Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God the Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!
Happy New Year everybody! The grand season of Advent has arrived, bringing with it a brand new Church year. We restart our pattern of looking at the life and ministry of Christ our Lord. Beautiful blue once again appoints God’s house, reminding us that it is a time to get ready, prepare and be watchful for the Advent of our King. This Advent or “arrival” of our Lord has many nuances. The Christmas arrival of baby Jesus with His incarnation. Also the End Times Advent where our King will come with glory to be our judge. But also He advents to us in His Word as we read and hear the scriptures. He also advents to us in the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion. And finally, we can say our Lord advents to us through the lives of His people, the church. In your love and care for one another, there the Lord advents to those in need of help and God’s presence.
This is why Advent is such a great season of the Church year. Probably my favourite, if we were going to play favourites, the same way we do with our kids! I’m just joking of course… It’s December 1st and we are starting to get consumed with our Lord’s first Advent. Christmas. The most wonderful time of the year so the song tells us. But it usually brings the onset of stress and panic doesn’t it?! “I need to get my Christmas baking done!” “I need to get my Christmas shopping done!” “I need to get the Christmas lights put up - I should have done it back in November when it was still warm!” “I need to get all this done before I have to go to the 17 million Christmas parties and functions I’m expected to attend!” Do you feel the joy of the festive season yet?! It seems like we are always completely Christmas crazy with all the peripheral stuff that comes with Christmas in our culture. But lest we forget, the most wonderful time of the year centers upon the Word of God becoming flesh and dwelling among us, born of a Virgin, for our salvation and the life of the world!Advent, with its calming blue hue, calls us to do exactly that. Calm down. Slow down. Focus on the Advent of our King and the journey to Christmas … you know, if you can squeeze it in, whilst battling the Christmas crowds and cranking out shortbread cookies!
This is why we need the season of Advent. Think of it as the “brakes” to slow our descent into the Christmas rush. I know its hard, as everywhere all around us pushes Christmas out on the heels of Halloween! In fact I think one of the 25 dollar stores in Moose Jaw already had Christmas stuff out before Halloween this year! Normally its “Punkin’s done, here comes Santa Claus, right down consumerism lane!” You can scarcely see over Rudolf’s big red glowing nose as you are reminded of the massive amounts of credit card debt that will soon leave you in the red! To combat all these “rosy reminders”, Advent rolls out the “blue carpet” so to speak. It surrounds us with calming tones to help to get us Spiritually ready for Christmas. We need Advent to prepare our hearts and minds for our Lord’s arrival. We need Advent to steep ourselves the precious hope, peace, joy and love that Christmas is all about. We need an Advent to force the world out and let baby Jesus in to the manger of our hearts.
Our Old Testament Advent readings cause us to consider our Spiritual heritage and ancestry as God worked and walked with His people many centuries ago. There is a lot of common ground between those Old Testament people and us. They sinned big, we sin big. They abandoned God, we abandon God. They were bamboozled by the ways of the world, we are bamboozled by the ways of the world. Yet through it all, God is constant. His on going patience, loving kindness and presence dwelled with His people. It must have been awesome to see the miracles God performed then in the parting of the Red Sea, in the pillars of cloud and fire, in those big displays of God’s awesome glory and power! I wonder though, if the people of God took comfort in those things when they were carted off into slavery, suffering greatly under exile in Babylonian captivity?!
The prophet Jeremiah, from whose book we read today, was known as the “weeping prophet.” His grief and depression were nearly infinite during the dark and despairing days of oppression under Babylon. God’s people had forsaken the Lord and His mighty arm, running after false gods of their own devising. They had forgotten God’s commandments that set them apart, and made them different from their neighbors around them. They had begun to live in iniquity and revel in their sins. Like non-kosher hogs, they wallowed in their transgressions, never giving a thought to God their Savior. They’re hearts were hardened and they shunned the Lord of life and His promise of a Messiah. What else could God do? He sent prophets to warn the people – many of whom were put to death by a sinful and unbelieving populous. The people had hit spiritual rock bottom, but they didn’t know it. So God in His mercy allowed them to be brought low, taught humility, and trucked off into slavery and hardship. They’re great nation was laid to waste. Jerusalem and her Temple were in ruins! – But would the people repent?! Would they heed the Lord’s word, come to their senses and confess with heart and mouth “We are poor miserable sinners! Hear us, O LORD, and be merciful to us!”
Jeremiah was called by the Lord and appointed to bear the prophet’s cross. He was sent to reach out to the unbelieving people of Judah. It was a task not unlike planting seeds in concrete! He proclaimed a message of light in the places of greatest darkness. He was sent with a message of hope. God will be merciful to them for their wrongdoings and will remember their sins no more! “Behold, days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will rise a Righteous Dawn for David, and a King shall reign. He will understand and bring about judgment and righteousness on the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel shall dwell in confidence. This is His name by which the Lord will call him: (Iosedek) ‘The Lord [is] Our Righteousness!’” (LXX Jeremiah 23:5-6).
This prophecy was a small oil lamp faintly flickering in a den of darkness. Would the people realize that God had not abandoned them? Would they realize that the Word of the Lord that had advented to Jeremiah had once again advented to them? Would they repent and believe this good news, that God does not desire the death of any sinner? Would they turn from their wicked ways and walk according to God’s commandments? Would they believe that the Lord is their righteousness? Would they open their eyes to the promise of the “tender mercy of our God, whereby the Dayspring from on high will visit us? (LK 1:78)
God’s people were so distracted and bamboozled by the ways of the world that they forgot about His promise of a Savior who would free them from their sins and heal them from all of their iniquity. Little did they know, this “righteous Branch” or this “righteous Dawn for David” would be Jesus Christ the newborn King. May we be ever mindful of how easy it is to forget our Salvation and God’s wonderful promise of Hope in Christ our Lord! And may we be ever more mindful of God’s plan of salvation that has come to fulfillment! That little baby Jesus who was laid in a rough hewn manger is the same Messiah who would be laid on a rough hewn cross for the life of the world. This is our Lord, this is our promised deliverance from sin and death! This is our continuing and on going hope that we cling to all the days of our life. This is God’s promise of life and salvation given to us in the righteousness of Holy Baptism, and in confidence we eat and drink in Holy Communion. Once again, hope has come to the people of God! “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (LK 19:38). The Lord is on His way and He is our Righteousness now and forever more! Amen! Come Lord Jesus!
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