Expect

Sermon from 12/23/2012 - Advent 4 - Expect

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We are in the last few days of Advent. For four weeks, we have been awaiting the Arrival. Advent means arrival. Of course, in this case it means the arrival of Jesus. Advent leads us into Christmas.

Last week we talked about Advent as a season of preparation. It is a time to prepare our hearts and minds for a celebration of Christ. We prepare for the light of Christ who breaks through the darkness and fear of this world. It is a light of hope, hope that though there is darkness, the darkness will not extinguish the light. The light will overcome the darkness. So we prepare with joy! We prepare to face the darkness of this world, and the darkness of our own hearts, by exposing ourselves to the love and power available to us through God’s grace.

Advent is also a time of expectation. Not only do we prepare our hearts for Jesus; we expect Jesus.

When we expect something, it implies certain things. For one thing, we are waiting. Probably the most common use of the word “expect” is in relation to pregnancy. It’s right there in the title of the book – What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Sometimes we expect company. Meaning, we’re waiting for them. “Expect” implies more than a simple waiting, though. It’s waiting for something that is likely to happen. Expectation implies that what we’re waiting for will happen. There’s a positive aspect to expecting. We’re looking forward, not dreading something.

So, Advent is a time when we wait for, look forward to, expect Emmanuel. God with us! And we can see all of these characteristics of expectation in our scripture this morning.

Luke 1:39-55

New Living Translation (NLT)

³⁹ A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town ⁴⁰ where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

⁴² Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. ⁴³ Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? ⁴⁴ When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. ⁴⁵ You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”

⁴⁶ Mary responded,

“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.
⁴⁷     How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
⁴⁸ For he took notice of his lowly servant girl,
    and from now on all generations will call me blessed.
⁴⁹ For the Mighty One is holy,
    and he has done great things for me.
⁵⁰ He shows mercy from generation to generation
    to all who fear him.
⁵¹ His mighty arm has done tremendous things!
    He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.
⁵² He has brought down princes from their thrones
    and exalted the humble.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things
    and sent the rich away with empty hands.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel
    and remembered to be merciful.
⁵⁵ For he made this promise to our ancestors,
    to Abraham and his children forever.”

 Well, I mentioned, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, and here we have an interaction between two women who are expecting. Mary and Elizabeth. If you’re not familiar with the story, let me give a little bit of a set up. Elizabeth is Mary’s cousin. About 6 months before Mary came to Elizabeth, Elizabeth found out she was pregnant. This was remarkable because she had been unable to have children, and Luke’s gospel tells us she and her husband Zechariah were “very old.”

Zechariah was a priest in the temple. One day an angel appeared to him and told him he and Elizabeth would have a baby. They were to name him John and, the angel said, John would “prepare the people for the coming of the Lord.” Their child was John the Baptist who we read about last week.

So, about 6 months later, an angel appears again. This time to Mary. And the birth of Jesus is foretold. The angle tell Mary that her son will be very great. Will be called Son of the Most High. His Kingdom will never end. The baby will be born holy and will be called the Son of God.

A few days after that appearance, Mary goes to visit Elizabeth. And as they share together, imagine the expectation they have. Zechariah was told that his son would be filled with the Holy Spirit and will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will be great in the eyes of the Lord. The angel told Mary that her son will be very great, will reign over Israel forever, will be called Son of God.

Which brings us back to some of the characteristics of expectation. I mentioned 3 earlier. Expectation is characterized by waiting for something you want to happen and you believe will happen.

Let’s examine those characteristics for a minute. First the idea of expectation as something we want to happen. When we talk about expectation, we typically talk about something positive. After all, if it’s something you don’t want to happen you probably dread it more than expect. For Elizabeth and Mary, they expect something positive. At least by the end of our scripture. They both seem ready for God to work through them.

What about us? Are we expectant during Advent? Are we ready for God to work through us?

The second characteristic is believing. Expecting is believing. We have to believe something will happen to expect it. In verse 45, Elizabeth tells Mary, Elizabeth and Mary both exemplify this belief. God made promises to both of them and they believed those promises and expected God to act.

I saw a sign earlier this week that has had me thinking all week. It is a church sign, and it’s a slogan I’ve seen and heard before. The sign said “God Came Near”. It something we see and we think oh, yeah. I guess so. But I have to disagree with the sign. I think it’s a dangerous attitude. “God Came Near” doesn’t do justice to Jesus. Emmanuel, God with us, is more than coming near. In Jesus, God became flesh. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God delivered us from the penalty of sin. “God Came Near” absolutely ignores the work of the Holy Spirit. God did more than come near. God is here. The Holy Spirit works in each of us to renew our hearts. The Holy Spirit works through each of us so that we can be salt and light for the world. Shining the light of Jesus in the darkness. God did so much more than come near. God became flesh. God acted in Jesus to redeem those who believe. And God continues to act in and through those who believe.

That brings me to the last characteristic of expecting. And this is the “so what” section of the sermon. So pay attention!

To expect something is to wait for something. We await the fulfillment of the Reign of God. When Jesus returns and all of creation is redeemed. But our waiting is not a passive waiting. Remember, Emmanuel is more than God who was with us as Jesus in the flesh. Emmanuel is more than Christ who will return. Emmanuel is God with us. The continuous presence of Christ active in the Holy Spirit. And so we wait, but we wait expectantly. It is an active waiting. We wait by allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us renewing our heart and we wait by allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us as we work together as the Body of Christ doing the work of the kingdom. So how do we wait expectantly?

Isaiah gives us a plan. “Give up your evil ways. Learn to do good” (Isaiah 1:16b-17a). The early Methodists used these verses as guidelines to live by. If we live faithfully, our lives should show it. Paul called that the Fruit of the Spirit. These “General Rules” were ways to show the fruits. There are 3 rules.

1)    Do no harm, by avoiding evil of all kinds.

That seems easy enough, right? In other words, don’t do bad stuff. Turn from sin. Flee temptation.

2)    Do good to everyone.

Again, that seems easy enough. Do good. This includes feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, helping the sick. It also includes instructing others, teaching them about God.

I’ve heard it said this way. “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as you can.” 

3)     Attending upon the ordinances of God.

This one is less straightforward. This has also been said this way. Learn to obey God through spiritual disciplines. The ordinances of God are also called means of grace. They are practices through which God makes grace available to us. These include prayer, searching the scriptures (this includes reading and studying the Bible as well as listening to the Word proclaimed through preaching), fasting, public worship, and the sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism.

For four weeks now we’ve been looking toward Christmas. We’ve been looking toward the coming of Emmanuel. Our scripture this morning is full of expectation. Elizabeth and Mary both expected great things from the children they carried. They both expected God to do great things in and through them.

This Advent season, I hope you have prepared and are preparing your heart and mind for Emmanuel. Not just for celebrating Jesus birth at Christmas, not just thinking about Jesus returning, but preparing and expecting God to act now. Preparing and expecting God to act in and through you.

At Christmas we celebrate more than God coming near. We celebrate the light that breaks through the darkness. The light that pushes back and overcomes the darkness. We celebrate the joy and the hope of Jesus and we offer ourselves ready to be used by the Holy Spirit to be carriers of that hope and joy. Ready to share the love of Christ.

O come, Emmanuel!
©2012 - Scott Coats

Prepare

My sermon from 12/16. Back in The Bridge, therefore, video and images, galore.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

We are half-way through Advent. Today is the third Sunday of Advent. I don’t know how familiar you are with Advent. I grew up in the Methodist Church, but never heard of Advent until I was an adult. Advent consists of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. The word advent means arrival. The season of Advent is a time of preparation and expectation as we await the arrival. The arrival of the Christ child. But Advent is more than just looking back and celebrating an event that took place two millennia ago. It is also a time of preparation for the return of Christ. And it is a time of expectation for the Holy Spirit, the presence of Christ among us now. We prepare for and we expect Emmanuel – God with us. Not just God who was with us as Jesus in the flesh. Not just God who will be with us when Jesus returns. God with us here and now.

This week and next week we’re going to look at Advent and what it means for us. It’s more than shopping and decorating and eating too much. Advent is a season of preparation and expectation. This week we prepare. Next week, we expect.

I want to pause for just a minute. I planned this series a few weeks ago. I had an outline of this sermon earlier this week, and I was in the process of fleshing some things out and working on a draft of the sermon on Friday when I started hearing news of the shooting in Newtown, CT. I followed the story on a couple of different websites as I continued to write. I watched the story develop and watched the tragedy grow, and I stopped writing. I sat as I’m sure many of you did and I prayed for, well I didn’t even know exactly what to pray for at that point, but I prayed. For peace, for comfort. For the grieving, for the people the victims, for the survivors. And I started to rethink this sermon. I started to think about it in terms of how to respond to such a senseless, confusing, horrific event. I know it is thousands of miles away. And very few, if any, of us were directly affected. But I also thought about the questions that were swirling through your minds. Through my mind.

Why? Why would something like this happen? How? How do we explain such evil? Especially in light of a God we say cares for us. Where was God in Newtown, CT on Friday? What now? Those are some big and important questions. 
Events like this leave us scared and angry and looking for someone to blame. Friday, I was all of those things. And working on a sermon about Advent. About preparing for Emmanuel.  

So, on Friday afternoon, I thought and I prayed about this sermon. Do I scrap it? Do I alter it? I’ll tell you, the bulk of this sermon is what was already written. Because as I thought and prayed about all of these questions, I realized that this season of Advent is an answer to many of those questions.

This morning we’re going to read about John the Baptist, or John the Baptizer if you prefer. John came, we are told, and as we’ll read today, to prepare the way for the coming Christ.

Luke 3:7-18

Common English Bible (CEB)

⁷ Then John said to the crowds who came to be baptized by him, “You children of snakes! Who warned you to escape from the angry judgment that is coming soon? ⁸ Produce fruit that shows you have changed your hearts and lives. And don’t even think about saying to yourselves, Abraham is our father. I tell you that God is able to raise up Abraham’s children from these stones. ⁹ The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and tossed into the fire.”

¹⁰ The crowds asked him, “What then should we do?”

¹¹ He answered, “Whoever has two shirts must share with the one who has none, and whoever has food must do the same.”

¹² Even tax collectors came to be baptized. They said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”

¹³ He replied, “Collect no more than you are authorized to collect.”

¹⁴ Soldiers asked, “What about us? What should we do?”

He answered, “Don’t cheat or harass anyone, and be satisfied with your pay.”

¹⁵ The people were filled with expectation, and everyone wondered whether John might be the Christ.¹⁶ John replied to them all, “I baptize you with water, but the one who is more powerful than me is coming. I’m not worthy to loosen the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ The shovel he uses to sift the wheat from the husks is in his hands. He will clean out his threshing area and bring the wheat into his barn. But he will burn the husks with a fire that can’t be put out.” ¹⁸ With many other words John appealed to them, proclaiming good news to the people.

Does anyone know what this Friday is? December 21^st. Anyone know what’s significant about December 21^st? Yeah, it’s the date that some people have marked as the end of the world. If you haven’t heard anything about it, just turn on Discovery or the History Channel or National Geographic channel and you’ll find out more than you’d ever want to know about speculation about the end of the world. As you can see from our scripture this morning, it’s nothing new. Speculation about the end of the world has been going on probably as long there has been a world.

And as long as there has been speculation about the end of the world, there have been those wondering what they should do to prepare. The crowd in our scripture asks John, “What do we do?”

And it’s still going on. Do any of you watch the TV show “Doomsday Preppers”? I’ve watched a little bit of it. This is a TV show about people who are preparing for…doomsday. Here’s a preview of the second season that premiered recently.  

Well, you can see from the video that these people are preparing for the end of society as we know it. They are preparing for nuclear war or an EMP that will destroy all of our electronics or terrorist attacks or natural disasters. Each episode follows an individual or a family and profiles what they are doing to prepare and then rates their preparations. Those preparations include collecting and storing food and water, building secure bunkers, collecting arsenals of weapons.  

The website for the show even has a survey you can take to determine your Prepper Score.  In this survey you enter how much food (image 2) you have stored and if you have renewable food sources. How much water do you have?  Do you live close to a water source and have a means of purifying it? What sort of area do you live in? The fewer people the more secure you are. Then it wants to know what kind of shelter you have. Do you have a “Bug Out” location? Which is a safe secure place that you can flee to following disaster. And you can see here it needs to be “Self-sufficient and easily defended”. What about security? Do you have any specialized training? This asks do you have experience defending and securing fortified areas? And then, of course, do you have any weapons? This says you should inventory your arsenal of weapons. Total all of that up and it’ll tell you how long you can survive in a doomsday scenario. You can see that I will not do well.

I think it’s interesting that about 1/3 of this survey asked about necessities like food, water, and shelter. The other 2/3 was about defending yourself and your stuff. In the little bit of this show I have watched I heard these preppers talk about weapons and military training and self-defense training and more weapons. Why do you think that is the case?

I have a one word answer. Fear! It’s as simple as that. Fear is driving these preparations. Fear of some horrible event ending society as we know it and fear of what people will do in response. Because, honestly, we live in a scary world. We live in a world of darkness and fear. I think we can say that this week with some certainty. We live in a world that sometimes seems hopeless.

In the scripture I read earlier, John was dealing with some of this same fear. But he wasn’t preaching fear. He told the crowds that the end was coming. He described some scary scenarios – gave some scary imagery. Cutting down the trees that don’t produce fruit. Scooping up the grain and the chaff and burning the chaff.

I think the last line of this passage is the most interesting and has the most to say to us about the Advent season. This season of preparation.

After all of this talk of the end time. Angry judgment and Chopping down those who are not fruitful and tossing them into the flames. Luke tells us that John continued to “Proclaim the good news to people.” The good news.

I don’t think the doomsday preppers would agree that what John describes is good news. Well, some of them might, they seem a little too anxious. But he’s describing exactly what they are preparing for, a doomsday scenario. Except for John, it’s not Doomsday. For John it’s the gospel; the good news! And it is good news for us as well.

This world we live in is a world of darkness, but there is light. It’s a world that seems hopeless, but there is hope. This season of Advent is about just that. A light breaking through the darkness. Hope in the midst of hopelessness. A light of joy shining through the darkness of fear. John chapter 1 verse 5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.”

So we prepare for Emmanuel. But we don’t prepare out of fear. We prepare because of Christ our joy! This pink candle we lit today is there as a symbol of Joy. Christ our joy. There are a lot of people who would scoff at that. Joy? Now? How can you talk about joy when our nation is mourning the senseless murder of 20 children and six adults? Some of you may be asking that question as I speak. I asked the question myself. How can we even think about joy? It’s simple, because the darkness cannot, will not extinguish the light.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son and those who believe in him don’t fear death, because they know and share eternal life! Those who believe in him don’t fear the darkness of evil and sin and death, because they know and share the eternal light. The light that will not be extinguished.

Not only will the darkness not extinguish the light, but the light will push back the darkness. The light will overcome the darkness. Not simply the darkness of the world, but the darkness in each and every one of us. Because we all wrestle daily with whether to walk in the dark or in the light. Christ, our joy, is God’s response – God’s answer – to the darkness. And so we prepare our hearts by walking in the light. We prepare through prayer, through the scriptures, by letting others help us and walk with us. We prepare to face the darkness within and without by exposing ourselves to the love and power available to us through God’s grace.

O come, Emmanuel!
©2012 - Scott Coats

You'd Better Watch Out

Here's my sermon from 12/2/2012. I preached in the traditional service this week. It was fun.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today is the first Sunday in Advent. I grew up in the Methodist church. At St. James across town. I never heard the word Advent until I was an adult. Growing up, December meant one thing. It meant I’d better watch out, and I’d better not cry. I’d better not pout. Cause Santa Claus was coming to town. In recent years I’ve come to appreciate Advent. If you are not familiar with Advent, Advent is the beginning of the Christian liturgical year. So today Is New Year’s Day in a way. Advent consists of the four Sundays before Christmas.

Our word Advent comes from the Latin word ‘adventus’ which means arrival. I read one translation that talked about adventus as a combination of two Latin words ad – to or toward, and ventus – coming. He suggested that we might translate it as “toward the coming.” My Latin training consists of two years’ worth over 20 years ago, so I’m not sure that is the best translation. It is an appropriate description of Advent though. Over the next four weeks, we are moving toward the coming. Most appropriately it’s a season of expectation.

Expectation is a word we’re not surprised to here when we talk about a little baby. After all, we are leading up to Christmas – when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. We’ll see nativity sets and Christmas pageants and maybe even a live nativity all centered around a helpless, harmless baby. Advent is more than a time for baby showers. It’s more than celebrating Jesus as “the reason for the season.”

Our scripture this morning is not what most would consider ‘Christmas-y’. But it speaks to the heart of Advent as a time of expectation.

Luke 21:25-36

²⁵“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. ²⁶People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.²⁷Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. ²⁸Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

²⁹Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; ³⁰as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. ³¹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. ³²Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. ³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. ³⁴“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, ³⁵like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Mike Slaughter is the pastor of Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Ohio; he is also the author of the book Christmas is Not Your Birthday. In that book he says this: “The Jesus of the cradle poses no threat to our lifestyle or cultural ideologies.” Jesus of the cradle is warm and cuddly and fun. I don’t know if we can call the Jesus of scripture fun. Jesus said things that were hard to hear, and even harder to live. Jesus challenges us to look beyond earthly definitions of wealth and power. Jesus challenges us to be alert. To remain awake. To watch and pray.

That’s hard to do when life is slow. To stay alert to God. To watch and pray. But Life is anything but slow during Advent, and ironically enough, during this season of expectation, it’s even more difficult to stay alert; to watch and pray. E.B. White wrote, “To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year.” There are lots of things that wedge themselves between us and God. Let’s look at a few of them.

First is the commercial extravaganza that has become Christmas. Every Thanksgiving, Misty and the kids and I drive by Best Buy and Target and other retail establishments to gawk at the people lined up to fight for cheap TVs. Every year I hear stories of the stampedes of people who will do almost anything for a deal, and every year I’m shocked at the violence. This time of year that should be a time of focusing our hearts and minds on God’s presence becomes focused, instead, on the presents. Aside from the Black Friday mayhem, we become consumed with shopping, buying, wrapping, making sure you get just the right gift for everyone on your list. Making sure you get a better gift for your boss than anyone else does, making sure your friends and family know what you want, so you get the perfect gift. Consumerism and materialism don’t just creep up on us this time of year. They jump on us like a hoard of angry, screaming Black Friday shoppers.

I won’t pretend to be immune. I experienced one of my lowest Christmas moments was a result of my own expectations of getting for Christmas. I can’t tell you what I got or what I wanted that I didn’t get. I don’t remember. I do remember leaving my parents’ house on Christmas morning with my feelings hurt because I thought I didn’t get enough; or not as much as my brother and sister got. I remember that feeling of hurt and anger and I remember the shame I felt a few days later. By the way, this was just about 5 years ago. It’s easy to get lost in the consumerism of Christmas.

Another wedge between us and God this time of year is the general busyness of life. I don’t know about your life, but for me this month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is unforgiving. It seems like there is something going on every night. Christmas parties, band concerts, show choir concerts, then throw in final exams and final papers and projects that are due in the next 2 weeks. Cooking, cleaning, decorating the house, entertaining visiting friends and family members, mailing Christmas cards – it gets to be more than we can handle. Staying alert becomes difficult at best. Watching and praying are absolutely out of the question. It’s so easy to lose sight of Jesus in the busyness of the preparing to celebrate Jesus’ birth.

But those aren’t the only things that keep us from God. Sometimes things out of our control become wedges between us and God. For lots of people this is not necessarily a happy time of year. It’s a season that brings pain. Folks who are newly divorced or widowed and are not used to spending the holidays alone. There are those who are dealing with aging parents. Loved ones who are being ravaged by disease. The time and stress and worry of taking care of sick and dying loved ones pull us in every direction except toward God. Seasonal depression affects many.

There’s one more wedge I want to talk about and this one may make you scratch your head. Church becomes a wedge during the Advent season. With a Children’s Christmas musical, the Hanging of the Greens, the Choir’s Cantata, Christmas Eve communion service, church can become just a series of activities we have to attend. If we let ourselves lose sight of the presence of God they all become just more stuff on our calendar we don’t want to do.

And yet, Jesus calls us to be alert. To be on guard. To watch and pray. In our scripture earlier Jesus gives his disciples a description of “the Son of Man coming on a cloud.” It’s not exactly what we would expect to read in preparing for Christmas. But Advent is not simply a preparation for Christmas. It is a time of expectation and preparation for Emmanuel – God with us.

We sang a little bit of one of my favorite Advent hymns earlier. O Come O Come Emmanuel. It is a song of longing. A song of expectation. Advent is a time when we look for and expect Emmanuel. Advent is characterized by the paradox of “already/not yet.” Jesus has already come, but he has not yet returned. Jesus already established the means for us to enter into a relationship with God, but we do not yet live in full communion with God. Jesus already made the reign of God evident, but it is not yet fully established. We can look at Advent as a reminder and a promise. A reminder of God made flesh in Jesus. There is also the promise of Jesus’ future return. Advent leads us to an expectation of that return as we remember and celebrate the birth of the Christ child.

There is one more aspect to Emmanuel; God with us. God is with us now. The Holy Spirit is the continuing and continuous presence of Christ. Advent is not just about remembering past events and the promise of a future hope. It is also about the presence of God on earth here and now.

And that’s how we can be alert. That’s how we can keep our focus on the coming Christ during this busy distracting time by experiencing the presence of Jesus now. If we stay alert and we watch for God’s presence. But how do we do that? It’s easier than you’d ever believe or expect. Here are a five things we can do this Advent season to “watch” for God.

1)    Pray – That’s an easy one. Pray that life does not distract you. Pray that you experience God’s presence. Of course, that’s what prayer is anyway. You don’t have to pray for anything. Prayer is putting yourself in the presence of God to converse – back and forth.

2)    Read – read the scriptures. Read the Christmas story in Luke’s gospel. Read the Advent Booklet that’s available here. Through these stories and through the scripture, you can experience the presence of Christ.

3)    Expect God – That’s part of Advent – expectation. Look for God to act. God speaks to us through prayer and through the scripture, but God also speaks to us through others, through creation.

4)    Let God use you – you can experience God through serving others. You can experience God through giving. Sharing the love of God with others is one of the best ways to experience the Holy Spirit.

5)    Participate – I said earlier that all of the activities of the church can be a wedge between you and God. But only if you let them be that. The services we have planned over the next few weeks are wonderful chances for you to be refreshed and renewed. If you come ready to experience God, you will.

James Martin, a Jesuit priest, wrote about another priest in his community. He said that every year this elderly man would say “Advent is all about desire!” And isn’t that the truth. It is all about desire. And the question is what do you desire? Do you desire a holly jolly Christmas? Do you desire the latest and greatest toys and gadgets? Do you desire to just make it through without killing your in-laws? Or do you desire to experience the presence of Christ? 
Rev. Martin went on to say that he eventually realized what his colleague was saying. He was saying that “Christians who celebrate Advent desire the coming of Christ into their lives in new ways.” Are you ready to celebrate Advent?

O come, Emmanuel!
©2012 - Scott Coats

Following the Leader: Who We Follow

Sermon from 11/25. I'm preaching in the traditional service next week. I'm a little intimidated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today we’re going to wrap up a series of sermons about following the leader. We started a few weeks ago by looking at the story of Bartimaeus. In that story we see a parallel to our own salvation journey and we see that we are all called to follow Jesus. God’s grace pursues us, calls out to us, and we respond. Like Bartimaeus we are healed, we’re made whole. And we follow as we continue our spiritual pilgrimage of salvation.

The following week, we looked at how we follow. We follow by responding to God’s grace. God’s grace is “the undeserved, unmerited, and loving action of God in human existence through the ever-present Holy Spirit.” We follow Jesus by responding to that grace in what we call discipleship. Being a disciple means learning to be like Jesus. We do the things Jesus did and the things Jesus taught. Participating in what John Wesley called the means of grace. Ordinary activities in which we experience God’s grace. Prayer, fasting, searching the scriptures, the Lord’s Supper. As well as feeding the hungry, helping the poor, caring for the sick, welcoming the stranger. And we do it all together, as the Body of Christ.

Last week we looked at the question of why we follow. First we follow because of God’s grace, because without the Grace of God, we can do nothing. And we follow because we are commissioned, we are commanded, and to be transformed and because we are transformed. We follow Jesus because as we do we experience the power of the Holy Spirit who renews our hearts and restores us from the distorted human image we are into the perfect image of Christ we are created to be.

So we’ve answered the what, how & why. Now we need to answer the who question. “Who do we follow?” That’s an easy one. We follow Jesus. Sermon over. Let’s sing.

OK, that’s the easy answer, but we’re going to delve a little deeper into the question than that. Let’s start with our scripture for this morning.

John 18:33-37

New Living Translation (NLT)

³³ Then Pilate went back into his headquarters and called for Jesus to be brought to him. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked him.

³⁴ Jesus replied, “Is this your own question, or did others tell you about me?”

³⁵ “Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their leading priests brought you to me for trial. Why? What have you done?”

³⁶ Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”

³⁷ Pilate said, “So you are a king?”

Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”

This question of “Who do we follow” is an interesting one for today. Today is “Christ the King” Sunday or “Reign of Christ” Sunday. It’s the last day of the liturgical calendar. In terms of the Christian calendar. We’re getting ready for a New Year’s celebration as we observe Advent starting next week.

Who do we follow? Well, we follow Jesus. So then, we have to ask, Who is Jesus? Which leads us to Pilate’s question. Are you the King of the Jews?

We read of Pontius Pilate questioning Jesus about the charges against him. He is charged with claiming to be King of the Jews. Pilate’s job is maintaining order in Judea. It is his job to make sure that Rome stays in control. In other words, his concern is politics. When he asks Jesus if he is the King of the Jews, he’s not concerned about any religious implications to the question. He just wants to know if Jesus sees himself as a political leader.

As I read the passage, I imagine Pilate’s question to have a kind of scoff behind it. “Are you the king of the Jews?” As if it is ridiculous that this man – this poor, itinerant preacher – could be a king. He’s not dressed like a king, probably isn’t as clean as a king should be. Pilate has a certain idea of what power should look like. And a king should exude power.

Christ the King Sunday was instituted in the mid-1920s. It was a time when dictators were coming to power all over Europe. The celebration is meant to remind all Christians that our allegiance is to Jesus Christ and not to any earthly power. After all, Jesus is the King of Kings. The ruler of rulers.

I think we all have a certain idea of what a king is as well. Just like Pilate, we have preconceived notions of a king.

When you think of a king is it a king who looks like this….

 Or this?

We don’t think of a helpless infant as a king or a man beaten and bruised, dressed ironically in a robe and a crown of thorns. That is the image of powerlessness, not power. And yet, this is our king. This is the one about whom we say, “Jesus is Lord.” This is the king we follow.

To examine who we follow, I want to talk about two phrases we tend to use. One is the statement “Jesus is Lord.” The other is the phrase the “Kingdom of God.”

When we say Jesus is Lord, what does that mean? The easy answer is that Jesus is lord of all. To examine that, I want to start large scale and move inward. To proclaim Jesus as Lord we mean: Jesus is Lord of the heavens and earth. Jesus is Lord of the social order. Jesus is Lord of the church. Jesus is Lord of our personal lives.

Jesus is Lord of the natural realm. He is Lord of heaven and earth. Lord of all creation.

Jesus is Lord of the social order. In other words, Jesus rules as Lord over all dominions, thrones, rulers, and powers.

Jesus is Lord means that Jesus is Lord of the Church. The Bible calls the church the Body of Christ with Jesus as the head of that body. We are a community of faith doing the work of Christ in the world.

To say Jesus is Lord of our lives means that Jesus is our top priority. It means that we follow Jesus because we are commissioned and commanded. Most importantly, for Jesus to be Lord of our lives, nothing else can be. Not money, not our job, not our social status. Nothing else can come before Jesus.

To say Jesus is Lord, means that Jesus is Lord of all. Not just Lord of Sunday morning. Not just Lord inside these walls. Jesus is lord of all, always.

Pilate asks Jesus if he is a king and Jesus replies, “My kingdom is not an earthly kingdom.” His kingdom is not from this world, and Jesus is not an earthly king. When we think of earthly kings, like those from the images before, they take control by force. To rule more, you have to conquer more. But that is not the nature of the king we follow. That is not the nature of the Kingdom of God.   

So what is this Kingdom of God? First of all, it’s not heaven. The word typically translated as kingdom is basileia (bä-sē-lī'-ä). It doesn’t refer to geographical boundaries of a kingdom, but to the reign and rule of a king or the sphere of influence of a king. So the Kingdom of God is the sphere of influence of God rather than a specific location. I like the phrase “reign of God” because it doesn’t imply a location as much as “Kingdom” does.

The website of the United Methodist church has this to say about the Kingdom of God:

· We believe that the kingdom or reign of God is both a present reality and future hope.

· We believe that wherever God's will is done, the kingdom or reign of God is present. It was present in Jesus' ministry, and it is also present in our world whenever persons and communities experience reconciliation, restoration, and healing.

· We believe that the fulfillment of God's kingdom--the complete restoration of creation--is still to come.

· We believe that the church is called to be both witness to the vision of what God's kingdom will be like and a participant in helping to bring it to completion.

· We believe that the reign of God is both personal and social. Personally, we display the kingdom of God as our hearts and minds are transformed and we become more Christ-like. Socially, God's vision for the kingdom includes the restoration and transformation of all of creation.

The reign of God, I think is best summed up by the phrase “already and not yet.” God’s reign has been inaugurated, but is not yet fulfilled. Jesus’ life and ministry on Earth signified the inauguration of God’s reign. Its fulfillment will come when Jesus returns. But it is as the statement earlier said, a future and a present reality. As the church, we work here and now to help bring God’s reign to completion.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that the Kingdom of God is not “food and drink, but it is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The good news is that righteousness and peace and joy are available to all of us through the work of the Holy Spirit. Let me take a bit of a detour here.

We spend a lot of time talking about following Jesus and following God. We tend to forget the Holy Spirit. A lot of times the way we talk about God loses the essence of the trinity: Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. Creator, Redeemer, & Sustainer. God is God. Eternal. Unchanging. Jesus is Immanuel. God with us. God made flesh. In Jesus we see the full revelation of God. God’s presence on earth. The Holy Spirit is God’s continuing and continuous presence on earth.

It is the Holy Spirit that works in us to transform us and works through us to transform the world.

It is the Holy Spirit that allows us to do the work of the Kingdom here and now. The Reign of Christ is righteousness, peace, and joy; and most of all Love. That means that we are called to turn from anything that is contrary to those things. On a personal level and a social level. We turn from sin. Personal sin, first. And we turn away from those things that divide society. Things that marginalize others. Hate. War. Inequality. And we trust Jesus as he leads us to reconciliation and equality. And we open ourselves tot eh transforming power of the Holy Spirit, because we can’t do it on our own.

And so we follow Christ the King. And we await the Reign of Christ. But it is not a passive waiting. Here’s another quote from the UMC website: “And what is our role—to sit back and simply wait for God's kingdom to arrive? By no means! We are to pray earnestly for the Kingdom to come on earth. We are to watch faithfully for any signs of its coming. We are to put away our old selves and clothe ourselves "with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness". As renewed people, we're to do "the work of ministry". As Easter people witness and serve, we take part in the Kingdom's dawning. Thy Kingdom come!”
©2012 - Scott Coats

Following the Leader: Why We Follow

Following the Leader (Part II)

My sermon from 11/18/2012. Read, enjoy, comment.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For the last couple of weeks, we’ve talked about following Jesus. And truth be known, it’s all been building to this week.

Before I go any further, though I have to admit something. The sermon titles for the last 2 weeks have started with Following the Leader. Every time I’ve written that out over the last few weeks, all I can think about is the song from Peter Pan. “We’re following the leader, the leader, the leader. We’re following the leader. Wherever he may go.” In all honesty, it’s what I was thinking about when I came up with the title, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to work it into a sermon.

We started out two weeks ago talking about Bartimaeus, the blind beggar. We looked at the story of Bartimaeus as a parallel to our salvation journey. He calls out to Jesus and is healed. We call out to Jesus and, by God’s grace, we are healed, forgiven. And then, like Bartimaeus, we follow. As we follow Jesus, we continue to respond to God’s grace, and the Holy Spirit works in us, allowing us to grow in knowledge and love of God. Continually renewing us, restoring us from the twisted human image we are into the perfect image of Christ God created us to be.

Last week we examined the question of how we follow Jesus. We talked about cheap grace versus costly grace. Cheap grace is what Dietrich Bonheoffer called “grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.” It’s the false expectation that we can accept God’s grace without it changing us. Grace requires discipleship. Being a disciple means that we are watching and listening to Jesus in order to become like Jesus. We follow by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick and imprisoned. And by doing it together, as the Body of Christ doing the work of Christ in the world. We follow Jesus by doing what Jesus did, and what Jesus taught. We welcome and reach out to the “other”, to the marginalized, to the lost and the forgotten, to our neighbors, people we like, people we don’t like. God’s grace crosses all boundaries and human divisions. Social, economic, cultural. To follow Jesus, we have to be willing to do the same.

Today, we have one more question to answer. Why do we follow?

Matthew 28:16-20

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted! ¹⁸ Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Why do we follow Jesus? 

I want to talk about 2 things that Jesus said that help us to understand why we follow Jesus. The first is from the scripture passage I read. Does anyone know what that is called? The Great Commission.

We follow because we are commissioned.

I try to not do the “Webster’s Dictionary defines so-and-so as…” thing, because I think it’s a little cheesy and cliché. That being said, Webster’s dictionary defines commission as “a formal written warrant granting power to perform various acts or duties; an authorization or command to act in a prescribed manner or to perform prescribed acts; authority to act for, in behalf of, or in place of another.” Before Jesus ascended to heaven he passed his authority to the Apostles. He commissioned them to act on his behalf to make disciples. That commission has passed down through the generations to you and me. Jesus commissions – gives authority, grants power – to each of us and more specifically to all of us collectively to act on behalf of Jesus to go, make disciples, to baptize, to teach them. In short, Jesus authorizes us to be the Body of Christ – to do the work of Christ in the world.

We are commissioned. That’s one reason we follow. The second reason is found in all of the synoptic gospels – Matthew Mark, & Luke. I want to read the account from Mark’s gospel. I’ll read Mark 12:28-31

Mark 12:28-31

New Living Translation (NLT)

²⁸ One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹ Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. ³⁰ And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

Loving God and loving our neighbor is the essence of following Jesus. Why do we do it? Because we are commanded. Earlier we heard the great commission. Now we here from Jesus, the Greatest Commandment. Love God with all of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength. In other words, love God with everything you have and everything you are!

Last week as we answered the question of how we follow Jesus, we talked about following God with our whole self. Discipleship is about giving your whole self to God. And when we give our whole self to God we give ourselves to our neighbor, because to love God with everything we have means we love our neighbor.

We follow because we’re commissioned and because we’re commanded. But there’s still more to it.

Do you remember the “Following the Leader” scene in Peter Pan? The Lost Boys following along behind John and singing. “Tee dum, Tee dee. A teedle ee dum tee day.” Walking through waterfalls, hopping across rocks. All sort of oblivious to what’s going on around them.

I think there might be a metaphor for Christianity there. More about the following than the leading. Following blindly, not noticing the world around us. Going through the motions. Doing what we see, just because we see it. Following just because we’re told to do it.

There are those who call their selves Christians simply because it’s what they’ve always done. My family always went to church, so I go.

Being commissioned and being commanded can still lead us to discipleship out of a sense of obligation. Doing it because we have to, or because we think it might benefit us in some way. Just because it’s one more rule to keep to stay out of hell.

But that’s not discipleship. Last week we talked about discipleship as a response to God’s grace. And that a true and faithful response to God’s grace will always change us. As we faithfully respond to God’s grace, we are transformed by the Holy Spirit. We are renewed and restored.

The third reason we follow Jesus is so that we can be transformed. John Wesley talked about following Jesus in terms of the means of grace – The outward signs, words, or actions through which God conveys grace. He grouped them as acts of piety – things like prayer and fasting, worship, the sacraments – and acts of mercy – things like feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick and the imprisoned. Through these acts of discipleship, we experience God’s grace through the work of the Holy Spirit. And we are transformed. And because we are transformed, because the Holy Spirit works in us and through us, we follow Jesus. So we follow to be transformed and because we are transformed, we continue to follow Jesus.

Which brings us to the focus of today. If you haven’t heard it or seen it, our mission statement is printed at the top of the worship bulletin. “Love God. Love others. Serve the world.” That is a mission of commission and command. It’s a mission that will transform you and me and will transform the world. If you have a Mission & Ministry Fair booklet lying near you, pick it up. Look inside the front cover. On the first page is a short message to you. I want to read a part of that message that speaks about our mission. “Hearing…..Lives are transformed.”

Our mission is to follow Jesus. Because we are commissioned. Because we are commanded. In order to be transformed and because we are transformed.

Take a moment and look through the “Get Connected” booklet. Look at all of the opportunities. Look at all of the ways we are loving God, loving others, and serving the world.

But like I said last week, none of that is possible without giving. Now, I’ve never seen giving listed among the means of grace, but I can speak from my own experience. Giving is a means of grace. It is a way to experience God’s grace. We don’t give for God. We give for us. It is an act of worship. A chance for us to demonstrate to God and to ourselves where our priorities lie.

------------------------------------------------------------------

This wasn't the end, but it is the end of the manuscript. The rest focused on our Commitment Sunday and pledge card particulars.

I'll try to get audio up soon.

©2012 - Scott Coats