.
We know, for we ourselves our guilty, of the great sin of self-idolatry, of narcissism. Even in thinking “we” can prove the gospel, we are take up a burden that is rightfully the Holy Spirit. Far too often in the church, we create our own religion, putting ourselves in charge of saving the world.
Yet there are those, who in humility simply follow the Spirit, as they are compelled to not shut up about Jesus. Jaffray was one, Eric Liddell comes to mind, as does Barton Stone, and Wyneken and Luther. Each spent their lives, or a great deal of their lives not arguing, but pleading that people would be reconciled to God – a work already accomplished by Jesus.
I think that word pleading is important – it has the emphasis of desire built into the request. It doesn’t come from a place of power, or even authority, but of someone is so worried about the person they beg them to let God in, to receive the love and mercy. It comes from seeing people living without hope, without peace, assaulted by the world, and by their own guilt and shame.
And we have the antidote to that which poisons their life.
How can we get them to receive it? How can we get them to trust in a God they do not yet know of, that they have yet to experience, that they haven’t allowed to bring them to life, remove the guilt and shame of sin, and restore them?
This is the passion Paul had, this is why some cannot shut up about the love of God.
We can beg them, the Spirit opens their hearts, Christ has reconciled them to the Father.
This is our call… we simple beggers on a this journey called life…
Sasse, H. (2001). This Is My Body: Luther’s Contention for the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar (p. 191). Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2008). Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Moody Publishers.
Navigating the Revitalization and Renewal of the Church
The church, is always in the midst of a storm… but safe in Him
Thoughts which drive me to Jesus, and to His Cross
“With antiphonal response they sang, praising and glorifying the LORD: “For he is good; his loyal love toward Israel is forever.” All the people gave a loud shout as they praised the LORD when the temple of the LORD was established. Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders—older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established—were weeping loudly, and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout. People were unable to tell the difference between the sound of joyous shouting and the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people were shouting so loudly that the sound was heard a long way off.” (Ezra 3:11–13, NET)
Falsely are our churches accused of abolishing the Mass; for the Mass is retained among us, and celebrated with the highest reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved, save that the parts sung in Latin are interspersed here and there with German hymns, which have been added to teach the people. For ceremonies are needed to this end alone that the unlearned be taught [what they need to know of Christ].
In promoting development, the Christian faith does not rely on privilege or positions of power, nor even on the merits of Christians … but only on Christ, to whom every authentic vocation to integral human development must be directed. The Gospel is fundamental for development, because in the Gospel, Christ, “in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals humanity to itself.”
I have been thinking about my “career” as a pastor recently. It was 27 years ago this month I went from being a part-time to a full-time pastor. It’s been 23 years in August that I moved from being a non-denom pastor to becoming a Lutheran one, and last week-it was seventeen years since I received the call to become pastor in this place.
In that time I have seen a lot of changes in the world, the church at large and in my Lutheran group. Some of them quite good, some of them heartbreaking. I know the joy of Ezra’s people, as they saw God’s promises re-established for them, and I also understand the heartbreak of those who remember the past and its glories.
I am the one who wails over the losses, and yet I am the one who screams for joy at the renewal I see. A foot in both worlds, a foot which wants to deny the existence of the other….
I have tried to help both sides realize the other exists, not because i want to create a form of toleration, for that is worthless, and to be honest, vain.
In my devotional reading this morning, I came back to the answer–provided by the Lutheran Confessions and Pope Benedict. The answer isn’t to dwell in the past, failing to recognize its failure. It isn’t about just rejoicing in the victories of the moment–ignoring its shortcomings.
The answer is simply this – living in Christ, and revealing Him to those who so desperately need Him. To revoice in the enlightenment the Spirit provides in them–the relationship that is reformed, renewed, reborn! To sound more academic — to rejoice in the delivery and reception of grace, rather than comment on the color, texture and design. To dance with God and the angels over new life.
To be revitalized, not just an interested observer of it.
Then the church weeps and rejoices together, for God is good, and His mercy is forever!
Melancthon, P. (2006). The Augsburg Confession (1530). WORDsearch.
De Gaál, E. (2018). O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance: Explorations and Discoveries in Pope Benedict XVI’s Theology (M. Levering, Ed.; p. 197). Emmaus Academic.
Astonished Reverence–it cannot be manufactured, therefore stop trying to force it on others
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to His Cross”
“Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.” (John 1:14, NET)
“that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ.” (Colossians 1:26–28, NET)
Luther’s understanding of Christ makes the Lord’s Supper a miracle. For it is an unspeakable miracle that the inseparable union of the two natures causes the body of Christ, which is in heaven, to be present on the altar
Ratzinger’s theology of revelation emphasizes Christ, the revelation of the Father. By encountering Christ in the Scriptures, in the sacraments, and in worship, one comes to knowledge of God.
The fear of God is that “astonished reverence” of which the saintly Faber wrote. I would say that it may grade anywhere from its basic element—the terror of the guilty soul before a holy God—to the fascinated rapture of the worshiping saint.
There are few unqualified things in our lives but I believe that the reverential fear of God, mixed with love and fascination and astonishment and adoration, is the most enjoyable state and the most purifying emotion the human soul can know. A true fear of God is a beautiful thing, for it is worship, it is love, it is veneration. It is a high moral happiness because God is.
I have had the distinct displease of seeing pietism raise its ugly head in a number of places. In choice of Bible translations, in choices of worship styles, in places where people define reverence as something people bring to church. As they get dressed with physical clothes, the are supposed to come into church or a Bible study reverently. And reverence or piety is defined and demanded by observers. And if the observers demanded form of pietism isn’t achieved or met, the efficacy of God’s mercy might be or actually is questioned.
It goes across the spectrum of Christianity, and it usually spans both edges of any discussion spectrum. Some say you can’t worship with guitars, others say you don’t worship with organs. Some say you can’t dress down, others say if you don’t “come as you are, you are playing games. In my 60 years, I have seen these spectrums divide the church, and those caught in the middle are often… the greatest victims.
Reverence is not man-made. It doesn’t depend on clothing choices, or the language that you use (especially if you don’t understand it!) Tozer’s modifier, astonished, is awesome in clarifying what true reverence is. It occurs when the sinner or saint sees the Triune God revealed in their presence, something that happens because Christ is made incarnate among us. Pope Benedict XVI nails this in discussing the encounter with Christ in word and Sacrament, and Luther sees this as what makes the Lord’s Supper, each and every time celebrated–truly a miracle–for it is Christ coming into our lives, as revealed in Scripture.
Such miracles leave us astonished, a state in which revering and adoring (and being in fear of ) God is natural. For the believer, the astonishment is because this is exactly where God wants us, in His presence, sharing in the very glory of God which the apostles saw revealed in Jesus, which they came to know and reveal to people as well.
This is why reverence can’t be manufactured on order, or demanded by others. It only finds its origin in the presence of God. I
I’ve seen this in the eyes of 3 year olds, as the run to get our altar rail before their parents. Can they comprehend the gift their parents are receiving? Probably not… DO they understand the blessing I say over them, perhaps not.. they just realize they are near Jesus, and the love that impacts their parents or grandparents is significant – and it is theirs as well, and so they rejoice!
This is reverence, when the sinner doesn’t want to leave, but soak in their being cleansed. This is the presence of God, which leaves us in awe, because only because of His love can we stand before Him, and only because of that love do we have hope. Hope because of the presence of God – which is revealed every week, though He never leaves us….
We still need to hear of the love, we still need to experience it and therefore know it.
And we do….
The Need for Reverent Worship….and the Challenge of Guiding it….
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the Cross…
“The people were delighted with their donations, for they contributed to the LORD with a willing attitude; King David was also very happy.” (1 Chronicles 29:9, NET)
““But who am I and who are my people, that we should be in a position to contribute this much? Indeed, everything comes from you, and we have simply given back to you what is yours.For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security.O LORD our God, all this wealth, which we have collected to build a temple for you to honor your holy name, comes from you; it all belongs to you.” (1 Chronicles 29:14–16, NET)
53 Servite Domino in laetitia!—I will serve God cheerfully. With a cheerfulness that is a consequence of my Faith, of my Hope and of my Love—and that will last for ever. For, as the Apostle assures us, Dominus prope est!…—the Lord follows me closely. I shall walk with Him, therefore, quite confidently, for the Lord is my Father, and with his help I shall fulfil his most lovable Will, even if I find it hard.
I have been doing a lot of thinking recently about the idea of reverence in life and in a life of worship. (see Romans 12:1-3 – worship is far more the Sunday Morning!) It goes along with my version of the ancient rule that how we worship/pray determines how we depend on God, which determines how we live. (Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi is the old phrase.
With that floating around in the back of my mind, my readings this morning included David’s provision for the Temple. He made all the arrangements, he subsidized most of it out of personal wealth, then he realized he needed to share that opportunity with others. This is all the vivendi part of the concept, the way in which they lived out living in the grace of the God whom they worshipped.
You see it in the embracing of difficulty, cheerfully, that St. Josemaria describes! Joy that is a consequence, he teaches, of the faith, hope and love he receives from the Lord. It is the same joy and attitude describes there in Chronicles, a joy that comes from realizing all that we have is from God. it all belongs to Him.
This to me is the core of reverence then, the attitude towards God that is found as we contemplate and live, reflecting the joy that comes from realizing how He comes and blesses us! I would say you have to experience that joy before reverence develops–but that means reverence has to come out of the joy of being blessed by God.
One might even say that reverence then is the reaction to the grace of God. It can be quiet and in awe, it can be loud as full of joy as when singing Handel’s Messiah. But as a reaction it needs to be natural, not forced. It may be shaped by cultural norm, or what is available in the language of the one God has given the gifts of faith, repentance and deliverance to, as they express their awe. And certainly their attitude toward the deliverance itself matters, someone who knows the depth of their sin maybe more enthusiastic than one who considers themselves less of a sinner, or just a normal sinner.
As an example – a stoic person from Finland, who grew up in a family that loved them, but no one spoke of it, would respond reverently different than a family from Jamaica–neither group wrong in their reverent worship – but surely different! Forcing the Finns to worship in a manner reverent to the steel drums and even dancing of the Jamaican would be awkward, the same as forcing the Finn to smile and laugh would cause them so much stress, they couldn’t focus on the God who delivered them from sin, and Satan and an eternity in Hell.
So what do you do in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi expression of joy and reverence community? How do you facilitate and encourage reverence? I believe the key is not focusing on the vivendi, but rather on the reason for worship/prayer. To focus on the gifts of God, being given to the people of God, . This requires making it clear that we should respect each other in their way of celebrating the presence of God, but not dwelling ther, but immediately returning to the fact that the Lord is good, He is with us, and He gives himself to us.
With the focus on Jesus, and the work of God in us, the response will happen, it will be natural, and it will be reverent….for it is only a response.
Escrivá, Josemaría. Furrow (p. 23). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
For the Joy Set Before Us, We’ll Carry the Cross! The Greater Joy Set Before us! A Lenten Sermon on Psalm 4
For the Joy Set Before Us, We’ll Carry the Cross!
The Greater Joy Set Before us!
Psalm 4
† In. Jesus Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ convince you to focus on that upcoming greater joy, and the hope it brings!
- The Illusion of “Better times”
The Psalm writer asks, “Who will show us better times?” which caused my mind to spin in two different ways.
One was to think – that question is at the heart of our culture today. That seems to be all we are after – a better time, one with less stress, less problems, more vacations and time to just “enjoy” life.
The other is walking down the strip in Las Vegas, where as you walk down the street, every casino’s lights cry for attention promising better times, and even some there offering a “good time.”
Of course, most of us know winning big in Vegas is as likely as me getting to be the president of the United States or the starting quarterback for the Rams, but we love the illusion, the idea that this could happen to me.. this time.
But most marketing works that way, whether for a political candidate or for a man’s body wash. I mean, will I really get 10 beautiful young ladies in bikinis chasing after me if I use Old Spice rather than Irish Spring? (And why would I want that – anyway?)
There is no doubt we were meant to experience joy, but that joy isn’t dependent on greater times… which is why the psalmist can say, “You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine.”
Real joy is foundational to our lives, it doesn’t depend on our circumstances…. But that is a hard lesson to learn, even as we learn it doesn’t require better times.
- Why Does Our Reputation Matter?
I think my dad and some of his friends would appreciate the next section, or at least the way the Psalmist’s prayer begins,
1 Answer me when I call to you, O God who declares me innocent. Free me from my troubles. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer. 2 How long will you people ruin my reputation? How long will you make groundless accusations? How long will you continue your lies? Psalm 4:1-2
You see, reputation meant a lot to my dad and some of his friends, especially if they have served in the Marine Corps, or a part of the U.S. Navy that served alongside the Corp, as my dad and other corpsman did in the Korean War. For someone to try and damage another man’s reputation, or the Marine Corps’ reputation was the lowest thing you could do.
So I could see him resonating with this prayer, especially if he was highly frustrated and felt like correcting the situation beyond his ability. I can hear his version of it, quite clearly,
God – come and help now and free me from these people! All they want to do is destroy the reputation I have worked to hard to gain, and they do is accuse me of horrible things and lie about me! They need to stop breaking the 8th commandment – Lord – go get im!
We need to remember that not all the prayers in Psalms are examples of great prayers! They are truly what we may feel, and may be the deepest cries of our hearts, but they, like this one, they might be more self centered, more concerned with creating the illusion of the better life, than in revealing the brokenness that Jesus will heal.
- You are set apart
God responds with patience and love, but in a way that ensures the Psalmist knows his error,
3 You can be sure of this: The LORD set apart the godly for himself. The LORD will answer when I call to him. 4 Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent.
Far too often, the reaction to our reputation being attacked is one of anger, or simply a counterpunch to damage the other’s reputation.
The only way to overcome the emotional barrage, the reaction that seeks revenge and a removal of all troubles is to look at what God sets us apart for—a relationship with Him, that means that even though personally attacked, we are aware that God is our refuge and peace.
Then, rather than react, we can pray about it and be patient, silently knowing that God has it all under His control. That is the faith we are given, that God set us apart – that He makes us holy, for Himself.
And that patience and willingness to love, even though ridiculed and scorned becomes part of who we are, as we realize our unity with the death and resurrection of Jesus.
We don’t have to worry about our reputation, for we already saw that “God declares us innocent”, and we don’t have to search for better times, knowing eternity is coming, and that give us greater joy than anything else
And I can sleep!
So confident we become of God being our refuge that the last verse can become true,
8 In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O LORD, will keep me safe.
For He is our God, who hears, and sets before us a joy of dwelling eternally in His presence. AMEN!
For the Joys Set Before Us! Week 1: The Celebration Set Before us! A Lenten Sermon based on Deuteronomy 26:1-11
For the Joys Set Before Us!
The Celebration Set Before us!
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ create in you a great desire for the Celebration when we are before the Father’s throne!
- The Boring Commands of Deuteronomy?
I would love to ask this question of you all this morning, but I won’t. I will state the question anyway.
“How many of you have read the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy?”
Maybe I should ask it this way, “How many of you enjoyed reading the Old Testament Book we call Deuteronomy”
Yeah, when we think of Deuteronomy, we usually don’t think of pleasure and enjoyment. If we know the book, it’s basically a cross between a pastor’s manual and California Penal Code, detailing the law of Moses, and the punishments for breaking those laws God put into play.
But some of the laws…well, you almost can’t think of them as laws. I mean – hear this one, “— This is a time to celebrate before the LORD your God at the designated place of worship he will choose for his name to be honored. Celebrate with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites from your towns, and the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live among you.” Dt 16:11
Here’s a command from God… CELEBRATE!!!
Oddly enough to not do so, is a sin.
It doesn’t sound so much as a command in our reading this morning, but it is, “11 Afterward you may go and celebrate because of all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household. Remember to include the Levites and the foreigners living among you in the celebration.
Have a great celebration, ahave an incredible time celebrating how good God is, and be so amazed by that goodness that you drag everyone in town, including all the pastor types and immigrants to the celebration!
That’s why they call them Old Testament Feasts!
And while the Jewish people in the desert looked forward to that feast whey could finally enter the Holy Land, we have a feast to look forward to – one with God, as we boldly enter His presence, and are welcomed home.
- The Preparation/Confession
Here is a question for you.
How longer after a incredibly successful Advent Tea do you think it is prior to Carol and Linda starting to prepare for the next Advent Tea?
This year I think they were procrastinating, because they waited until after church on Sunday before they asked me about the theme for Advent 2025. Obviously procrastinating!
Preparing for the feast to be held when Israel finally entered the Holy Land took 40 years! Forty years of dealing with the sin that had ensnared Israel after they were freed enslavement in Egypt.
When they finally arrive in the Holy Land, what they are commanded to do is to remember and confess that God had to rescue them.
5 “You must then say in the presence of the Lord your God, ‘My ancestor Jacob was a wandering Aramean who went to live as a foreigner in Egypt. His family arrived few in number, but in Egypt they became a large and mighty nation. 6 When the Egyptians oppressed and humiliated us by making us their slaves, 7 we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors. get us out of Egypt with a strong hand and powerful arm, with overwhelming terror, and with miraculous signs and wonders!
They had to confess a need to be rescued and that God did that! Oppressed and humiliated, they needed to be helped, even as God had already told them He would.
Lent is our memory, not just of oppression and bondage to sin, but of the way in which God sustains His people and prepares them for the feast. Whether that is the feast of Israel, or our feast celebrating the Lord’s Supper, or what both are a glimpse of, the feast in heaven of all God’s people gathered in His presence.
- The Feast
That is what this is all about – from the feasts on the Sabbath and the Lord’s Supper on Sundays, to Passover and Maunday Thursday/Good Friday, to Tabernacles and Pentecost – all are a picture of the celebration that occurs when all who are rescued by God arrive before His throne. Every thing in Christianity points to this incredible celebration that is set before us, that we are moving towards, in which we are promised entry, because Jesus would die on the cross and rise again to guarantee it.
Hear the words again,
“O Lord, I have brought you the first portion of the harvest you have given me from the ground.’ Then place the produce before the Lord your God, and bow to the ground in worship before him. 11 Afterward you may go and celebrate because of all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household. Remember to include the Levites and the foreigners living among you in the celebration.
While we are in Lent then, why don’t we spend as much times as we can, considering what God has provided to us through Jesus Christ, and then praise Him for it!
After all – when we think about what God has given to us from the ground, we might be able to remember the words from the other night, and remember that we are what came to life, as Christ was planted in the ground!
And then, let’s feast—including all those who, like the Levites serve the people of God, and those who are not yet part of the family…the foreigners living in our midst….
After all, we are commanded to enjoy this grace, together!
Can a Lutheran (Or Catholic or Presbyterian or) Pray for Revival?
Concordia Lutheran Church – Cerritos, Ca , at dawn on Easter Sunday
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the Cross
““So I will set apart as holy the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will set apart as holy Aaron and his sons, that they may minister as priests to me. I will reside among the Israelites, and I will be their God, and they will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, so that I may reside among them. I am the LORD their God.” (Exodus 29:44–46, NET)
544 The Communion of the Saints. How shall I explain it to you? You know what blood transfusions can do for the body? Well, that’s what the Communion of the Saints does for the soul.
I don’t know why I felt the need to write on revival this morning, and to be honest, I didn’t see the connection at first in my devotional readings. The seem as far from the concept of revival as the horizon seems to the sailor in the Pacific Ocean.
What great thoughts ar expressed in them though! The idea that God’s reason, His “so that” for the Exodus, was not just so they could recognize Him, but that He could reside, that He could dwell with us! And as He does this community that is formed with Him in Him and through Him becomes the place of the transfusion, as the trust in God that sustains this saint becomes common to that one. Where the hope of that little group becomes the hope for all, as we are reminded of the Lord’s presence,
And as I long for those thoughts to become reality at Concordia – I realized what I was longing for was the result of revival–it is the end game result, the people of God knowing the love of God for man that enables us, no that compels us to share the life we’ve been given.
All the rest that goes with revival, from the repentance of people who have learned to grieve over their and their communities’ sins, to the flood of new music, to the care for those who are widowed and orphaned and who have immigrated to the community, are complimentary and caused by the people of God dwelling in His presence, communing together, as they are made God’s.
But it is the communion, the community of God and man (all of us) that is the goal. Not the change in morality, though that will happen, nor is it about filling every church and planting thousands of others-thought this will happen as well. It’s not about political agendas, or denominational superiority. It is even about the signs and wonders that happen…..
Revival is simple- it is about people rejoicing in the presence of a loving God as He cares for us.
And this we can all pray…even as the psalmist did:
6 Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you? 7 Show us your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.
Psalm 85:6-7 (NLT2)
Escrivá, Josemaría. The Way (p. 117). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Confessions of a Christian Non-conformist (aka Neuro-divergent)
Photo by Wouter de Jong on Pexels.com
Thoughts which carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the cross.
“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the orchard. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”” (Genesis 3:8–9, NET)
Hurry is an unpleasant thing in itself, but also very unpleasant for whoever is around it. Some people came into my room and rushed in and rushed out and even when they were there they were not there – they were in the moment ahead or the moment behind. Some people who came in just for a moment were all there, completely in that moment.
He did not seek nonconformity as an end in itself in the sense of the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson’s (1803–1882) dictum that “to be a non-conformist means to be great.” The triune God is the only source of true life. It is the dogma of a triune God that grants humankind dignity and is the ultimate standard of a meaningful and fulfilled life. Such a discernment of spirit is based on the figure of Our Savior.
Without this sacrament the Gospel might be understood as one of the many religious messages in the world. Without the proclamation of the Gospel this sacrament might be understood as one of the many religious rites in the world. But the Gospel is more than a religious message and the Sacrament more than a religious ceremony. Both the Gospel and the Sacrament contain one and the same gift, forgiveness of sins—not only a message that there is forgiveness and not only a ceremony which would illustrate that message—but rather the forgiveness itself which no one can give except He who died as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world, who will come again in glory, and who is present in His Gospel and in His Sacrament.
For most of my life, i saw myself as a non-conformist, which I usually express with phrases like, “There are three types of people, those that think inside the box (and often push on opposite sides of said box), those that think outside of the box, and then there are a few like, joyfully oblivious to the existence of the box. (SOme would credit this to Neuro-divergent, or being on the spectrum–but all that came out way after my formative years)
Joyfully oblivious is the key here, every time I find the box, I tend to get disgusted by it, and by the rules that govern it. So I hurry past the box, knowing it isn’t real, and it has no power over me. And in my youth I was proud of such an attitude, and some days, still am. It can be Emerson’s mark of greatness, but it canalso be a place to hide–often from the brokenness of the world I perceive, but never from my brokenness, which is also quite devastating…
That brokenness, unchecked and untreated, leads to Ms. Linbergh’s profound statement of being there. That brokenness has often meant I am in a meeting and I truly am not. Whether that meeting is on a board, or a lecture, or church, or in my private devotions with God. (That God can still use this for good–is truly the greatest mystery and marvel in my life!)
Non-conformity (and may being a conformist without thinking why) can be the ultimate hiding in the garden from God. Especially when we are hiding our own brokenness, our own hurts, our own unforgiveness, and our sin. We think we are safe – going against the flow or going with it.
In the non-conformist’s life, many try to make us conform to standards that don’t make sense to us, and often that we see as useless, because it doesn’t give those who conform to them any peace. Or the standards don’t make sense to us, as the spectrum they are based on is linear in its construction. (Example – those that think a person must be politically left, or right…or we aren’t a good Christian)
But what the non-conformist needs is not to be forced to conform. That would wreck us that would steal the fire within us, that I believe was put there by God to balance out the world. (our “greatness?”) What we desperately need is to be transformed, not to the standards of this world, but to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, who transforms us and all the conformists into the image of Jesus.
In doing so, we realize that our meaning in life is not being apart from the world, but being united to Jesus. to finding our dignity and existence and meaning in our relationship to our loving God.
THe only way for this to happen is through the Spirit’s ministering to us through His gospel and the Sacraments. It can’t be either/or, as Sasse points out. It isn’t even a one-two punch as if the ministry of each is different. They are the same one gift, of mercy, grace, healing, forgiveness, restoration, redemption, assurance, comfort, as Christ is not just heard, but we dwell in His presence, HIs Glory, His peace, His love. Jesus doesn’t demand my presence in the box – He comes to me, and walks with me,
A presence that is so overwhelming we no longer dismiss the existence of the box, or mark and avoid it and its conflicts, but we long to see what God can do with it, knowing what He’s done with us, transforming us into the image of Christ – a little more each day.
For which I will ever praise and thank Him!
and, I hope you all, conformist and blessed non-conformist, neuro-divergent and neurotypical, will see Him, and see yourself as His! AMEN!
Anne Lindbergh, Celtic Daily Prayer, https://www.northumbriacommunity.org/offices/morning-prayer/
De Gaál, E. (2018). O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance: Explorations and Discoveries in Pope Benedict XVI’s Theology (M. Levering, Ed.; pp. 1–2). Emmaus Academic.
Sasse, H. (2001). This Is My Body: Luther’s Contention for the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar (pp. 1–2). Wipf and Stock Publishers.
