Rev. Dustin ParkerAs it Is Written
Concordia Lutheran Church
The Second Week of Advent, December 4
As it is Written
Romans 15:4-13
T IN THE NAME OF JESUS, SON AND SAVIOR T
May the grace and mercy of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ continually break through into your life as a light shatters the darkness... and may you reflect that light – to all those you know, who suffer in despair! AMEN!
Joy to the World? Really?
A Vision…
Welcome each other, as Christ has welcomed you!
Time for a confession.
When I saw Chris’s recommendations for our hymns today, I was taken a bit aback by starting with “Joy to the World”. My mind went to the old standby thoughts – It isn’t Christmas yet, and that’s a Christmas Carol, not a Advent penitential hymn that looks through the despair and encourages us to wait with patient expectation for the second coming.
As we talked, it became obvious how it fit for advent, as it proclaims what the first coming did, and drives us to cry out for the second coming. There is a definite advantage of having a trained theologian who works beside you as your worship minister!
Therefore, I tossed the direction I was going to take this sermon – because of a hymn – or actually three or four. It’s been another rough two weeks for several pastors and deacons I know. My dad’s been I the hospital, and things looked pretty bad early in the week. Another pastor friend, Seth at Bethany was dealing with one lady we know who had a cerebral aneurysm when he got word his stepmom had a cerebral aneurysm as well. The pastor in La Habra is still struggling with his problems, that have resulted in his being on disability, the young pastor up at Trinity Whittier was diagnosed with cancer, and Mark is struggling with his eyes, even as he ministers to the people at Our Saviors. I’ve had a request from several people at several churches to start grief and trauma support group – and find a leader for it – because there are a lot of people hurting. It almost gets to the point where the phone rings, and you dread answering it, lest it be another crisis.
In retrospect, perhaps my initial reaction to singing Joy to the Word was only partially based in theology, and partially because I haven’t seen that light dominate recently. To be bluntly honest, these days it seems that we desperately need the light of Christ to penetrate the darkness which surrounds us!
Endure and Be encouraged… Uhmmm.. wait!
Paul talks of the scriptures in the epistle reading today, noting why the scriptures are given to us. At the end of the fourth verse, it is written that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. The word for endurance means to remain standing. Encouragement is the root word from which we get paraclete – the support of one called alongside to help. Hope is not unsubstantiated, but rather a calm assurance and expectation of what is to come.
If you have to stand firm against something, and if in doing so you need support, that means you are facing a challenge. A challenge that stresses, and one that stresses to the point of breaking. That is the reality. If life is simply easy, then there is nothing to stand against. But if you have to stand – there is something assaulting you. It might be temptation; it might be despair or depression and a feeling of powerlessness. You might be assailed by resentment built up over years; or guilt that rides you as the harshest kind of taskmaster. Or it may simply be a lack of hope that is without definition, because we can no longer identify one assailant, for life itself seems to rob us of energy and hope.
To this, our hymn says, “Joy to the World, the Lord has come!” And, “No more let sin and sorrow reign”
It is Well, I heard the Bells
The light of Christ breaking through
No more let sin and darkness reign
There is a challenge during the two penitential seasons, where we look at the need for Christ to Come, (advent) and for Christ to die (lent). The challenge is to focus there, without forgetting the fact that He has come. The challenge to know the assurance of the last words of Matthew’s gospel and the Great commission.
“Lo, I (Jesus) will be with you, unto the end of the age!”
As I was writing this sermon, two hymns came to mind, thanks to my computer’s music player. Both favorites, and both constants, even among the most contemporary of Christian praise teams. “It is Well with My Soul”, and “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”. Their composers knew all to well the darkness of this life, for one lost his family at sea, while he had stayed behind to help those suffering from the Great Chicago fire. After hearing of their deaths, the man went and wrote those powerful words, though satan should buffet, through trial shall come, it is well, it is well with my soul.
The love of Christ, the comfort and consolation broke through the darkness he was assailed by, and the promises of scripture did as Paul said – they helped him endure, and be encouraged, and know hope.
The same for Longfellow and the writing of I heard the Bells, something I didn’t know. He wrote the poem that is the basis for the hymn, two years after watching his wife burn to death in a horrible tragedy in their home. As he went through one holiday season, and grew in despair, he approached the second year and his nephew, a young man he dearly loved, was shot in battle, and his spine severed. You hear how oppressed he was, in these two verses:
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Like the writer of It is Well, the light of Christ would shine through the darkness that oppressed his soul, You see it in the last verse, as life shattered by trauma would be replaced by life brilliantly enlightened by God.
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.
That is only a hope that is found in the scriptures, when the idea that “life is suffering” is shattered by the idea that there is hope found in the midst of the suffering. For there is Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit leading us to Him. The power of the Spirit through the word of God, that which is engraved on tablets of stone, and on the pages of our Bible, and in our hearts, which tell us that He is with Us, and points to His revealing in the last days, when He comes to take us home!
He has broken the power of sin and death, He has shown His glory to men and women in the darkest times of history, and he does so every Sunday – as He assures us of the end of sin, and that we are welcome as His children. The incarnation, the cross, the empty grave proclaim it. As it was written, so it was done. And so the promises of our baptism, and of the altar, so too written, strengthen our trust in God’s work.
Results of the hope
Filled with Joy and peace as we trust…
So we abound in hope
Living Concordia with Jesus
It should be of no surprise, that when the darkness is broken through by the grace of Chrsit, the assurance, the joy, the peace and communion results. Verse 5 talks of this as it indicates that God of such endurance and encouragement grants us to living in harmony, in Concordia, with each other, as we are in accord with Christ. It goes on to talk of our glorifying God with one voice, together. We do glorify God with the the same voice as the angels and archangels, as Abraham and Issac, the people of God in the Old Testament who worshipped at the tabernacle and temple, and in the church ever since.
Paul then shows that it does us include us, the gentiles – by pointing to the Old Testament writings of the prophets. This has always been God’s plan, and that assurance is talked about in hymns and praise songs, as people who walk in darkness are brought into the light. And in that light, they abound in hope.
We started this sermon by singing a hymn of prayer – O Come O Come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here. It is our prayer of advent, it describes the time before Christ’s birth, and it describes the world now. But so does the song with which we end this sermon, REJOICE the Lord is King. The Lord who came and was born of Mary, the Lord who hung on the cross, that we would be cleansed of our sins and marked as children of God. The Lord who will return in all glory to bring those who remain to meet the host of heaven, which will be completed.
But we don’t walk in the darkness, as we may sometimes think. For this Lord we rejoice in, the one who came, and who will come again, has not left us alone. He is our Lord, our King. Now. He has promised to never leave or forsake us. Joy to the World, for the Lord has come! Concordia, Rejoice, the Lord is King!
AMEN?
The Second Week of Advent, December 4
As it is Written
Romans 15:4-13
T IN THE NAME OF JESUS, SON AND SAVIOR T
May the grace and mercy of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ continually break through into your life as a light shatters the darkness... and may you reflect that light – to all those you know, who suffer in despair! AMEN!
Joy to the World? Really?
A Vision…
Welcome each other, as Christ has welcomed you!
Time for a confession.
When I saw Chris’s recommendations for our hymns today, I was taken a bit aback by starting with “Joy to the World”. My mind went to the old standby thoughts – It isn’t Christmas yet, and that’s a Christmas Carol, not a Advent penitential hymn that looks through the despair and encourages us to wait with patient expectation for the second coming.
As we talked, it became obvious how it fit for advent, as it proclaims what the first coming did, and drives us to cry out for the second coming. There is a definite advantage of having a trained theologian who works beside you as your worship minister!
Therefore, I tossed the direction I was going to take this sermon – because of a hymn – or actually three or four. It’s been another rough two weeks for several pastors and deacons I know. My dad’s been I the hospital, and things looked pretty bad early in the week. Another pastor friend, Seth at Bethany was dealing with one lady we know who had a cerebral aneurysm when he got word his stepmom had a cerebral aneurysm as well. The pastor in La Habra is still struggling with his problems, that have resulted in his being on disability, the young pastor up at Trinity Whittier was diagnosed with cancer, and Mark is struggling with his eyes, even as he ministers to the people at Our Saviors. I’ve had a request from several people at several churches to start grief and trauma support group – and find a leader for it – because there are a lot of people hurting. It almost gets to the point where the phone rings, and you dread answering it, lest it be another crisis.
In retrospect, perhaps my initial reaction to singing Joy to the Word was only partially based in theology, and partially because I haven’t seen that light dominate recently. To be bluntly honest, these days it seems that we desperately need the light of Christ to penetrate the darkness which surrounds us!
Endure and Be encouraged… Uhmmm.. wait!
Paul talks of the scriptures in the epistle reading today, noting why the scriptures are given to us. At the end of the fourth verse, it is written that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. The word for endurance means to remain standing. Encouragement is the root word from which we get paraclete – the support of one called alongside to help. Hope is not unsubstantiated, but rather a calm assurance and expectation of what is to come.
If you have to stand firm against something, and if in doing so you need support, that means you are facing a challenge. A challenge that stresses, and one that stresses to the point of breaking. That is the reality. If life is simply easy, then there is nothing to stand against. But if you have to stand – there is something assaulting you. It might be temptation; it might be despair or depression and a feeling of powerlessness. You might be assailed by resentment built up over years; or guilt that rides you as the harshest kind of taskmaster. Or it may simply be a lack of hope that is without definition, because we can no longer identify one assailant, for life itself seems to rob us of energy and hope.
To this, our hymn says, “Joy to the World, the Lord has come!” And, “No more let sin and sorrow reign”
It is Well, I heard the Bells
The light of Christ breaking through
No more let sin and darkness reign
There is a challenge during the two penitential seasons, where we look at the need for Christ to Come, (advent) and for Christ to die (lent). The challenge is to focus there, without forgetting the fact that He has come. The challenge to know the assurance of the last words of Matthew’s gospel and the Great commission.
“Lo, I (Jesus) will be with you, unto the end of the age!”
As I was writing this sermon, two hymns came to mind, thanks to my computer’s music player. Both favorites, and both constants, even among the most contemporary of Christian praise teams. “It is Well with My Soul”, and “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”. Their composers knew all to well the darkness of this life, for one lost his family at sea, while he had stayed behind to help those suffering from the Great Chicago fire. After hearing of their deaths, the man went and wrote those powerful words, though satan should buffet, through trial shall come, it is well, it is well with my soul.
The love of Christ, the comfort and consolation broke through the darkness he was assailed by, and the promises of scripture did as Paul said – they helped him endure, and be encouraged, and know hope.
The same for Longfellow and the writing of I heard the Bells, something I didn’t know. He wrote the poem that is the basis for the hymn, two years after watching his wife burn to death in a horrible tragedy in their home. As he went through one holiday season, and grew in despair, he approached the second year and his nephew, a young man he dearly loved, was shot in battle, and his spine severed. You hear how oppressed he was, in these two verses:
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Like the writer of It is Well, the light of Christ would shine through the darkness that oppressed his soul, You see it in the last verse, as life shattered by trauma would be replaced by life brilliantly enlightened by God.
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.
That is only a hope that is found in the scriptures, when the idea that “life is suffering” is shattered by the idea that there is hope found in the midst of the suffering. For there is Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit leading us to Him. The power of the Spirit through the word of God, that which is engraved on tablets of stone, and on the pages of our Bible, and in our hearts, which tell us that He is with Us, and points to His revealing in the last days, when He comes to take us home!
He has broken the power of sin and death, He has shown His glory to men and women in the darkest times of history, and he does so every Sunday – as He assures us of the end of sin, and that we are welcome as His children. The incarnation, the cross, the empty grave proclaim it. As it was written, so it was done. And so the promises of our baptism, and of the altar, so too written, strengthen our trust in God’s work.
Results of the hope
Filled with Joy and peace as we trust…
So we abound in hope
Living Concordia with Jesus
It should be of no surprise, that when the darkness is broken through by the grace of Chrsit, the assurance, the joy, the peace and communion results. Verse 5 talks of this as it indicates that God of such endurance and encouragement grants us to living in harmony, in Concordia, with each other, as we are in accord with Christ. It goes on to talk of our glorifying God with one voice, together. We do glorify God with the the same voice as the angels and archangels, as Abraham and Issac, the people of God in the Old Testament who worshipped at the tabernacle and temple, and in the church ever since.
Paul then shows that it does us include us, the gentiles – by pointing to the Old Testament writings of the prophets. This has always been God’s plan, and that assurance is talked about in hymns and praise songs, as people who walk in darkness are brought into the light. And in that light, they abound in hope.
We started this sermon by singing a hymn of prayer – O Come O Come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here. It is our prayer of advent, it describes the time before Christ’s birth, and it describes the world now. But so does the song with which we end this sermon, REJOICE the Lord is King. The Lord who came and was born of Mary, the Lord who hung on the cross, that we would be cleansed of our sins and marked as children of God. The Lord who will return in all glory to bring those who remain to meet the host of heaven, which will be completed.
But we don’t walk in the darkness, as we may sometimes think. For this Lord we rejoice in, the one who came, and who will come again, has not left us alone. He is our Lord, our King. Now. He has promised to never leave or forsake us. Joy to the World, for the Lord has come! Concordia, Rejoice, the Lord is King!
AMEN?
