Nov.
27, 2016 The Thrill of Hope and Expectation Pastor Carol P. Taylor
Psalm
122
122:1 I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!"
122:2 Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.
122:3 Jerusalem built as a city that is bound firmly together.
122:4 To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
122:5 For there the thrones for judgment were set up, the thrones of the house of David.
122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you.
122:7 Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers."
122:8 For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, "Peace be within you."
122:9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.
Romans 13:11-14
13:11 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;
13:12 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;
13:13 let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.
13:14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
122:1 I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!"
122:2 Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.
122:3 Jerusalem built as a city that is bound firmly together.
122:4 To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
122:5 For there the thrones for judgment were set up, the thrones of the house of David.
122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you.
122:7 Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers."
122:8 For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, "Peace be within you."
122:9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.
Romans 13:11-14
13:11 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;
13:12 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;
13:13 let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.
13:14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
How
was your Thanksgiving?
It's
the first Sunday of Advent.
So
what does that mean?! Advent is the season of waiting- of
expectation, before the birth of Jesus. In the early church it was a
season very much like Lent. It was a time to repent, to be in prayer
and even fasting to prepare for the new birth! In the last century or
so advent has less of a focus on repentance, as our culture is more
focused on the commercial aspects of the holiday.
Our
scripture lessons today are from the lectionary..the three year plan
for churches to use in worship and study. There is for every Sunday
and Christian holiday an old testament lesson, a Psalm, a Gospel
lesson and a reading from one of the Epistles (or letters) the
lectionary texts for these first weeks of advent are challenging! The
gospel lesson for today is Jesus speaking about the end times-the
rapture! Not exactly warm, fuzzy, “sip hot cocoa and cuddle a
puppy” texts are they?
Because
Advent is a season to remind us to turn BACK to Jesus, to wait in
expectation! There's a tension here of the secular and of the
scriptures telling us to put God and Godly things first. And I have
to admit, I struggle with this as much as anyone. I have cards to
send, gifts to get and wrap, menu to plan...and work to do and we
have to do some car repairs... just all the stuff of life. All of
which CAN take our minds off Jesus and the reason we do all this
Holiday stuff in the first place!
So
let's look at our texts.
The
Romans text―we see contrasts here, night and day, light and dark,
wake and -sleep. Night is nearly over....people walking in darkness
have seen a great light is the prophecy from Isaiah.
13:12 The
night is far gone. The “light of the world” has come, and we must
prepare for the Second Advent of Christ and the age to come.
let
us put on. The use of the metaphor “armor of light” stresses that
developing positive spiritual graces, is essential to spiritual
growth and well-being.
13:13 Paul’s
warning against a sinful life-style strikingly includes not only the
traditional sins of the flesh (“orgies and drunkenness . . . sexual
immorality and sensuality”) but also insidious vices (“quarreling
and jealousy”). these can destroy families...and churches!
13:14 But
put on the Lord Jesus Christ. A further exposition of what it
means to “put on the armor of light” (v.
12),
showing that those who are in Christ must live consistently with
their new status (Eph.
4:1).
wrap yourself in Jesus' Love!
SO
we're to get ourselves ready, for the new birth, for the coming again
of the Baby Jesus. We need to put things in order!
"What does it mean to “get your house in order” for the coming of the Lord? Can we ever be perfectly ready for Christ’s return?" (from Feasting on the Word, edited by Kimberly Bracken Long)
When
we entertain guests in our home or office, typically we tidy up the
space to make it more welcoming and presentable. Most usually this
involves cleaning, perhaps some sprucing up with a few special
touches or decorations. We prepare. But what do we tidy when it comes
to welcoming the Lord Jesus? How may we be prepared for His coming,
and in what ways do we spruce up our minds, hearts, and our souls to
welcome Him in? --to tell that beautiful story, to celebrate again
His birth!!
Our
Psalm is one of the “psalms of ascent”.. these were sung as
people ascended... actually walking uphill to Jerusalem to worship!
The Psalmist, King David, is proclaiming his love of the city, which
was the cultural center, the center of government, and also the
worship center. No matter where the Hebrew people lived, Jerusalem
was their spiritual home. And they returned to Jerusalem several
times a year to celebrate certain feasts.
When
he sang “pray for the peace of Jerusalem”, he was praying for the
Shalom, God's perfect peace, to reign in their home. The Hebrew
people were singing literally for the peace, protection, joy,
wholeness of life to be in and throughout their city, their home and
by extension--their lives!
so
hope and home.... the home idea is that home is safety &
security.
We
too can pray for the peace of the city. For Jerusalem, named City of
Peace, and is one of the more war torn cities of all time.
We
can pray for the peace of other cities... for our centers of
government, Washington DC, and Madison. For cities that are in
terrible need, whether of jobs, like Detroit, cities grieving like
Chattanooga. And we pray for Beloit and the surrounding areas. When
we pray for our cities and for our church, we are praying for our
‘home’, not just the buildings in which we live, work and
worship, but for the whole community. For the leaders, for those who
work to protect us, for those who clean up after us! For the children
and their teachers, for everyone!
Spending
time in prayer and devotional time is a powerful tool to help our
faith life. Even a few minutes a day more than usual will help us be
more centered and able to focus on the 'reason for the season!”
Music
helps us set the mood and helps tell the story. Don't you just love
Christmas music? And there are so many songs that tell stories. The
little Drummer Boy... And some that don't tell the story, but are
just lovely, like the The Christmas Song..and some that are really
fun―like Feliz Navidad.
Our
Advent series is about some of the favorite Christmas Carols. The
Thrill of Hope, is of course from O Holy Night. I found the story of
the hymn...
In
the year 1847, a man named Placide Cappeau was the
commissioner/inspector of wines in a small town in France. Known to
be an avid poet, Placide was approached by a priest to compose a poem
for a Christmas service in Paris.
Initially,
Cappeau. After reading the Gospel of Luke for inspiration, he
envisioned what it might have been like to have been in Bethlehem to
witness the birth of Jesus. From there, he penned the now famous
words to “Cantique de Noel”, or O Holy Night.
Upon
delivering the poem in Paris, Cappeau determined that “Cantique de
Noel” would be even more powerful if set to music. For help, he
turned to well known composer Adolphe Charles Adams. At first, Adams
was reluctant to participate. As a Jew, the celebration of the
Christian savior did not appeal to him. Still, something about the
words of the poem inspired him, and thus he endeavored to compose an
original score unlike anything that had been heard before. It only
took Adams three weeks to complete the work, and it was immediately
performed at a Christmas Eve mass.
Churches
across France embraced this amazing new hymn and it became a popular
staple for choirs to sing at Christmas time. However, Cappeau
eventually left the Catholic church. This information, combined with
news that the music was written by a Jewish man, caused the Catholic
hierarchy of France to ban the singing of “Cantique de Noel”,
claiming it was too secular. It baffles the mind how the worshipful
lyrics to this song could ever be considered secular, but the church
had spoken, and the song was no longer part of traditional services.
This
did not silence the song forever. Common folk continued to embrace
it, and refused to let the church bury it. They continued to sing
“Cantique de Noel” in their homes and in social gatherings. O
Holy Night had gone from a mainstream hymn to an underground hit.
About ten years after the official attempt to bury the song by the
Church in France, “Cantique de Noel” found its way to the ears of
an obscure American writer, named John Sullivan Dwight.
Dwight
instantly felt moved by the lyrics and the grand, soaring score. He
determined that American audiences had to hear it. Dwight felt that
the song was the perfect marriage between the Good News of the
Gospel, and the freedom that Jesus represented. An ardent
abolitionist, Dwight was overcome with the power of a particular
verse:
“Truly
he taught us to love one another; his law is love and his gospel is
peace.
Chains
shall he break, for the slave is our brother;
and
in his name all oppression shall cease.”
Dwight
translated the lyrics of “Cantique de Noel” into English,
renaming it O Holy Night, and published it in a magazine. The song
found an audience in the American north, where it was celebrated as
an anthem of freedom.
Meanwhile,
the song continued to be celebrated by the common people in France
and various parts of Europe.
In
1906, the only type of radios that existed were wireless transmitters
that picked up code. On Christmas Eve of that year, a 33-year-old
university professor named Reginald Fessenden was tinkering in his
office and proceeded to do something that had never been done before.
He broadcast a human voice across the airwaves. Speaking into a
microphone he’d rigged, Fessenden read Luke Chapter 2 from his
Bible. As he uttered the words, “And it came to pass in those days,
that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world
should be taxed…” amazed radio operators on ships and over
wireless code transmitters heard the Gospel being read through their
speakers. Those who heard those first words over the radio recall
that they thought they were witnessing a miracle.
Meanwhile,
Fessenden had no idea who, if anyone, was hearing his broadcast.
After completing his reading from the Gospel of Luke, he picked up
his violin, sat close to his microphone, and played the familiar
music to O Holy Night – making it the first song to ever be played
over the airwaves.
Since
1847, when a poet in France was inspired by Luke’s Gospel,
O
Holy Night is a song that has managed to unite common people across
France, inspire Americans as it highlighted the sin of slavery, and
break ground as the first song ever to be broadcast through a medium
that would eventually spread the Gospel all over the world. Perhaps
it was a miracle!
We're
praying for home/city/country/world that all oppression shall cease!
This
is one of the more profound ways we pray. By rolling up our sleeves.
By helping our church, and organizations. By respecting those who
have differing beliefs.
we
help make our community better By spending time with others, even
those who are different! Worshiping together, working together side
by side. This is how we can help bring about the peace of God.
Many
of us were blessed to be at the Community Thanksgiving service this
past week. Pastor Kenda spoke about learning to give thanks even if
we are having a terrible, horrible, no good, very very bad day! We
collected an offering to divide between Caritas and Hands of faith.
Because on the eve of thanksgiving, just as during Lent, we are
mindful of those who do not have enough to eat or a place to sleep.
And we want to help those agencies who are working with these
families. We volunteer our time as well as giving our money.
We
will have more of these community services! Because God is not just
in the Temple in Jerusalem, not just here in UCB. No, God is outside
in the community, in our neighbors, in the hungry child, in the
lonely. We will bring the thrill of hope and the expectation of the
story of baby Jesus, by helping and living out our faith.
