The World turned upside down

December 2, 2018 First Sunday of Advent Year C Luke 21:25-36 The World Turned Upside Down Luke 21:25-36 Common English Bible (CEB) 25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. On the earth, there will be dismay among nations in their confusion over the roaring of the sea and surging waves. 26 The planets and other heavenly bodies will be shaken, causing people to faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world. 27 Then they will see the Human One[a] coming on a cloud with power and great splendor. 28 Now when these things begin to happen, stand up straight and raise your heads, because your redemption is near.” A lesson from the fig tree 29 Jesus told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees.30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 In the same way, when you see these things happening, you know that God’s kingdom is near. 32 I assure you that this generation won’t pass away until everything has happened.33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will certainly not pass away. 34 “Take care that your hearts aren’t dulled by drinking parties, drunkenness, and the anxieties of day-to-day life. Don’t let that day fall upon you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. It will come upon everyone who lives on the face of the whole earth. 36 Stay alert at all times, praying that you are strong enough to escape everything that is about to happen and to stand before the Human One.”[b] Footnotes: a. Luke 21:27 Or Son of Man b. Luke 21:36 Or Son of Man Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Children’s Sermon: Lighting of the advent candle Very early in my ministry – as Associate in Aurora Wesley. I went with the Senior Pastor to meet a parishioner in the hospital dying of cancer. Apparently she had been sick for some time, because the pastor and many of her friends were preparing her for death. Many told her that she had been a faithful Christian all of her life, so she did not have to be afraid to go to be with God. Eventually I knew her well enough to visit on my own. And in that first visit alone, she asked me if I thought this was the beginning of her life or the end. She was having a hard time understanding where God was in this process, and wondering what she should be preparing herself for. I told her that honestly, I don’t think God gets caught up on defining beginnings and endings. Because we have to explain and understand everything, we tend to think in straight lines. On a straight line, the beginning is in one place and the ending is on the opposite end. We as people like straight lines, but God seems to prefer circles. In a circle the beginning and the end are random points. In every beginning is an ending and in every ending is a beginning. But the other cool thing about a circle is it goes around in a continuous loop. So instead of life happening in stages, life happens in cycles. As we begin advent, fall has ended and winter is coming. Winter turns into spring, and spring turns into summer. In life, we are born, we live, we die, our spirits are resurrected. A story begins, it ends and it starts all over again. Yeah – I truly believe that God favors circles, not straight lines. The conversations that I had with her, have stuck with me for 24 years. Because visitors came to her telling her to remember her faith and not to be afraid of death. But she told me that she was not ready to go. She enjoyed being to wake up everyday and to look at the sunrise, and to smell the flowers and to experience the love for her family and she was not ready to give that up. I told her that life was a gift from God, and it was hers, and if she was not ready to give it up, she didn’t have to. God would be with her on this side and the next. There would be days in the next few weeks, they had to increase her morphine levels to stop the pain, and she was not able to talk as much, but she would say she didn’t know what to ask me, but she just wanted me to keep talking to her about God, about circles and enjoying life. I visited her and talked and held on, and eventually she moved on to the next phase in life. This is the first Sunday of advent – the beginning of the Christian new year. A time of preparation for the coming of Christ into our world. Every advent – instead of starting at the beginning, we start at the end. Our scripture in Luke talks about what to expect at the end of time when Jesus comes back to earth. Jesus says that it will be a stressful time, when everyone is afraid and worried. There will be climate change and earthquakes. That seems like a common occurance in our world today. But the message for us who are expecting Christ to come in the clouds, is not to get stressed out, not to go along with the hopelessness of the world. To be encouraged, and to look forward to what is to come. Advent is a time for us to take account of our lives and to get right with God. To remember that God is the center of our circle, not the events in life. A major theme of advent – is repentance and recentering. The Eternal Words of Christ You have perhaps heard the story that comes out of the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War Two. There was a battleship whose forward watch spotted a light that appeared to be heading straight for the battleship. A radio message was sent saying, "Unidentified ship: you are on a collision course. Change direction 10 degrees starboard." The reply came back: "No. You need to change direction." The battleship again sent a message saying, "This is a United States warship. Change direction 10 degrees starboard." And once again the reply came back, "No." The admiral was awakened and notified and the battleship sent yet another message again repeating, "This is a warship on official maneuvers. You are ordered to change direction. Signed, Admiral Peacock." A moment passed and the reply came back, "No. Signed Seaman Smith, Tender of the Light House." Often it is WE who are the ones who need to change course. The clear light of God's Word for us doesn't change. Donald Deffner, Seasonal Illustrations, San Jose: Resource, p. 67. Adapted. Advent is intended to be our message that it is time to recenter, rethink and get right with God. Because God is about to come, and we need to be ready. The beginning of advent is a time of transition and preparation for a change. The end of some things and the beginning of new things. We always first hear a dire warning to get ready for the second coming of Christ. That is a time of stress for most people. Because they don’t know what it going to happen. They don’t know what changes the transition will bring. Jesus also says that the transition time will be a time of darkness, and fear. But that we should rejoice, because God is a circle God. So the darkness is just one phase – another will come. When we are going through troubling times, we should celebrate because better days are coming. Once again if life were a straight line, things would only head in one direction, but in a circle what goes around comes around. The good news for us is that in each phase on the circle God comes to be with us and to help us to make it to the next phase. It would have been about the same time that I went to Aurora Wesley, that Bishop Sprague came to the Northern Illinois Conference. And he spent a lot of time meeting with people in the conference so that we could know him. At one session, someone asked him if he believed in the second coming of Christ. He said that he believed that the second coming had already happen. As a matter of fact, he said that he believed in the third and fourth coming of Christ. Christ comes to the world over and over again as we need him. Advent comes every year, so that we can get ready for Christ to come to the world – again. To make things new, to bring life and death, to bring darkness and light. To bring hope in every situation and phase that we face in life. The point for us to remember, is that we have to be prepared for each coming of Christ. And not surprised when we meet Christ in our everyday life. A Colleague talked about his toddler daughter. She was very skittish, and everything scared her. At night she would cry for someone to come to take care of her. But whenever he would come in the room to get her, she would be afraid and cry even more. He wondered why she would cry and be so surprised that as her father he responded. We are like that little girl. We pray – but don’t always know what to do if God actually answers. Jesus tells us this advent – that God has heard our prayers. Wait in anticipation of his visit, and not to be caught off guard when he comes into our lives again. Let us pray. The Eternal Words of Christ You have perhaps heard the story that comes out of the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War Two. There was a battleship whose forward watch spotted a light that appeared to be heading straight for the battleship. A radio message was sent saying, "Unidentified ship: you are on a collision course. Change direction 10 degrees starboard." The reply came back: "No. You need to change direction." The battleship again sent a message saying, "This is a United States warship. Change direction 10 degrees starboard." And once again the reply came back, "No." The admiral was awakened and notified and the battleship sent yet another message again repeating, "This is a warship on official maneuvers. You are ordered to change direction. Signed, Admiral Peacock." A moment passed and the reply came back, "No. Signed Seaman Smith, Tender of the Light House." Often it is WE who are the ones who need to change course. The clear light of God's Word for us doesn't change. Donald Deffner, Seasonal Illustrations, San Jose: Resource, p. 67. Adapted. Second Coming and Faithfulness During his 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy often closed his speeches with the story of Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives: On May 19th, 1780 the sky of Hartford darkened ominously, and some of the representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment, Davenport rose and said, "The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought." Rather than fearing what is to come, we are to be faithful till Christ returns. Instead of fearing the dark, we're to be lights as we watch and wait. Harry Heintz All Roads Lead To Bethlehem - Luke 21:25-36 by Leonard Sweet Jesus came to save humans from being rat packs feeding on each other instead of sheep feeding with each other. This was never made so clear than in the recent “Black Friday” images of people stomping on each other and fighting it out, all done to the musical background of Christmas music. Our sentimental — yet always cynical — culture likes to start singing Christmas carols the moment Thanksgiving turkeys come out of the oven. But listen carefully: You’re hearing a lot more choruses of “Jingle Bells” and “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” than carols like “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” or “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” The world wants, the world needs, to celebrate Christmas. But the world does its best to keep Jesus out of it. Perhaps the first “Christmas carol” Christians should sing, in keeping with the theme of “Advent,” is the Willie Nelson special “On the Road Again.” As stores keep having cut-rate sales and on-line deals; and as holiday partying, parades, and posturing swamp every level of our lives: it is good to stand back and look at the bigger picture. What is the purpose for which Jesus came into this world in the first place? Let’s get “on the road again” with the first journey to Bethlehem, and the reason that journey was taken… Just a Minute, Jimmy! It is hard for us to understand Jesus' delay in his coming. God's time clock is certainly out of sync with ours as Little Jimmy learned one day as he was laying on a hill in the middle of a meadow on a warm spring day. Puffy white clouds rolled by and he pondered their shape. Soon, he began to think about God. "God? Are you really there?" Jimmy said out loud. To his astonishment a voice came from the clouds. "Yes, Jimmy? What can I do for you?" Seizing the opportunity, Jimmy asked, "God? What is a million years like to you?" Knowing that Jimmy could not understand the concept of infinity, God responded in a manner to which Jimmy could relate. "A million years to me, Jimmy, is like a minute." "Oh," said Jimmy. "Well, then, what's a million dollars like to you?" "A million dollars to me, Jimmy, is like a penny." "Wow!" remarked Jimmy, getting an idea. "You're so generous... can I have one of your pennies?" God replied, "Sure thing, Jimmy! Just a minute." Little Jimmy wasn't ready for that response was he? Our text this morning seems an unlikely scripture for Advent. It has nothing to do with Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men, of shepherds watching their flock. Instead it is lesson about being prepared, getting ready. In that sense then this is an Advent lesson, for this is the season of preparedness. Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com. The Power of an Imminent Crisis Folks back in Arkansas have always been fascinated by the New Madrid Fault, which runs along a line from Memphis up through southern Missouri. Back at the turn of the century, that area suffered one of the biggest earthquakes to ever hit North America. In fact, the Mississippi River ran upstream for several hours. In the fall of 1990, a scientist predicted that another major earthquake would occur in the New Madrid Fault on Tuesday, December 4. His prediction gathered a lot of attention in newscasts, public assemblies and private conversations. People stowed away precious possessions, stockpiled groceries and kerosene, and learned how to shut off their gas and water lines. Schools and businesses announced that they would be closed that week and several residents temporarily left the area. On December 2, 1990, the First Sunday in Advent and two days before the predicted quake, churches were packed. Many people stayed awake all night on December 3. But December 4, 1990, passed with no tremor. Then December passed, and the winter. Flashlight batteries drained. Extra food spoiled or was consumed. Fuel tanks sat empty once more. When a crisis seems imminent, we have no trouble keeping alert and awake. But when the threat of danger seems remote, our eyelids grow heavy and we sleep. Mickey Anders, Keeping Watch Princeton preacher James F. Kay puts it this way, “If the Gospel is good news, it is not because it predicts a bright, shiny future based on our morality or piety. The Gospel is neither a cocoon that insulates us from the sufferings of this present age nor a pair of ear plugs that shuts out the groaning of creation....The Gospel is Good News, not because it predicts a future based on our good behavior or other present trends; the Gospel is Good News because it promises a future based on God’s faithfulness to Jesus Christ.” (The Seasons of Grace, Eerdmann, 1995, p. 7). James F. Kay, quoted by William Willimon, “Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending” Preparing Ourselves for Christ Coming in the United States Americans spend six hours a week doing various types of shopping, and they go to shopping centers on average once a week - more often than they go to church or synagogue. Some 93 percent of American teenage girls surveyed in 1987 deemed shopping their favorite pastime. The 32,563 shopping centers in the country surpassed high schools in number in 1987. Just from 1986 to 1989, total retail space in these centers grew by 65 million square meters, or 20 percent. Shopping centers now garner 55 percent of retail sales in the United States, compared with 16 percent in France and 4 percent in Spain. Alan Durning, "Asking How Much Is Enough" in State of the World: 1991, (New York: W.W. Norton, 1991), 163-64. I Must Go Myself The story is told of John Henry Newman, who, in the 1800’s, was an Anglican minister in England. His religious pilgrimage ultimately took him to Rome and the Roman Catholic Church. He ultimately would become a cardinal in the Catholic Church and the most preeminent leader of that church in Europe. If you go into almost any Catholic church today you will find a Sunday school class called the Newman class. That was named after John Henry Newman. While serving as Cardinal, he received a message from an English priest from the tiny village of Brennan, a dirty little mill town north of Birmingham. It seems that an epidemic of cholera had decimated the village and the priest was asking for the help, for another priest to assist him in the giving of the sacrament, administering the Last Rites, and to do funerals, so many people were dying. Newman read the letter in his office, an office that is still there today. It has not been changed since the day he left it. Newman read the letter and he spent the next hour in prayer. Finally a secretary came in and said: Cardinal Newman. We must give an immediate reply to Brennan. Your eminence, what shall we do? Newman answered: The people are suffering and dying. How can I send a priest to do this work? I must go myself. At Advent God looked down upon his dying people--dying from sin and distraction, pride and preoccupation. How, under the circumstance could he send a substitute? He came himself—in the person of Jesus Christ. Advent is about repentance and salvation. Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com An Understanding Most Folks Don’t Know In his award winning book, The Education of Little Tree, writer Forest Carter writes of life with his Cherokee grandparents. He tells of sitting with his grandfather watching the morning sun rise over a mountain one winter morning. "... we watched the mountain while we ate. The sun hit the top like an explosion, sending showers of glitter and sparkle into the air. The sparkling of the icy trees hurt the eyes to look, and it moved down the mountain like a wave as the sun backed the night shadow down and down. A crow scout sent three hard calls through the air, warning we were there. And now the mountain popped and gave breathing sighs that sent little puffs of steam into the air. She pinged and murmured as the sun released the trees from their death armor of ice. Grandpa watched, same as me, and listened as the sounds grew with the morning wind that set up a low whistle in the trees. 'She's coming alive,' he said soft and low, without taking his eyes from the mountain." 'Yes sir,' I said, 'she's coming alive.' And I knew right then that me and Granpa had us an understanding that most folks didn't know." Little Tree learned from his Grandpa how to read the signs of nature. Reading signs, not the printed ones we see on our streets and highways, but the signs of nature and life and living is an art that takes time, practice and patience. The reward is what Little Tree called, "...an understanding that most folks don't know." John Jewel, Signs of the Times Are You Ready? In our gospel reading Jesus tells his followers that they must always be ready for his coming. It is a peculiarity of our lectionary readings that the readings for the first Sunday of Advent always come from the end of the gospels where Jesus is talking about readiness for a second coming when he will come in glory as Lord of all. In our Advent preparation and Christmas services, the theme and the scriptures will turn to the birth of Jesus. Yet, the theme of "readiness" for the coming of Christ is the main point of our Advent preparations. And so it is appropriate and important to ask: "Are you ready for Christ to come to you?" John Jewel, Signs of the Times Reflections on Black Friday On Black Friday, the day following Thanksgiving, I was observing shoppers standing in line, waiting to pay for their bargains. The lines were long and you could see the anxiety on their faces. Some were talking on cell phones, conversing with loved ones someplace else in the shopping mall who were looking for great deals. There was some pushing and shoving and some unkind words as people pressed toward the cash registers. In addition, finding a parking place was next to impossible. People were in a hurry and I observed many near misses. It was a day that was shoulder to shoulder and bumper to bumper. Instead of kindness and cooperation, there was despair and hopelessness. I thought, if God is ready to come and end this insanity, this would be a good day to do it. Keith Wagner, Hope for the Overwhelmed The Hope of a New Birth Unfortunately, our gospel lesson doesn't at first seem to instill us with any sense of hope at all. In fact, after reading this passage, we can be overwhelmed with a sense of hopelessness. This passage sounds a bit like the one we heard two Sundays ago, only this one has more doom and gloom, more destruction, more chaos and catastrophe. We hear of these mysterious signs in the sun, moon and stars. There are images of people fainting. Heaven and earth pass away, there is talk of a trap, and our hope for escape, and by the end of the reading, it seems the walls are closing in on us. And yet, in the midst of the chaos of this reading, if you look closely enough, calmly enough, there are some words of hope in the midst of the confusion. Jesus says, "when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near . . . when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near." He speaks of fig trees, an image which may not communicate much to us, but his hearers in that time knew that the fig tree was a symbol of life out of death, a symbol of the hope that comes after the winter, the hope of new birth. Beth Quick, Ready or Not..., ChristianGlobe Network, Inc.