We are celebrating the first Sunday of Advent this week at church with a service at 11 am. Food pantry will be open Tuesday 5:30-7. Here’s a copy of the message for those joining from home.
29 Nov. 20 Sunday Message; “It’s that Time for House Cleaning”
Call to Worship: Isaiah 64:1-9
1]Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you!
3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4 Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to our sins.
8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look on us, we pray,
for we are all your people.
Prayer Concerns, Offering, and Invitation; Father in Heaven, indeed you have come down in your power to save your children, and we give ourselves to you in thanks. Majestic God, we ask that you would bless our Advent Season aimed at worshiping you Lord. We pray that you comfort those in great sadness, and you refine us to be tools of yours in the furtherance of your kingdom.
Amen!
Message Reading: Mark 13:24-37
24 “But in those days, following that distress,
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
26 “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
28 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
The Day and Hour Unknown
32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
Message: “It’s that Time for House Cleaning”
Before I begin our message today, I want to thank the United Methodist Church for the idea of today’s message, their focus today on this first Sunday of Advent is entitled; “This Place is a Mess”. And indeed, it is!
Today is the beginning of our Advent season, and I am excited to be able to talk with you about this special time of year. We are transitioning from a time of special Thanksgiving and reflection, to a time of anticipation and reflection. Anticipation for the coming of our Lord Savior, Jesus Christ. We reflect with the beginning of Advent (Advent being that time of observing and celebrating God among us), and how much our God has given us.
In our society, this time of year finds people celebrating the season in a variety of ways with being: excited in anticipation with lots of bling, nostalgic for times past, satisfied in where you are personally right now, or sad this time of year due to crisis, addictions, loss of loved ones, and once again nostalgia.
Notice not once did I mention the most important part of the season, something outside ourselves that truly drives the occasion, and is our whole purpose for being: the coming of the Lord, God among us. We’ll talk on this. In the weeks ahead we will review our need to look beyond our; community, church, family, and ourselves, to find the Spirit of the Lord.
For this time of Advent, we will look at the things we as people of God want to do to prepare for the coming of our Lord. Preparation for receiving our honored guest (the Lord) will be like following a what to do list. For that general organization, our checklist of things to look at before our guest arrives, we will follow the topics outlined each Sunday with the lighting of our Advent Candles. Those themes are:
THIS PLACE IS A MESS! (where we are right now)
CLEAN-UP CREW (What we need to address specifically)
DECK THE HALLS (how to share when even when it’s hard)
WAITING ON THE THRESHOLD (Being open to God’s Spirit)
WELCOMING THE GUEST (With God’s Spirit in our Hearts)
We will start this week by looking at where we are right now, as a society, community, and individually. And yes, this place is a mess! The comments read during the Candle Lighting for the Advent Wreath, this first Sunday of Advent says it all; “that nothing seems right, nothing seems like it used to be, nothing. We need Advent!”
Perhaps before we go into why our world is a mess, we should talk about what Advent is and is not, since many are not sure what Advent means. It is the first Holliday of the Christian calendar year, and its about teaching, contemplating, and reflecting on the coming, or second coming of Jesus Christ. What Advent is not is; getting things, buying junk, stuff, lights, and bling. And yet it’s that junk in our lives that ties the coming and the second coming of the Lord together.
You see as much as mankind has progressed in two, three thousand years, our messed-up condition has remained a hallmark of who and what we are as a people. I am led back to today’s Call to Worship for insight. This time when you hear what Isaiah has to say, please try to reflect. As I read Isaiah 64 this time versus 6-9, try not thinking about those bad people way back then, but about us today:
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to our sins.
8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look on us, we pray,
for we are all your people.
I think what Isaiah is reflecting on is the human condition that has been in a fallen state going all the way back to the Fall with Adam. Even when we think that we are being righteous and good, its as if our good deeds are like filthy rags and disgusting to God. Which is why we need Advent now!
But why? I’m a good person. (Whatever that means.) Excellent question. And a question/statement people have been tossing out there from the beginning. In Isaiah’s day, it was a dog eat dog world where the strong dominate over the weak. Where presumed righteousness was forced on all in a “one size fits all” proclamation. A world where you were afraid to be kind, because that would show weakness. Get all you can while you can, and trusting others was a dangerous proposition. A time of pandemics that wiped out armies, towns, and societies. Today you are OK, tomorrow you feel ill, tomorrow evening you’re gone. Coupled with the haves and have-nots, the in crowd and the outsiders, the provided for and the forgotten. Sound familiar?
That is why I believe Advent has a special purpose that is so important. It ties our ancestors and their challenges with sin, plus their innate need to be close to the Lord, with our same issues and needs today in the here and now.
Reminding us about those challenges that I just spoke of, and understanding that the world is a mess! It’s dark and cold sometimes, with all kinds of sadness, heartaches, and hardships, which is why God has placed you here, right now. But more of that thought latter in our Advent journey with our Lord.
For now, suffice to say that in the midst of all of life’s challenges, and the loneliness of sometimes just being, we need our Lord. For God is the cure for all of the depravity, hurt, fear, and angst that seems to thrive right now. It is right and it is good to be longing for the second coming of our Lord, and to ask Him for strength until His arrival.
All this leads me to think about how Isaiah started out our passage in the Call to Worship in verse one, and maybe causing us to want to pray to our Lord and reflect:
1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known…
By the way this need not scare you, because the Lord’s return is for you and others in God’s family which is why the heavens would be rend down and mountains tremble. But for those who know His name, this is a day of festivity and joy. Celebration brighter than any bling of Christmas purchasing, and longer lasting, well into eternity. And in this time of challenge when everything seems upside down, we need it just as much or more than our ancestors did in the time of Isaiah.
But what about our future, when the Son of God will return. When will we have our Lord return to reign in a new reality of mankind? I am led back to our Message reading in Mark 13, that the whole of creation will seem to be turned inside out with the constellations falling the sky going black and the Lord’s elect, people of God’s family will be gathered from the four corners of the earth.
So, when will this take place? If the Lord is coming, there are things I need to do to prepare for Him, because I’m a mess! I struggle with being petty, greedy, I am holding grudges and my vanity has led me to invest in me over helping others. My self-righteousness has led me to judge everything and everyone, which had only served to fuel my fears of the unknown and unreal. I have become a microcosm of greater society in which we live. Reflecting that humanity is pretty consistent with its sin problems.
Hear is the Good news consistent throughout all of scripture; God is ready to take us back, to forgive, and to grow us if we really do want to change. Advent is about the Hope we have in God to do just that. It reminds us the lengths that God will go to have a relationship with you, me, the whole of creation. That the Lord would even come into the world to save it from itself.
So, when will the Lord rend the heavens and come down, making the mountains tremble, and all of creation acknowledging His name and reality? The Lord instructs us from Mark 13:32-37, and declares;
32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
We don’t know when the master will return, but we must remember that this world of ours is His house! And when the Lord reminds us to be vigilant, I believe He is instructing us to be attentive to the needs of our fellow human beings. And not just at this time of year during Advent when it is popular and people are moved to; give, feel better about themselves, and then move on and forget. No Advent is really Advent, when it is a primmer for reflecting and caring all year long!
Since this is our Master’s house, we need to look deeply at ourselves, our church, and our community and see if there are things, we need to address in order to be vigilantly waiting, and anticipating for the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Reminding me of the different ways people celebrate this time of year, by a variety of approaches in search of happiness.
I think it important to remember that long after the shine and sparkle fade from the bling, and beyond the endurance and ability of your new apparel to compliment you, after the junk you acquired to feed the need of the season, and way past the performance specs of all the new technology (smart phones, toys, and virtual anything) that you have purchased to fuel the emptiness of the moment, Advent will still be the real option of the season of giving and beyond.
As we all begin to clean our houses, our very hearts where the Temple of God truly reside when you invite Him home, let us focus on the real meaning of Christmas which is Advent. The event of God entering our world to reclaim a fallen world, and every time we try again, get back up, say were sorry and really aim to change, regardless of the time of the year; Advent transforms us.
My hope and prayer for you as we begin this Advent season is:
–If you are lonely: find someone to care for.
–If you are chained by addiction (name your poison) pray for release and a life of freedom through service.
–If you are confined to a care facility or any facility to include jail, find someone more alone than you and love them.
–If you are brokenhearted from the loss of a loved one: adopt someone to love,
–If you have extra; kindness, love, money, time, or prayer-life: give from your abundance.
And don’t stop doing it when the season is over, but keep God’s grace of giving withing your heart. We will talk more about these ideas as our Advent Season continues.
May this week be a dawning of a new reality for you, your loved ones, and the community you live in.
Amen!
Benediction; Numbers 6:24-26