Advent Sermon - Shake Your Presents

Advent Sermon - Matthew 3:1-12

Shake Your Presents

by Pr. Paul Cannon

Grace and Peace Bethany Lutheran Church!

Oh joy.  I’ll tell you what – Advent is a strange season in the church year.  Last week, the gospel text talked about floods and people being left in fields and the need to be watchful.  This week, the gospel text is John the Baptist talking about fire and repentance and baptism.  Again, I say, “oh what joy.”

Though I say that with a hint (wink wink) of sarcasm, part of me wonders if there is a whole lot more to this text than what meets the eye.  With a story that features a wild character like John the Baptist, drawing large crowds of people, it makes you wonder,  “Why?” Why would people walk for miles to listen to this guy. He pretty much hits each item on the avoid-that-guy-checklist.  Crazy man living in the woods? Check.  Is he wearing weird clothes? Check. Does he eat bugs? Check.  Hey, I have an idea, let’s go see what that guy has to say!

Yet here we have John the Baptist preaching repentance to these tremendous crowds of people waiting in line to be baptized. He was drawing so much attention that the religious leaders – the Pharisees and the Sadducees  - were starting to take notice.

There was a buzz about what was going on – an electric feeling in the air that something special was about to happen. I have to imagine that the feeling in the crowd was one of joy and hope. I know how strange it sounds to talk about Joy and Hope when John is preaching about fire and repentance, but in reality, they are not that different.  

In the Bible, repentance is the greatest cause for joy there is.  What happens when the prodigal son repents and turns back home?  The father throws a party.  Though the thought of repenting – the thought of confessing your sins is scary, the actual act is one of hope and joy.  

And not only that, but John the Baptizer was speaking of an even greater hope.  “You think what I’m doing is great?” He’d tell the crowd, “Something – Some ONE – better is on the way. I’m not even worthy to carry his shoes for him.” 

You see - the Jewish people were longing for the Messiah. They knew that Isaiah prophesied about a leader who was coming to stand in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed, the immigrants and the homeless, the downtrodden and the powerless.  

They were taught that this shoot from Jesse’s tree was coming to bring justice and peace to an unjust and violent world.  Isaiah prophesied, quote, “with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.”  And that “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf (with) the lion.” For a people who felt far more like the lamb than the lion, I have to imagine this was joyous news. 

So yes, I think is a story about joy and hope, but it’s a different kind of joy.  It’s not Christmas joy, because Christ hasn’t arrived on scene yet.  This is advent joy – it’s the joy of waiting … it’s the joy of anticipation … it’s the joy of hope.

We are all familiar with anticipation around this time of year.  It reminds me in a lot of ways of people eagerly anticipating the opening of their Christmas presents sitting under evergreens in living rooms across the country.  

You all know that feeling right?  Even if you don’t get quite as excited for your grown up gifts anymore (oh boy, a sweater!), you at least remember what it was like to open presents as a kid. I love kids at Christmas time, because they are the WORST at hiding how excited they are to open their gifts.  

As soon as somebody puts a present under the tree, what’s the first thing a child does?  They … “Shake it.”  Right!  They pick it up, and they feel how heavy it is … they judge the dimensions of the package … they listen for the rattle of a new toy - or the gentle swish, swish, swish of a pair of pajamas.  It’s pure joy – before they ever open the package.

Of course, that’s all part of the fun.  Growing up, my brother and I somehow began holding wrapping competitions to see who could fool the other person the most.  One of us would get the other something like a video game and then we would wrap that in a box – heavily fortified with duct tape – and then we would wrap that box in another box – also heavily fortified with duct tape (I’m sure we spent a fortune on duct tape).  And then another box and another layer, until we had the Fort Knox of Christmas gifts.

It even came to the point where we would scavenge around the house looking for items to put in the box to make it heavier, or make weird noises when you shook it.  On Christmas day, the receiver of the gift would inevitably find a baby rattle or the hammer that had been missing from Dad’s tool box for the past month. Trust me when I say – we spared no expense in our wrapping jobs.

It’s hard to know exactly why we spent so much time and energy wrapping up our gifts like this – certainly a big part of this was brotherly one-upsmanship.  Watching the other guy go through the agony of opening layer after layer of the duct-tape-fortified-gift, made the eventual opening of the gift even sweeter. 

But underneath it all, was a feeling that wrapping made the anticipation for the gift opening that much more enjoyable.  There is something about waiting in hope for the day you get to open your present, that produces a child-like joy of its own.

And I think that’s the sort of the feeling that was in the air when John the Baptist was running around the country declaring that something big was on the way – that the Savior, prophesied by Isaiah, was about to roll into town.  It was a feeling of joy and hope.

And then there’s the joy of repentance – the joy of faith – letting go of your old sinful self, to experience the joy and freedom found only – found only - in God’s grace.

The old stereotype that church is stuffy and boring always sounds strange to me for that reason.  Faith is exciting!  I love this stuff.  There is incredible joy in journeying together through all the ups and downs of life.  Reading the Bible, singing hymns, and praying for one another are the greatest sources of hope and joy that this world has to offer.

When you understand this, you’ll know that faith, community and church aren’t just another item on the to-do list, but they are essential aspects of our lives.  Connecting with God – whether it’s through scripture or prayer or music or community or whatever – is what gives life flavor and meaning.

That’s the joy of faith that I think the crowds who were following John the Baptist - this wild-eyed, bug-eating preacher - must have been experiencing.  They were connecting with God’s grace in a way that resonated with them – in a way that brought them joy and hope that the world couldn’t offer. 

That’s why in Paul’s letter to the Romans, he talks about the joy of believing and he asks that our God, the God of Hope to, quote “fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” 

May the God of Hope fill you with all joy in believing.  We forget that, don’t we?  Faith wasn’t meant to be a chore.  Going to church wasn’t meant to be an obligation.  Faith is joy.  Faith is hope.  Faith is the look on a child’s face when they know the present they hope for is waiting for them wrapped under the Christmas tree. 

During this season of Advent, as we all wait to unwrap the gift waiting for us in the manger, my prayer for all of you is that God fills you with that same child-like joy.  I want you to shake this gift of faith – trying to find out what is inside.  I want you to savor the season, like children eagerly waiting for Christmas morning.  I want you to soak everything in as we slowly add decorations around the sanctuary – one Christmas wreath at a time – one layer of duct tape at a time.  

Before I finish here, there’s something I want you to do: I want you to figure out what brings you joy during this Christmas season.  With so much business and stress, it’s easy to focus on the negative.  It’s easy to complain.  But right now, I want you to close your eyes … take a few deep breaths … and picture whatever it is that brings you the most joy in this Advent season.  (wait) Now open your eyes, turn to your neighbor, and tell them what you thought of. 

And now let me leave you one more time with the blessing of the Apostle Paul, “May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Amen.

Christ the King Sermon: Homeward Bound

Christ the King Sunday: Luke 23:33-43

Homeward Bound

Pr. Paul Cannon

Grace and peace Bethany Lutheran Church!

Our gospel reading today, sort of reminds me of when, as a camp counselor, we used to heat the sauna up to like 200-250 degrees (don't try this at home), and then sprint down the hill and jump off the docks into the frigid, recently thawed, waters of Lake Vermilion in northern Minnesota.   

As we plunged into the ice bath, the shock of the temperature change would literally make you see stars. Not that sauna’s and lake jumps have anything at all to do with the text, except to say that reading about the passion of Jesus Christ in November, strangely feels like jumping into frigid waters as we prepare for the warm fuzzy feelings of the holidays.

Today is Christ the King Sunday, and it’s a day where our lectionary – the three year cycle of Bible readings – gives us this out of place text about Jesus being crucified next to two criminals.  It’s like we all fell asleep and woke up in April, just in time to celebrate Lent and Easter (sorry kids, you missed Christmas this year).  It’s the church calendar equivalent of doing a sauna lake jump. You shouldn’t jump into a Minnesota lake in May, just like you shouldn’t jump into the passion narrative in November – especially not right before Thanksgiving and Advent … but here we go.

I will say however that the readings for the day (from Jeremiah and Luke) are appropriate in this sense – that they are about that very human longing to be home, and how God goes about bringing his people – bringing us – home.  

But in order to understand this, you need to know a bit of the history of the Jewish people.  It’s a history of a people and a country constantly being invaded by larger empires because of it’s important location as a trade route between Europe, Middle East and Egypt.  First, the Assyrians conquer Israel around 700 BCE and then it was the Babylonians around 600 BCE and finally it was the Romans around 60 BCE.  And when the Assyrians and the Babylonians conquer Israel, they don’t just conquer it – they exile thousands of Jews.  They force them out of the cities and homes they lived in to resettle in Babylon and Persia.

As you can imagine, many Jews were desperate to return home, but they were powerless to do so.  And around this time, the prophets started writing about their future homecoming.  They started writing about how God would deliver them from exile in a foreign nation.  And they prophesied that a leader would rise up from amongst the Jews to lead them home.

Jeremiah was one such prophet.  So he writes about the sheep who have been scattered all over the land, and God the Shepherd, promising to gather his people together.  Jeremiah writes, “Then I (God) will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.” I will gather them and I will bring them back.  Those became powerful words to a people longing for a homecoming.

Many Jews began to expect a King from the line of David to rise up and

save them, but really they were looking for more than a king. What they wanted was a hero – a messiah, a chosen one who would gather the flock of Israel from across the world – so they could be one big happy family again.  

Of course, if the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays teach us anything, it’s that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Everybody misses their family until they are elbow to elbow for eight hours in a small kitchen with them. You go home for Thanksgiving, and pretty soon, your sister starts to boss you around like you’re ten, you’re fighting for legroom sitting next to your brother in the back of the suburban even though you’re both almost 30 years old, and a pie gets burnt in the oven and somehow that’s your fault even though you followed the instructions EXACTLY! Am I right? The Holidays can be stressful, but then by the time you leave you’re hugging each other saying “Let’s do it again next year!”

And though I say that jokingly, the desire to be with family - the desire to be home – is usually strong enough to bring us back, year after year.  There’s just something irreplaceable about being with your loved ones.  I often miss home. My family is scattered throughout the Midwest and California, and then most of my other relatives are in North Dakota and South Carolina.  Home with family is one of the few places can count on being loved despite your flaws.

I’m sure you have your own stories about missing your home – missing your family.  To that degree, we can understand a little bit about how the Jewish people felt – what it feels like to be hundreds of miles from your loved ones, from your friends and relatives.  The Jewish people were searching for a hero to come and bring them back to the land of their birth.  They wanted a homecoming.

500 years later, in comes Jesus.  And this time, it’s the Romans (not the Babylonians) who are in control of Jerusalem.  And though many Jews returned home from exile by this time, there’s still a deep longing to restore Jerusalem to the way it used to be – to restore their homeland to Jewish control.  

And that’s why the Jews welcome Jesus to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday like a King.  They throw branches down in a path to make way for his arrival because they think he’s come to restore their home.  They want a king who can raise an army and take back their country, from the Romans, but as we know, Jesus is not that kind of King. He’s not Ceasar.  He’s not a conqueror.  He’s not the guy who is going to restore Jerusalem to Jewish control.

When the Jewish leaders discover that Jesus isn’t going to be their political instrument of power, they send him away to be crucified – to die next to criminals.  And the Romans, are too happy to oblige them.  Jesus is tried by Pontius Pilate, and convicted, and sentenced to die a very public execution.

“This is the King of the Jews” were the words inscribed above him on the cross.  They were written there so the world could see what happens to would-be king usurpers.  Of course, there is irony in that statement.  Jesus was a King, but he was a different kind of King, just like the cross was a different kind of throne. 

And that’s exactly the point, isn't it? The cross tells us what kind of King Jesus is and isn’t. He is not a king of political power.  He’s not a king of violence. So what is he? I think that our gospel writer is making the claim that Jesus is indeed, the Messiah, the chosen one prophesied by Jeremiah and Isaiah, to bring his people home. Only it’s not the home that they imagined it would be.

In our gospel story, Jesus is crucified next to two criminals.  One turns to Jesus, half mocking, half pleading and says, “Are you not the Messiah?  Save yourself and us!”  If you know the history, you can hear the irony.  The Messiah was supposed to come as a King to bring his people home.  The Messiah was supposed to come and deliver the people from their oppressors – not die by their hands.

But the other criminal sees only an innocent man dying next to him, so he rebukes the other saying, “This man is innocent of any crime and WE, we are getting what we deserve!” Then he turns to Jesus, pleading with him, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Remember me, when you get home.

This is a statement from a criminal who had lost his way and knew he was a long way from home. This criminal is the prodigal son returning home, back into the loving arms of God, back to into a relationship with Jesus.  And what this criminal recognizes, that nobody else (even the disciples) recognize, is that Jesus true home was with God.

Jesus’ was going home – to his kingdom. Now do you see it?  The messiah had indeed come to bring his people home – only it wasn’t what everybody was expecting.  It wasn’t a place.  It wasn’t a country.  It was a relationship.

You probably already understand what that means.  When we say we are going “home for the holidays” most of us don’t mean we’re going back to the house we were raised in.  If you’re like me, it doesn’t even mean that you’re going back to the state you were raised in.  It means you’re going to be with family.  Home isn’t being at the place you live – it’s being with the people you love.

So Jesus responds to the criminal “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”  Today, you will be with me. Today, you are coming home. 

The beauty of this story is that it totally reinvents all of our expectations for God.  Where many of the Jews were looking for a King to bring them into political power, the cross is a place where the King opens his arms and welcomes his people home.  The cross is the place where God welcomes the lost and they wayward.  The cross is the place where God gathers his scattered sheep.  

Home becomes more than a location.  It’s a family gathering.  Flaws and all!

And in the end, I think that is what we are all really longing for – a place to be loved, a place to be accepted, a place to call home.  I think we find this home in the loving arms of Jesus on the cross.

So this Thanksgiving, no matter where you are, no matter what you’ve done, no matter if you are alone or with 100 people, I pray you know, that with Christ, you always have a home.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Sermon for the 1st Sunday of Advent: December 1, 2013

Sermon for the 1^st Sunday of Advent

December 1, 2013

Matthew 24:36-44

PREACHER: Pastor Carrie Smith 

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

“You do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” What a very strange thing to hear when all around us the “holy countdown” has started! Only 24 shopping days to Christmas; 15 school days until vacation; 14 days to the Bethany Christmas Pageant; 7 days to the Swedish Children’s Choir Concert; and approximately…20 minutes until the next showing of “A Christmas Story” and/or “Home Alone” on cable t.v. And in case you might forget, here in our worship space we have reminders of the countdown as well. Today, the first Sunday of Advent, we have one Advent banner, one Advent candle lit behind the altar, just one verse of “Light One Candle” to sing, and the worship space is once again awash in blue, the color of Advent hope.

Yes, the countdown to Christmas has begun! So what does it mean for us today to be hearing this particular Scripture text, in which Jesus warns believers we cannot know on what day our Lord is coming? True, this is spoken in reference to the second coming of Jesus, not his birth—but does this text mean we should give up on counting down anything at all? How are Christians to wait in hope of the Lord’s coming when we’re told we can never know when it will happen? Jesus seems to be telling us to wait, but not to get too excited. To be ready, but not to stop what we’re doing. To keep watch, but to understand we won’t know anything until it happens.

This kind of waiting-but-not-waiting is even more difficult to accept because of the fact that we really enjoy counting down hours, days, weeks, and months! During Advent we love to open little windows on paper Advent calendars and eat the chocolate, even if it does taste like plastic; Elf on the Shelf moves around the house; we work our way through Advent devotionals and mark days off on our work calendars. One of my favorite new options for counting down the days to Christmas (though it’s out of my budget) is the whiskey advent calendar from “Master of Malt.com”: 24 tiny tastes of whiskey from around the world, hidden behind little paper doors just like those bad chocolates we grew up with! Yes, it’s a little naughty…but it’s also a little nice, and besides, I have it on good authority that Santa prefers whiskey to milk with his cookies, anyway.

But we don’t just count down the days to Christmas. We also love to count how many months until the baby’s due date; how many more payments on the student loans; how many days until Christmas or summer vacation; and how many years to retirement. Some of you can also testify to what it’s like to count how many chemo treatments are left, and the joy that’s felt when you’re finally done. Amen?

Counting down the days, marking time, and anticipating some future event is one small thing that makes living this unpredictable, sometimes unexplainable, seemingly random life a bit easier to manage. So why does Jesus insist we cannot know the day nor the hour of his return? Why paint pictures of people going about their daily business in the field or in the mill, and the Lord’s return taking them by utter surprise, when he knows this will freak us out? How is this helpful, Jesus?

One answer lies in the fact that in Jesus’ time, as now, there were those who made it their career and mission to predict the end of all things. Just in our lifetimes, can you even count how many “end of the world” prophecies have come and gone? From the year 44 (before the Gospels were even written) all the way to December 21, 2012, there have always been predictions of Jesus’ return. But in spite of their anxious countdowns and dire warnings, all have passed without incident. Our apocalyptic hope remains just that: hope.

So it is into this context Jesus speaks these words: “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Only the Father knows…this a constant reminder to all who seek to discover the holy egg timer that one can never know the mind of God. It is not given to us to know God’s timetable. Whether we’re talking about Jesus’ return and the coming of the kingdom; or the onset of labor, the outcome of a particular cancer treatment, the future of a relationship, or the day and hour of our death, we are like Noah, who knew nothing until the day the rains came and he entered the ark. The one thing we know for sure about Jesus’ coming (and about God’s timing) is that it will be unexpected.

We do not know on what day our Lord is coming. We cannot know what the future holds. But, my friends, this doesn’t mean we stop looking, stop hoping, or simply resign ourselves to apathy and ignorance! Counting down the days, decoding prophecies, making predictions and preparing for disaster is waiting, all right—but it is waiting in fear. Believers, on the other hand, wait in hope. We do not know what tomorrow will bring—but we are watchful and ready. We keep our eyes open for the ways in which Jesus is at the same time here right now, and yet still on his way. And we seek to clear the clutter from our minds so we can stay awake.

Anyone who has ever worked the night shift, sat up with a sick loved one, or chaperoned a youth group lock-in knows some strategies for keeping awake! Amen? But here are a few for us, as Christians who wait in hope for Jesus:

First: Pray. This one may seem obvious! But if we’re honest, we can always use improvement in this area. So during this Advent season, I invite you to come to worship a few minutes early (or stay a few minutes late) and visit the prayer wall at the entrance to the sanctuary. There, you can write your own prayers, as well as read the prayer requests of others. For what do you wait in hope? For what does the world wait? What darkness does Jesus, the light of the world, need to come and banish?

Second: Go about your daily work. Jesus says “Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.” In other words: The proper thing to be doing when Jesus returns is the work to which you were called. Jesus doesn’t want to see you hunkered down, preparing for disaster, holding your breath for the worst case scenario. Live your life; pursue your dreams; be the person God created you to be.

And third: Get an Advent calendar. In fact, if you could find one, it would be great to have a calendar with chocolates for every day of the year! For I can think of no better way to be ready for Jesus’ coming than to celebrate each and every day we are given. Every morning, open the door of your day to see what God has revealed for you there. Eat that piece of chocolate and enjoy the sweet gift that is life! But rather than worrying about counting down, remember who you can count on.

Sisters and brothers in Christ, just as during Advent we can count on Christmas to arrive right on time, bringing again the joy of Jesus’ birth, so we can always count on God to come through for us again. We may not know the specifics, but we can trust that Jesus always shows up: not just on Christmas morning in the manger, but also every Sunday in the bread and the wine; in the reading of the Word; and in our midst, whenever two or three are gathered. And our faith tells us that one day, in his own time, he will come again in glory, just as was promised.

And so, dear people, during Advent and every day, we Christians wait in hope. All earth is hopeful—the savior comes at last. Thanks be to God! Amen.