Pastor: Paula Hemann
Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024
1 st Reading: Jeremiah 33:14-16
2 nd Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Gospel: Luke 21: 25-36
Sermon: Maybe today
Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too
long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for
those who love, time is eternity.
Today we hear of people living in a time of great loss and devastation.
Jerusalen was completely destroyed by Babylonian invasion in 587 BCE
(before the common era) and some of the Jewish people scattered while
the rest lived in exile ruled by the Babylonians. The people lost their
identity, their security, their homeland, their temple, and way of life.
But today, Jeremiah tells the people that God is making the way fulfilling his
promise to the House of Israel and the House of Judah that God will restore
his relationship with Israel and Judah (Jeremiah 31) and there will once
again be peace, safety and prosperity.
As the people feel like they are living in heavy darkness inside themselves
and outside themselves because all they see seems lost, let’s admit to
ourselves that we too have situations where all seems lost, and we too are
weighed down.
Advent is a season for feeling out of Kilter. It’s a period of waiting. We
are caught between joyful expectation and the harsh realities of the
present conditions we are living in.
Culturally, we are filled with bright lights, celebrations and packages tied
with neat bows, so it seems there is no room for darkness and little
patience for prayerful expectation as we hear songs of Holly Jolly
Christmas and Good Cheer.
Yet this experience of being out of sync might just tune us to look more
deeply to the Nature of Advent; in advent we live in the unsettling
tension between what is and what will be.
Today Jeremiah speaks to a community that is very aware of this Tension.
And what about you- what tensions unsettle us in our time.
Maybe we really aren’t that different from Jerusalem and Judah- like
then today many are losing hope, and all seems lost.
Will we ever see USA restored
Why did such devastation happen, can you hear us God?
Maybe God’s promises don’t operate for us
And in comes Jeremiah- bringing words of Hope, it’s like when we stand at
a window and the morning sun climbs up- and slowly the sunlight is shining
– Jeremiah is offering us all a vision of a new reality.
Their sign comes through the Branch of David- and brothers and sisters we
too are given signs that are trying to climb into our minds and hearts so
we can try to see a new reality merging.
Today we are asked to Ground ourselves in Faith- Believing that the
Lord is our Righteousness
We are to Bridge between the present reality and the Promised Future
So we must act in Faith so God will Triumph.
This is what Paul is saying to the people of Thessalonica- that we are to
pray for each other earnestly so we are supplied what is we may be lacking
in Faith.
The word Faith is a noun- a thing we have- it only becomes an adjective-
an Action- when our Faith is Based (found, grounded) – in God.
It is this faith that we Christians Claim and hold tightly to- because then we
are Confident, and we live and act in this Confidence- knowing that God is
Working All Things for Our Good- only then can God make New!
We as Children of God- God’s Holy Ones are not to play small, we do not
withdraw, or just sit back and wait!
No- We are to be Busy Loving one another, showing compassion, seeking
to care for others who are suffering. This is how we work out our salvation-
as we live to please God we are pleased- we live an intentional, dynamic
and progressive walk with God!
This may mean naming the places in our lives and society that are at odds
with God’s divine vision of Justice and Righteousness. There may be a
wide gap between what is and what we wish were so- That is why we as
His Children are to make our wishes “Reality.”
But the catch is that your Reality and Gods Reality Must Align!
We are to be Pure in our behaviors and thoughts, conducting ourselves in
ways that are Holy and honorable. This is what the Holy Spirit does- it
writes God’s laws on our hearts, so we want to obey him.
Living for Jesus shows People outside the Faith how everything is
Orchestrated by God- whether Good or bad, Jesus Christ will come to
conquer his enemies and set in motion peace on earth.
Our difficulties do not mean that God has deserted us- they mean that
God Will Certainly Fulfill All of His Word!
In the past, when Jerusalem and Judah were threatened, the people looked
to the temple and the priests for God’s guidance. They looked to their
leaders and teachers to hear what the scriptures directed them to do.
Today, all they could find to give them the hope they sought were the old
words of prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Joel — words saying that one
day, God would fulfill the promises made and come with the mighty armies
of heaven and destroy those who oppress God’s people.
One day, the sky will break open, the oppressors will be swept from the
temple, from the streets, from the entire land, and the people will once
again be free to be God’s own people as they were meant to be. One day.
Maybe today.
Maybe today, God will act. Maybe today, we will see the Son of Man come
on that cloud with power and glory and drive these enemies out of our land.
Maybe today, God will send the heavenly armies and put an end to this
darkness.
Maybe today.
Maybe today, after Jesus stood in the temple, right in front of everyone, and
said that this very generation will not pass away until these things have
happened.
After all this waiting, maybe it will be today.
So, we wait.
Advent is a season of waiting for God to act. The day will come, God
will act. Evil always loses in the end. So, we wait. The important question
is, how do we wait? Some say march. Some say fight. Some say pray.
What are we supposed to do while we wait for God to act?
Jesus said that what we need to do is be careful. But be careful of
what?
Jesus said we need to be careful that, when the evil is finally
destroyed, may we still be able to stand before God.
Be careful that, whatever we might do, we do not become a partner
with evil.
The danger of waiting for God to send some heavenly armies is that we
buy into the idea of seeking vengeance. The great “so there!”
It would be natural for us to feel that… perfectly justifiable to feel that… if
we were not God’s children.
Vengeance is not ours to take, no matter how loudly it screams for us to
claim it.
The greatest threat of evil, the greatest threat of the darkness we
sometimes live in, is not that something might happen to us.
The greatest threat we face is that we throw away the light we believe
in and become just another creature of the dark.
We are called to remember who we are.
We are called to remember who we are supposed to be — to remember to
not allow anyone or anything to pull us into doing things only the evil
ones would do.
We are called to hold onto our love for our neighbor, even when it would
be so easy to hate that neighbor.
We are called to love our neighbor, even when that neighbor forgets about
God, and sees us as anything other than a neighbor.
We are told to tend and feed God’s sheep.
There is simply no room in the human heart for both good and evil. The two
cannot co-exist.
We either love as God asks us to love, or we do not love.
You see 2 natures beat within my breast- 1 is Fowl and 1 is Blessed- 1
I Love and 1 I Hate= the 1 I feed will dominate.
We choose a heart of light or a heart of darkness. Our greatest risk is to
allow hatred a place in our heart.
Maybe today.
But if not today, we know with absolute certainty that this evil will come to a
crashing and absolute end.
Our greatest challenge as God’s people is to see that we do not forget who
we are, that we may avoid becoming the very thing that created this
darkness in the first place.
This may be the hardest thing we will ever do. But we know that one
day, God will bring about change.
And when that day comes, we will again look out the window as the
Morning Sun climbs up and Say…LOOK, He is Here. Amen.
