In the Meantime be Good

December 10, 2023 2 Peter 3:8-15 2nd Sunday of Advent In the Meantime, be Good Year B Prelude Greeting Lighting the Advent Candle Today, we light two candles, Remembering the God can always begin anew. We respond and plan for the coming of Christ, During this holy season of Advent. As we consider all the plans we have made For our upcoming celebrations, May we share in God’s generosity And always plan for more siblings Who might come to feast at the table. (Kara Eidon, Stay Awhile) Call to Worship People of God, listen! A voice cries out in the wilderness. What does the voice say? People of God, look! The time has come to plan for the coming of God’s kin-dom. When will the kin-dom come? The kin-dom of God is near at hand, And the glory of God shall be revealed. We will plan and prepare for the way of the Lord. (Kara Eidon, Stay Awhile) Opening Prayer Creator God, all too often, We put too much faith in our own plans. Help us to trust in the plan you set forth In the covenant of baptism. As we continue to pan For the coming of Christmas Day, Help us trust in the plan of salvation You created by coming to live among us. As we prepare our hearts and minds For the coming of Jesus, in the past, present, And future, May we share in God’s generosity And always plan for more siblings Who might come to feast at the table. (Kara Eidon, Stay Awhile) Song Angels from the Realm of Glory UMH 220 Children’s Sermon Object: a box of salt (Appropriate for Advent) Good morning, boys and girls. Do you know that today (or last Sunday) begins a new year in church? (let them answer) Everything starts over with the first day, the first week, and even the first month. It all seems fresh to us as we wait for Jesus to come into our hearts all over again. Have you ever wondered how many times Christians have done this? (let them answer) I wonder why God doesn't send Jesus so that we can be done with all of our waiting. Most of us are ready, aren't we? (let them answer) Doesn't everyone know about Jesus and love him as their Savior? (let them answer) The reason that God doesn't send Jesus is that he wants everyone to have a chance to receive Jesus as their Savior. That's what the Bible says. But you may think it is taking too long for Jesus to come. I brought with me some salt this morning to help us learn something about our waiting for Jesus. There is a lot of salt in this one box, but we are going to pretend that every one of these pieces of salt is a day. Now the Bible says that one day is like a thousand years to God. A thousand years is a long time to us since none of us will ever live that long. But one day doesn't seem like a very long time since we have already lived many days. But the Bible says God has lived so long that time doesn't make much difference to him. If one of these pieces is a day and you would have to count out 365 of the pieces of salt for one year, then you would have to have 365,000 grains to make a thousand years. But if we counted out 365,000 of them we would not have all of the pieces of salt in this one box. And if you think of all the boxes of salt in one grocery store and then think of all of the grocery stores, then you see how little that one piece of salt is compared to all of the salt in the world. One piece of salt in a box (put the piece back into the box) is not much, but it is important to that box just like one day is important to you. We may get tired of waiting, but God knows just the right time to send Jesus back to us so that everyone will have an opportunity to know Jesus as Savior. We must be patient and trust God since only he knows when it is just the right time. The next time you put some salt on your food, you can think of what the Bible means when it says: one day is like a thousand years. Will you do that? God bless you. (Wesley T. Runk) Prayer Lord, we have pulled out the Advent wreath, the Christmas tree, the poinsettias. We dusted off the hymns, unsung for a year, and unearthed the words of your prophets. Yet, in your eyes, these efforts are for nothing without the regular, persistent, deep pursuit of justice for all people. Our efforts are hollow without consistent work toward peace, reconciliation, and participation in your mission for creation. In our hearts, we do long to be your people, to carry out your mission, to be lights in the darkness— proof that no darkness can overcome your truth. Awaken us to action. Stir us to courage. Rouse us to prepare a way in the wilderness for your coming, clearing the brush of oppression, racism, injustice, and hopelessness— so that all may see your light and perceive your coming. Amen. Posted on the Pilgrim Uniting Church website Scripture 2 Peter 3:8-15 Sermon In the Meantime, be Good Phillips Brooks, the 19th century Christian leader who composed the beautiful Christmas carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," once wrote: "The coming of the Lord has been the inspiration of the Christian world. The power of any life lies in its expectancy." (3) "The power of any life lies in its expectancy." What are you expecting this Christmas season? Are you expecting crowds of people, jam-packed schedules, family tensions, stress-filled shopping expeditions? Are you expecting a big Christmas bonus, or a Martha Stewart-inspired party? Or are you expecting to meet Jesus? What are you expecting to happen this Christmas? What needs to happen in the world, in our lives, in the church. I think that most of us go through all of the trouble and stress of the holidays, because we are expecting a meaningful and heartfelt day with family and friends. It is the second week of December, by now, the season is in full swing. All of the radio stations are playing Christmas music, the decorations are up, the traditions have started, we may not be done with our shopping, but we have certainly gotten started. Advent is an invitation fur us to take a step back from all of that and the get a bigger perspective on life. We are invited to see life from God’s eyes for a minute. We are asked to find a bigger meaning in our celebrations and our faith. Getting ready for Christmas is not just about the here and now, but in the time to come. The only way to get to the time to come is to have patience. ohn Ruskin once said, “Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.” Ruskin was born in London in 1819. As an adult, he continued in the family business as wine merchant, which made him very wealthy. As a child, his father interested John in art, and his pious Protestant mother created an interest in John to study the Bible. As a merchant, Ruskin traveled to many countries, and in each country, he took the time to study art of the native land. As a Bible scholar, he took time to learn about the people in each country he did business in. From these two perspectives, he wrote a number of books that interpreted the great paintings through history. Perhaps this is why Ruskin considered patience as a form of beauty. Again, I will repeat the quote, John Ruskin said, “Endurance is nobler than strength and patience than beauty.” To help put patience into perspective, Peter wrote a line that I think most everyone has memorized. Peter wrote, “That with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.” We have inappropriately applied this verse to everything but what Peter intended. We have used it to try to justify the seven days of creation, saying those seven days are not like our seven days today. We have used it to give a reason for unanswered prayer, that God’s time in answering prayer is not the same as our time. The list could be extended for several more minutes. Peter understood “that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” is a confession that God’s concept of time is not contained within our human perspective of time. It is a confession that we cannot understand the mysteries of God. If we cannot understand the mysteries of God as it relates to time, then we must have patience. And patience, remember, is beautiful. Patience is beautiful, as patience is a quiet steady perseverance. The message of quiet steady perseverance is what Peter wants to instill in those who hear his letter read during worship. As congregations were illiterate and every letter had to be reproduced by hand, the letters were only made available to the Christian populace as they were read from the pulpit. Patience is the key to our faith. We have to learn to be patient, with ourselves, with others, with time. It is important for us to remember that God is always patient with us. Patience is the perfect theme for the second Sunday of Advent. So I felt that 2 Peter was the perfect theme. The gospel lesson for today is Mark 1 – Mark starts out telling us about John the Baptist. John the Baptist is important to advent because he tells us to expect something more. The Hebrew bible text is Isaiah which tells us the importance of prophecy and how God works in the future. The main character of 2 Peter is patience, God’s patience. So let me give you some background to this story. There are 2 letters from Peter in the bible. The second one was written later than the first. Some say that it is Peter’s last words of wisdom before he died. The letter could have been written as early as 80 AD, or as late as 120 AD. We know that Peter would have been considered an apostle – or one who actually witnessed the life of Jesus personally. These were the ones who had an urgent message for the rest of the world. Get your lives together and be a part of god’s movement before it is too late. Jesus is coming back, very soon and there will be confusion and chaos. The early church was formed by those who listened to this message. Well remember that I said that this book was written around 80 AD? Well if Jesus was crucified about 30 AD, then how many of those original apostles were will around in 80AD? Or what about 120 AD. Probably none of them. All of them eventually died waiting on Jesus. Many of those who formed the early church and who worked so hard to form the church also died, waiting on Jesus. So what is the point of a faith where you work hard, and you wait for something to happen and it never happens. Well the 3 chapters of 2 Peter help us to understand. Living a life of expectancy teaches us to have patience. Not just any patience, but God’s patience. Today as we watch the church decline, as we see empty seats where faithful followers used to sit, as we see less and less children come to church, we can relate to the early church watching the apostles die one by one. What is the point of us sitting here – praying for nothing, singing and giving to a dying church. What are we giving to? Those who told us to wait, died waiting, so why are we still sitting here? If God is an all powerful God – what is God waiting on? 2 Peter reminds us that God patiently waiting on you- and your neighbor, and those around you – to put their lives in rhythm with God’s patience and God’s time. There are a lot of faithful followers, who like the apostles have gone on to their reward. But there are so many other people out in the world – who are alive and well and have heard nothing about Jesus. Jesus is waiting on us to tell them. 2 Peter reminds us that our ways are not God’s ways. Our patience is not God’s patience. God’s patience takes into account a bigger picture, a picture where there is a place for everyone. How long can God wait. Well lets put time into perspective. The sun is 4.57 billion years old and it has not completed its life cycle. The earth is slightly younger at 4.54 billion years give or take 50 million years. If you were to take the history of the earth and put it on a 24 hour timeline. People did not come into existence until 11:30 at night. Jesus was crucified 10 minutes before midnight. And the clock is still ticking up to midnight. God’s patience for everything to fall into place is beyond anything that we know, and yet, God is calling us to fall in line and get with the program. And most of us are not even listening, watching, working or paying attention. I heard the story of an atheist who stood before a congregation and said, "If there is a God, I dare him to strike me dead within sixty seconds." He then took his pocket watch in his hand and began to count off the seconds. Some people fainted. Others thought that surely within sixty seconds the man would be dead. They were convinced that God would not put up with such foolishness. Well, when the allotted time was up, the atheist said, "You see, I told you there is no God." A sweet little Christian lady stood up in the back of that group and said, "You fool, you cannot exhaust the patience of an infinite God in sixty seconds." Well I thank God that His patience has not yet been exhausted, but we don't know when it will be; and one day even His patience will come to a close. This world will come to an end. Jesus will come back, and you can take it to the bank. Returning to the question with which we began -- "Will it end with a bang or a whimper?" Dear friends, after listening to Peter, it really doesn't matter, does it? Amen. One of the most often quoted lines from the Bible is when Peter wrote: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” We often associate this line with unanswered prayers, a delayed healing, asking why I can’t find someone to marry, or when will God rescue me from my plight. This is just a very short list of how we have used this verse when God seems unresponsive in our lives. And, perhaps, this is a meaningful interpretation. Though, for Peter, in the five preceding verses, informs us of his meaning for composing a standard of time for God. Peter wrote, “Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word, the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” Peter is saying that God is delaying the second coming desiring that as many who are willing to be saved are saved. The “slowness” will allow unbelievers to turn from their secular ways and live spiritual lives. It is the hope that they will no longer live in darkness but will come and live in the great light. The line expresses the hope that everyone will invite Jesus into their lives as Lord and Savior. To put this into perspective, Advent is only 4 weeks of our life. Our themes for this year – is stay awhile. Our themes are invitation, plan, prepare, welcome and stay awhile. This week we are planning. I said that each week we would have a interactive project. Our project for today – look around the sanctuary – see who is here. But also look at how many seats are empty- who is God calling to fill those seats? The good news is that it is not up to us to fill those seats. There are notices in the narthex with all of our activities on them – we are all invited to share them and invite people to church. But ultimately, God will do the work to fill those seats. God is wing in the hearts and minds of people to come. Our task for this week is to plan and pray. Expect God’s spirit to move, be patient, and be prepared to experience God in a whole new way. On Christmas Eve when they come – invite them to stay awhile. God is patient, God is giving us all a chance to come to the table and sit down. Our scripture says Therefore dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found by him in peace – pure and faultless. Consider the patience of the Lord to be your salvation. This second Sunday of advent, may we find our meaning in being patient. Amen. Song Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming UMH 216 Morning Prayer (just print title) How things will change on the day of the coming of the Lord! Every valley will be lifted up and all the mountains will be made into a plain. Equality will exist for all God’s people. O God, we long for that day of hope and peace. We strain our ears to hear the voice of one crying in the wilderness of our lives; the wilderness of despair and discouragement; the wilderness of anger and fear; the wilderness of alienation and selfishness. The voice cries to us to make ready the pathway for our God, to remove the obstacles which we have placed there; to respond with acts of compassion rather than react in violent ways. Lord, attune our ears to hear the voices of those who cry out in their need. Open our hearts to respond in caring ways. Teach us again the great truths about how we should live as your children. Forgive our failings and help us to try again and again to be the kind of faith-filled people you would have us be. As we cry to you, offering the names of loved ones who are sick, who mourn, who are lost, who live in anguish and in anger, keep us mindful of the ways in which we can be of help. Likewise, as we rejoice with all those who are happy, who dance with delight at the wondrous gifts you have given, remind us that joy and peace is what we all seek and what we can accomplish. In the name of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, we offer this prayer. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment You may already be tired of hearing advertisements counting down the days until Christmas (hint: 2 weeks from tomorrow!) Between television, emails, radio announcements, piles of mailers and newspaper ads, we’re all inundated to be “prepared” with gifts for family, friends, neighbors and assorted others (including postal employees, Uber drivers, hair dressers, teachers…) And for many of us, we have an internal sound track putting an extra push: “God loves a cheerful giver.” Beyond that, we also know we’re nearing the end of the calendar year, and recognize this congregation would be delighted to receive a year-end financial gift from us. Let me put all that behind a big “STOP” sign! Instead, today let’s remember sharing gifts is one way to build up relationships of care and love. Supporting this congregation with both regular and year-end financial giving is a positive action. Without pressure, but in recognition of the privilege it is to be able to give from our hearts, let us share our tithes, offerings and gifts as expressions of our love for God, for this congregation, and for the ways we reach out with Good News for those yearning for peace in their lives. Prayer of Thanksgiving Receive this offering, Great and Giving God, as one way of acting out the peace which comes from you. Accept what we’ve brought. Inspire us to regularly share a portion of what you’ve given us, so our witness as followers of Christ will go beyond the limits of our physical presence. AMEN (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook (Inspired by Psalm 85) Send us forth to become to peace we wish to see in this world And as we go, May Steadfast love and faithfulness meet May Righteousness and peace embrace May Faithfulness spring up from the ground And May righteousness look down from the sky. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Mia McClain) Community Time - Joys and Concerns Benediction (Isaiah 40, Mark 1) Go out to a world that hungers for righteousness. Prepare the highway for our God: make ready the paths of peace. Amen. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Deborah Sokolove) Additional IllustrationsLouis Pasteur, the pioneer of immunology, lived at a time when thousands of people died each year of rabies. Pasteur had worked for years on a vaccine. Just as he was about to begin experimenting on himself, a 9-year-old boy, Joseph Meister, was bitten by a rabid dog. The boy's mother begged Pasteur to experiment on her son. Pasteur injected Joseph for ten days with his new rabies vaccine--and the boy lived. Decades later, of all the things Pasteur could have had etched on his headstone, he asked for three words: JOSEPH MEISTER LIVED. Our greatest legacy will be the lives of those who know God's love because of our efforts. (7) Whose life will be transformed because you shared with them the love of Jesus? Claim this moment for God. Let that be the true present you give this Christmas. The present of a life lived out in service to God and service to others. The Christmas season, as most of us experience it, seems almost designed to distract us from God-centered living. There is so much pressure to shop, shop, shop and rush, rush, rush and spend, spend, spend. And all for what? How many of us remember the Christmas presents we got last year? The gifts of Christmas are temporary; the message of Christmas is eternal. The Almighty God came to earth in the form of a man. Christ lived among us and shared our suffering and pain. He died a horrible death in order to save us from our sins. He opened up the way to eternal life for us. And someday, he will come again to establish his perfect and eternal kingdom here on earth. Until that day, our job is to share the love of Jesus Christ with everyone we know. The Qiche Indians of Guatemala take the concept of purposeful living very seriously. Each Qiche tribe has a person who serves as a "day keeper." The day keeper's job is to show the other members of his tribe how to use each day well, making every moment count. To the day keepers, living each day well is an art form, and it requires concentration and guidance. The day keepers remind the people to do every job, no matter how mundane, with a sense of purpose. (6) Journalists Bill and Judith Moyers did a documentary on death and dying in the U.S. They discovered that many of the terminal patients they interviewed found peace in the face of death. In fact, many of them found greater meaning and beauty in life after learning that they would die. One man lived four years past his doctor's prognosis. In that time, he learned to cherish every moment of life. As he said, "If you are told you will never see spring again, and you live to see spring, spring takes on a whole new life." (5) Nothing focuses our priorities quite like the knowledge of our own mortality. Advent is not a season for focusing on a morbid subject like death. But it is a season for looking beyond the present moment to the eternal, and then evaluating our life in the perspective of eternity. So the question for this Second Sunday in Advent is, what do you want to do with your life? For the Christian, there is only one answer: to live in a loving relationship with God and with everyone else with whom we share this planet. THAT'S WHAT ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS ARE ABOUT--CLAIMING THE MOMENT--TAKING TIME TO NURTURE THOSE RELATIONSHIPS THAT MATTER MOST. What do you hear in Paul's words? Grace or judgment? Law or gospel? Hope or despair? Advent is a time of waiting. Often we wonder, "How long? How long can I wait for his coming? How long can I look off to the horizon? How long can I proclaim his return?" When we see Paul's words through the filter of grace, we realize the answer is just a little bit longer. During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to Christianity. They began with the obvious — the incarnation? The resurrection? The cross? The debate droned on until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room and asked, "What's the fuss about?" They told him that they were discussing Christianity's unique contribution among the world's religions. Lewis responded, "That's easy. It's grace." Contemporary preacher, Fred Craddock, preached a sermon on the prodigal son but with a twist. Instead of the father honoring the younger, rebellious son, he slipped a ring on the older brother, thanked him for his faithful years of service and killed the fatted calf in honor of doing what was right. And from the back of the sanctuary, a woman yelled out, "That's the way it should have been written." But it wasn't. That's why Christianity is so unique. It's not written the way we would have written it. Christianity is for the person who feels like the younger son — unworthy, unloved, not good enough. And yet there's a place at the table. It was written for the person who feels like a thief on the cross — out of time, out of luck, out of hope. And yet there is a place at the table. It was written for the person who feels like Judas — my life is a lie; this smile covers the deceit; I've sold my soul to the devil. And yet, Jesus welcomed him to the table. It was written to the person who feels lost, excluded, and forgotten by God and yet, like a lovesick father, God makes sure there is a place at the table. Grace. That's what makes Christianity unique. Jesus came not for the well people but for the sick people, not for the righteous people but for the unrighteous people, not for the good people but for you. "Come and eat." . H. Auden was arguably the greatest writer of the 20th century. Auden came to America in 1939. He found himself lonely for family. In New York he was befriended by Ursula and Reinhold Niebuhr, Reinhold whom some would say was the greatest theologian of the 20th century. Auden would often spend holidays – Thanksgiving and Christmas – with the Niebuhrs and their children. Auden loved to play the piano and sing hymns and carols, belting out 19th century Anglican hymns and songs that Ursula Niebuhr knew and could sing along with him. Reinhold Niebuhr didn’t like the old-fashioned English hymns, or the singing of carols before Christmas, so he would go into the study and close the door to drown out the noise, refusing to succumb. While the season of Advent is steeped in tradition, Advent craziness is such that we also prepare ourselves and our communities for the newest, most revolutionary changes ever experienced on earth. There is an ancient tale of three horsemen riding across the desert one evening. As they crossed the dry bed of a river a loud voice called to them out of the darkness, commanding: “HALT.” They obeyed. The voice then told them to dismount, pick up a handful of pebbles, put them in their pockets . . .. And remount. Again they obeyed. When they remounted, the voice said, “You have done as I have commanded you. Tomorrow at sunrise you will be both glad and sorry.” Mystified, the horsemen rode on. When the sun rose, they reached into their pockets and found that a miracle had happened. The pebbles had been transformed into diamonds, rubies, and other precious gems. They remembered the voice, and they were both glad and sorry. Glad they had taken some . . . Sorry they had not taken more. God’s gifts are only gifts if we receive them and open them. Advent prepares us to accept the sacrament of matter. With the birth of Jesus, physical matter doesn’t just “matter,” but is deemed good. Even more than that, this incarnated physical matter is not just good, it is as sacred. As Paul put it (Romans 5:5), “the love of God is poured into our hearts.” God poured the divine essence into human flesh. Somebody once said to Mark Twain: "I'm afraid the world is coming to an end." Mark Twain just laughed and said, "That's all right, we can get along without it." Well, we can and one day we will, because there is a new world coming. There is going to be a new birth for planet earth. Now there are many who doubt that this world is coming to an end, and many who wonder why it has not already come to an end. C. S. Lewis had an answer for both people. This brilliant thinker said: Why is God landing in this enemy-occupied world in disguise and starting a sort of secret society to undermine the devil? Why is He not landing in force, invading it! Is it that He is not strong enough? Well, Christians think He is going to land in force; we do not know when. But we can guess why He is delaying. He wants to give us the chance of joining His side freely….God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere opening and directly in our world, quite realize what it will be like when He does. When that happens it is the end of the world. When the author walks onto the stage, the play is over. One day this play called life is going to be over, and this stage called the world, is going to be destroyed. Peter gives us three reasons why we can "take it to the bank." You see, if this world is a created world, then there must be a Creator. If there is a Creator, then there must be an absolute standard of what is right and what is wrong, and therefore you cannot "walk according to your own lusts," you must walk according to His righteousness; and that is exactly what people do not want to do, because as one great philosopher once said: "Without God, anything is permissible." Go all the way back to Charles Darwin, the father of modern evolutionary thought. This is what one scholar said about him: There are some who think that Darwin accepted the theory of evolution only after many many years of studying the subject. This, however, is not the case. As his religious faith ebbed, his faith in evolution developed. It came in to fill up the void that was being left by his rejection of creation.1 You see, the root cause of skepticism about spiritual truth, is sin and a rebellious heart. Julius Huxley, of the famous Huxley family, who championed the cause of evolution, was once interviewed on television. He was asked why evolution was accepted so quickly. Instead of saying something like: "The scientific evidence led any rational person willing to look at the facts to come to that conclusion," he said, "The reason we accepted Darwinism, even without proof, is because we didn't want God to interfere with our sexual mores."2 Aldous Huxley made this startling admission: I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning…because the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation. This liberation we desired, was liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom…most ignorance is vincible ignorance. We don't know because we don't want to know.3 Now we get down to the real reason why these scoffers reject the fact of creation—because they don't want anyone to interfere with their own personal brand of morality. That is, they want to "walk according to their own lusts." I am reminded of a story of a man who was fishing, and every time he caught a large fish he threw it away, and every time he caught a small one he kept it. Well, somebody watched him for a while, and after he couldn't stand it, walked over to him and said, "What in the world are you doing throwing the large fish away and keeping the small one?" The man said, "Well, I only have an eight-inch frying pan and the larger fish won't fit!" Well, there are a lot of so-called scholars who are nothing more than skeptics and scoffers who simply reject truth that doesn't fit their eight-inch frying pan.