Sometimes Less is More

December 1, 2024 First Sunday of Advent Jeremiah 33:14-16 Sometimes less is more Year C Prelude Greeting Introit Lighting of the Advent Candle Reader One: From deep in the past, Jeremiah calls to us, “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 33:14). Beloved, the days are surely coming when the yearning of the land; the longing of the sun, moon, and stars; the desperate need of the people of earth for flourishing and peace will receive their fulfillment. Congregation: While fear, anxiety, misinformation, and suspicion surround us on every side, we choose to watch and wait in hope, preparing our hearts to notice and cooperate with God’s grace already at work in our midst. Reader Two: We light this candle of hope as a sign of our commitment to pay attention and prepare for the days that are surely coming and are already here—the days when God’s kin-dom of love, justice, and mercy will reign. Light the first candle of the Advent wreath. Call to Worship Children of God, pay attention! The days are coming when God’s peace will reign and all creation will flourish under the reign of our Creator. The days are surely coming! Children of God, prepare your hearts! The days are coming and are already here when God will come near and show us how to recognize God’s reign among us. The days are surely coming and are already here! Children of God, be alert and listen! God has come near to build the kin-dom on the earth here and now. Will you join in? The days are surely coming and are already here! We come to prepare our hearts to pay attention, to listen, and to follow God’s call to build the kin-dom of earth as it is in heaven. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, June 2024. Song O Come O Come Emmanuel UMH 211 Verses 1-5 A Sermon for all Ages DO you know GOD's PHONE NUMBER? Do you know HIS email address? Can we send a card or letter all the way to heaven? Then how can we hear from Jesus and how can HE hear from us? [Give the children an opportunity to answer that question.] The answer is through prayer and reading the Bible. We can pray anytime and never get a busy signal. God is always home. Jesus is always there to hear our prayers. The BIBLE is GOD's Word - written to us from the beginning. It has so many exciting things to tell us. The Bible also says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" John 1:1. All we have to do is read the Bible if we want to hear from Jesus! All we have to do is pray if we want JESUS to hear us. Right here in the Bible is a scripture promise straight from GOD! It says, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not" Jeremiah 33:3. (Some people call this verse God's phone number.) The Bible is full of words to warn us, guide us, and comfort us. All we have to do is open the Bible, ask HIM to show you what HE wants you to know for today, and then read it. And when we are hurting, or sad, or full of happiness that we want to share with God, we have a direct line - a Bluetooth connection - to the ear of GOD with the promise that if we call him, HE will always answer. He says, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee." Isn't that a great promise? I love that I can CALL Jesus anytime, night or day. I just need to pray or read the Bible! Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for making it SO easy to get in touch with you. Thank you that you are always home and never too busy to hear our call. Thank you that we don't have to yell really loud for you to hear us. We can whisper our prayers, and YOU can even read our thoughts and hearts. We don't have to even say words that others can hear and you know what we are thinking. That makes us feel very special, Jesus. That makes us feel your amazing love for us. Thank you, so much! In Jesus' Name, AMEN. Prayer for Transformation and New Life God of the Possible and Probable, Gloom often encapsulates us when life is confusing and conflict is great. Our faith is rattled, and we are swallowed by shadows of fear. The world often feels like the end is near even when a new beginning is around the corner. We forget that even when shadows have lengthened, there remains a crack in the surface. Light begins to stream into our space, and warmth dances upon our hearts. When fear unnerves us, may we cling to the hope of God’s love and the possibilities of joy once again. Amen. Words of Grace Take comfort, dear friends, that God’s grace will fill our hearts with joy as we know that light grows ahead. May we cling to the crumbs of hope as we step into the nighttime with faith, knowing Divine Bliss accompanies us in each step. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Michelle Torigian) Scripture Jeremiah 33:14-16 Sermon Sometimes less is more And just like that, we go from Thanksgiving with turkeys, football and pumkins to Christmas with the lights, basketball and evergreens. Literally this year, one day we are sitting down for a bog meal and the next day – it is time for the Christmas parade. This year, the switch was so jarring because November was so nice outside, and today it was 12 degrees when I woke up. Who wants to go out in that kind of weather? This time of year there are usually two kinds of sales being advertised in the newspaper: Post-Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas. I could not help wondering if those two terms do not describe the spiritual state of many of us “post-Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas. Permit me to cite some examples. IF YOU ONLY OBEY THE LAW AND NO MORE YOUR FAITH IS PRE-CHRISTMAS. How is that for a starter? If most of us were brought before Heavenly Tribunal this day and were asked to defend ourselves before the Righteous Judge of the Universe, I suspect that most of us would start off naming the things we haven't done. Let us see, "Thou shalt not kill . . . ." Why there! That's a good start. I certainly have never killed anyone. "Thou shalt not steal . . . ." Why certainly that leaves me out. Or Adultery. And I certainly don't mistreat my parents. Most of us would take refuge in the things we don't do. And yet I say to you that if you obey the law and that is all, your faith is pre-Christmas. Jesus spent very little time condemning evil-doers. He spent a great deal of time condemning good folks who were worthless. For example, the priest and the Levite who passed by the man lying in the ditch; they may have kept all the laws, but their faith was pre-Christmas. Or the rich young ruler who "had kept all the commandments from his youth up." Jesus told him there was still one more thing he needed to do; he needed to take everything he had and sell it and give the money to the poor and leave it all behind and follow Jesus; Being good was not good enough. Or the goats at the last judgment. The hell of fire was prepared not for those who had broken the laws of adultery, stealing and killing. Rather it was prepared for those who had a chance to give a cup of water to a man who was thirsty or a piece of bread to a man who was hungry; or clothing to the naked, or to make a simple visit to the sick or imprisoned. Chances came time after time to these folks and they let them get away unfilled. How about you? Are you willing to go beyond being respectable to being responsible? A lawyer asked Jesus what was the great commandment. Jesus did not answer with a "Thou shalt not . . . ." He summed up all of Christian living with a thou shalt; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength; and thy neighbor as thyself." "Thou shalt love . . . " And who is your neighbor? Jesus answered with a story about a good Samaritan who took time to minister to one in need. We need good Samaritans today. You may have heard the story about a woman who rounded the street corner and came upon an accident victim lying on the sidewalk. Suddenly, she was grateful for the first aid course she had recently completed at the local YWCA. "I was going for a walk today," she told her husband later, "and saw this poor man lying on the sidewalk in pretty bad condition." "Then," she continued, "all my first-aid training came back to me, and I knew just what to do. I bent right down and put my head between my knees to keep from fainting!" An article in the CHRISTIAN HERALD tells that one of the best apartments in New York is near the banks of the East River. Yet the living room windows face to the West, away from the river view. When the buildings were erected, in 1925, animal pens and a large slaughterhouse were in sight of the apartments, so the planners faced a more desirable view. This happens to people. Instead of changing the circumstances and improving the conditions . . . we simply turn away or we put our head between our knees to keep from fainting. This is how we have dealt with migrant labor camps, penal reforms, city slums “we have just looked in another direction. Christ calls us to be servants. Servants do the work. Your faith is pre-Christmas if you only obey the law. IN THE SECOND PLACE, YOUR FAITH IS PRECHRISTMAS IF YOU LOVE ONLY THOSE PEOPLE WHO LOVE YOU. Everybody loves people who love them. That doesn't take any great act of commitment, does it? There was once a fellow who was a general ne-er do well. He never contributed anything to his community that I know of. He wasn't malicious at all. He was simply lazy and what some would call "worthless." Still most members of the community were charitable. After all, they would say, "he is good to his mother." EVERYONE is good to his or her mother. Not everyone of course. There are some bums out there. Still, it takes no great leap of devotion to love your mother or your brother or people who go to the same church or live on the same street. Everybody does that. They even say that about the Mafia: "They really take care of their own!" That's great. So what? Jesus said, "Even the Gentiles love those who love them." The test of Christian faith is whether you can love persons whom ordinarily you might not even be able to stand. The cause of Christ has been crippled through the years by those who say they love Christ but cannot love humanity. The world sniffs out hypocrisy in the church quicker than a bear sniffs out a handout in a state park. The penetrating TV news show SIXTY MINUTES recently filmed a story on the church in South Africa. The obvious angle was the glaring hypocrisy of apartheid in the face of clear Christian teaching that in Christ, "There is neither Jew nor Greek." Surely the church would be against racism, wouldn't it? The story showed otherwise. While declaring out one side of the mouth that apartheid was racism and sin, the leader of the major Christian denomination in South Africa said out the other side of his mouth that the two races shouldn't mix. In fact, when the denomination declared that racism was clearly against biblical teaching, 105 churches pulled out to form an allwhite denomination. The story closed with cameras focused on a sea of all-white faces singing joyfully to an all-white God. The editors of SIXTY MINUTES knew what the Christians in South Africa evidently do not “the gospel of Jesus Christ wipes out racial barriers. In his autobiography Mahatma Gandhi tells of his interest in the Bible as a student. He even attended a Christian church one Sunday. When he entered the sanctuary, the ushers refused to seat him. They suggested that he worship with his own people. Gandhi was so disillusioned he left, and later wrote, "If Christians have caste differences also, I might as well remain Hindu." So sad. By the way, how are you doing so far? Your faith is pre-Christmas if all you do is obey the law and no more. Your faith is pre-Christmas if you love only those people who love you. FINALLY, YOUR FAITH IS PRE-CHRISTMAS IF IT HAS NEVER MADE THAT VITAL MOVE FROM YOUR LIPS TO YOUR HEART. We get disturbed because Christmas has been so captured by our culture that it has almost lost its religious significance, but that is true to a lesser extent of the Christian faith itself. How about you? Do you have Christ on your lips but not in your heart? "Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." A church with one of those signs on which you can change messages was right next to an S&H stamp redemption store. On the sign was this message in front of the church: "Soul & Heart Redemption Center." Remember the description of the prodigal Son's change of heart: "He came to himself." The following is an account of a young man whose life history was the subject of a government report on juvenile delinquency: A young man who was a very serious problem to his parents and local authorities because of his antisocial behavior, spent several weeks one summer in a peaceful rural area with members of a religious group well-known for their kind, simple modes of living. His behavior among them was exemplary. The following summer, after another violent year in the ghetto, he returned to the country and to his peaceful, friendly mode of living with the comment, "The real me is here." Perhaps we have missed the whole point of Christmas and Christianity “no longer shall we be dependent on an external law but upon an indwelling spirit. The surest testimony has always been this one, "You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart." Our faith is pre-Christmas if it is a faith of the lips but not of the heart. This is to say that your faith is still pre-Christmas if you have never made a commitment of your life to Jesus Christ. Remember the story of the Methodist preacher who called his Bishop and told him that Jesus Christ was visiting his church in person that day and asked what he should do. "Look busy," was the immediate reply. We are a busy people. We are even busy about the things of God. And yet, "busy-ness" is not the key to the Kingdom of God. Our lives may still be fragmented, our busy-ness lacking focus, our vision lacking in power, purpose, and promise. Why? Because we have never given all to Christ. The good news for is – there is a cure for prechristmas spirituality. Advent. The 4 weeks of waiting and preparing ourselves for what happens after Christmas. For the coming of Christ in our lives, not the inaurguration. Advent always starts with the chaos and confusion of the world and ends with hope, peace, love and joy of christ. Advent is a time to calm our spirits and to pay attention to what God is really doing in the world. Our scripture for today is our prechristmas promise that God is here with us today. The book of Jeremiah takes people through some rough times. Jeremiah tells us that things will get worse before they get better. The good news for us is that things do indeed get better. Two things that we can be sure of when it comes to God, God keeps God;s promises. God always does what it right. Righteosness means to do what is called for in a situation. The right actions for the right situation. Done by the right person. God always acts through the actions of the righteous person. Jesus is that person for us. When I look into the future- in my spirit, I truly do believe that change is coming. Things are going to be different next year. Not just because of the president, but more importantly because of your and I. Jeremiah challenges each of us at this moment in time to look at the world – what are the things that need to change? Who are the people who need to come to God’s table? What are the obstacles that need to be taken away? What are the actions that need to be taken. We are challenged to think about it, to pray about it and to do what we can. It is time to prepare ourselves to be instruments of peace. Jeremiah is a short verse – but it says the days are coming. As a matter of fact, Jeremiah says the days are coming 16 times. The days are coming when life gets better. Jeremiah also talks about a stump of Jesse, more powerful than a tree. In a comic strip, the Wizard of Id, a jailer heard a strange noise coming from a jail cell. He asked what was going on, the prisoner replied I am trimming the Christmas tree. When the jailer come to look – all he saw was two branches. Criss cross from one another in the form of a cross. The prisoner reminded him that Christmas was about the cross of Christ, and that we should always see christ in everything that we do, especially Christmas. What really matters is what happens post Christmas. After christ has come into the world. Let us prepare ourselves for that day. Let us pray. Song Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming Prayer’s of the Peaople (after each petition please say “God of our Salvation, hear our prayers) Do not print the prayer Christ is coming. He is coming to make all things new. Eternal God, during this season of Advent, help us prepare Christ’s way, help us center our hearts, minds and prayers on your holy presence in our midst. God of our salvation, hear our prayers. As the days grow short and the nights loom long, we praise you for these seasonal reminders that there is time for work and for rest. For those of us who know warm homes and soft places to sleep, we give thanks for these precious gifts. We pray for those who are unhoused and those whose home is unsafe or financially insecure. May all your children get the rest they need to thrive. God of our salvation, hear our prayers. As divisiveness and conflict plague us and wars rage across the world, Holy God, we focus on the generosity, kindness and care you encourage within us. As we contemplate the vulnerability of Christ, born a fragile in- fant in a violent world, let us drop our facades and the masks of strength we hide behind. May this season of Advent prepare us to celebrate the strength that can be found in weakness and the power held in humility p2and love. God of our salvation, hear our prayers. As your people gather in homes and churches to celebrate this season, let us be reminded of all the reasons we have to rejoice in you. Let us be reminded of your protective presence, of your gentleness and love, of your peace which passes all understanding. Guard our hearts and minds this Advent, Savior God, so we can rejoice over your faithfulness through Jesus Christ our Lord. God of our salvation, hear our prayers. As a people of faith, we lift these prayers to you, trusting you hear us and receive us. Finally, hear us now, as we pray the prayer Christ taught us by saying together, “Our Father …”. Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moments For many of us, December is a month of spending. Some of us spend more on food and drinks as we host parties or welcome our extended family and friends for a meal. Some of us spend money for gifts or for the materials needed to create gifts. Some of us, knowing we’ll soon come to the end of the tax year, are reminded to share additional gifts with charities, schools, and our church. Today is a day to begin that mindful giving to support the ministries of this congregation. Your gifts make possible _______________________ (name one or two specifics in your congregation). As we round out our Thanksgiving weekend, let’s begin this month by generously offering our tithes and our gifts. Prayer of Thanksgiving Gracious God, in this season of anticipation, we offer our gifts to put our money where our heart is. We pray these gifts help us prepare our lives for the coming fullness of your Realm. We’re grateful these offerings signal our readiness to wake up! May they allow us to join in building up a wide-awake community, helping move our congregation, our community and our world a bit closer to justice and joy. Amen. (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Invitation to Communion In some circles one person might encourage another: “take a shot” to fortify them in the face of difficult news. Here, we invite each person to participate in communion to fortify us in the face of the “little apocalypse” of Luke 21. Jesus spoke of distress among nations and people fainting from fear in anticipation of the coming day of redemption. However, or in what arena, we imagine God’s possible action, these emblems of bread and cup are signs of “God-with-us”, symbols of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. So come! Launch into this new year with this feast, shared in remembrance of Jesus. Communion Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook As we open the doors to the dawn of this season, May the Creator of Our Hearts fill us with Joy, May the Light of Christ fill our hearts with Hope, And may the Spirit of Tranquility assure our souls with Strength. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Michelle Torigian) Community Time – Joys and Concerns Benediction We do not leave this sanctuary and leave God behind. God’s call to prepare our hearts, our minds, our communities and our world for the coming Christ, is clear. May this call be ever before us; guiding us, inspiring us, enabling us to be Christ’s body – his hands, his feet, his heart – in this, God’s world. May the grace, hope, peace and love of God our Creator Redeemer and Sustainer be with us all, now and forever. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Terri McDowell) Additional Illustration