November 29th Sermon

Hello everyone, here is this morning's sermon, my official first content post. 

Before reading further, I invite you to drop down to the opening post of the blog before this and return to the discussion.

There are three scripture passages that this sermon reflects on:

Luke 21:25-36
Jeremiah 33:14-16
and 1 Thessalonians 3:9-1
 
I noticed how each of these scripture texts engages the question of God acting in the world-Jeremiah looking forward to the Messianic kingdom, Luke warning about the ways the world will be transformed before the end of times, and Thessalonians reflecting on our relationships in the here and now before Christ's return.  These were common themes in the Jewish context, as the oppressive power of various empires encouraged people to hope for dramatic transformation of reality.  In our world, there are definitely things we would love to see dramatically transformed, but I spent my time this morning reflecting on what these ancient texts about waiting for God might say about our own disciplines of anticipating and waiting in our own lives.

Here are some questions for reflection that I invite you to share in the comments:
What are you waiting for in your life?
How do you wait? What are your techniques for good waiting? How do you live in the moment when there is so much to anticipate?


I look forward to hearing your reflections!
The text of the sermon is after the jump.


Grace and peace,
Samuel

Good morning!

Its good to see all of you this morning. I hope that you had a good thanksgiving.  Rachel and I had a very nice trip to Kansas, and enjoyed seeing a new to us first cousins once removed, as well as much other family.

It’s the first Sunday of advent this Sunday-the church’s official beginning of the Christmas season, as well as the first Sunday of the new church liturgical year.  Of course, the ongoing Christmas creep in our modern society means that you’ve probably been seeing Christmas commercials since before Halloween, and black Friday two days ago means that many people in this country have already all but completed their Christmas shopping, but the church moves at its own pace, so just as people have been doing for about two thousand years, we’ll spend the four weeks before Christmas acknowledging advent.

I hope that this proves to be a good season here at SLMF. We’ve decorated the sanctuary-thanks Sandy-we’ll have the annual Christmas program in 3 weeks during the worship service, I’m going to be blogging my advent reflections online, and there will be opportunities for feasting, including a potluck on the 20^th, and a meal with our brothers and sisters from Bethesda, who have invited all of us to come for a Christmas banquet that evening. Also, we’re hoping to get Christmas Caroling set up for Mary Elise, and I’m sure you all have a host of traditions, activities, and family events around the Christmas season that you are looking forward to.

But these activities, while delightful, are in some ways just a backdrop to the task of Advent-the task of acknowledging the role of Jesus in history and in our lives. It is during this time that we remember the stories of Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth and Zachariah, and the preparation that happened before the birth of the Christ child, that we remember the struggle that the nation of Israel found itself in at the time of Christ’s birth, faced with overwhelming force from an implacable empire, hoping for a savior, and when we remember our own time of preparation, the already-not-yet in which we live and breath and have our being.  We all both welcome Jesus into our lives, but also continue to call out for God’s redeeming presence.  Our lives serve as both markers of God’s grace and blessing, and the uncertain and frightening places of existence.  All this goes into the story of Christmas, and how we experience this season of the year.

Since Advent takes place before Christmas, traditionally the focus of the season is on waiting-on anticipating the coming of God, and what that means for human beings. This seems appropriate, since waiting is one of the existential tasks of humanity-waiting for love, waiting for success, waiting for the seasons to change.  Good things come to those who wait, patience is a virtue-from kindergarden on, the sacred line becomes normative for our behavior-what can cause more anxiety than someone cutting in line?  So its not surprising that such a key human character trait shows up in the Bible.  Just to get in the mood-what have you waited for? What are you waiting for?  Christmas? January? Job interviews? Justice?

How are you waiting?

Our scripture texts this morning reflect on the human experience of waiting for our world to be made new.  However, they have very different visions of what it means to wait on the Lord.

In the Luke text, Jesus invites the disciples to anticipate chaos on the way to new life.  When the systems of the world start to break down, when the stars themselves shift in the sky, Christians are invited to hold up their heads, because this is the beginning of God’s salvation.  Here, Christians are invited to understand the confusion and broken nature of our existence as a necessary step before the blessing and transformation of reality, and handling this adversity is what it means to be faithful.  Waiting on the Lord means actively paying attention to the signs of the times, in reading the danger and frustrations of existence as fitting into a cosmos with a loving God.   Waiting means being triumphant because you do not let the seeds of fear take root and change your relationships and your behavior.  I expect this is something that many of you can resonate with-often we experience the frustration of powerlessness, and the confusion of being part of a system that is vastly larger than our individual reach, trying to stay faithful in the world around us. 

Our Jeremiah text, focuses not on the journey through suffering, not on the struggle, but rather on the promises that we have received.  This is sort of the classic Christmas anticipation: God will fulfill the promise that we have been given.  Judah will be saved, Jerusalem will live in safety, Santa will come and deliver presents if we are good.  Here, waiting is not surviving in the face of adversity, almost glorying in suffering, but rather there are presents under the tree, and we’re waiting for Christmas morning to open them.  This is sort of a future oriented experience of waiting-waiting is what you do while anticipating God’s actions.

Last we have our Thessalonians text, which I confess is my favorite, because it seems to me that Paul here has a little different vision of waiting.  He definitely speaks of waiting for Christ to come again in this passage, hoping that the Thessalonians will be blameless before God when Christ and his saints come again, but this waiting is not in the context of the terror of existence, like in Luke, nor does it dominate his energy, as in Jeremiah.  Rather, Paul speaks of waiting in deep anticipation first of all for the blessings to be found in and of this world, not the next- the anticipation of friends reunited, the love that can be shared, abounding even at a distance, the hope of renewed and growing faith.  Paul thanks God not only for the possibility of joy in the future, but also for the joy that he experiences just for having known the people of Thessolonica, and just for the opportunity to be in relationship with them, while still anticipating the joy of future face to face conversation and connection, and the greater joy and peace that will be experienced when Christ comes again.  Waiting is not grueling, it is not painful, it does not dominate Paul’s existence, it is a joy and a delight, even the sadness adds to the experience.

This to me is a really wonderful way to approach advent, and to approach the whole phenomenon of waiting. 

Now, this is not to say that Luke or Jeremiah are wrong-sometimes, you’ve just got to suck it up and get through a difficult situation, and it is important to remember that times of highest stress and anxiety often are a harbinger of transformation to come.  If we are waiting in the midst of conflict, crisis, or disaster, then it is very unlikely that there is going to be a chance to wait with joy, and the more engaged relationship with the struggle  but to the extent that it is possible, I think our lives are richer when we wait with joy, rather than waiting for joy.  Thinking about the dominate Christmas metaphor of new birth, I think Paul hits the nail on the head-from what I’ve been told, anticipating a new child means a new relationship as soon as you know its coming, and that expectation is something good in itself, while it is tinged with anxiety, requires a lot of work, and is very frightening. 

This is advent expectation-the emotions of Elizabeth and Mary with their unusual pregnancies-our emotions as we think about coming face to face with the deep things of this world, and the possibility that we might be invited to change comfortable routines, or learn something new about ourselves.  Relationships are always difficult things, but here Paul awaits with joy the opportunity to come face to face, and to restore full relationship. His prayer is that God might direct his way to them, that his expectations for full communion might be met. This is what we are waiting for, together.

It is my prayer, this Christmas, that you all experience waiting, both for Christmas, and for Christ, as a rich experience of living in the joyful moment.  As you wait, may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another, and for all, just as Christ abounds in love for you.