Sermon
prepared for
by Gregory
S. Kaurin, associate pastor
traditional
services,
Text: Isaiah 40:1-11, 2 Peter 3:8-15a
Sermon:
Advent Words
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I have two “Advent Words” or
phrases that I want you to think about. The
first word is “Someday.” The second is
“That Day.” Someday and That Day.
The first word, “someday,” is from
the first lesson. The prophet Isaiah was
telling the Israelites, God’s people, that the exile was just about to
end. They would soon be able to return
to their homes; they could go back to
“Someday,” they kept hearing, and
telling their grandchildren, “someday you will get to go back to
And while they waited for that
someday to come, they married, and had children of their own. Many of them had married Babylonians and
others from other lands. Some were still
slaves, others had gained their freedom.
Some still worshipped God, but others worshipped Babylonian spirits, and
some of them had given up worshipping entirely…because “Someday” was like a
dream, a bedtime story, and a wish that was slowly being blown out over the
years.
“Someday” doesn’t put food on the
table. “Someday” doesn’t milk the goat
or change the baby’s diaper. In that seventy
years of exile, most had given up “Someday” as nothing more than wishful
thinking.
Someday. What do we mean by, “Someday?”
“Billy Bob, when are you going to
paint the house?”
“Oh someday, Maude. Someday, when the sun is shining, when we’ve
got enough money for the paint, and my shoulder don’t hurt so bad.”
Then comes the bright sunshiny day
that Maude walks up to Billy Bob with several buckets of paint in one hand and
a chiropractor in the other, and announces to him that “Someday” is Today.
But, you see Billy Bob has made a
home of his hammock; he’s too satisfied sleeping in the sun where he’s at; he’s
found other pleasures than house and family.
He’s nearly forgotten them, now.
He has his own life, fishing and dreaming. Painting and a nice house sounds like too
much work and a life that he’d left behind long ago.
“Someday” is the stuff of dreams,
Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, rainbows and exaggerated memories of the good ol’
days; the
When will the exile end? “Oh someday.
Someday.” Then came God’s voice
through Isaiah: “Comfort, comfort, now
my people. It’s over. Prepare yourselves to go back.” Some have called it a second exodus, but it
never happened like that. It was more
like a trickle back to the Promised Land, even when the exile was clearly over.
In our first lesson, a voice said,
“Cry out!” and Isaiah said, “What should I cry…when no one is listening
anymore? It’s been generations,
Lord. Compared to you, people are like
grass, growing up and withering. Their
faith has bloomed and faded like the flowers.”
“Tell them that their God is here;
tell them that someday is today!”
What about us? Nearly 2000 years after the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, and even longer after Isaiah. How do we read the Bible and the promises of
God? Is this all just an idea and a
story about “Someday?” Is God and
Christianity to you, a bunch of pleasant ideas, stories of the past, familiar
words and tunes about a God who used to talk to people, and who once—way back
when—was born in the hay, laid in a manger and walked around teaching with a
halo around his head.
Or, is Christianity about “Someday”
when you hope that you’ll go to some distant land called heaven, a huge
Christmas present for being good girls and boys? Just in case it’s real, we come and hear the
stories and think about “someday in heaven?”
Isaiah was trying to get the
people to stop seeing God and the promises as more than the wishful thinking of
“Someday.” He wanted them to realize
that it is our second Advent Word, “That Day.”
In our second lesson, the letter
from Peter, he wrote that we should never be fooled into passive complacency
while we wait. A thousand years are like
one day to God. God has all of eternity;
he has all the time he needs to do what needs doing, but it’s not because God
is slow-moving or passive about it. God has
a reason, a goal and a plan. It has to
do with God’s love of creation and his people.
Peter wrote that God is being patient with us, not wanting any of his
people to perish, but to come to him, to find faith, to change their lives.
And one thing we know about God is
that he has never failed to follow through, even if it takes 40 years, 70
years, 2000 years, or all time, “That Day” will come. It is a whole lot more real than “Someday.” We aren’t gathering each week just to hear
favorite stories and sing comforting familiar tunes.
We are called from a Christianity
that thinks about “Someday” with God, to a Christianity that knows that God is
not just an idea or a series of comfortable hymns and rituals that some of us
come together to do once a week. God is
a real and living presence in your life, and he will keep all his promises to
us and to you.
Rest assured, “That Day” will
come. Literally, I’m telling you to rest
in assurance. You are a child of
God. God has forgiven you, and taken
away every blemish.
I don’t say that because it’s my
opinion, or my function as a pastor. I
don’t preach about the forgiveness and grace of God just because I’m a nice guy
who wants you to feel better.
I say it and preach it because I
absolutely believe it is the truth and a central point and message of the Bible
and God’s will. You are forgiven and
saved by grace for a new life, a new life and relationship with Christ that
starts right now. And the promise of
“That Day” when we are united in heaven is just one more promise that we can
rest assured about.
As St. Peter wrote, “Therefore
beloved, while you are waiting for That Day, [which is sure to come,] strive to
be found by him at peace.” Practice
feeling forgiven. Practice being at
peace in your life.
Being ready for That Day when he
comes is all about trust. It is trusting
the promises of God, and his love for you.
If you trust God to keep his promises, if you can trust the words of
scripture and that God loves you, then you are prepared…for “that day.” Can you trust the Father of Mercy to keep his
Word?
As part of your Advent
preparation, I would like you to spend some time right now in quiet prayer, here
in this space, time alone with God. Forget
the people around you; forget everything except the realness of God, listening
to you. Spend this moment asking God if
you can trust him. Think of the things
you’re struggling with now: people, frustrations, fears, hopes, family, work,
whatever. Ask God for the strength to
trust him to help you through it, and to be there when you get through it.
(After a minute of silent prayer,
Darrel will begin the introduction and we’ll join in singing our sermon hymn
with one voice.)
Practice trust, turn it over to
God. Let us pray…
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