Sunday, December 6, 2015
Second Sunday of Advent
Year C
Old Testament Malachi 3:1–4
New Testament Philippians 1:3–11
Gospel Luke 3:1–6
Welcome to the second Sunday of Advent. Yet another week of waiting for the Lord. Like the Israelites, we wait in anticipation of what God will do for us. We look for someone to be sent by God, to change things for us. For the Israelites, it was about a conqueror who would free them from their oppressions.
What is it that you are waiting on God for? Is it for a Job? Maybe for healing from an illness? Maybe you are waiting for emotional healing. There are all sorts of things that we wait for at this time. Not only do we wait, but the rest of the world waits as well.
This is the time when we will most likely see people come to church, that we have not seen in a long time. Some come, because that is what they do, come on Christmas and Easter. Others come because they are looking for a change and seeking God in that change. For whatever reason, when people come, it is an opportunity to cry out in this wilderness, cry out the good news of the coming of Jesus Christ.
When God sends God’s Son into the world, He comes and things change. Anytime God is involved, things change. People get uncomfortable by the changes that God puts before them.
You may be experiencing change now; change that you may find uncomfortable. It is out of the uncomfortableness of change, that we grow. Remember, we are waiting on God to come. We are waiting for some thing to change. The only way not to be uncomfortable is not to look for God to come. The only way not to look for God to come, is to turn our backs upon God.
John the Baptist is called by God to cry out in the wilderness. He cries for a change in the way of “doing” things. He calls for a break from tradition. He calls to stop doing church they way it has always been done. He calls out because he is preparing the way for the Lord. God is coming and with the coming, there will be change.
During this time of wait, this time of change, it may feel as though we have been driven so far into the wilderness, that all the things we know, have begun to erode around us. We are all called in some way or another. Our calls from God are unique and how we respond to them is a matter of how we respond in our faith. Trusting what God tells us through Jeremiah. 11 I will bless you with a future filled with hope—a future of success, not of suffering. 12 You will turn back to me and ask for help, and I will answer your prayers. 13 You will worship me with all your heart, and I will be with you 14 and accept your worship.[1]
We have been called by God to be together in ministry. How that ministry looks, how that ministry will look, depends upon how we respond to each other and to God. I have been called by God, through this congregation, to be your pastor. You have entrusted me to lead you and care for you. I take that very seriously. I trust that each of you take that very seriously as well.
It is in this calling that we will each be challenged to change. What all the changes are as we wait upon God to guide us and carry us through, who knows just yet. We have the opportunity to reach out to those who have not been here for some time. We have an opportunity to increase our out outside ministry. We even have an opportunity do do something that is radical for us, to take on a mortgage. With any change, there is a danger. The danger that something may not work as planned. OH NO! It may not work like we wanted. Is that a danger or an opportunity to learn from and grow?
We wait in this Advent season for a change. We wait for God to intervene and make God’s presence known to us, God’s people. When we truly begin to know God and have a relationship with God and the Son, it can be scary because it involves change. Our hearts began to change. How we respond to each other, begins to change. How we respond to the stranger begins to change. How we respond to God begins to change.
In all of which, we may be uncomfortable until it becomes the new norm. Until new traditions begin to form. Until the new becomes the old and the old becomes stale and we seek for more change, because God continually seeks us out to be challenged, to be uncomfortable, to change and grow.
The Advent time of waiting is upon us. The time for change is being proclaimed! In the midst of waiting and change, we trust that God is always with us and always has a plan for us. As it says in Psalm 46, “God is our protection and our strength. [God] always helps in times of trouble.2 So we will not be afraid even if the earth shakes,” [2] “The Lord All-Powerful is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress.[3]
[1] The Holy Bible: The Contemporary English Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), Je 29:11–14.
[2] The Everyday Bible: New Century Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2005), Ps 46:1–2.
[3] The Holy Bible: The Contemporary English Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), Ps 46:11.
I don’t know why, but your comments on change just prompted this thought in me. Time only exists as change, that is, movement from one moment to the next. We are immersed in time; immersed in change; yet there are few of us, it seems, that embrace the inevitability that nothing remains the same. We are immersed in an oxygen atmosphere too but that doesn’t seem to bother anybody… why does change bother us? Perhaps it is because we are destined to take our place in eternity. We are only temporarily (there’s that time reference again) constrained by the dimensions of time and space. This is not our home. Maybe change is that constant, nagging reminder that we are not yet where we long to be… home.
Ken, I love your last sentence, I wish I had said that in my sermon.
“Maybe change is that constant, nagging reminder that we are not yet where we long to be… home.”
When are you coming up here to preach? 🙂