Second Sunday of Advent, Year B, December 7, 2014 Gospel: Mark 1:1-8, Isaiah 40:1-11, Sermon Title: Here is Your God! Theme: Trusting that God is here with us whether we feel that His presence is For Us! Introduction: I find it interesting that the book of Mark is the only book in the Bible to clearly label itself as a gospel the good news Mark 1:1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And the writer of the gospel of Mark hits the ground running without any lengthy genealogies or long introductions, straight to the good news of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist is the messenger that is written about by the prophet Isaiah, See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People from all over heard the call from John the Baptist, the call to come and confess their sins and to be washed and baptized by the waters of the Jordan River. In this Time of Advent, it is a time of preparations in our lives. A time to prepare not only for Christmas and all is entailed in those preparations. More importantly in our time of Advent together is a time to prepare for God, for the coming of our Lord. Each Wednesday of Advent we gather together for a brief worship and then fellowship together with a light meal of soup and bread. Each Wednesday we will focus on a familiar Advent Hymn and its history. 1
This past Wednesday we sang and learned more about the Advent Hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel learning how God is with us in the refrain of shall come to thee from the Latin translation shall be born for thee representing how God comes to each and every one of us through His Son. The ground work is being laid and John the Baptist was right where he needed to be in the ground work being laid for Jesus. Today is a time to do some of that tough ground work ourselves. Where are we in our own lives called to repent? Not a fun topic to think about, yet in order to arrive at the point of celebrating the promises of God, the assurances of forgiveness, a clean slate so to speak, this requires admitting where we have gone in the wrong direction in our lives, where we have been too full of ourselves or our own power or selfish needs. Song at Text Study: Straighten Up And Fly Right! The call to repent is strong with an underlying trust and knowledge that we have a God that will be gentle with each of His little ones. John the Baptist called people to repent, to clear the decks, to completely reorder their lives so that nothing would get in the way of the Lord s coming. From the Prophet Isaiah 40:1-11 (God s People Are Comforted) Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the LORD s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make 2
straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. (Sounds like some road construction) Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (God comes even if we don t deserve comfort.) A voice says, Cry out! And I said, What shall I cry? (What or Why Preach?) All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. We are compared to grass with the inability to remain faithful in our relationship with God. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. While we wither and fade like the grass, it is the WORD of God itself that elects, it is the WORD of God that forgives, it is the WORD of God that creates faith. It is only the WORD of God that stands forever. 3
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, Here is your God! It is in this time of Advent, God comes, even if we don t feel that we deserve it. This morning, I invite you to think and live differently, to make space for yourself and realize that we live differently than the culture of our world. To get rid of our own deep fear of not being worthy or lovable which surprisingly most of us feel this way if we truly admit it until somebody loves us and we truly feel what it is like to be loved, despite our faults and our fears. Make space for our own deep insecurity and fear and longing to be accepted, and then hear again the response of your God. Here is you God! Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, HERE IS YOUR GOD! This time of year can be hard for those who are grieving loved ones or have strained relationships with their families and may feel abandoned at a time of year where most people in our world are being embraced by those that they love. 4
So wherever you are at this morning, the Good News of the coming of our LORD, the GOOD NEWS of God s WORD comes to us, whether we deserve it or not. God s comfort comes to us whether we deserve it or not. In preaching, the WORD of GOD is spoken and then handed over to you as the listeners. Here is your God! Ta dah! The Message Translation: Mark 1:1-8 Words from John the Baptist, as he preached he said, The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit will change you from the inside out. Thanks be to God. Amen. 5
Third Sunday of Advent, Year B, December 14, 2014 Gospel: John 1:6-8, 19-28, Sermon Title: The Light of Our Paths Theme: That the listeners think of the paths of their lives, the good and the bad with the light that shines their way to God, to Jesus the Christ. Introduction: If you light a beeswax candle, like the size you place in a pumpkin and let it burn for a while to get the wax melted, the light can be seen from a path of ten miles away. The human eye is amazingly sensitive to light. The amount of light that this very same candle puts out is compared to the amount of light that a typical Christmas tree bulb gives out. Interesting. It can make you think. In this Third Sunday of Advent, we continue to prepare for the coming of Jesus. And in each Sunday, we light one more candle on our Advent wreath, lighting our path as we make our way towards Christmas. Christ In Our Home Devotion for today, December 14, 2014. Verse 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through Him. What is your mission? What is your purpose in life? It is said that what a person is able to achieve often reflects the expectations others have of him or her. Expect low results, and a person will live down to the expectation. Expect great things, and a person is challenged to stretch and grow. 1
John the Baptist was clear in his own understanding of his role and life s mission. He was not the Messiah, God s promised one. He was not Elijah, taken up to heaven in a chariot and expected to return. He was not Moses, who delivered God s law. No, John s singular purpose and expectation was to testify to the light of Jesus Christ. (He was a voice. He was a witness!) In this season of long nights, we light candles to remind us of the coming of the one who shatters darkness. We live expectantly, looking in the shadows of the world for signs of the light of the world, Jesus Christ. As his disciples, our life s mission is to point to and testify to this light, to anticipate the fulfillment of God s promises. We live with great expectations! Prayer: O Jesus, light of the world, help us see your presence in our lives, so that we can testify to your coming in our midst. Prayer focus and concern: Those gathered today for worship at New Life Lutheran and beyond! In this time of preparation, maybe you noticed some changes in our worship space? Room has been made for the Christmas tree and we get to decorate after church today. The Lecturn is hiding and the pulpit has a new location for the morning. 2
And some of these changes happened so that we would have a clearer path of vision to our featured Advent Banner, Prepare the Way! And it is at this time that our focus is on coming, arriving or coming into view. We prepare for the arrival of Jesus as our special guest as we rejoice in the knowledge that God keeps his promises, and that he will not cancel the trip. What do you see when you look at this Prepare the Way banner? I find it soothing to look at and interesting in the different textures and colors. Now we could leave it at that and simply enjoy the colors and textures of the piece, however, nothing is random or put to waste in the making of this piece of art. The road begins from a dark, rocky place forced through a tortuous route. Gradually the way becomes straighter and smoother until it is upgraded to the status of a highway for our Lord. The road, at the beginning, twists and turns, doubling back on itself, and not seeming to make much progress. The roughness of the terrain is suggested by stuffed, irregular shapes made of coarse, dark fabric in a variety of sizes. 3
The shapes are sewn and stuffed separately, then attached to the banner. These very dimensional elements gradually give way, in turn, to a quilted area with stitched furrows and ridges. Along the way, the road has become straighter and now has gentle curves. Finally, at the end of the journey, the road is straight, and the earth is flat and smooth. The progression of the colors and textures is intentional with meaning. Beginning with darker colors and gradually becoming lighter, as if the whole road is going through a dessert. This Advent banner, Prepare the Way serves as an important announcement of Christ s coming and is not simply a decoration. It is a visual way to present God s word. (Think of the paths that our own lives have taken at each step of the Prepare the Way Journey. 4
Visual learning and examples are important for all of us as we each are on a path, on a journey in our lives of faith, and in our lives together as a community of faith. (Crazy idea of giving out smooth rocks and potatoes!) Notice that at the top of the banner is a village. The suggestion of the village being at the end of the road marks the arrival point and the end of the journey. Notice the stars! Think of the paths that you have been on and where you may be this morning as you look at this banner. Close: One of the paths that I have been on lately is smooth as I settle my mind and appreciate the peace and quiet that the Season of Advent can bring. I continue to enjoy driving around in the Florence area and getting to know the lay of the land. As you make your way around Florence or wherever your daily paths take you, have you noticed the Christmas lights on homes and businesses? So if one Christmas light gives off the light of one candle that the eye can see for a 10 mile distance, imagine the possibilities. Imagine how many paths of light that are making their way into the darkness as we pass by. 5
My favorites are the lit up stars that I have seen as I make my path home from New Life Lutheran. A few of the stars are set up high in the towering pine trees with the lights making their way from the bottom of the tree, wrapped around the trunk, making their way up the tree, between the various branches until they reach the top where the goal is reached and the brightly lit star is placed. The lit star serving as a beacon of hope to passersby in the darkness that begins so early. Our daily paths take us to many places. (Refer back to the Banner) This is the path that we are on, through turns and valleys, through rough and difficult times and terrain that eventually bring us on the smooth road where we are reminded of the promises of God through the birth of Jesus. John s call was to point to point us to the light of our paths, Look, behold! Do you see him? Can you see Him? The Word made flesh, there he is! Come and see! Abide with Him and become witnesses! And now may the peace of God that surpasses all our human understanding, guide your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. 6