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Mimes, DIvision, Diversity, the Hope of Unity and the Gospel…..

Mimes, DIvision, Diversity, the Hope of Unity and the Gospel…..

Jun 25

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Devotional Thought of the Day:OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

14  For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15  He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16  Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. 17  He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18  Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. Ephesians 2:14-18 (NLT)

“Obviously, he said, it is not always easy to walk the path of faith with other people. “Sometimes it’s tiring. It can happen that a brother or sister creates problems for us or scandalizes us, but the Lord entrusted his message of salvation to human beings, to us, to witnesses,” he said.
“It is through our brothers and sisters with their gifts and their limits,” the pope said, “that he comes to us and makes himself known. This is what belonging to the church means.” (1)

Back in college, I had a class in dramatic literature.  (hey it was a better option than Shakespeare – or so I thought)  One of the things we had to do was tell a story in mime, which meant we had to learn to mime.   You know the pull the invisible rope, imitate some poor victim walking by the class, and of course the infamous idea of being locked in the invisible box.

I was thinking about that this morning, as I read the passage from Ephesians this morning in my devotional reading.  It was probably Paul’s image of a wall, but somehow I pictured being back in the class, and my struggle to be a mime…..you see, I had trouble finding the invisible wall. Is it 2 feet away, 28 inches?  Sometimes closer, sometimes farther, I just couldn’t find the perception to discern the wall.

It has been said, from everyone from Tony Campolo thirty years ago, to the latest church growth theorists that the church is the most segregated group in the USA, and Sunday mornign 9-12 is the most segregated time in the week.   Not just because of ethnicity, but because of age, music preference, language barriers, culture, and too often – what my denom brotherhood called “non-essentials” and what my Lutheran brethren call “adiaphora.  Where we fail to surrender our freedoms, not because someone opposes them, but because we want to protect what we prefer.

But for those of us in Christ, those walls are as much an illusion as the walls that box the mime in; that which restricts us is but our own perceptions, and not reality.

For those walls are based in the sins of idolatry, or hatred, of believing the worst about those that we think are unlike us.  For those walls exist because we have been taught to be afraid of, for those that we have to extend pastor our comfort zone..  We’ve been told we don’t have to change our music, our vocabulary, just as the jews were told they didn’t have to change their diet, or which day they worshipped. But we can change those things, in view of Christ ministering to those, we can change them in love,  We can be patient with each other, sacrificing, not the Jesus who brings us together, but those things we really can’t divide us, as we dwell in Christ.  Walls that needed to be broken down and nailed to the cross in the first place.

Can’t we realize, if we have found our life in Christ, then we can abandon that which we thought defined our life?  Can’t we treat those walls, like the mime does, at the end of his show, and simply ignore them?  Can’t we simply look to Christ, and in our weakness, be transformed to where we realize we are One?  That we are called to live in love, even when that love means we sacrifice for others?  As Pope Francis points out – the church isn’t optional, and he isn’t talking about just belonging to a congregation, but the Church – all of it. Where God calls us together with our

Our hope is in Him, in a place where walls do not exist.  Where sinners are gathered, granted repentance and love and mercy… and find themselves to be one in Christ.

May we realize this reality sooner than later, as we realize the Lord is with us all.

(1)   Pope Francis, public Address, 6/25 http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1402635.htm

 

 

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A Very Different Sports/Church Parallel…

Devotional Thought of a long weekOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

4  God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. 5  God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. 6  God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. 7  Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (MSG)

There is a saying coined by Pat Riley (and brought to my attention by ESPN’s Louis Riddick) that is called “the innocent climb.” Riley described it this way in his book The Winner Within: The innocent climb is the surge that occurs within a team as they are accomplishing more because of the synergy that occurs within a team. Innocence means understanding that the team comes first and being carried along by that; being naive means being ignorant. Innocence doesn’t mean being naive. Teamwork and all of its benefits happen when everyone puts the team first. Innocence comes when the leader believes in something and puts him or herself out to accomplish that.  (1)

First off, I can’t believe I am quoting Riles, even more that I borrowed the quote out of a article about the SeaHawks.  (It followed an article about Tom Brady…:-)

But the author nails something about the church, and how it should function in Christ, that is well described.

Our “Leader” believed in something, and put Himself out there to accomplish what He believed in, He put himself out there literally to the point of death.   We have lots of church words for it, Salvation, Deliverance, Redemption (which includes justification and sanctification) Reconciliation,.  It is why Jesus was born of Mary, why he lived, suffered, died, rose and ascended to Heaven and it is why He will return.  This “something” is why the Father in Heaven sent Jesus, it is why Jesus asked, and the Father sent us the Holy Spirit, and why we trust in that promise enough to know those who trust in Him live in His presence now, and will eternally.

It is that accomplishment, the very relationship that God establishes with us, with you and I and all the saints today, those before us, those after us, that creates the synergy that we call the church.  It is an innocent climb, innocent and yet not naive or ignorant.  We know it is His presence that does it, in a very real way, it has nothing to do with us, and yet everything to do with us in Christ, united in His death and resurrection, united by the Spirit.

This can’t be programmed, it can’t be manipulated.  It can’t be forced or manipulated, though some may try, and some may seem to succeed.

It just is who we is.   That’s the “synergy” as the article puts it.

It’s why I contend (as others have) that sermons need to lead people not to the foot of the cross – but through His death, into the resurrection, into His glory, into the point we know He is present in our lives.   Where we serve together, each different, but the difference not mattering, as Paul tells the Corinthians,   Where our gifts flow, out, even those in others we aren’t always sure of, that we aren’t always comfortable with, even though we know they are in scripture.

It is why we gather to worship, to receive His blessing, to celebrate them together, for that is the nature of His accomplishment, His goal.

When a Bible Study, a youth group, a church, a group of churches or even a denomination are focused on Christ, in Christ…. the synergy is incredible.  The focus of God results in praises – no matter the style of worship, no matter the era of the music, things happen without thought,   Walls come down, barriers are cross, people are loved, and more are saved…

Not because we force it, just because it is natural…. in Christ, led by the Spirit.  What most consider supernatural, it just is.

Because He has had mercy…. and that creates synergy in ways that even pro sports teams cannot imagine….

It’s all about Jesus – and our innocent journey with Him…

(1) http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2083325-mike-freemans-10-point-stance-give-tom-brady-his-due

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Will you let them see you….

Will you let them see you….

Nov 15

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Devotional after a long Day:

 15  Rejoice with others when they rejoice, and be sad with those in sorrow. 16  Give the same consideration to all others alike. Pay no regard to social standing, but meet humble people on their own terms. .  Romans 12:15-16 (NJB)

442         Diamonds are polished with diamonds…, and souls with souls. (1)

On Sunday, the people of my church will promise to a little baby, to be there when she is full of joy, to cry with her when her heart aches.  In all things, to pray for her, and to remind her that the Lord is with her, for He has claimed her and united her to Himself.  And as a baptized belever, she will grow in this as well, and as we struggle, she will be there for us, and as we know Christ’s peace, she will as well.

That’s the way Paul says we are supposed to be, as Jesus church, the people called together as His own, whom He calls His friends (yeah He does – look it up) But since you are His sibling and son or daughter of God, as am I, we are siiblings, we are united together in Christ.  As Paul says

25  This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. 26  If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. 27  All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. .1 Corinthians 12:25-27 (NLT) 

But this is where we in the western world, seem to short circuit.  We don’t like people to know our “business”.  We don’t mind them knowing our successes, our joys, but dare we let them see us when we are crushed, bruised, hurting, anxious and scared?  When our health is failing, when someone is breaking our heart, when we are lost in sin, when we can’t escape its trap on our own, the causes of our pain and brokenness,

But will we dare to reveal ourselves, so that others can cry with us?  So that others can be there, and remind us Jesus is there.. Will we let them see us, let them minister to us, cr with us?  Will we we let their presence remind us of His presence, their love remind us of His love.

For the sake of the body… will we let it do what bodies are supposed to do?

I know it’s uncomfortable, I know its awkward, and we fear the embarassment….

O well, we are a family, let’s get used to being one…

For as that family, we have Christ, we have the Faher, and we have the Holy Spirit, the one who’s title is, the Comforter.

Will we cry out together, Lord have Mercy! and Maranatha! and Hallelujah?

If you want to see a church that does this… come join us at Concordia…

(1)  Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1964-1965). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.

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They Weren’t Supposed to be the Heroes….except in God’s mind.

Apr 15

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Discussion/Devotional thoughts of the Day…

 20  Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” 21  Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? 22  If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure 23  and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn’t that all right? 24  Either or both happens to Jews, but it also happens to the other people. 25  Hosea put it well: I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved. 26  In the place where they yelled out, “You’re nobody!” they’re calling you “God’s living children.” 27  Isaiah maintained this same emphasis: If each grain of sand on the seashore were numbered and the sum labeled “chosen of God,” They’d be numbers still, not names; salvation comes by (God’s) personal selection. 28  God doesn’t count us; he calls us by name. Arithmetic is not his focus.    Romans 9:20-28 (MSG)

They appear in some of my favorite books an movies, Bilbo Baggins, (not to mention his nephew Frodo), Thomas Covenant, Nicholas Seafort, the apprentices Pug and Thomas and Jimmy the Hand. Arthur Dent…..the quarterback in Longest Yard, the general in “the Last Castle”.

Bag End, as used in the Lord of the Rings films.

Bag End, as used in the Lord of the Rings films. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is, I suppose, a special genre…. that of the Anti-hero.  The ones who succeed despite themselves, matter of fact it is their weakness, and their mistakes, that endear them to us… and because of which, they find success.

But they are also my favorite people in scripture, REAL PEOPLE – like Gideon, Samuel, David, Jeremiah, Hosea and of course, the last person anyone would have thought would have been a hero (except maybe in his own mind) – the apostle Peter. They too are the people that were not considered the brilliant, the connected, the famous, the wealthy and powerful.  Yet God used them, incredibly, as He formed them, empowered and equipped them to do what others could not do.

And everyone is surprised… as if God can’t work through the means He chooses.

Which brings me to you and I.

We are God’s artwork, His masterpiece (see Ephesians 2:10)  We may not be much (or some of us, like Peter and I – often – too much!) but God uses us, and uses us to do extraordinary things.  It may be what we accomplish, it may be what we endure.  It may simply be the example of trying to cling to God’s hand with our last remaining bit of strength – then realizing we are safely nestled in the palm of His other hand.  It could be that we are the forefront of a major revival – one where the church is reformed because we were the remnant not to surrender to dreams of past glory, or the machinations to create a future one.

We don’t know – we cannot… we can only trust in God… we can only walk with Him, dance with Him, be cleansed and strengthened by Him…loved by Him.

That is the time – when He receives glory, for the like the cornerstone which the builders rejected – we are found to be an essential block (in my case blockhead) in His building the New Sanctuary… the Body of Christ, those who have been brought to trust in Him, and cleansed by Him.

We are His people – we are His clay…

and He is at work in and through our lives.  AMEN

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They failed us, they sinned….now what?

Mar 9

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Devotional/Discussion thought of the day:

“You have to love your fellow men to the point where even their defects, as long as they do not constitute an offence against God, hardly seem to you to be defects at all. If you love only the good qualities you see in others—if you do not know how to be understanding, to make allowances for them and forgive them—you are an egoist.” (1)

Therefore, to avoid this vice (bearing false witness) we should note that no one is allowed publicly to judge and reprove his neighbor, although he may see him sin, unless he have a command to judge and to reprove. For there is a great difference between these two things, judging sin and knowing sin. You may indeed know it, but you are not to judge it. I can indeed see and hear that my neighbor sins, but I have no command to report it to others. Now, if I rush in, judging and passing sentence, I fall into a sin which is greater than his.

There was once a saying that you must accept one major defect in each of your friends.  I am not sure of where it comes from, or to what extent I agree with it. But if we are to have friends, we have to accept that our friends will be sinners. Including of course, the fact that they will sin against us, and we will sin against them.  We will struggle with this, as we wonder if they will forgive, and whether we will.  Will we count their sins more important than their friendship?  WIll we value them enough to go and ask forgiveness.  And we ask, will they hurt us again?  Does forgiving render us defenseless against future pain, or can we remember – and keep up our guard up.

In Fr. Escriva’s comment, the shortcomings are specifically between you and another, and yes Martin Luther’s are more geared toward general sin against God.  But both have at the heart of them the idea goal of maintaining a relationship that is health and without the walls that come up, when we become egotists, when we place ourselves in Gods position, and decide that wrath and punishment are deserved, and withholding mercy is what is needed.

Except that is not the heart of God.

Remember – the offer of mercy was given to you, before you actually sinned – before you were even conceived in sin. The debt is already paid for, the mercy poured out on you, and the only option we have… is to refuse it, to ignore it, to turn and walk away from it.  As we understand the concept of Justification, as we understand the power of reconciliation, it is while we are yet sinners and enemies of God, that He was working, to draw us back, to make things right, to seperate that sin from us, as the Holy Spirit uses the word of God, the very gospel revealed to us, to cut out the hardness of heart and the egotism that would make us… not extend forgiveness.

Knowing that – can we look at our brothers and sisters with Christ’s attitude towards them?  Can we look at them knowing the mind of God – the attitude we see revealed in passages like John 17 and Philippians 2 and 1 Corinthians 13?   Can we point them to Jesus, always and encourage them to point us there, to the cross, where we are, together, untied in His love, in His grace, because of the great mercy He has for us?

We can… and when we struggle – my best suggestion – remember the sacraments, remember the water poured over you, cleansing you from sin, remember the altar where you go, that you may know and taste and see that the Lord is good?  Can you bring your brother there… and celebrate the goodness of God – who has blessed you with each other?

Such is our calling, such is our ministry.

Lord have the mercy on us, to enable us to do this very thing!

(1)  Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 3365-3367). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.

(2)  The Large Catechism of Martin Luther. the explanation of the 8th commandment

 

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Millions of Churches or One…His?

Mar 5

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Devotional/Discussion of the Day:

9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were shouting with a mighty shout, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”   Revelation 7:9-10 (NLT)

“Also they teach that one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.And to the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. Nor is it necessary that human traditions, that is, rites or ceremonies, instituted by men, should be everywhere alike. As Paul says: One faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, etc. Ephesians 4:5-6.”    — Augsberg Confession, The

I am in on ongoing discussion, that concerns me greatly.  It is about the church and how it ministers in a community that is diverse. both in terms of ethnicity and in terms of generations. As I occasionally do, I challenged the unexplored presuppositions, and commented about whether the church has to focus ministry one way, or the other – why can’t the church just reach out to everyone, and what you end up with is a multi-cultural church, one that very well may resemble the church described in the red letters above. 

I was surprised, because of the push-back I got.

It’s only experts who can pull that off,  it can’t be done, the big churches have tried, etc, etc. etc.  They talk about the nature of a church denomination  or the, “it was tried once”, or “the people have to have that call” and a number of other things that I disagree with, simply because there is no scriptural basis.  Indeed, the early church was multi-cultural – because their communities were.  And the zeal to see people freed from the bondage of sin, the oppression of satan, and the anxiety of death is overwhelming, when we actually realize it ourselves.

The answer isn’t in planning to have a monoethnic church, nor is it to plan to be multi-cultural.  Simply put, the plan is to be the church – the CHURCH described in the founding document of the Lutheran Church – the Augsburg Confession.  Interesting that we usually think of  the CHURCH as in denominations finally getting their act together, finally uniting in mission, in the apostolate given to us by God.  But the CHURCH is a body that transcends everything that could describe us, as we are united in Christ.  Our people have to realize that – the grace of God is communicated through the church, through its members/the priesthood of all who trust in Christ.  It is heard as the scriptures are explained, as we witness people receive God’s grace through the sacraments God ordained.

It’s His church, His people, and the way to be the church is not to plan which group we are to reach out to, but to reach out to the people that are around us, realizing their need to know Christ.  To get to know them, to show them the love of God.

George Wiegel, in a book on the changes in the Roman Catholic Church wrote this… which still sticks with me…

What is at stake in the demand for doctrinal clarity (and for the clarity of Catholic identity that follows from doctrinal clarity) is not a matter of winning an intellectual argument, which is how self-absorbed intellectuals often understand it. Rather, doctrinal clarity is a matter of equipping “the saints,” the men and women who have entered into friendship with the Lord Jesus, to become his witnesses in the world and the servants of those who most need to see the face of the Father of Mercies.  (from Evangelical Catholic)

For a parish, for a congregation, it is essential that they grasp how incredible this message of God’s love is, that God will remember their sin no more, that He has freed them from guilt and shame… and as they do – as they begin to treasure that their sins will not be remembered anymore, as they begin to explore the breadth and depth, the width and hight of God’s love, revealed in Christ – they will reveal that – as those God sent into their neighborhoods, and their businesses, into the places they shop and eat….

And the church, if in a multi-cultural area, will become multi-cultural… it cannot help but to do so…

Lord may we see the mercy that you have for us, as you reconcile us to you, that we may plead with others to become reconciled as well….


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Get’Erdone and Gotterdienst – the Church and the Work of God

Jan 17

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devotional thought of the day (or technically tomorrow for some of you- since I am already there!)
If you are familiar with redneck comedy, or  Vicar Mark, those words should sound familiar.

Maybe it is because of lieing awake at 3 am that this comes to mind – after 24 plus hours in planes, airport terminals – losing a day and finding myself feeling somewhat alone in a city of 12 million.

But I can’t hear get’erdone without thinking of it’s German relative Gotterdienst. Which translates (or so I’ve been told) as God’s work or God’s service.   (similar to the Latin Opus Dei)

WE talk about Gotterdienst as a name for the gathering when God’s people come together – and His work is done in their midst.  He brings mercy and peace to them as He gives them the ability to trust and repentance.  We are transformed in His presence, and begin to serve Him – with our praises, with our words, with our lives.

It is all His work, really – even as He works through us – preparing us for the day when we are all before His throne – as we celebrate the wedding feast of the lamb.

I love how St Paul describes this work in Ephesians

Ephesians 5:25ff (Phillips NT) 25 But, remember, this means that the husband must give his wife the same sort of love that Christ gave to the Church, when he sacrificed himself for her. Christ gave himself to make her holy, having cleansed her through the baptism of his Word – to make her an altogether glorious Church in his eyes. She is to be free from spots, wrinkles or any other disfigurement – a Church holy and perfect. 28 Men ought to give their wives the love they naturally have for their own bodies. The love a man gives his wife is the extending of his love for himself to enfold her. Nobody ever hates or neglects his own body; he feeds and looks after it. And that is what Christ does for his body, the Church. And we are all members of that body, we are his flesh and blood! ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’. The marriage relationship is doubtless a great mystery, but I am speaking of something deeper still – the marriage of Christ and his Church. 

Such is truly a beautiful thing – this work of Christ which makes us, His church, His people – glorious in His eyes.  Perhaps that is why St Paul also wrote

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NJB) 8 Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; 9 not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. 10 We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life.

In other words – God is at work – truly – He is ministering to us – and if the church the the “er” in the get’erdone – then Gottesdienst means pretty much the same thing.

Rejoice my friends, for God is at work, in you…… and with Paul, I can confidently say:

Philippians 1:6 (NJB) 6 I am quite confident that the One who began a good work in you will go on completing it until the Day of Jesus Christ comes.

Godspeed – from tomorrow!

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Come and See – His Day

Dec 2

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Come and See: The Day!

Jer. 33:14-16

 

† In Jesus Name †

 

May the grace of God, the love and mercy and peace that is yours in Christ Jesus, be that which is most evident in your life, until the day

He returns in Glory for us! AMEN!

 
Come and See!

 

Yesterday afternoon, a man named Michael was standing right here, with his dad standing next to him.  He was as anxious as any man I have ever stood beside as they prepared to enter marriage.

As the doors back there opened, as he looked upon his fiancé, dressed in white, there was the loudest gasp I have ever heard from a man, as he commented, in awe of how beautiful she was, at how her beauty exceeded every expectation he had, every dream of how this moment would be.

During the wedding, it was kind of cute – as he looked upon her with such adoration that she often looked away – almost embarrassed to see the look in his eyes!   A couple of times during the vows I even had to remind her to look at him!

That kind of mindset, that nervous anticipation of the bride and groom, the moment before the doors open and they look at each other, that ½ second when time slows to a crawl prior to the doors opening – that is the mindset of advent.

We know He is coming, we know what has been promised.  We have desired the day to finally come, the moment, the time that is drawing closer.  Maybe we’ve even dreamed about it, as we hear the descriptions of what it will be like.

There is a sense of awe, and a sense of anxiety, a feeling of doubt as we wonder “how will I live up to His expectations?”

As we walk through this advent together, as we look to the day when Christ comes again, fulfilling the promises that were first fulfilled when He came 2000 years ago, it is my hope that we realize that our situation is not unlike the situation Mike’s lady found herself in, as we realize the love of God and the way that Christ sees us, the church, His bride.

For that is what that day is all about!

 

The day when we have come to see, as we come to adore our Lord.

What do we expect of the Messiah?

In my more self-righteous moments, I wonder how the people of Israel could overlook all of the prophecies about the Messiah.  How could they have been so far off in what they expected Jesus to be like, how they expected Him to come.  How could the experts have been so…wrong?

Those errors had incredibly serious implications, for example – if Herod’s advisors had known that Jesus didn’t come to establish some mere political kingdom, that he wasn’t going to overthrow Caesar and Herod, would he have bothered to slaughter all the innocent male children?  Would the Pharisees have reacted to Jesus if they had spent more time in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations and Ezekiel, rather than just seeing the promises of a new Moses, a new David?

What about our expectations today, as we look at the church around the world – does it still expect the kingdom of heaven to be established on the earth?  I have mocked the television-evangelist types, when they promise wealth and health and happiness, yet there are times, I have to admit, when my expectations are just as self-centered.  And that leads to trouble, for false expectations can create a let down of massive proportions.  When our expectations are shattered, no matter their basis, how do we react?  Are we like the young couple that sees their life in the harsh reality that occurs when the bills are piling up, the in-laws are becoming more critical, and the pressures of work and household are taking their toll?  Do we spiritually “fall out of love” with God at times?

How do we balance off promises like “all things work for good for those who love God,” with the things we don’t understand, like economy, like disease, like death?  How do we hear passages like Jeremiah, that promise a day coming… when we’ve been waiting so long, when we’ve heard that Jeremiah’s promise was about the coming of the Messiah? – the first coming?  When those promises, supposedly fulfilled by the baby in the manger, now seem to be as naïvely received as the promises of how perfect a young couple thinks their marriage will be?

Has God let us down?  Will the second coming also be…more of the same?

What is promised?
As we enter Advent, as we take a moment and light an extra candle, and then two and then three, and then four, and then, in the right moment, at the precise time, this fifth candle is lit, the one that really matters, the one that makes hope and peace and joy and faith possible, we need to learn that lesson – these candles only find their meaning in that candle.

So to do the promises of God, found in the Old Testament only make sense when we, the church, the bride of Christ, are looking at our groom, at our Lord.

Hear Jeremiah’s words again,

 

14 “The day will come, says the Lord, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good things I have promised them.
In Sunday School, we are going to talk about who Israel and Judah are, and who they aren’t.  For us, in this moment, I am going to tell you – what matters is that you are, one way or the other, included in that group.

God will do what He has promised, in His time, and it will be good.

What will done?  What will God do?

He will raise up a righteous servant.  One of David’s line.  He will do what is just and what is right – throughout the land – that is what Jeremiah tells us.

Isn’t that why Christ came?  To set everything right, to fix it all?  TO make life perfect?

Was not the Messiah to bring healing and light to the nations? To bring glory to Israel?

Even as I look around at the broken world in which we live, I can in truth say, yes, I believe Christ came to do that, and has done it, and is doing it still.

Except that we don’t see the work all that clearly, in fact, only with a little more clarity than those awaiting the Messiah the first time.  For in Jeremiah’s promise, we see that the righteousness – the perfection comes, not in us, but in Christ.   It is His work that establishes what is just and right – it is His work.

At the cross, that work was done.  At that time, we were saved, and indeed the people of God live in safety.  We have been delivered my friends, from all that threatens us.  Sin has no power over us, for God has given us the keys of the kingdom, the responsibility to nullify sin through the authority to forgive it, to dismiss it, to negate it.

Likewise its compatriots, Satan and death, though they seem to loom powerfully in this world, are but illusions and fraud. They cannot separate us from God, they cannot diminish His love for us. They cannot remove His guarantee that all will work for good, because He stands behind that.

That is what it means, for the city of God to be named, The Lord is our righteousness.  Yhwh-tsidkenu.   It is He that is perfect, righteous, holy.

And we, the church, are His bride.  Joined to Him, one, even as a husband and wife become one…

He Has Come, He is Coming!

In many ways, life is like the wedding ceremony, with the life that will become true, only hinted at, even as we wait for the life that is to come, afterward.

We haven’t begun the life together yet… even though the joys of the moment are here. We still struggle to look our Lord in the eyes, to see His love there, to know that He sees us as His beautiful, clean, glorious bride.

Yet that too is part of advent, the reminder that life is yet to truly begin.

We are in the presence of the bridegroom, who has paid every price to bring us to this point.  We see Him in His glory, and wonder whether we truly belong here.

There is the message of advent as well – we do, we’ve been called here, we’ve been called to live eternally as the bride of Christ, as the people of God.

Soon, the wedding will become the feast, and then the life…

May we live in this moment, looking to Jesus, the Lord who chose us to be His, who brings us into life and shares His life and His righteousness and holiness with us.

Come my friends. Come and see your Lord, the One who shares it all with you.  Come and see your Lord, look into His eyes of love, do not look away.

I’d leave you with two promises, found in the writings of the Apostle Paul, to churches like us…

If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.
Colossians 3:1-4 (NAB)


1:6 I am quite confident that the One who began a good work in you will go on completing it until the Day of Jesus Christ comes.
Philippians 1:6 (NJB)

Your Lord awaits… it is time to celebrate, for you have been saved, your life with Him is lived safely and peacefully, for in His righteousness, you are guarded, your heart and mind always in His care. AMEN.

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