Advent: Getting Ready

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 12/2/18

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^NRS Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁰ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. ¹¹ Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; ¹² the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; ¹³ let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴ Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Welcome to the first Sunday of the season of Advent. Advent is a season of anticipation as we wait the celebration party of the birth of a King. Advent is a season of anticipation as we wait the celebration party of the coming of the King in judgment and glory. You see as Christian people we should live in a perpetual state of anticipation. After all, no one else in the history of the world worships a risen savior. No one professes his or her faith in a man who has died for us and was resurrected by God so that we can receive eternal life. So when we enter into Advent we should begin to celebrate that anticipation and share in its reflection on our lives through our actions, prayers and songs. When we anticipate the promise fulfillment of God, we live lives focused on eternity, not today or tomorrow, but forever and ever.

On the one hand, we are anticipating the coming of Christ for judgment and to bring us the New Jerusalem, heaven here on earth. And in the present moment we are anticipating the celebration of Jesus birthday, a day when we received here on earth the gift of grace, mercy and love in the form of a little baby boy. Finally, we anticipate the opportunities that God is going to give us to share this message of love with the world. But sometimes we get confusing messages or the message we get is one of great joy while we feel completely rejected.

Archie Campbell of Hee Haw fame used to tell this story

"Did ya hear I got married?"
"Oh, that's good."
"No, that's bad! She's ugly!"
"Oh, that's bad."
"No, that's good! She's rich."
"Oh, that's good!"
"No, that's bad! She won't give me a cent."
"Oh, that's bad."
"No, that's good! She bought me servants and a big house"
"Oh, that's good."
"No, that's bad! The house burnt down."
"Oh, that's bad."
"No, that's good! She was in it."

Now in the story as we followed it we celebrated the ups and then crashed with the downs anticipating where the story was going to go and being amused and surprised when it did not go there. That is what life is all about. Sometimes it is hard to join the celebration when we are feeling more like crawling under the porch and hiding.

Paul gets right to it when he talks about the commandments. These are the second five, which deal with how we are supposed to deal with each other. We are to love one another. What does that mean? True love means that we share radical hospitality to one another all the time. Here at church, we need to look at this way, if we were inviting special guests to come and visit, we would clean the house, bring out the best china, prepare the best meal and when they arrive cater to make sure they are comfortable and the visit is enjoyable. Sounds about right doesn’t it. Well you and I, we share as being stewards of God’s house. This church is God’s home for this community in this place and at this time in our lives. Which means every Saturday night and every Sunday morning we are going to entertain new guests. So we need to be prepared to bring out the best china, clean the place up, prepare the best foods and when they arrive, make them feel welcome and comfortable. Paul is reminding us of that when He says love your neighbor as yourself. So when one of our youngest wants a cookie, by golly, we jump to get a tasty cookie and make that person feel sincerely loved.

Why? Because the King is coming. Paul tells us to wake up, to get up and be urgent about loving one another because the heaven is nearer to us than we accepted Christ into our lives. As we approach Christmas day, we sense the love of God nearer to us than any other time of year. We accept that there that special sense in the air that causes us to dig a little deeper for those in need, to reach a little higher to reach out to one another and to smile and share time together in a way we don’t usually do the rest of the year. So we need to set aside our quarreling and jealousy and put on Jesus. That is what Paul is telling us to do.

So what should we do? First, we should anticipate that Christ is coming again. Paul at the end of his life realized that Christ was probably not coming before he died and yet he still urgently witnessed to all the world around him as if he had only moments left. In fact, he shares that in the scripture today that we need to wake up in this moment. The reality is that you and I share an awesome story that Advent reminds us of each and every year. Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ will come again. But more than that, we need to share the story of God’s love for the world. We need to take this season when people are excited, when people are happier than any other time of the year and we need to share that the reason they are happy is that God’s love is more recognizable. The reason people are the way they are is because they sense the celebration of the birth of a child. Regardless of who you are, little babies make you feel different. They do! I have seen grown men who would snarl to suggest they would display emotions smile and coo at a little baby. And baby Jesus is so special that we feel that love surround us even if we cannot see, hold or touch baby Jesus in the flesh.

So what are we called to do? Paul would say that as we anticipate the coming of Christ, both the celebration of birth and the anticipation of the second coming, our priority in life is to witness to the love of God to the world. We are called to witness. Now I know many of you will say, I don’t know how, I don’t know scripture, or I cannot do it at work, etc. I also know young adults will say to you, I am not much on organized religion. Hmmm. So let me ask you. How many of you are here because we are organized? How many are here because when you leave you feel better, you feel loved and surrounded by people who love? I thought so! So share that. You can easily say at my church, we don’t gather because we are part of an organization even though we are. We gather to be surrounded by people who love one another, who lift me up and make me feel better than when I arrived. Would you like to come and join me?

Each of us needs to develop and intentional discipleship plan. I have a great book called Discipler by Phil Maynard. It is designed to be used individually or in a small group with the Discipleship survey to assist folk in moving forward in their journey. As a church we are going to be spending time developing and sharing how to grow in discipleship. If you currently do not have a devotional time each day, talk to someone that does, connect with the Pastor or one of the church small group leaders who will be happy to share what they do.

The early disciples gave of their time and their resources as they faithfully moved forward in growing the church. The church is the people here in this place, not the building, not the campus and not the material things we have but the people. The early disciples volunteered their time and resources to grow discipleship among their family and friends. Let us do the same.

Finally, we need to prepare ourselves for entrance into the Kingdom. Part of the anticipation is waiting for that moment when we will see Christ face to face and be in a place where joy and celebration surround us. We can prepare for that moment by striving to become mature disciples of Jesus Christ. We can prepare for that moment by witnessing our faith to others and allowing them to share the love of God. We can prepare for that moment, which might come today, tomorrow or the day after, by making sure, we are ready.

Carly Simon wrote these words, which ring true today:

We can never know about the days to come
but we think about them anyway.
And I wonder if I'm really with you now
or just chasing after some finer day

Anticipation, anticipation

Anticipation – Are we eagerly waiting the coming of Jesus? 

Revelation Chapter 8 update

Through the power of Ken Becker who recorded my class - Session 8 now has audio for all those who desired to hear.

Does God Exist

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 11/25/18

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^NRS Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, ² the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ³ Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

^NRS Psalm 19:1 <To the leader. A Psalm of David.> The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. ² Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. ³ There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; ⁴ yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun, ⁵ which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy. ⁶ Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hid from its heat. ⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the LORD are sure, making wise the simple; ⁸ the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eyes; ⁹ the fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. ¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb. ¹¹ Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. ¹² But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults. ¹³ Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. ¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

One of the fundamental questions of all time is, Is God real. Religious folk like you and me would easily say that yes, there is and that it is faith that causes us to know that. Why should there be such doubt—such confusion—about the existence of God? For thousands of years, people have debated whether God exists. Most conclude that it cannot be proven—one way or the other. It is surmised that the correct answer lies in the area of abstract philosophy and the metaphysical. Others become agnostics, asserting that they “don’t know” if God exists. Those who do accept God’s existence often do so passively, merely because they were taught it from childhood. Some do not even care. Such people probably cannot be moved from their apathy. Atheists have concluded that God does not exist. These people represent a special category that God describes as, “The fool has said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1). This scripture is repeated in Psalm 53:1.

Personally, I find it tales more faith to believe in the evolutionist creation theory than to say that faith alone proves the existence of God. Why? When I study the evolutionist creation theory, they have no proof, no plausible justification for their theory and the scientific evidence does not exist for making the steps from amoeba, to sea creatures to humans walking on the earth. Now mind you, I believe in evolution. There is scientific evidence to support it and I fully believe the evidence that says that we are evolving creatures, all the time. It is that beginning thing that I have trouble with. One way that science thinks is by trying to disprove to find the answer. So let us say for a moment, there is no God.

Scientists are convinced that our universe began with one enormous explosion of energy and light, which we now call the Big Bang. This Big Bang began creation itself if you will. Astrophysicist Robert Jastrow, a self-described agnostic, states, "The seed of everything that has happened in the Universe was planted in that first instant; every star, every planet and every living creature in the Universe came into being as a result of events that were set in motion in the moment of the cosmic explosion...The Universe flashed into being, and we cannot find out what caused that to happen."[i]

Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate in Physics, said at the moment of this explosion, "the universe was about a hundred thousand million degrees Centigrade...and the universe was filled with light."[ii]

So scientist all agree on the “Big Bang” theory of creation. They all agree in that moment there was intense heat and light. Hmmm! Sounds like our scripture, the heavens were formless and dark and God said let there be light.

A number of years ago I attended a men’s seminar on creation. There were Astrophysics people, astronomers, physics and a few religious folks. They all shared their theories of creation and all of them agreed that the Big Bang is the essence of the creation story. All of them agreed, except the religious folk, that no explanation, scientific that is, could explain the creation of the Big Bang. Science has gotten it down to a billionth of a second after the Big Bang but no one can explain how it happened. At least, those who do not believe in God cannot explain it. One of the presentations stated that without a third party influence to create the Big Bang, there is no scientific explanation for how it came to be.

But it goes much deeper than that. Science can show how things have evolved but no one can explain how the complex brain was formed. No one can explain how DNA happened. Natural biological causes are completely lacking an explanation how programmed instruction could have evolved; rather their explanation is that somehow it was intentionally designed into our makeup and the makeup of the universe. Someone or something had to have created it in us.

I remember a story I heard about scientist in the lab taking sand, water and electricity and suddenly they were able to create life. They were so excited. They began to shout and dance. One of the scientist looked upward and said, See, we don’t need you after all for we have figured out how to create life on our own. A booming voice filled the space and said, next time, make your own sand.

Let us look at the makeup of the earth and part of our own makeup. The earth is a fragile sphere in the middle of the universe. Fractions of an inch in any direction in our orbit, in the placing of the atmosphere, in the makeup of the water would mean that meaningful life, you and I, would not be possible. And yet here we are. Water is colorless, odorless and without taste and yet without it we cannot survive. The temperature, as long as we don’t mess it up, is regulated so perfectly that life exists and thrives. Coincidence? It would hard to convince ourselves of that and yet science would have us believe that is exactly the explanation. There is no logical explanation as to why the universe operates with rules and order since the truth about things is chaos, not order. Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner for quantum electrodynamics said, “Why nature is mathematical is a mystery…The fact that there are rules at all is a kind of miracle.”[iii]

One study by Dr. Dean Hamer, in 2008, suggest that we have a gene, he calls the VMAT2 gene, that predisposes us to sense the presence of God or know that there is a God. His study was not well received by the scientific community. And yet, there is evidence is there not that we believe in some higher power, something greater than what we can see or perceive.

So where are we? Well we have used science to disprove God and unfortunately, that science has left us with more questions than answers. What we have is a need for a third party to create the Big Bang, we need to understand how it is possible to have a chaotic universe that operates under rules or order, how we can have such an intricate brain, makeup and mathematics without some guiding influence and yet those asking the questions still proclaim there is no God.

Here is what I do know. No one writes a book about our mistakes, screw-ups and hatefulness to one another unless the stories within that book are true. No one would suggest that a man taken to a cross to die, dies on that cross, is buried and is historically witnessed as having been raised from the dead unless there is truth there. Men and women throughout the last two thousand years have gone to their deaths proclaiming the truth of it. In a day and time when we cannot trust the news or what comes out of politician’s mouths as true, how is it possible that this message has been shared with millions of people throughout the two millenniums? Unless of course, it is because it is true.

My own experience is simple, the more I open my sense to God, the more I see God at work around me. I can feel the love of God, who is constantly pursuing me into relationship when I stop and surrender myself to that love. I see the miracles, little ones and great ones that occur that have no scientific explanation and yet they happen. If there is no God, then there is no purpose, nothing greater than what we see, nothing to anticipate or look forward to. And yet we do!

I cannot see the wind and yet I know it is real because I can feel it and see its effects. I cannot see God and yet I know that God is real for the same reason. I see the world around us and how intricate and balanced it is. I see the workings of good and evil in the world and how good always seems to come out on top, even in the most horrible of situations. I see the balance of nature, the song of the birds, the bubbling sound of a creek and I sense the presence of something greater than anything I can imagine. I may not be able to see God, but I know that God is real.

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[i] Robert Jastrow, “Message from Professor Jastrow”, LeaderU.com, 2002

[ii] Steven Weinburg, “The First Three Minutes: A modern view of the Origin of the Universe”, Basic Books, 1988

[iii] Richard Feynman, The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist, Basic Books, 1998