Sermon: Advent 1 -- Hope in Christ
Listen to a recording of this sermon here. Below is a transcript of the sermon preached Sunday, December 1. Since I did not use a manuscript, the message will likely be better communicated by listening.
All right, so adults, it's your turn. Who's got their tree up? That's OK. Yeah. This isn't going to be a pastoral advent shame message about having your tree up already. So don't worry about that. I don't feel that way about it. I think that the preparation that we do during Advent--the decorating our homes, the making of the meals, the purchasing of the gifts can all be ways that we're preparing our hearts and minds to celebrate Jesus at Christmas. And certainly, there are ways to get so lost in that that we aren't really thinking about it.
But I think that if we are intentionally thinking about how those things are ... how we prepare for Jesus coming, for the celebration of the first time Jesus came, we can be worshipful in those ways as well. And as we think about that today, we think about Advent, this season that we were talking about with the kids.
And Advent is actually the beginning of the new church year. So happy new year! We went from Christmas to New Year in two minutes worth of sentences. This is the new year of the church season. And it's fun that that what we think about and what we celebrate in the new year, the church season, is this amazing anticipation. And the other beauty of the new year of the church year, is it's a lot different than the new year that we have and that we celebrate in the secular world. Because the new year that we have in our secular world is all about, "how I'm going to improve myself?" Right? What are my resolutions this year? What am I going to do differently? Am I going to lose weight? Am I gonna finally start exercising every day? And then am I gonna not be behind on my bills? Am I going to save money? How am I going to be better?
Well, the new year of the church--Advent--as the new year is completely different than that. It is all about how God is making something new. It's all about Jesus who came to us as a baby and our waiting in joyful anticipation for Jesus to come again. That's pretty awesome. That can be pretty amazing. That makes me wonder, so what exactly are we preparing for in Jesus coming again?
We talk about it--we talk about how Advent isn't just about counting down to Christmas, but it's also about preparing for Jesus to come again. What does that even mean? And our readings today give us some clues about that, especially our first reading from Isaiah. Isaiah paints this beautiful picture of what it's going to look like when God's kingdom comes down to earth, paints a picture of this mountain of the Lord's house, established in the highest of mountains raised above the hills. People streaming to it. Everyone saying, come on. Let's go. Let's go to the mountain of Jacob.
Let's be taught by God's ways. And then instruction will flow forth. And that God will arbitrate for the people. No longer will we have judges deciding who's right and who's wrong, which killings were just and unjust. And that will be so beautiful that swords--think about Jesus time swords were the ultimate of weapons--swords will be beat into plowshares. Instruments of death will become instruments of life-giving creation of food, and spears into pruning hooks. This picture, painted in Isaiah, of what it means for Christ to come again--it's that kind of amazing world where we don't have to be afraid anymore. It's the kind of world that we create when we come together on a Sunday morning and gather and worship . . . vulnerable in a world where bad things can even happen in a worship space.
We recreate. We are already anticipating the world that God is going to bring when we do things like come together and worship without guarding our space. But trusting in God and trusting that God is bringing a new creation.
And right before our gospel lesson today, Jesus tells about something that would have been absolutely terrifying to the people of his day. Jesus says that the temple is going to be destroyed. Now, for the people that follow God at that time, the temple is where God lived. The temple was this place of worship, and Jesus is saying it will be destroyed, torn down. And then a new creation will come. Something bigger, something better. Well, we no longer need a temple, but we can gather on that mountain.
And then it takes a turn. Then we hear about how nobody knows when this time is going to come, because that was kind of what led to this whole, so interesting, reading that we have for today. They said, well, when when? When is this temple--when is this going to happen? When's the temple going to be destroyed? And Jesus said, nobody knows. Only God knows. I don't even know. Me. The one who is going to come back. I don't know when.
I don't know. And then he describes what it's going to be like. Or at least how one can anticipate it. He says then, two will be in the field. One will be taken and one will be left. Two women grinding meal together, one will be taken and one will be left.
And unfortunately, those images don't create anticipation and joy for us because we've all--well many of us have--been exposed to some teaching that strings together, a whole bunch of biblical passages. Back in the 90s, the Left Behind series that made what was meant to be this joyful anticipation of Christ's coming into something terrifying.
And I'd like to rethink that this morning. We do know that to be left behind is hard. I'm particularly attuned to that after the loss of my father-in-law this month. Being left behind is hard. There's grief and there's mourning. There's a sense of loss. And there's a sense that you must move on. Life continues to move even when you are the one left. And as I think about that, I think about what it means that Jesus was talking about one being taken and one being left. What does it mean that we are still here? What does it mean that we are here anticipating Christ coming again? At any moment.
If we knew that instead of the three weeks we have before us to prepare for Christmas, that it could come at any time. What would we be doing? Would we be waiting for the next three weeks to gather the gifts and to prepare the feast and to be ready? Or would we be ready all the time? Would we be expecting it at any moment? And is that is that how we're waiting for Christ to come again--expecting that it could happen at any moment?
And if we are expecting that Christ could come at any moment, how are we waiting? Do we live into the world that we saw painted in Isaiah, where swords are beaten into plowshares? Do we start expecting to see a world where pain and violence is no more? Do we start creating that world today? Because the thing is, Jesus came. Jesus died. And Jesus rose again. And God's new creation has already begun. And we wait for Jesus to come again. But we wait already participating in that new world.
And sometimes that world means death because we are still here, we are still left. And sometimes that death means articles that continue to tell us about the fact that this church is declining, this mainline denomination is declining. And there are two ways to think about that. We can think about that as people who fear death. Or we can think about that as people who expect resurrection. What does it mean to allow things in this world to pass away so that God's new creation can come and so that we expect to see it happen?
What does that mean in our daily lives? What does that mean in how we engage with one another? What we teach our children? Are we to fear the other? Or are we to love them out of the joy that God first gave us in Christ? Our theme today is hope--this first candle. Our hope is in Christ, our hope is in the Christ for whom we prepare and wait.
We wait for Christ's coming. Wait for a world in which new life will spring forth from death. And death will come first. But it's not the end. And that, THAT is good news. Amen.
But I think that if we are intentionally thinking about how those things are ... how we prepare for Jesus coming, for the celebration of the first time Jesus came, we can be worshipful in those ways as well. And as we think about that today, we think about Advent, this season that we were talking about with the kids.
And Advent is actually the beginning of the new church year. So happy new year! We went from Christmas to New Year in two minutes worth of sentences. This is the new year of the church season. And it's fun that that what we think about and what we celebrate in the new year, the church season, is this amazing anticipation. And the other beauty of the new year of the church year, is it's a lot different than the new year that we have and that we celebrate in the secular world. Because the new year that we have in our secular world is all about, "how I'm going to improve myself?" Right? What are my resolutions this year? What am I going to do differently? Am I going to lose weight? Am I gonna finally start exercising every day? And then am I gonna not be behind on my bills? Am I going to save money? How am I going to be better?
Well, the new year of the church--Advent--as the new year is completely different than that. It is all about how God is making something new. It's all about Jesus who came to us as a baby and our waiting in joyful anticipation for Jesus to come again. That's pretty awesome. That can be pretty amazing. That makes me wonder, so what exactly are we preparing for in Jesus coming again?
We talk about it--we talk about how Advent isn't just about counting down to Christmas, but it's also about preparing for Jesus to come again. What does that even mean? And our readings today give us some clues about that, especially our first reading from Isaiah. Isaiah paints this beautiful picture of what it's going to look like when God's kingdom comes down to earth, paints a picture of this mountain of the Lord's house, established in the highest of mountains raised above the hills. People streaming to it. Everyone saying, come on. Let's go. Let's go to the mountain of Jacob.
Let's be taught by God's ways. And then instruction will flow forth. And that God will arbitrate for the people. No longer will we have judges deciding who's right and who's wrong, which killings were just and unjust. And that will be so beautiful that swords--think about Jesus time swords were the ultimate of weapons--swords will be beat into plowshares. Instruments of death will become instruments of life-giving creation of food, and spears into pruning hooks. This picture, painted in Isaiah, of what it means for Christ to come again--it's that kind of amazing world where we don't have to be afraid anymore. It's the kind of world that we create when we come together on a Sunday morning and gather and worship . . . vulnerable in a world where bad things can even happen in a worship space.
We recreate. We are already anticipating the world that God is going to bring when we do things like come together and worship without guarding our space. But trusting in God and trusting that God is bringing a new creation.
And right before our gospel lesson today, Jesus tells about something that would have been absolutely terrifying to the people of his day. Jesus says that the temple is going to be destroyed. Now, for the people that follow God at that time, the temple is where God lived. The temple was this place of worship, and Jesus is saying it will be destroyed, torn down. And then a new creation will come. Something bigger, something better. Well, we no longer need a temple, but we can gather on that mountain.
And then it takes a turn. Then we hear about how nobody knows when this time is going to come, because that was kind of what led to this whole, so interesting, reading that we have for today. They said, well, when when? When is this temple--when is this going to happen? When's the temple going to be destroyed? And Jesus said, nobody knows. Only God knows. I don't even know. Me. The one who is going to come back. I don't know when.
I don't know. And then he describes what it's going to be like. Or at least how one can anticipate it. He says then, two will be in the field. One will be taken and one will be left. Two women grinding meal together, one will be taken and one will be left.
And unfortunately, those images don't create anticipation and joy for us because we've all--well many of us have--been exposed to some teaching that strings together, a whole bunch of biblical passages. Back in the 90s, the Left Behind series that made what was meant to be this joyful anticipation of Christ's coming into something terrifying.
And I'd like to rethink that this morning. We do know that to be left behind is hard. I'm particularly attuned to that after the loss of my father-in-law this month. Being left behind is hard. There's grief and there's mourning. There's a sense of loss. And there's a sense that you must move on. Life continues to move even when you are the one left. And as I think about that, I think about what it means that Jesus was talking about one being taken and one being left. What does it mean that we are still here? What does it mean that we are here anticipating Christ coming again? At any moment.
If we knew that instead of the three weeks we have before us to prepare for Christmas, that it could come at any time. What would we be doing? Would we be waiting for the next three weeks to gather the gifts and to prepare the feast and to be ready? Or would we be ready all the time? Would we be expecting it at any moment? And is that is that how we're waiting for Christ to come again--expecting that it could happen at any moment?
And if we are expecting that Christ could come at any moment, how are we waiting? Do we live into the world that we saw painted in Isaiah, where swords are beaten into plowshares? Do we start expecting to see a world where pain and violence is no more? Do we start creating that world today? Because the thing is, Jesus came. Jesus died. And Jesus rose again. And God's new creation has already begun. And we wait for Jesus to come again. But we wait already participating in that new world.
And sometimes that world means death because we are still here, we are still left. And sometimes that death means articles that continue to tell us about the fact that this church is declining, this mainline denomination is declining. And there are two ways to think about that. We can think about that as people who fear death. Or we can think about that as people who expect resurrection. What does it mean to allow things in this world to pass away so that God's new creation can come and so that we expect to see it happen?
What does that mean in our daily lives? What does that mean in how we engage with one another? What we teach our children? Are we to fear the other? Or are we to love them out of the joy that God first gave us in Christ? Our theme today is hope--this first candle. Our hope is in Christ, our hope is in the Christ for whom we prepare and wait.
We wait for Christ's coming. Wait for a world in which new life will spring forth from death. And death will come first. But it's not the end. And that, THAT is good news. Amen.
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