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

Gospel Audio
Sermon Audio

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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12032014 Wednesday of Advent 1

Sermon Audio

December 3, 2014

What are you offering?

May the offering of our time to be in the presence of our Lord be a blessing not only for our lives, but also our souls as we prepare our hearts for the celebration of the entrance of the King of Kings!  AMEN.

Archimedes solved the question of a crime by simple density.  Farmers use density to determine how much fertilizer or phosphorous to put on a field.  And cities use density to determine how best to structure the utilities needed to supply a city with water, electricity and roads.  But what does density have to do with Gold.  Gold is one of the densest of precious metals.  And Gold is exactly what was offered by the first of the three wise men.

Tonight we begin our first of the three gifts of the Magi.  Typically the gifts and preaching on them is after Christmas, because the Magi and the gifts did not arrive on the scene of the inn in Bethlehem until January 6^th, the 12^th Day of Christmas.  But I chose these three gifts to preach upon, because they deserve more than just one day and one sermon.  These gifts have greater meaning and significance even for us here tonight.

The first gift of Gold is not only a priceless metal, but a color that denotes being set apart from others.  We use it on the Altar to highlight the symbols on the Altar.  We wear it on our fingers for wedding bands and even ear rings.  Our society even keeps accurate track of it daily on the reports from the stock exchange where countries used to not only stock pile gold, but use it as the basis for our money.  But of what significance is Gold for a child?  Why are the Magi offering it?  And most importantly during this Advent Season we have to answer the simple question, “What are you offering?”

Simply the gift of Gold offered to the Christ child in the manger is not to ‘buy favors’ by the Magi.  Just as we present our offering on Sunday not to gain favor, Gold was how one Magi presented a wealth that would be a great help to Joseph and Mary.  Remember Joseph and Mary did not arrive in Bethlehem by caravan, but alone and by Mary riding upon a donkey.  They did not have extravagant wealth only what they carried on their backs or in their meager purse.  The journey they were about to embark upon in fleeing to Egypt would not be cheap and the Gold offered by the Magi would insure they would not starve and be able to get established wherever they were headed, even to distant Egypt.  And the Magi was just the person God intended to use.

Chris Jackson in his book, “Loving God When You Don’t Love the Church” says, “People are the most common form of answered prayer.” (Kindle Location 1941)  And I believe Joseph and Mary didn’t know what to think.  Having experienced the Shepherds who came from the fields, the animals that bowed in adoration with the birth of Jesus, the Angels announcing the birth of Jesus Christ, the only thing their Jewish faith and heritage taught Mary and Joseph to do was to pray.  And these Magi were an answer to prayer.  This was God’s answer to Joseph and Mary and God used this Magi to bring Gold, exactly what they needed for the days, months and years ahead.

So I ask we who gather here this Wednesday evening during the first week of Advent, what gift do you bring to the Manger?  What are you offering?  God does not expect Gold.  God does not expect us to sell the land we farm, the cattle we tend, nor anything that has any materialistic value here on this earth.  God only asks us to humbly offer ourselves.

God wants us to offer ourselves so we can be used like the Gold given to Joseph and Mary in order for each and every one of us to be the hands of Christ for our world around us.  Whether it is remodeling the downstairs rooms of the church or kitchen, hands to make beer rocks as a fundraiser, cleaning the church in preparation for our Christmas celebration or donating of time or talents as one is able for the glory of God.  God only asks for us to offer ourselves in humble adoration of His coming in the manger.

For in offering ourselves on bended knee, like the animals in the stable and the Magi, our gifts offered from the heart will give the greatest Glory to our God Jesus Christ Who lies in the manger.  For Jesus Christ comes, not expecting gifts of great monetary worth measured from an earthly perspective, but great gifts measured from an eternal perspective, God’s perspective.

May we respond to “what are you offering?” not with Gold, but with ourselves so we can honor God’s gift given to us in a lowly manger for all of mankind.  Including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this First Wednesday of Advent.  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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