Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas

Psalm: Psalm 96
Old Testament: Isaiah 9:2-7
Gospel: Luke 2:1-14, 15-20
Epistle: Titus 2:11-14

Merry Christmas everybody! Today is a day full of traditions, family, good food, and church. Today is the day we celebrate the birth of the Lord. The God and Creator humbled himself to became a human to redeem creation from the grips of sin. Today is a day of great joy as the Psalmist sings out; sing to the lord a new song, praise his name. God is at work in the world and we see this engagement with his creation most profoundly in the incarnation. God, in his Son, and through his Spirit is a work yesterday, today, and forever and this should cause us great joy.

In Isaiah this week we read the prophecy of the birth of a savior. He shall fulfill the covenant we talked about last week made with David. The Son of David will rule justly from an everlasting throne. He shall be called, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Jesus Christ was both the Son of God and Son of David/Man. He fulfilled the prophecies and the covenants in ways no one could have predicted.

The birth of Jesus interestingly only appears in two of the Gospels, Mark and John don’t seem to consider this aspect of Jesus’ life important. But from Luke we get some important information about Jesus’ life. Jesus was born humbly, yet he was king, born “in the town of David.” He was greeted by animals and shepherds, yet he was the Savior and Messiah. We also see that at this time no one yet understood that Jesus was God. The shepherd’s don’t worship Jesus as is so often depicted in Nativities. They leave “praising God for all the things they had heard and seen.” The Messiah had come after 400 years of waiting, but no one yet knew who Jesus was. I’m reminded of that song, “Mary did you know?” I think the answer is no. Mary is said to ponder these things in her heart. She knows Jesus is unique and the Messiah, but God? This is almost too crazy to believe and in fact took the disciples until after Jesus resurrection to get and something which the church struggled for 3 centuries. It is in John that we see the development to Jesus as God. John skips the nativity in favor of the Incarnation. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. John makes it no secret that Jesus is in fact God.

It is in Titus I think that the Christmas story invites us in. Everyone gets excited about the baby story, but Christmas draws us in and points us to the whole Christian story. Jesus wasn’t just born the Savior. He died the Savior and was raised from the dead the Savior. Titus tells us that this “story” actually effects how we live. “It teaches us to say ‘no’ to ungodliness.” We discussed the first couple weeks about how we wait, and that theme continues today. We are to wait as if Christ is actually God. We are to follow him because he is God. He is not a guru or holy man; he is the Son of God in the flesh.

Titus also reminds us that we live in the paradox of living in the age of the Messiah, yet it is not fully consummated. Waiting for Christmas during advent is a sign of the waiting we do for “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” We wait for his return in obedience. As he came the first time so he will come again; at the appointed time. We don’t know when that will be so we wait in hope and obedience. We wait in anticipation knowing that God is faithful and that he continues to be active and present through his Spirit in creation.

And so we pray, Come Lord Jesus Come, that his kingdom will be fully present in the world.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Advent Week 4

Psalm: Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26
Old Testament: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
Epistle: Romans 16:25-27

So, I am obviously behind on my writing this week. That is what happens when you work all weekend. It’s ironic that this week’s scriptures revolve around the idea of faithfulness. I might not be faithful to write my blog by Sunday night, but we serve a God who is faithful.

Our scriptures open up with a Psalm of thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. The Psalm recounts the history of Israel and God’s faithfulness in the section not given this week. Verses 5-18 tell the history of the Exodus and the giving of the Promise Land. The second half of our reading, 19-26 tells of God’s faithfulness to David for all generations. But if we keep reading the Psalm we discover that God’s faithfulness isn’t apparent. The people have turned against and God seems hidden. (46) The people cry out to the Lord to restore his promise to David. The Psalm, which begins in praise of God’s faithfulness, ends in a lament and a prayer for God to continue his faithfulness when it seems he is no longer.

2 Samuel speaks of the covenant with David. David seeks to build God a temple and although he is denied that privilege, God assures him that his heir will be the one to build the temple. What is significant about the Davidic covenant is that it becomes a dynasty. God will bless the line of David forever. (16) Unlike Saul, who lost the Lord’s anointing and whose heir did not inherit the throne, David’s sons will. Again, we see the idea that God has been faithful and that he will continue to be faithful.

As we move into the New Testament and the familiar story of the Mary with the Angel, we can take it in the context of the Old Testament. Twice we read that Jesus will be a descendant of David. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant. He is the one who will sit on the throne of David forever. I find it interesting that Joseph is a descendent of David; it doesn’t say anything about Mary however. (27) But Mary isn’t disturbed this fact, maybe she is also of Davidic lineage. What concerns her is how she is going to get pregnant as she is a virgin. The calling of Mary isn’t unusual if you consider the amount of barren mothers (nice oxymoron) in the Old Testament, even Elizabeth in our reading. But in those instances, the dad was the husband. Mary gets a special calling; the Holy Spirit will impregnate her.

Mary, of course, is confused, but the angel assures her by saying, “For no word from God will ever fail.” God is faithful and through her he will fulfill his covenant to David despite the seeming impossibilities.

Our reading from Romans is an appropriate benediction over the readers. God is faithful and he will establish us according to the Gospel of Christ. If you looking closely into the benediction as well, Paul alludes to the faithfulness of God in the past. The “revelation of the mystery” has been fulfilled in Christ and his church. God is continuing to be faithful to his promises today.

This is a powerful word to the Church today as it was when Paul wrote it. After 2,000 years, I was beginning to wonder if God will be faithful to come again and redeem all creation. I was beginning to doubt that God would be faithful to his promise. But one only needs to read the Old Testament to realize that God works on his own time when it comes to fulfilling promises. Abraham had to wait until he was 99 to have Isaac, 25 years after the initial promise, I think. But during this time of waiting it is important to reflect on the idea of God’s faithfulness. We serve a faithful God, and as the Psalmist reminded us this week; God has been faithful in the past and he will continue to be so in the future.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Advent week 3

Psalm: Psalm 126 or Luke 1:47-55
Old Testament: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Gospel: John 1:6-8, 19-28
Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Here we are, I can't believe it is week three of Advent. I hope everyone's preparations for Christmas are coming together.

This week is a bit of a paradox in the advent season. One of the things we have mentioned in the past two weeks is that waiting isn't very fun; in fact, it can be down right painful. We have also been discussing how we wait during this time of Advent, and in all our lives, for the return of Christ. This week, however, we add a surprising layer- joy. The third Sunday of Advent has traditionally been the Sunday of joy and I find it quite surprising. I don't think of joy when I think of waiting. I don't think of joy when I think of preparation. When I think of preparation, I think necessities getting done so we can have joy when the party starts. It seems like Christmas Sunday should be the Sunday of joy, not during advent.

Yet the Church has decided that this is the Sunday to celebrate joy. Our passages this week strike me as odd as well. On the one hand we have Psalm 126 extolling the joy that came when the captives were restored to Jerusalem. They have reason to rejoice, the waiting is over and the fortunes of Israel were restored. Then we have John 1 talking about the work of John the Baptist. We have already discussed John, but we can note that this passage isn't really one of joy, rather it again seems to be about waiting and preparation.

On the other hand however, we have Isaiah 61 and 1 Thes. 5. Isaiah 61 is the passage that Jesus quotes at the start of his ministry in Luke. The prophet in Isaiah and Jesus in Luke are proclaiming the favor of the Lord despite how things appear. In the midst of judgment and trial, rejoice for the Lord is at work. Isaiah calls the people to rejoice before their fortunes have been restored: to rejoice in the waiting(v.4)

1 Thes. 5 however is the clearest passage of the week of how we are to wait. Our passage begins "rejoice always." We are to rejoice when life is difficult and we don't see the hand of God restoring us from our captivity. The writer even goes on to answer at least a little bit of how that is possible; pray without ceasing, be grateful, and live in the Spirit. The Spirit of Christ allows us to be joyful while we wait. As we wait for the Day of the Lord we are not left to ourselves. Christ through his Spirit is here and active. He is the one who sanctifies us and is faithful to prepare us for the Christ's return.

So after three weeks, I think we can add our hardest layer yet. We are to wait with Joy. It is two weeks exactly until Christmas. That is two weeks until we celebrate when the Light came to earth in the Flesh. This week, I hope we all have time to listen to the carol "O come, o come Emmanuel" and reflect where joy is present in this song. I don't know, it's just a thought I had since it's my favorite advent song. Maybe if I give an assignment someone will respond. Blessing on you this week.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Advent week 2

Psalm: Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
Old Testament: Isaiah 40:1-11
Gospel: Mark 1:1-8
Epistle: 2 Peter 3:8-15

Last week we reflected on waiting and watching. During Advent especially, although this bears on our whole Christian life, we are reminded that we are waiting and watching for the return of Christ. We also looked at the idea that watching is not a passive activity. But rather it is active, as we prepare for the coming of Christ. Just as I don't wait for Kelcey to come home doing nothing, I am preparing dinner for her return home.

This week we again reflect on how we wait. In many ways we find ourselves like the People of Israel waiting for the Messiah. In this week's gospel passage we read about the ministry of John the Baptist. (It's a good thing we have advent so John can have his moment to shine forth) John was waiting for the Messiah, but he was also preparing. It fell to John to prepare the way for the Lord. John fulfills the prophesy of Isaiah 40. We all know the story and role of John, so I think it is helpful for us to reflect what this means for us.

What is interesting to me about the story of John, is not the important and amazing role he played in the life of Christ, but that us, those in the kingdom of God, are called greater than John. (Luke 7:27; Matt. 11:11) Even the very least in the Kingdom is greater than John. What separates us from John? We live in a post- Pentecost world. I don't want to say that John didn't have the Spirit of God, but we live in the age of the Spirit, in ways John couldn't even imagine. We live also in a post-resurrection world. We live in a place where God has acted decisively in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

In this advent time we can draw some parallels to us and John. Like John, we are are also called to prepare the way of the Lord. What we first learn from John's ministry is actually that we have power that even John couldn't imagine. Acts 1:8 says we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on us, and our response is to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. Despite the ministry John had, we have power of Spirit to do even greater things. Secondly, we again see like last week that "waiting" is active. We are to prepare the way of the Lord, we are to witness and be Christ in a pagan and perverse world.

Thirdly, while we wait and prepare we must focus on our inward character. John preached a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Psalms 85:13 says that "Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps." Our passage from 2 Peter however is even more explicit in saying that as we wait for the Day of the Lord we are to be diligent in holy conduct, godliness, and to be found blameless before God. (Admittedly, these are not purely inward traits, but require us to reach out to others) As we wait for the Day of the Lord, we are to be about the business of our Savior. We too are called to prepare the way for his return. We do this by being obedient to God in our holiness. We also do this, as John did, in our public life and calling people to repent.

Both inwardly and outwardly, publicly and privately we are to be prepared and to prepare for the second coming of Christ.

I Hope this was helpful as we walk and grow in the Spirit of our Lord. Grace and Peace.