Sermon Illustrations for Advent 1 (2019)
Illustration
Isaiah 2:1-5
Amy Carmichael, missionary to India, once wrote, “Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace. If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. In that stillness you know what His will is.”
Isaiah notes that Messiah will bring peace. The words from verse four, “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” are engraved on a wall in New York City near the United Nations building. The wall is there to express hope that peace will come one day. Though our world longs for peace, our culture is saturated with violence and hate. Ours is a harried, hurried world that often spins out of control. We long for peace but seek it in the wrong places.
Genuine peace can’t be delivered by the political systems of the world. The only true, lasting peace comes when we humbly bow before the one who will “judge the nations.” May you, this Christmas season, find the real peace that comes from knowing Jesus Christ. It’s simple, really. “No Jesus; No peace. Know Jesus; Know Peace.”
Bill T.
* * *
Isaiah 2:1-5
A meme usually refers to some popular image, saying, or film clip which has taken on a life of its own on the internet, reproducing itself in many forms. People pass this along but make changes along the way. In the end, who can say who the original author was, but it's out there, and there's no recalling it.
One of the themes of scripture is that God's blessing is for all people. Even though the political situation might be clouded by the prospect of war, there was a meme current at the time of Isaiah and Micah that a time of universal peace was coming. Both address the critical choice facing King Ahaz of Judah. His neighbors, Israel and Syria, plan to overthrow him, replacing him with a more pliant puppet. Ahaz had been considering whether to seek a dangerous alliance with Assyria, an empire that swallowed nations whole.
It is to this situation that the two prophets dare to suggest that despite wars and rumors of war, God was prophesizing that in times to come all nations would come to the mountain of the Lord to worship the God of Israel. The weapons of war, the sword and the spear, would be turned into the implements of harvest and peace, the plowshare and pruning hook.
Talk about an odd couple! Micah is a country prophet, a fish out of water in the big city of Jerusalem. Isaiah is a city boy, the kind of prophet who’s used to the ways of king and court.
The prophets invited Ahaz to look beyond the political crises because God’s will for a world broken by war is peace and security.
Both prophets share almost word for word this common vision of universal peace. One of the significant differences was that Isaiah invited all to “walk in the light of the Lord!” (Isaiah 2:5). That's in contrast to Ahaz considering an alliance with Assyria, a deal with the devil if ever there was one. And aren't we tempted to sometimes compromise our values because we think it impractical to live like Jesus? Yet Isaiah states that God’s light will help us navigate through tough times.
Micah on the other hand adds a nice personal touch: “All will sit underneath their own grapevines, under their own fig trees. There will be no one to terrify them…(Micah 4:4 CEB). Economic security is the true key to lasting peace, not political expediency.
If Micah and Isaiah, eighth century prophets, both used this meme (and other prophets we do not know of may have as well), perhaps its roots go back even farther. Take Joel, a ninth century prophet, who takes the meme and turns it upside down, ("Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weakling say, “I am a warrior.” Joel 3:10) suggesting that his people are posturing but are in no ways fit for war. It's safest to say that neither Isaiah, Micah, Joel, or anyone else is the author of this saying. Let's give the credit to God.
Frank R.
* * *
Isaiah 2:1-5
Most of us, as children, found ourselves engulfed in the confusion of Santa Claus. If there is only one North Pole Santa Claus, how can he be found on every street corner and in every store? I grew up in Ohio with gas heat and no fireplace, so Santa was never going to visit a home absent of a chimney. Then there is the question of how he can travel the globe, visit every home, all in one night? And the reindeer, how do they fly absent of wings? I think you get the picture. But our confusion, for me born in 1951, is not new.
In September 1871, eight-year-old Virginia Hanlon of West 95th Street in New York City, wondered the same thing. Seeking an answer, she wrote a letter to the New York Sun. Here friends were telling her that there was no Santa Claus, and she needed an answer. In her letter to the editor she wrote, “Papa says, ‘If you see it in the Sun, it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth, Is there a Santa Claus?”
The reply, written by Francis Pharcellus Church, the editor of the Sun, has become a classic.It has become a tradition of most newspapers to print her letter each Christmas Day. His reply began, “Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see.” Later in the letter Church went on to explain how Santa Claus can be seen. He wrote, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.” Then Church penned a line that is often overlooked, “The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.”
The last line of the letter borders on the prophetic: “No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."
And we all can recall the classic closing line that Church wrote, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”
Ron L.
* * *
Romans 13:11-14
We need to wake up for Christmas will be here before we know it! Just as Christmas preparations cannot be postponed, so this text reminds us that the darkness that hovers over our nation cannot wait for alleviation. In the most recent reports (at the end of 2018) 12.7% of Americans had no health insurance (a percentage that has been growing in the Trump era) and 1 in 10 working adults are food insecure. Sure we can deliberate these matters, wait for the election results next year. But while working out the solution in due time, how about food on the table and medicine that can be afforded for millions who need it right now? This is a lesson to remind us it is urgent, for Jesus is coming. Martin Luther nicely explained our situation in one of his sermons:
That’s the way things will be, says Christ, when judgment day nears. The whole world will act secure... do not follow them. (Luther’s Works, Vol.24, p.40)
But after warning us that we dare not dawdle in preparing for the future, then he proceeded to note the comfort we have in knowing that Christ is with us. Luther adds:
Don’t let this disturb you, Christ admonishes, do not follow them... Nor be afraid; keep your head high, and see to it that, when I come down from heaven I shall be able to find you! Then you will experience no distress, for I shall come to deliver you. (Ibid.)
When Jesus shows up surprisingly, as happens all the time (and most of the time we miss him), deliverance from the darkness, the evils noted, may not be so far away.
This perspective on what Christ can do when he returns is not just a future hope, though it frees up truly to live in present moment, since “right now” as we prepare for Jesus is urgent. This orientation to being prepared for the change to come that Jesus brings not only makes us alert. It feels good. Neurobiological research indicates that living this way entails that the brain is forging new neural (brain-cell connections), and when that happens the front part of the brain (the prefrontal cortex) is bathed with the amphetamine dopamine, which not only gives pleasure, but also enhances energy levels for social action against evils like hunger and poverty (Sherwin Nuland, The Art of Aging; Daniel Amen, Change You Brain, Change Your Life, p.81).
Mark E.
* * *
Romans 13:11-14
As I read this passage it seems like it belongs in Lent rather than in Advent. The cautions about not reveling in darkness and debauchery seem to fit better in the Lenten season. Yet, Advent readings often confuse us. They can be apocalyptic in nature and a little startling. This portion of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome reminds the people that we are to put on Jesus, that which is good and honorable. That’s good advice for any day, every day. In the darkening days of winter, it’s easy to fall into the seasonal depression that comes from limited sunlight. I have friends who are deeply affected by the seasons. For us Christians, the darkening days of winter hold a promise — a promise of Jesus’ birth and our celebration of God’s coming into the world to walk with us. The shortness of the days of the season may still affect us, but perhaps, just perhaps we can anticipate a birth in our spirits as Jesus is birthed into the world.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Matthew 24:36-44
The two youngsters lined up to race. It wasn’t a big race for a medal or anything like that. It was just a family picnic race between two cousins, down to the tree and back. An aunt lined them up. “On your mark,” she called out. “Get set, go.” The two boys started sprinting. Immediately, one started to lag and stopped running. Realizing he was going to lose, he stopped and shouted, “Wait. I wasn’t ready.”
We smile at that. It’s a familiar scene: “Wait. I wasn’t ready.” It’s comical in a family picnic race, but tragic when it comes to the coming of Jesus. In Matthew 24 Jesus makes it clear that no one knows the day or the hour that he will return, not even the angels or he, himself. Only God knows. It will be quick and sudden, so he urges his listeners to be ready. Very few were prepared for and expecting his first coming. Will you be ready for the second?
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 24:36-44
The images of one being taken and one being left behind, first two men in the fields, then two women at the mill, is very powerful. It is often associated with what is called the rapture, the idea that at the coming of the Lord those who belong to the Lord will be taken up into heaven and be spared the times of wrath. But as unpopular as it is to say this, this whole rapture thing is a relatively recent misunderstanding of a number of scriptures. In Revelation and in what are known as the little apocalypses of the gospels, believers will be subjected to the traumas of the end times, and suffer at the hands of the civil authorities.
Actually, the ones left behind in this passage may be the lucky ones. Jesus does not suggest that the ones taken ascend into heaven. They may well have been taken by invading armies. The images used by Jesus call to mind the atrocities of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Seleucid Emperor against whom the Maccabees fought in the great rebellion described in the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees. At one time these books were included in all Christians Bibles, often in a special section labeled the Apocrypha. After acts of rebellion on the part of a few Judeans in the year 167 BC, Antiochus responded by first murdering thousands of Jews, and selling thousands more into slavery. He desecrated the temple (the "Abomination of Desolation"), and refused to allow God's people to follow their own religious laws. Infants were murdered, taking away the hope of the future, and individuals were abducted from their homes, sold into slavery, and sent to distant lands, removing their identity as a people of faith. A good source for information on these events can be found in "Apocalypse Against Empire," by Anathea E. Portier-Young (especially pp. 140ff.). Since previously the Jewish faith had been tolerated in the larger Seleucid Empire, this lasting trauma created a feeling of insecurity, the idea that everything, including life, liberty, and peace of mind, can be taken away at a moment's notice.
Keep in mind that the prophets warned God's people that the Day of the Lord would be a day of Judgment, not a day of joy. Jesus is warning people to be always ready for trauma, and to be prepared to be faithful in difficult circumstances. Certainly, in our own times, with the epidemic of mass shootings, we have seen that we never known when terror may strike, and when it does, unfairly the youngest, and the most vulnerable, can be taken from us.
Frank R.
* * *
Matthew 24:36-44
On August 12, 2019 a whistleblower notified Congress that President Donald Trump was abusing the power of his position to influence to 2020 Presidential election in his favor. The issue is this: did the President try to influence the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to open an investigation on Hunter Biden for corruption? Hunter Biden sat on the board of Burisma Holdings, a major Ukrainian natural gas producer, from 2014 to 2019. It was during this time that the chairman of the board was being investigated for corruption. Hunter Biden was not indicted. Trump withheld military support from Zelenskyy unless he agreed to reopen the case. It was hoped by Trump that this investigation would discredit Hunter’s father, Joe Biden, who was running for president as a Democrat. A number of staff members close to President Trump were aware of Trump’s actions, but never notified Congress. The House of Representatives, on reviewing the whistleblower memo and other documents agreed that there was collusion and began an impeachment inquiry on September 27. On November 11, Congress announced the inquiry to the public, but the whistleblower’s name was withheld. Though staffers were aware of this pending deal, ultimately, it came down to a lone analyst, sitting in a cubicle that was miles from the White House, drafting an unprecedented document in the detached manner he had learned in his CIA training. In the memo he wrote, “In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.”
Ron L.
Amy Carmichael, missionary to India, once wrote, “Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace. If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. In that stillness you know what His will is.”
Isaiah notes that Messiah will bring peace. The words from verse four, “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” are engraved on a wall in New York City near the United Nations building. The wall is there to express hope that peace will come one day. Though our world longs for peace, our culture is saturated with violence and hate. Ours is a harried, hurried world that often spins out of control. We long for peace but seek it in the wrong places.
Genuine peace can’t be delivered by the political systems of the world. The only true, lasting peace comes when we humbly bow before the one who will “judge the nations.” May you, this Christmas season, find the real peace that comes from knowing Jesus Christ. It’s simple, really. “No Jesus; No peace. Know Jesus; Know Peace.”
Bill T.
* * *
Isaiah 2:1-5
A meme usually refers to some popular image, saying, or film clip which has taken on a life of its own on the internet, reproducing itself in many forms. People pass this along but make changes along the way. In the end, who can say who the original author was, but it's out there, and there's no recalling it.
One of the themes of scripture is that God's blessing is for all people. Even though the political situation might be clouded by the prospect of war, there was a meme current at the time of Isaiah and Micah that a time of universal peace was coming. Both address the critical choice facing King Ahaz of Judah. His neighbors, Israel and Syria, plan to overthrow him, replacing him with a more pliant puppet. Ahaz had been considering whether to seek a dangerous alliance with Assyria, an empire that swallowed nations whole.
It is to this situation that the two prophets dare to suggest that despite wars and rumors of war, God was prophesizing that in times to come all nations would come to the mountain of the Lord to worship the God of Israel. The weapons of war, the sword and the spear, would be turned into the implements of harvest and peace, the plowshare and pruning hook.
Talk about an odd couple! Micah is a country prophet, a fish out of water in the big city of Jerusalem. Isaiah is a city boy, the kind of prophet who’s used to the ways of king and court.
The prophets invited Ahaz to look beyond the political crises because God’s will for a world broken by war is peace and security.
Both prophets share almost word for word this common vision of universal peace. One of the significant differences was that Isaiah invited all to “walk in the light of the Lord!” (Isaiah 2:5). That's in contrast to Ahaz considering an alliance with Assyria, a deal with the devil if ever there was one. And aren't we tempted to sometimes compromise our values because we think it impractical to live like Jesus? Yet Isaiah states that God’s light will help us navigate through tough times.
Micah on the other hand adds a nice personal touch: “All will sit underneath their own grapevines, under their own fig trees. There will be no one to terrify them…(Micah 4:4 CEB). Economic security is the true key to lasting peace, not political expediency.
If Micah and Isaiah, eighth century prophets, both used this meme (and other prophets we do not know of may have as well), perhaps its roots go back even farther. Take Joel, a ninth century prophet, who takes the meme and turns it upside down, ("Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weakling say, “I am a warrior.” Joel 3:10) suggesting that his people are posturing but are in no ways fit for war. It's safest to say that neither Isaiah, Micah, Joel, or anyone else is the author of this saying. Let's give the credit to God.
Frank R.
* * *
Isaiah 2:1-5
Most of us, as children, found ourselves engulfed in the confusion of Santa Claus. If there is only one North Pole Santa Claus, how can he be found on every street corner and in every store? I grew up in Ohio with gas heat and no fireplace, so Santa was never going to visit a home absent of a chimney. Then there is the question of how he can travel the globe, visit every home, all in one night? And the reindeer, how do they fly absent of wings? I think you get the picture. But our confusion, for me born in 1951, is not new.
In September 1871, eight-year-old Virginia Hanlon of West 95th Street in New York City, wondered the same thing. Seeking an answer, she wrote a letter to the New York Sun. Here friends were telling her that there was no Santa Claus, and she needed an answer. In her letter to the editor she wrote, “Papa says, ‘If you see it in the Sun, it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth, Is there a Santa Claus?”
The reply, written by Francis Pharcellus Church, the editor of the Sun, has become a classic.It has become a tradition of most newspapers to print her letter each Christmas Day. His reply began, “Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see.” Later in the letter Church went on to explain how Santa Claus can be seen. He wrote, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.” Then Church penned a line that is often overlooked, “The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.”
The last line of the letter borders on the prophetic: “No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."
And we all can recall the classic closing line that Church wrote, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”
Ron L.
* * *
Romans 13:11-14
We need to wake up for Christmas will be here before we know it! Just as Christmas preparations cannot be postponed, so this text reminds us that the darkness that hovers over our nation cannot wait for alleviation. In the most recent reports (at the end of 2018) 12.7% of Americans had no health insurance (a percentage that has been growing in the Trump era) and 1 in 10 working adults are food insecure. Sure we can deliberate these matters, wait for the election results next year. But while working out the solution in due time, how about food on the table and medicine that can be afforded for millions who need it right now? This is a lesson to remind us it is urgent, for Jesus is coming. Martin Luther nicely explained our situation in one of his sermons:
That’s the way things will be, says Christ, when judgment day nears. The whole world will act secure... do not follow them. (Luther’s Works, Vol.24, p.40)
But after warning us that we dare not dawdle in preparing for the future, then he proceeded to note the comfort we have in knowing that Christ is with us. Luther adds:
Don’t let this disturb you, Christ admonishes, do not follow them... Nor be afraid; keep your head high, and see to it that, when I come down from heaven I shall be able to find you! Then you will experience no distress, for I shall come to deliver you. (Ibid.)
When Jesus shows up surprisingly, as happens all the time (and most of the time we miss him), deliverance from the darkness, the evils noted, may not be so far away.
This perspective on what Christ can do when he returns is not just a future hope, though it frees up truly to live in present moment, since “right now” as we prepare for Jesus is urgent. This orientation to being prepared for the change to come that Jesus brings not only makes us alert. It feels good. Neurobiological research indicates that living this way entails that the brain is forging new neural (brain-cell connections), and when that happens the front part of the brain (the prefrontal cortex) is bathed with the amphetamine dopamine, which not only gives pleasure, but also enhances energy levels for social action against evils like hunger and poverty (Sherwin Nuland, The Art of Aging; Daniel Amen, Change You Brain, Change Your Life, p.81).
Mark E.
* * *
Romans 13:11-14
As I read this passage it seems like it belongs in Lent rather than in Advent. The cautions about not reveling in darkness and debauchery seem to fit better in the Lenten season. Yet, Advent readings often confuse us. They can be apocalyptic in nature and a little startling. This portion of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome reminds the people that we are to put on Jesus, that which is good and honorable. That’s good advice for any day, every day. In the darkening days of winter, it’s easy to fall into the seasonal depression that comes from limited sunlight. I have friends who are deeply affected by the seasons. For us Christians, the darkening days of winter hold a promise — a promise of Jesus’ birth and our celebration of God’s coming into the world to walk with us. The shortness of the days of the season may still affect us, but perhaps, just perhaps we can anticipate a birth in our spirits as Jesus is birthed into the world.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Matthew 24:36-44
The two youngsters lined up to race. It wasn’t a big race for a medal or anything like that. It was just a family picnic race between two cousins, down to the tree and back. An aunt lined them up. “On your mark,” she called out. “Get set, go.” The two boys started sprinting. Immediately, one started to lag and stopped running. Realizing he was going to lose, he stopped and shouted, “Wait. I wasn’t ready.”
We smile at that. It’s a familiar scene: “Wait. I wasn’t ready.” It’s comical in a family picnic race, but tragic when it comes to the coming of Jesus. In Matthew 24 Jesus makes it clear that no one knows the day or the hour that he will return, not even the angels or he, himself. Only God knows. It will be quick and sudden, so he urges his listeners to be ready. Very few were prepared for and expecting his first coming. Will you be ready for the second?
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 24:36-44
The images of one being taken and one being left behind, first two men in the fields, then two women at the mill, is very powerful. It is often associated with what is called the rapture, the idea that at the coming of the Lord those who belong to the Lord will be taken up into heaven and be spared the times of wrath. But as unpopular as it is to say this, this whole rapture thing is a relatively recent misunderstanding of a number of scriptures. In Revelation and in what are known as the little apocalypses of the gospels, believers will be subjected to the traumas of the end times, and suffer at the hands of the civil authorities.
Actually, the ones left behind in this passage may be the lucky ones. Jesus does not suggest that the ones taken ascend into heaven. They may well have been taken by invading armies. The images used by Jesus call to mind the atrocities of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Seleucid Emperor against whom the Maccabees fought in the great rebellion described in the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees. At one time these books were included in all Christians Bibles, often in a special section labeled the Apocrypha. After acts of rebellion on the part of a few Judeans in the year 167 BC, Antiochus responded by first murdering thousands of Jews, and selling thousands more into slavery. He desecrated the temple (the "Abomination of Desolation"), and refused to allow God's people to follow their own religious laws. Infants were murdered, taking away the hope of the future, and individuals were abducted from their homes, sold into slavery, and sent to distant lands, removing their identity as a people of faith. A good source for information on these events can be found in "Apocalypse Against Empire," by Anathea E. Portier-Young (especially pp. 140ff.). Since previously the Jewish faith had been tolerated in the larger Seleucid Empire, this lasting trauma created a feeling of insecurity, the idea that everything, including life, liberty, and peace of mind, can be taken away at a moment's notice.
Keep in mind that the prophets warned God's people that the Day of the Lord would be a day of Judgment, not a day of joy. Jesus is warning people to be always ready for trauma, and to be prepared to be faithful in difficult circumstances. Certainly, in our own times, with the epidemic of mass shootings, we have seen that we never known when terror may strike, and when it does, unfairly the youngest, and the most vulnerable, can be taken from us.
Frank R.
* * *
Matthew 24:36-44
On August 12, 2019 a whistleblower notified Congress that President Donald Trump was abusing the power of his position to influence to 2020 Presidential election in his favor. The issue is this: did the President try to influence the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to open an investigation on Hunter Biden for corruption? Hunter Biden sat on the board of Burisma Holdings, a major Ukrainian natural gas producer, from 2014 to 2019. It was during this time that the chairman of the board was being investigated for corruption. Hunter Biden was not indicted. Trump withheld military support from Zelenskyy unless he agreed to reopen the case. It was hoped by Trump that this investigation would discredit Hunter’s father, Joe Biden, who was running for president as a Democrat. A number of staff members close to President Trump were aware of Trump’s actions, but never notified Congress. The House of Representatives, on reviewing the whistleblower memo and other documents agreed that there was collusion and began an impeachment inquiry on September 27. On November 11, Congress announced the inquiry to the public, but the whistleblower’s name was withheld. Though staffers were aware of this pending deal, ultimately, it came down to a lone analyst, sitting in a cubicle that was miles from the White House, drafting an unprecedented document in the detached manner he had learned in his CIA training. In the memo he wrote, “In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.”
Ron L.
