28 November 2021
Sermon ~ Advent 1
Something must have gone wrong in Thessalonica. Probably somebody important had left the church either by death or some kind of a disagreement. For this reason there was a crisis of faith. Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica and says that he wishes he could go there and see them face to face in order to restore whatever is lacking in their faith. This is a puzzling thing for Paul to write, because faith isn’t something you can give someone else. Only the Holy Spirit gives faith. A related concept to faith is trust. Which raises the question of the church in Thessalonica had trust issues with Paul or each other. A key ingredient to building trust is healthy boundaries.
My parents live on the upper banks of the Oak Creek just outside of Sedona, Arizona. Flooding is a perennial concern. A flood of water has the ability to destroy everything in its path. For this reason careful records are kept of the maximum height of the creek during flood times, and engineers can predict just how high flood waters can reach in a 100 or even in a 1,000 years. So when you build something near the creek, the lake, or the ocean, the essential question is, “What are the boundaries of the water?” Boundaries tell you where it is safe, and where it is not safe to live and build your home. If there is uncertainty as to where the boundaries of the river lie, then there is a reluctance to build a home. Sedona has been booming like many other communities in the Southwest, and as a result there is new construction along the banks of the Oak Creek. People are willing to invest hundreds of thousands of daughters and their personal possessions why? Because they trust that the boundaries of the river are secure.
Like a river, God’s love and grace flows through the church and our lives. God’s power is so great that indeed it is the power of life and death. We baptize in water to underscore the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the fragility of each of our own lives. But when a person goes to church, has trust in other people, and when that trust is violated and boundaries are crossed, then sadly often a person has a crisis of faith, because the very community that helped shape faith, can be guilty of violating trust, and so trust in God can suffer as a result.
Thankfully the goodness and faithfulness of God doesn’t not depend totally on us. When we fail as people God works to teach us. That is what Psalm 25 is all about. In this psalm we pray that God would teach us God’s paths. Specifically we pray that God would be patient with sinners and teach sinners the way of righteousness. We are saved by Grace through faith, and not by our works. That means that God doesn’t give up on us as people or the church when we fail, but God patiently teaches a better way to live.
I often talk about my experience doing Clinical Pastoral Education, when I served as a chaplain in a hospital. One of the things that made the experience so positive was that our supervisor built trust with us so that when a visit didn’t go was well as it could have, both she and our colleagues could gently give suggestions for how to improve. This wasn’t about criticizing. This was about believing that we could all be better and more effective as chaplains and pastors. As you hear these words my prayer is that you would be open to God’s grace which comes as gentle instruction. Each baptized minister of the gospel is like a pastor and a chaplain. We encourage one another to love one another and share the gospel with all the world.
Paul does this in the closing remarks of his first letter to Thesselonica. He doubles down on the mission. He sympathizes with their crisis of faith, expressing his desire to be with them and console them. But he doesn’t let up on the work they are to set themselves to do. They are to love one another, and to love those with whom they come in contact with, and to remember that no matter what happens God will be with them, and one day they will stand before God.
Jesus offers a similar instruction to us in the Gospel according to Luke. Jesus describes what the end of the world might feel like. There will be signs in the heavens, earthquakes, and the like. We can relate to this in our own time. Every generation and every human being can relate to this feeling. Jesus said that the time of trial will affect this generation, and every generation. Nobody can life their life without feeling like the end of days are at hand. He said that his own disciples would experience the Son of Man coming in the clouds and being lifted up in his glory. They experienced it first hand when Jesus died on the cross. It would have been tempting to bow down and cower, to hide, and to abandon Jesus at his crucifixion. But what Jesus says to do, is to stand up and raise your heads, and to stand before the son of man.
When it seems like everything is going to pot, and the world is crashing down all around us, that is when we are called to stand up and raise our heads. Faith is believing that God’s grace is at work and God’s glory is in full display in the absolute worst of human suffering and despair. Christians and people of faith are to be defiant in the face of evil and despair. We can do this because we are saved by Grace, and not by our works. Your own success should not be an indicator of faith. Just the opposite.
When we were in Sedona visiting my parents we were surprised to see Alan looking at us from a very high up position on a sycamore tree. My dad and I saw him and were started. Alan! How did you get up there! We said. Sycamore trees have long tall and mostly smooth bark. He smiled and giggled. I ran around to the other side of his tree and saw where he had purchased a foothold on a slender shoot that was growing out of the trunk of the tree. It was new life growing out of very old trunk. Jeremiah said that a branch will spring up for david. A child will be born. As we prepare for Christmas we rejoice that in every generation God’s promises are renewed, and God’s mission to proclaim the love of God in word and deed is still in full implementation. We prepare for Christmas with eager and willing hearts because of the tremendous promises God has made.
God will fulfill the promise they made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. The promise God made was a threefold promise. One, to make the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob or Israel as numerous as the stars in heaven or as grains of sand on the earth. When we were in Sedona for Thanksgiving my cousin Hannah came running in the house as we were saying goodbye to our friends. She said, “There are so many stars!” Her eyes were wide open and she smiled from ear to ear. She went to get her phone to take pictures. When we drove home the next day and crested the Chiriaco summit and began to descend down into Indio and the Coachella valley the lights of Southern California looked beautiful. Imagine to think that this is just the beginning. In the history of humanity we haven’t even come close to being as many human beings as there are stars in heaven. God has so much more life to give, and so many more generations.
The second promise God made to Israel and Judah was to give them land. When we drove to Tucson, Phoenix, and Sedona we saw so much land! It is a beautiful land! Abraham never really had all that much land. The only land he owned was a burial place he purchased. The rest of his life he wandered as a nomad. As our family drove through Quartzsite we could say how the community has blossomed once again in the desert. When our family got home Sheri said, “I am so thankful for our home.” I felt exactly the same way. We are so thankful to live here in Upland to serve at Grace Lutheran Church and to live in the parsonage. We also know that it isn’t our house, it is God’s house, but it is our home. Home is where the heart is. God gives each of us home, and the truth is that we never really own any land at all. It belongs to God. Our home is with God forever.
The third blessing that God promised to Israel and Judah was to be a blessing to the entire world. A famous preacher once said, “Everyone rejoiced when you were born. But the question is, will people rejoice or be sad when you die?” God has promised to fashion our lives as a blessing to others. You, just by being your bless the world all around you. Whether you know it or not, your existence is a blessing to the world. Your smile. Your movement. Your words. Your actions. By the grace of God you bless the world! Amen.
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