Family Advent Devotions - Sunday, December 2, 2012

The Advent Wreath

Consider choosing a different family member to to read each part.

Opening Prayer:  Dear God, thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to be our Savior.  Send Him now and everyday to our hearts and help us to be ready for His coming again on the last day. Amen.

Bible Passage:  Psalm 89:14-16  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face.  Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.  In Your name they rejoice all day long, And in Your righteousness they are exalted. 

Meditation:  Perhaps you picked up an Advent Table Tent at one of our worship services.  You'll notice that there are five candles pictured on each side.  If you put a little candle in the middle, you can see that on each side a candle is "lit" until all four are lit on the Sunday before Christmas.  

About two hundred years ago in Germany a pastor thought of the idea of an Advent wreath. He had a mission school for poor children, and the children would often ask, "How many days until Christmas?"  The pastor put candles on a wagon wheel and lit the candles every day to show the children how close it was to Christmas.  

I think there are two reasons why children love Christmas so much.  One is that we get to give and get gifts.  Have you started talking about your Christmas lists?  The other is that Christmas isn't really an "adult" celebration.  It's a celebration about a baby.  Are there any other celebrations on our calendar like that?  

What a special baby He was!  Our Bible passage today mentions "righteousness," "justice," "mercy," and "truth."  People knew all these things came from God.  But when Jesus came into our world, everyone saw that this really was God's Son because He brought all these things to us!  Sin makes us sad.  We hurt ourselves and others when we do bad things. But righteousness and mercy make us joyful.  Righteousness is when we do the right thing, and mercy is when God still loves us even though we don't always do the right thing.  God wants to take us away from all the bad things of this world, and that is why He sent us His perfect Son - the baby Jesus. 

For Discussion:  What are some of the bad things in this world that make people sad?  What are some of the good things Jesus did to make people joyful?  How does Jesus still help us to be joyful?

Prayer:  Dear Jesus, thank You for bringing everything that is good into this world and into our hearts.  Thank You for teaching us what is right and for forgiving us when we sometimes do what is wrong.  Help us everyday to live in Your light.  Amen.  

Hymn:  "The Advent of Our King"

by Charles Coffin, 1676-1749
Translated by John Chandler, 1806-1876

Click here for the melody.

1. The advent of our King
Our prayers must now employ,
And we must hymns of welcome sing
In strains of holy joy.

2. The everlasting Son
Incarnate deigns to be;
Himself a servant's form puts on
To set His servants free.

3. O Zion's Daughter, rise
To meet thy lowly King,
Nor let thy faithless heart despise
The peace He comes to bring.

4. As Judge, on clouds of light,
He soon will come again
And His true members all unite
With Him in heaven to reign.

5. Before the dawning day
Let sin's dark deeds be gone,
The old man all be put away,
The new man all put on.

6. All glory to the Son,
Who comes to set us free,
With Father, Spirit, ever One,
Through all eternity.

Budded on Earth to Bloom in Heaven

     When my family went to Idaho this summer, we visited one of the Nez Perces Indian Reservations.  On this reservation there is a cemetery with graves of both Indians and missionaries.  I found an inscription on one of the grave-stones that really impressed me.  Alvina Moore lived only six years on this earth from 1914 to 1920.  Her grave is marked with a stone that has a lamb and below that her name, the name of her parents, and then this beautiful little phrase:  “Budded on earth to bloom in heaven.”  What a beautiful way to look at life!  This is a good life that God has given us no matter how long or short it is.  It is a good life because in Christ it is never just a faded or fading flower, but rather a flower that will live on forever in heaven.  Embrace it with faith, thanksgiving, wisdom and joy in Jesus.  Live it for God’s purposes of salvation and for His eternal glory.  

     From the sermon "Are You Ready?" 2 Timothy 4.6-8

     All Saints Celebration, November 4, 2012 

A Conversation with a 19.6 Percenter

    

 Now and then my members send me emails about things they've read. I've gotten more emails about the recent Pew Research Survey than any other.  This survey showed that in the last five years the number of Americans who claim not to be affiliated with any religion has increased from 15 to 19.6% of the population.  Two thirds of these 19.6 Percenters do believe in God, and they believe that the church does a lot of good.  But they themselves are not committed to any creed or congregation.  

     On Reformation Sunday, October 28, 2012 I addressed this situation and began my sermon with an imaginary conversation with a 19.6 Percenter:

… I’m not affiliated with any religion, but I am spiritual.  I don’t have a creed, but I do believe.  I’m not part of any congregation, but I have nothing against churches.

> Do you really think this is the way God wants everyone to live their life? 

…How do you know what God wants me to do or not to do? 

Because it says so right here in the Bible:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.  ²⁴ And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,  ²⁵ not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

 God wants us to have a confession of faith and be part of a congregation. 

…Hmm.  Well maybe I just don’t believe everything that’s written in the Bible.  After all, the Bible isn’t perfect.  It was written by imperfect men. 

> So how do you know which parts of the Bible are Gods word and which parts are just man’s word?

… The parts that I feel are God’s word are God’s word. 

> So then faith basically comes down to your feelings? 

… Yes, I guess that’s the way I feel about it.

> But what if your feelings aren’t perfect?  Isn’t that a dangerous thing upon which to rely for your salvation? 

… I feel pretty good about my feelings. 

> Do you really think that your feelings are more perfect that Bible? 

… I really think the Bible is a good book.  I wouldn’t change a word of it. 

> But it’s not good enough to believe in completely?  

How Can We Help the Poor?

God tells us in the Bible to help the poor. But He also condemns laziness. How do we help the poor without enabling the lazy?

 Two men came to Good Shepherd recently asking for money. One man needed money to get to a job interview at a fast food restaurant. I told him that he was welcome to come here occasionally to work small jobs. He wanted a $10 loan and promised to come back and work when he had the time. The only problem was that he had already been given a $10 loan and had never come back to do any work. “Sorry,” I said. “Work first. Pay off the first loan. Then we’ll talk about more money.” “Oh my,” he complained. “But I NEED the money NOW.” “Sorry,” I said. “That’s life.” Away he went muttering.

 The second man was from Mississippi. He had gone to Home Depot to see if he could find any kind of odd job to get enough gas to drive to Springfield where he had a job waiting. They sent him to us. I was just leaving for the hospital to see someone who was dying when he showed up. I told him he just had to wait, but that I was sure I had a couple of hours of work for him. When I got back he was waiting. He never whined or complained. That day Pastor Hemenway and Tim Meister were working on VBS signs. So I sent him to them, and they put him to work. They also had some good talks about what it means to be a Lutheran. He had never heard of the Lutheran church before! When they were done I gave him $20, a bag of groceries, a Small Catechism, and sent him on his way (Tim had already given him a Bible). He was very thankful.

 Psalm 41.1 says, “Blessed is he who considers the poor. The LORD will deliver him in the time of trouble.” The word “consider” is interesting. It doesn’t just mean, “give a little thought to.” It means, “have prudence or understanding.” We really need to have “prudence” when it comes to helping the poor in this country. Far too often the poor of this country are poor because of the choices they have made and because of a lifestyle of laziness and flagrancy. In many ways we have a welfare system that has enabled this and has actually done more harm to people than good. But we can’t abandon people just because of they’ve been conditioned to think of themselves as victims. I’m anxious to continue working with that first man. I want to change his mind and show him how much better it is to try, to put forth a little effort, to forego immediate gratification in order to reap long-term benefits.

 A very good prayer for all of us is that God would give us both the gift of love for the poor as well as the gift of understanding so that in all our efforts to help we are actually helping and not enabling.

I Only Dance in My Head

Psalm 43 is a beautiful little psalm. It is one of the psalms of the Sons or Korah. There are eleven psalms by the Sons of Korah, and as the ancient scholar Origin said, "Their subject and tone are pleasant and cheerful, free from anything sad or harsh" (Homily on 1 Sam.). I've always found that interesting since Korah was the one who led a terrible rebellion against Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 16). Verse four is especially beautiful: The New King James and English Standard Translation both take it the same way: "Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God." But it could really be translated "Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, the joy of my rejoicing..." You could expand on that even more to say, "the joy of my jumping up and down, whirling about and rejoicing..." Of course as a German Lutheran I only do this now in my head and deep down in my heart. But wait till I get to heaven! If you're interested here are some of my textual notes.

The Resurrection of Jesus is Scientifically Impossible?

How do you respond to someone who says something like this? It might be helpful simply to talk about what science really is. Many people do not really understand it. They often look at science as though it can answer all questions. For some, science has become their god.

Science is observation and interpretation. Scientists observe events in the natural world and then try to explain them. Their explanations are never perfect. They are always a matter of probability. For example, scientists have observed something as simple as boiling water and have come up with an explanation that has a high probability of being correct. We can be quite sure about our understanding of H2O molecules. However, have we come to the end of our understanding of H2O molecules? One hundred years ago many scientists would have said, "yes." As late as 1957, British mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell made this statement: "Physical science is thus approaching the stage when it will be complete, and therefore uninteresting” (Why I Am Not A Christian, p. 49). But there are not many scientists who would dare make a statement like this today. We are not approaching a stage when our understanding of the world will be complete. In fact, just the opposite is true. The more we learn, the more there is to learn. There is an infinite amount of knowledge and complexity in this world. Therefore all scientific explanations are in need of improvement as we learn more and more about the universe.

What does this have to do with the resurrection of Jesus? Science only works when you can make observations. Science works best when we can observe something happening again and again. Each time we observe it we can take a different angle, improve our resolution, or try to isolate certain variables. This works fine for repeatable events. But not all events are repeatable. Follow me on this progression: 1. There are some natural events that are very repeatable - the revolutions and rotation of the earth or photosynthesis in plants. 2. There are some natural events that repeat less often - earthquakes or hurricanes. 3. There are some natural events that are very rare - the birth of quintuplets or the occurrence of certain comets. Following this progression we could propose that there are singular events, events that only happen once. If there are such events, they are beyond our ability to properly observe and explain them.

The Bible tells us about such events: The Creation, The Resurrection of Jesus, and Miracles. Because they are singular events, we cannot observe them repeatedly to develop explanations that have a high probability of being correct. Science simply cannot prove or disprove them. So if a person would say, "The resurrection of Jesus is scientifically impossible," you could correct them and say, "Actually, the resurrection of Jesus is unobservable and therefore beyond the scope of science."

The resurrection of Jesus is not a matter of science but of witnesses. There were many witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. What were they like? Ordinary people. How credible were they? They promoted morality and were not afraid to tell the world about their own faults and failures. They were very honest. What did they get out of saying "Jesus has risen from the dead?" Many were driven from their homes, others were put in prison, and still others were killed. Another important witness of the resurrection is the empty tomb. There were many people in high places who had a great interest in making sure Jesus stayed dead. There were also witnesses who lived long before Jesus' death and resurrection. These were the prophets who promised a Messiah who would die and yet overcome death.

In the end, the question for all of us is not a question of science but a question of witness. What will you do with the witnesses to the resurrection? Do they have a high probability of being correct?

Who Would Win? Navy Seal or Roman Centurion

The children in our school love to read the "Who Would Win?" books. These books pose imaginary battles between a scorpion and a tarantula, or a rhinoceros and a tiger, or a polar bear and a grizzly?

Allow me to pose another battle: Who would win in a battle between a modern Navy Seal and a first century Roman Centurion? Using the weapons of the first century, I would have to vote in favor of the Centurion. History shows that Centurions were the backbone of the Roman army. They were highly disciplined soldiers who led their troops in battle. They were especially chosen because of the valor they displayed on the battlefield.

The Centurion at the Cross in Mark chapter fifteen has always interested me. His confession, "Truly this man was the Son of God" (15.39) makes me tremble every time I read it. Here was a man who was truly the "hard-core" of the "hard-corps." Yet, his heart was taken captive by the love of God - a different kind of strength! Centurions had their approach to bad men. They made them bleed and die. But Jesus had a different approach to bad men: He bled and died for them! Centurions annihilated evil, Jesus redeemed evil. Which is stronger? Who ultimately wins? Of course it is the love of God in Jesus Christ.

The crucifixion of Jesus brought about several conversions on the first Good Friday. If you're interested, you can read about the others in my Palm Sunday sermon (April 1, 2012).