GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS
Isaiah 2:1-5
These days, we’re told, "the rules have changed." Politicians and news reporters have told us for several years life, as we knew has been altered forever. Heightened security, liberties changed to inconveniences, fear and suspicion – all these are the signs that the rules have changed.
In fact, many people are wondering if the holidays will ever be the same. It’s as if things are changed forever. Desperation.
I wonder: Is "desperate" the buzz word these days? How many of you have seen that new TV show on Sunday nights, “Desperate Housewives?” (IF NO ONE, ASK: “How many of you have at least seen the commercials for this show?” There has been some fallout from this show when one of the actresses was making a commercial with wide receiver Terrell Owens for Monday Night Football and she dropped the towel around her, revealing her naked body and shocking Owens, because that wasn’t in the script.
There seems to be a sense of desperation in the air that has nothing to do with housewives falling off high heels and into bed with the next door neighbor, or dropping their towels in front of the television-watching world. Henry David Thoreau suggested some 160 years ago that most men lead lives of quiet desperation. Still seems to be true.
Blue people in red states are inquiring about the possibility of moving out of the country and into Canada in the aftermath of the recent national elections. Jeffrey Abrams, an immigration lawyer in Toronto says his office is swamped. Others are buying property in Mexico or New Zealand.
According to Republican Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute think tank in Golden, Colorado, Republicans resorted to similar measures during the Clinton era. Democrats will flee the country, he said, but Republicans drink. "I drank heavily, and it helped me get through those dark periods of American politicians."
O-kay.
There are any number of desperate demographic groups. But they've got reasons to be desperate on this first Sunday in Advent. Their sons and daughters are in Fallujah or Mosul staring down AK-47s. Or there's the millions of people whose lives are over-leveraged, under-funded, and mortgaged to the hilt--consumers who have no idea how they're going to pay for their Christmas presents this year. There's the grieving people who lost loved ones last year during December, and who are reminded of it all over again right now. There's the people in the hospitals, people in the airline industry and other lines of work taking pay cuts, people suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder, needing sunshine. Desperate people everywhere.
So our fingers are scratching the blackboard, we're hanging on to the rails white-knuckled and scared to death. We approach Advent wound up tighter than a pair of jeans on Britney Spears.
Judging by the popularity of that new show, “Desperate Housewives,” it seems that we like watching a television show that parodies all this desperation. In late October, more people were watching these wacky women than were watching desperate ball players trying to win the second game of the world series in Boston.
Here are four women on Wisteria Lane shaking their booty and hoochie-cooing their way in and out of one disaster after another. They each have their problems and America loves watching them sort it out. One woman knows that having everything she ever wanted isn't enough.
Another, a divorcee wants the new available man, but for various reasons, can't get him. She wants real love, unlike the superficial sexist love her ex gave her. Another is a perfectionist falsely thinking that doing everything just right will make everything alright.
The fourth is a former executive who needs to feel the fulfillment she felt when she was a success. They're desperate and right now, the show is ringing a bell, and people are saying, silently perhaps, "Yeah, I'm desperate, too."
Well, welcome to the club. You're not alone, and in fact, on this first Sunday of the advent season, we have a perfect opportunity to remember that God has seen us in our desperation. He certainly has seen me in mine.
You might even consider God to be a Desperate God taking Desperate Measures for a Desperate People. In Isaiah 2:1-5, text we see a glimpse into the future as given to this prophet. (READ ISAIAH 2:1-5)
"The last days" Isaiah is speaking about are the days we’re living in right now. They’re the days since Jesus came into the world as a baby at Bethlehem. God saw a desperate world and he responded by setting in motion a chain of events that would completely alter the world.
The mountain of the Lord’s house is Mt. Moriah and it really isn’t very high, more like a big hill. But Isaiah says that in the last days it will suddenly be established as the highest mountain on earth. That’s a poetic way of saying that God’s Church--the gathering of God’s people--will be lifted up, glorified and exalted.
The truly amazing thing about this mountain--the Church--is that “All the nations shall stream to it.” Picture it: Rivers of people streaming toward God. “For out of Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the Lord…” The word of God goes out and every land and nation and tribe and people under the sun stream toward God. Young and old, rich and poor; they come from different backgrounds and speak different languages. Desperate people needing desperate measures. The same good news--the good news of a Savior--has brought in every one of them.
And they’re coming because they can’t get enough of that good news. They want to come so that the LORD "will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." They’re not satisfied with knowing a few basic facts about Christianity. They want to learn everything about the LORD they can. You’ll see them wearing out their Bibles, talking about what they’ve read, asking questions, learning all the time. You’ll find them in churches and Bible classes and study groups. They come from far and wide to hear the Lord’s teaching, and you don’t have to force them or bribe them to come. They come because they want to. They come as naturally and spontaneously as a river flows. The followers of Jesus, all headed in the right direction. He’s given us his peace--peace Isaiah describes by talking about a time when weapons are turned into garden tools.
”they shall beat their swords into plowshares; and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
In the last days, swords are pounded into the iron tips that become plowing tools. Spears have their blades bent and are used for pruning trees. There are no more soldiers drilling and training for battle. There’s no need for them, because there’s no longer any reason for anyone to go to war. There’s no longer anything to fight about. The LORD has stepped in, settled every dispute, and set up every people in its own, comfortable home.
That is a day to dream about. Just this week a woman told me that as her son was leaving to go fight in Iraq, her eight-year-old grandson told his daddy, “Go kill one for me!” Doesn’t that hurt your heart? That our children have been so oriented into war by this senseless war that they have an attitude of slaughtering the enemy and taking pride in that act? (SOFTLY) “You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth…hate your enemy, but I say to you, Love your enemies…” Desperate measures.
Here we are, nearly 3,000 years later, and we are still making weapons, still ready for war, still fighting, still hating our enemies, still not trusting Jesus to take care of us. Desperate people. In the last twenty-nine centuries, what has changed? It seems we’re no nearer to lasting, world peace today than Isaiah was. Why? Because we still haven’t learned, we still won’t follow this Radical Jesus who said, “Do not resist an evil doer. If anyone strikes you on the right check, turn the other also.” (Matt 5:39) Do we think we know better than Jesus how to protect ourselves?
Peace! God inaugurated peace when he sent the Messiah, the Savior of the world. That peace began with the coming of Jesus. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Peace is what Jesus is all about, People! When we give up our instincts of self-preservation and fully trust in Him, only then can peace become a reality in the world.
God has promised us that we’ll always have all we need--and whatever we have beyond that simply isn’t worth fighting about. Christ’s kingdom is a kingdom of peace. What are you doing, personally, to work toward a kingdom of peace, in your own lives? I challenge you to read Matthew Chapter 5 this week. It contains some of the teachings of Jesus, the ways in which he expects us to live. He gives very direct instruction, not words that need interpretation, but simple and plain instruction on how we are to live. I encourage you to read especially Matthew 5:38-48. Then ask yourselves why you don’t live as Jesus says to you.
We’re still in this world and it takes desperate measures to improve it, the same kind of desperate measures God did when he sent his only Son as a crying, pooping human baby. We haven’t reached the peak of God’s mountain yet. And God’s work inside each of us also isn’t finished yet.
But there’s more to the word, “desperate.´ The word comes from the Latin de + sperare meaning "hope." Even in our desperation, there is hope. This world needs more "desperate" people, people of hope who intentionally continue to work for a world in which swords are turned into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks (2:4). Jesus’ coming into the world at Bethlehem set all that in motion. What better time than the beginning of Advent, a time of excited expectation, what better time for us to begin anew with a commitment to open our hearts to Jesus’ teaching, to use our own hands for building a world in which no child will grow to adulthood just to die in a war.
"Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!" Isaiah wrote. And that's what Advent is about: the coming of the light, and walking in the light.
Imagine
Imagine, for a moment that peace befell the land, that all of humankind reached out and held each other's hand. Imagine, for an instant, the touch of skin to skin proved so powerful a feeling every nation felt like kin.
Imagine, for a second, love captured every soul of each citizen on the planet and the world was truly whole. Imagine, for a heartbeat, that hatred could dissolve and compassion rise up gallantly with blazing strong resolve.
Imagine, in your lifetime, this chain of hope began and the link at its inception was your firm, extended hand.
Imagine......
Above Poem by © 2001 Terri McPherson
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
terri@wisehearts.com
PLEASE PRAY WITH ME: Loving father we thank you that there are so many things that remind us of your son Jesus at this time of year. Christmas cards we send with our love to others. Christmas trees with a star on it, Christmas lights and decorations, presents, we give and get. We want to thank you for all of these things, but most of all for Jesus who was the best present ever. Help us all to understand how much you love every one of us, from the tiny baby to the oldest person in the world. Fill our hearts with your longing for peace. Amen.
BENEDICTION: May the Lord make love and light grow within you and extend to all around you, as together we await his coming. Amen.
Children's Address to explain the Advent Ring Ceremony
Can anyone tell me what special day it is today? The first Sunday in Advent.
Did anyone do something different this morning? Open their advent calendar.
I was told by Sandy that 'He got a Snow Person' as he had to be politically correct now.
So we call this time of year. Advent!
Well now boys and girls, who remembers what Advent means? Advent just means a coming!
Or counting down to Christmas.
The church is counting down to Christmas and we call the 4 weeks before Christmas, Advent.
But what are we getting ready for?
We are getting ready to welcome the birthday of the most important guest or baby of all time, Jesus!
The first candle we lit this morning reminds us of the Advent Hope, of the coming child Jesus. And then next Sunday we have the light of the second candle to remember the prophets:
That just means the people who wrote the Old Testament and spoke to the people about the coming child, the child who would grow up and bring freedom and forgiveness to all who believe in him.
On the third Sunday the third candle reminds us of some one who was close to Jesus, his cousin, John the Baptist. John was born just before Jesus and John was a great preacher and teacher just like Jesus, but when he met Jesus he knew right away that Jesus was the most important person ever.
Our fourth candle is lit to remind us of Jesus' mother. What was her name? Mary!
Mary was a good woman and God saw that she was good and he choose her to be mother to the baby Jesus. And she agreed and did all she was asked to do.
And then on Christmas day, we light the fifth and last candle. The white candle to remind us of the birth of Jesus and to give thanks to God for giving us his most precious gift ever.
We light the white candle as the Bells ring out to show that Christmas day is here. And so on Christmas day we light the 5th candle to show that Jesus birthday has come round again.
