Await my Return

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC on November 20th, 2016

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^NRS  Matthew 24:42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ 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. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

"A Thanksgiving Day editorial in the newspaper told of a school teacher who asked her first graders to draw a picture of something they were thankful for. She thought of how little these children from poor neighborhoods actually had to be thankful for. But she knew that most of them would draw pictures of turkeys on tables with food. The teacher was taken aback with the picture Douglas handed in... a simple childishly drawn hand. "But whose hand? This class was captivated by the abstract image. 'I think it must be the hand of God that brings us food,' said one child. 'A farmer,' said another, 'because he grows the turkeys.' Finally when the others were back at work the teacher bent over Douglas's desk and asked whose hand it was. 'It's your hand, Teacher,' he mumbled. "She recalled that frequently at recess she had taken Douglas, a scrubby forlorn child, by the hand. She often did that with the children. But it meant so much to Douglas. 'Perhaps this is everyone's Thanksgiving, not for the material things given to us, but for the chance, in whatever small way, to give to others,' she thought"

(Author Unknown, Stories from the Heart (Multnomah Books: Sisters, Oregon, 1996), 52).

Someone shared with me what would we do if the only thing we could have are the things we thanked God for today. What would they be? How empty would be the closets of our life if the only things we could have in them were the things we thanked God for. I share with people to pray constantly because we were told by our ancestors to do good, to do no harm and to pray daily to God. Maybe we could be more thankful for the hands that guided us when we needed to be guided, for the hands that held us when we need to be surrounded by love and for the hands that worked to provide us opportunity and growth.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt got tired of smiling that big smile and saying all the usual things at those White House receptions. So, one evening he decided to find out whether anybody was paying attention to what he was saying. As each person came up to him with extended hand, he flashed his big smile and said, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." People would automatically respond with comments such as "How lovely." or "Continue on with your great work." Nobody listened to what he was saying, except for one foreign diplomat. When the president said, "I murdered my grandmother this morning," the diplomat responded softly, "I'm sure she had it coming to her.

Sometimes we spend so much time focused on ourselves or the big things that we miss the little things. How often have you been going up the road and remarked on something new only to have the person in the car with you tell you that new thing has been there for a long time and you realize that you had never seen it? You have heard me say this before that homeless people become invisible. We are so focused on the store we are going towards that we ignore those around us and have actually made them invisible to our conscious mind. We do the same thing with everything we don’t like in life. That way we don’t have to deal with it. But what about the good things in life? We do the same thing with them. We stay so focused on the things that attract our attention, like tragedy, violence and dramatic things that we miss out on the good things. A young man helps on older woman through a doorway and we don’t even register that a good thing just happened. Yes, I am generalizing as I often do but truth is truth. We do it all the time. So here we are in this week of Thanksgiving and we need to celebrate the things that are good in our world.

As we celebrate this week let us leap ahead into the Passion narrative of Easter. Jesus is looking into the face of death itself. He knows what is coming soon and in spite of that, He asks God to stand by the promise that all of humanity is given into the hands of Jesus. Jesus tells us that He has complete authority over the whole earth and all of its inhabitants, not just for the first century but for all time. Jesus is asking God to give us, those that believe in the love of God brought through the love and sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus, to receive the promise of eternal salvation and life. All of this while looking into the very depths of Hell itself and death. What kind of love is there that can do this kind of thing? I suspect one that we cannot truly understand or appreciate. But this is exactly what happened and what we must be thankful for it. How can we ever repay that which is given to us freely and without strings attached unless we spend our lives witnessing to the grace and mercy of God? How can we ever truly sit at our tables or in our houses comfortable without thinking about the sacrifice that God has given to us? Thanksgiving is a time to do that very thing. Jesus is saying to us that He is ours if we are willing to open our hearts to Him and invite Him in. Will you, can you, won’t you?

Next week we will begin the Advent season. There are some things I want you to know. First and foremost, this season is all about how much you are loved. God loves us so much that God sent us God, in the form of a little baby boy named Jesus, who showed us how to live in that love and how to love when he went to the cross for our lives. Nothing is as important as that message and it is the message of Christmas past, present and future. God still loves us as strongly as that morning when Jesus came into the world to bring peace, be our counselor, our savior and our friend. No matter where you’ve been, what you’ve done or how you’ve lived your life, God’s love never wavers nor leaves you. We Methodist refer to that as Prevenient Grace, the love of God who desires to be in relationship from the moment of conception until the last breath we take. No greater gift can or has ever been given than that grace which we celebrate on Christmas morn.

The second is that the world is focused on commercialism not Christianity. It has been that way since the beginning of time and will not change until Christ comes again. Even the Peanuts Christmas classic in 1965 discussed the commercialism of Christmas and who can ever forget Linus sharing the Luke story of Christmas for us. So we need to get over ourselves when someone chooses to have a plain red cup instead of one with Christmas decorations all over it. I understand that this year’s Starbuck cup is actually all of the designs of those who took the plain cup and made it special and unique. Actually if we are thinking, we should realize that the world is giving us additional time to share the true story when they extend the Christmas selling season. It allows us to touch more lives, to bring the message of love to more people because we have more days to do so. And “X” is the Greek first letter for Christos or Christ. So when the world makes Christmas, Xmas, they haven’t done anything to persecute us. Whether they realized it or not they simply accented the name of Christ for which this season is all about.

And finally, we live in a difficult time in the world today. There can be no doubt that there is more violence and bloodshed, hate and anger, than when many of us were young. The world is full of terrorism and hate amongst the peoples of the world. We saw it played out in throughout the world and in our own country in recent days. But we must also remember that there are thousands who have struggled in those places where hate originates and they are fleeing to bring better lives for their families and themselves. Is that any different than the story of the Exodus from Egypt by the people we call Israelites under Moses? Or for most of us, the stories of our ancestors who came to this country fleeing religious persecution, difficult times in their homes countries of Europe, Italy and the Middle East. Can we but take a moment and remember that if not for the generosity of this place we call America; all of us would have lived and died in places like Syria though the names would have been Scotland and Ireland, Germany and Italy among many.

We are reminded that we are a people of anticipation. As we approach Advent we begin that season of anticipation. People get nicer, friendliness seems to surround us and the sounds of the season make us better people. Jesus told us to look for the signs so that we might know when He is coming again. Truth be told, we should be anticipating His arrival whether He will arrive today, next week or a thousand years from now. Jesus gave us signs so that we might begin the work that needs to be done. That is, to share the Gospel of the Christ, the love of God not only with those who come into the pews on Sunday morning but every single person wherever they live.

Jesus said that as we see the world around change dramatically, the telling of the season when He would return would be approaching. For thousands of years people have predicted, without success I may add, the actual day of His arrival. Whether it was the Millerites who sold off all their possessions in 1843 and stood on top the mountain waiting for the return of Christ or the misguided prophet some years back who wanted everyone to know that Christ was coming again on May 21^st, 2011. Both were wrong by the way. Jesus said to us there would be wars and rumors of wars. We certainly live in that kind of world today. He said that the Gospel would be preached throughout the world and it is coming to that fulfillment today as we sit here among the pews of this church. He foretold of entire weather patterns shifting and of illness and famine throughout the world. All of these things are currently happening.

Paul wrote to us in 2^nd Timothy, ^NRS 2 Timothy 3:1 You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. ² For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them. The writer of 2nd Timothy is telling us at the end of the age, the moral fabric of the world will decline.

I believe that Christ will come when it is time. And none of us will know the hour or the day until it arrives. I also believe that Jesus if He were up here talking to us would say to us, be thankful for what we have, share it with the world around us and await my return with anticipation sharing the love of God with everyone so that when I do return, all will be waiting like the wedding party for the bride and groom. Happy Thanksgiving!