December 2, 2007

           (Jimmie Johnson)

Isaiah 2:1-5

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; 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. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!

Matthew 24:36-44

“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

  --------------------------------Sermon--------------------------------

Someone’s world comes to an end every day in the life of our congregation, and probably on your street, and in your office, too. Or it may happen at a school locker just down from your’s.

We might be oblivious to it, but around you someone’s world ends every day. It may be a phone call, a letter, an email -- or, a word is spoken, a message is given, someone appears at the door, and life as someone knows it comes to an end.

Things will never be the same ever. It will never be the same again for the team, the family, or the neighborhood, the nation, or the world. Someone’s world ends every day.

And we find ourselves yearning to know what it all means. We yearn to be reassured that life has a purpose, that all the dots are connected.
Every Advent worship season we relive ancient Israel’s yearning and hope through our strange music, prayers, calls to worship, Scripture texts and sermons.

For us Christians with our Christianity being born in the cradle of Judaism, we identify with ancient Israel’s waiting -- waiting for the redemption of the world, waiting for life to make sense, and waiting for evil and suffering to end.

We yearn that in the end, whether on the scale of the personal or even on the cosmic scale, God will be present. We yearn that all endings bring hope’s fulfillment and not disappointment.

So with surprise endings, and sudden changes, unannounced intrusions, and life changing announcements, don’t we really down deep want to know, if in the end, we can be more confident of God’s light shining than of humanity’s darkness prevailing? We yearn to be confident that we will feel God’s presence rather than God’s absence.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here,
until the Son of God appear.

Waiting can feel like you are being held captive, powerless to do anything. You are not in control. You are just aware of how much life has suddenly changed and ended.

We simply need to believe that in our hearts, when we are so out of touch with ourselves, with one another and the world seems so crazy with hatred, disappointment or unfairness, God’s love is more profound and forever than our human failures and sins.

God’s love is even more profound than unfair evil and suffering.
Do soldiering, mothering and fathering, teaching, nursing and doctoring, researching, building and banking and coaching and befriending mean anything at all in the end?

Do faith, hope and love really last? Do broken faith, despair and hatred, sorrow and unfairness pass through a judgment so that they, too, come to an end?

Do things get set right, and will life finally make sense, and will wrongs be corrected by a power greater than condemnation? And will the sound of joyful singing accompany us on the way home to our true self and the restoration of love?

What the four Sundays of Advent offer us is the chance to be bathed in the news that this yearning we have for life to make sense and serve a higher purpose than greed or selfishness will be fulfilled. Thuggery will come to an end. There will be no more thugs who make individuals and even nations their victims.

The Great Moral Clean Up of the Cosmos will succeed. Crying and weeping will come to an end. Suffering will come to an end. Even death dies and comes to its end.

I believe God is constantly returning to our lives with love and continuous interest.

God is always present at our endings. God is completely joined with us in our yearnings for life more than death, for love more than hate, for peace more than war, for hope more than despair and for joy more than sorrow.
And we are always to be the people that remember when the world ends, when our lives end, when our world is changed forever, the way God will be present to us is disclosed in the way God came among us as a human baby. God became flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone.

God joins us so that the final ending of all endings results in homecoming and fulfillment, not annihilation.

So let us live each moment fully awake to God’s appearance. Let us be willing to be surprised by both the time and the form of God’s appearance.
Don’t you ever forget we Presbyterian brand of Christians believe the end of this world of war and violence and injustice and oppression isn’t an ending that brings devastation to the world. Rather, the earth will be transformed, not by divine intervention or by a supernatural rescue of the earth as the “Left Behind” novels suggest, nor by human skill, technology or science with no participation on God’s part. No, we in the Presbyterian branch of Christianity believe we belong to God in life and in death. This means God will not bring transformation without us, and we cannot bring about transformation without God.

Your life is important to God beyond your ability to know and beyond your ability to believe. But the sign of the baby in the manger is the promise that whenever and however any ending comes, including those of a cosmic nature or even the whole universe, it is God birthing a new and transformed creation. It is not a pitiful human whimper into nothingness and silence.

God’s plan for the earth and for you is fulfillment. And the way God will do this is as surprising and shocking as the Christmas claim has always been — as unlikely in appearance and form as God being born among us and forever with us through the Christ Child in a bed of straw. It is as unlikely as this child being so humble and so full of love and power in adulthood as to enter into the experience of being the least of the least upon a cross.

A bed of straw and a cross of wood become places where God’s love forever joins God to us. And “nothing,” writes St. Paul in his letter to some Christians in Rome, “Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus.”

So, be tender hearted toward one another, sensitive to all those around you---so you will know when someone’s world has come to an end. Be caring so that with your help they can begin again with love. Be full of faith that God is coming to them and you.

That’s what we are promised. And it will always involve a restless, doubting certainty in our waiting for hope’s fulfillment at the end.
Someone’s world will end by the time you get home today, by tomorrow or even this week or month. Be a congregation that believes hope will not be disappointed in the end.