12212014 Advent 4 - Rorate coeli - The Fourth Sunday of Advent

Sermon Audio

December 21, 2014

How do you show your love?

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

It is intriguing that every week in the Fall of the year, the networks carry football games that are filled with clear expressions of brute strength.  Last night my mother and I watched some of one game where the trainers consistently were on the field because of injury.  The players hit one another with a clear sense of determination, intensity and strength that even some televisions resonate with the hits through the stereo surround sound.  But on the sidelines and up in the stands, there are some who watch the event who hold up signs that are the polar opposite of the at times seemingly brutal hits on the field.  The signs are common place today that say, “John 3:16”.  It is one of the best known passages, because it simply states the Gospel message clearly and can be shown and recognized quickly.  The passage reads, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” 

So well-known is this passage that I would venture it is the most translated passage of the Bible.  But for we who gather here this morning, it has a different meaning.  In our series on the Advent Wreath, we come to the last of the four candles.  In previous weeks we have learned about the Hope we have in Jesus Christ, Preparing Him room in our lives for Jesus and the Joy we can find in His Gift to us of His life, but now we reach the last and greatest of the four candles.  The Candle of Love.  This candle clearly epitomizes the feeling of this season of the Church Year.  For in Jesus Christ coming to the earth, His love is clearly manifest and unmistakable of His willingness to come to save mankind.

This is why so many people not only gravitate to and memorize John 3:16, but use it to tell the truth of the Gospel for all of mankind.  This is why Jesus Christ came to earth over 2000 years ago.  Jesus came because of His great love for all of us.  Jesus Christ love for us cannot be measured because Jesus love for all of mankind is limitless.  In mathematical terms God’s love would be represented by the infinity sign, the one that looks like an eight on its side.  For God, Who has no beginning and no end, has a love for us that has no beginning and has no end.  If you would ask someone who has lived surrounded by trees all their life and all of a sudden move to a place like Montana or even here in Northwestern Kansas where trees are rare, they would say they felt like they could see for miles or to the ends of the earth.  God’s love also will never end.

The last of the Advent Candles clearly sums up all of the candles on the Advent Wreath in a simple four letter word of LOVE!  God’s love overflows and overcomes all not out of coercion, but out of the sheer reality that God’s love is clearly manifest in Jesus Christ coming in the manger in Bethlehem.  As we have seen throughout these four weeks each candle has a different and unique meaning and understanding, but this week we come to the center of God’s core, His love for all of mankind.

We see and experience today the mercy of God for mankind from the Garden of Eden made manifest for each of us that is fulfilled and made complete in the manger.  When we see all four candles lit and fully understand the significance of each of them and the fullness we find with all of them aflame, we are overcome with the reality that God loves each and every one of us so deeply and profoundly.  God’s love is so complete we can only be overcome by God’s grace and respond on bended knee at the manger where His Son Jesus Christ lies wrapped in swaddling clothes.

For only on bended knee at the manger can we clearly see and understand the depth to which our God will go to bring us home to be with Him in His Kingdom.  God’s sending His Son into the world to save all of mankind has one goal in mind, our being with Him to learn from Him the unconditional love He has for all of mankind.  This especially includes all of us saints gathered to light the Candle of Love on this the Fourth Sunday of Advent here at Emmanuel.  AMEN.

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12142014 Advent 3 Gaudete Sunday - The Third Sunday of Advent

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December 14, 2014

What joy do you have?

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

When I first arrived here at Emmanuel one of the first church celebrations I had the opportunity to celebrate in the first two months was Christmas.  Not only here in the church proper, but also with the saints at Wheat Ridge.  Since that time I have not only visited and celebrated Holy Communion with the saints both at Wheat Ridge and Good Samaritan, but joyfully proclaimed Christ and Him crucified for many who now make heaven their eternal home.  The reality is each time I do visit Wheat Ridge, Good Samaritan and even elderly members of our congregation, I receive a great joy in reminding them that they are part Emmanuel and especially members of the Body of Christ!  They are part of our fellowship and I have the greatest pleasure to bring the joy of Christ for and to them during every visit.

Today we light the third Candle of the Advent Wreath.  The third Candle is known as the Shepherd’s Candle or the Candle of Joy.  For my family growing up and many others, the third candle was pink on the Advent Wreath.  This candle has special significance because of the reminder of the Joy of the Angels.

Remember in the account of Luke that tells of the sky being full with Angels proclaiming the birth of the Savior.  This is so impactful even listening to it as a child.  The joy the angels and others must have felt when they heralded Jesus entrance into the world.  At a congregation in Western New York, on Christmas Eve there would be from the balcony a trumpet sounding the joy of the moment.  This would not only raise the collective hairs and goose bumps on many people’s necks, but clearly elicit the joy of the moment of the heavens clearly proclaiming Jesus birth.

When I was in Israel as a student, this passage took on new meaning for me personally.  Our tour group that had been in the Holy Land for days and enjoyed visiting the most sacred sites gathered together shoulder to shoulder huddled in nothing more than a cave, an underground cavern.  Very similar to what the shepherds would keep their sheep in to protect them from the marauders of the night.  In that cave, in the dim light, the proclamation of the angels was recited from memory from the King James Version.  And in that one moment all who heard, clearly connected not only with the joy of the shepherds, but especially the joy of the message shared of Jesus Christ birth in Bethlehem for all of mankind.

My question for we who gather here this morning, “What joy do you have?”  As we light this the Shepherd or Candle of Joy, “What joy do you have?”  Clearly we could say, it is the message of Jesus birth, but that was over 2000 years ago our society would respond.  But for we who gather here in the church and light the Advent Wreath, now with three candles, our Joy can have new and greater depth and meaning.

When we look through the lens of the fulfillment of the promised Messiah, just as Joy filled Elizabeth with the entrance of her cousin Mary who carried Jesus in the Womb, we to can have that joy.  For today we gather here to let the joy of Christ overflow from within us.  We look to this wreath of greenery, now with three of the four candles lit, knowing that in ten days we will gather to celebrate Jesus entrance into the World.  We will sing the songs of joy and light our candles and clearly with unmistakable hearts and voices raised, sing “Joy to the World”!

God wants us to not only have the joy, but share the joy!  This morning, we have heard the children singing, telling of the coming Christ and those children are our future.  The children are our joy and we not only have an obligation to teach them the stories, but share the joy God first placed into each of our hearts.  And that joy came in our baptism into Jesus Christ life, death and resurrection.  This is the fount of all blessings and the joy that God clearly shares with each and every one of us.

May we who gather here this morning not only come to bask in the glow of the lights of the Candles of the Advent Wreath, but also share in the joy given to us by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  For Jesus Christ came into this world in a lowly manger to save all of mankind, including all of us joy filled saints gathered here this Third Sunday of Advent.  AMEN.

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12072014 Advent 2 - POPULUS ZION - The Second Sunday in Advent

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December 7, 2014

Are you prepared for Jesus Christ?

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

A few weeks ago I told of how Michele and I are preparing for my parents visit in a few weeks.  Like with any visit whether relatives or with friends for an evening meal, there is anticipation and there is perspiration.  The one takes place inside of ourselves and sometimes keeps us up at night, the other is the work that we have to complete with our hands and by the sweat of our brow before their arrival.  But all of this connects clearly with our Advent Worship.

This week we continue our series of the Advent Candles and contemplate the second candle.  It is sometimes known as the Candle of Preparation or the Bethlehem Candle.  We need to ask ourselves as we prepare during this Advent season, “Are we prepared for Jesus Christ?”

When I visited with Edna Snethen in the hospital last year about this time, she and I talked about the coming of Jesus Christ and our return to Him in heaven.  We both agreed that we do not know the day nor the hour of His return, nor do we know when we will be called home to be with Him.  Yet, though we do not know when, we both agreed that we still needed to be prepared.  And this Candle of Preparation we light this morning is just that, a reality check for us who gather here today that we need to be prepared for Jesus return.

Each of our lessons this morning reflects, refines and refocuses this concept of preparation and concentrates us on the reality of our need for preparation.  Just like a magnifying lens used to capture the sunlight and focus its rays, our lessons illuminate the reality of our need of preparation for Jesus coming in the manger.  For the King cometh, Jesus Christ is coming and we need to be prepared.  Just like farmers in the spring after a winter slumber check the irrigation towers and pivots and get out the planters and make sure they are serviced, repaired and ready to plant the corn or milo to insure a crop in the fall.  So to in the church and in our individual lives during Advent we need to prepare and be prepared for Jesus entrance in Bethlehem.

Sure, we look to the manger and say, this is only a Child.  Yet, this Child Who lays apparently helpless in the manger is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  This is Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh Who dwells among mankind.  Jesus Christ comes to offer each and every one of us life and salvation.  Jesus Christ takes on His Humanity beginning as each of us began as babes, but this is no ordinary Child, this is the Savior of the World that we find in the manger in Bethlehem.

In our lighting this Candle of Preparation, we prepare, not only the wreath counting down the weeks until our celebration of Christmas, but also the preparation of our hearts and homes for the entrance of the King.  We light the Candle of Preparation and of Hope because this is God’s fulfillment of His promise of a Savior to come down to earth and save us.  We light the Advent Wreath to be a beacon for Goodland where we live and our church community in which we gather to partake of His precious Body and Blood.  We light the Candles because we live in a world full of darkness that is filled with fallen humanity in need of the light of Christ.  The Advent Wreath leads us down the path of remembering and preparing for Jesus and sharing why He comes in a lowly manger.

For Jesus Christ is the light that breaks the bonds of darkness and shows us the way to Him.  Jesus Christ is the light of the World.  We prepare and light our Advent Wreath candles in preparation of His entrance not only in a manger in Bethlehem, but especially into each of our hearts.  We light our Advent Wreath in order to pass on to the future, our children our history and heritage and especially our faith in our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

We light simple candles in a circular wreath in order to lighten our path and our journey to the manger to meet our Savior.  For our Savior, Jesus Christ comes offering us grace and forgiveness and we remember this not only with our wreath of candles, but around and from the Altar.  For Jesus Christ offers in, with and under His Body and Blood the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, not for a select few, but for all of mankind.  And we are empowered to share this with our fallen world, including all of mankind, but especially all of us saints who come to light the Advent candles in preparation on this the Second Sunday in Advent here at Emmanuel.  AMEN.

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11302014 Advent 1 Ad Te Levavi

Sermon Audio

November 30, 2014

What is your hope built upon?

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

All of us have seen the Christmas decorations that have invaded Wal-Mart.  We now are continuously hearing the Christmas music on the radio and television and in less than four weeks will unmistakably want the season of Christmas to be over.  Yet, the reality is that we aren’t in the Christmas season.  The music being played by secular stations and the marketing machines may be real Christmas songs, but we are not in the Christmas season.  The reality is that we have lost the sacredness of the season we begin actually begin today.

Today is the First Sunday in Advent.  Advent is a season with one intent.  To point to and look for the coming of the Christ Child.  In our churches heritage we count the four weeks leading up to Christmas through an evergreen wreath that holds four candles and signifies the season of preparation of Advent.  For the next four weeks here in worship we will light the candles at the beginning of each service and explore each of these candles and their meanings in our daily lives with the end in mind, the real Christmas Season, which comes the twelve days after December 24^th.  The first candle that we begin with today on the First Sunday in Advent is known as the Candle of Hope.

If you have seen any of the events of the last week from the major news and media outlets or rants or opinions on Facebook, it would probably be about Ferguson, Missouri.  The tragic events that transpired made me think of a simple question as I look to the Candle of Hope this the First Sunday in Advent.  What is your hope built upon?

Just last week we finished another church year looking to the end times or the coming of Jesus Christ in Glory to judge all of mankind.  With the events in our country and our world, some wonder if Jesus Christ return is not any closer.  But the reality is that our hope is and should be built on nothing less than Jesus Christ.

From our readings this morning, we have heard from Isaiah the prophet to the Psalmist, David and in our Gospel we hear from Saint John, there is one theme.  Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh is “the light that shines in the darkness.”  Jesus Christ is the answer to any and all problems that we individually and collectively face in our world today.  Jesus Christ is the only answer to our collective question of “What is your hope built upon?”

For us this morning, the Candle of Hope is a poignant and purposeful reminder of just that, a hope built upon the promise of a Messiah coming to walk this earth, heal the sick, down trodden and the poor and ultimately for Him to die in order that we might have life.  The Candle of Hope is to be a light for each and every one of us on our individual journeys and our world of the Messiah Jesus Christ and His entrance in a lowly manger in Bethlehem.  From the time of Adam and Eve through Moses and Elijah and Isaiah, up until the manger in Bethlehem, everyone was looking for the Hope that was coming from a Branch of Jesse.  Jesus Christ was the hope to be born in Bethlehem that was promised and is our hope we have today in our world. 

Edward Mote stated the firm belief and conviction of the Candle of Hope in his song entitled, “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less”.  In this hymn Mote clearly states that our anchor is Jesus Christ.  It is upon Jesus Christ and the promises He makes to each of us in our baptism that we can fully rely upon in our every day lives.  This is why the Advent season is filled not only with hope of remembering the coming Savior, but what He will do for each of us on the Cross of Calvary thirty years later.

The Candle of Hope is the first candle on the Advent wreath not only to help us keep track of the sacredness of the Advent season, but to encourage us at the beginning of the Church Year.  For the Candle of Hope not only points to Jesus Christ, but is to be a reminder that our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the reason for the season and our great hope that is a great “light that shines in the darkness”.  For this is why Jesus comes in a lowly manger and why we light this first candle of Hope for all of mankind, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this First Sunday of Advent.  AMEN.

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