First Sunday In Advent
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III, Cycle C
The Church Year Theological Clue
The powerful impetus toward eschatological awareness and preparedness, which comes from the theological framework of the Christian year, as well as the particular lections as-signed to this day, makes the preacher conscious of how the future affects the present age. The result is a "get your house, and the world, in order" kind of theology emanating from a reading of the propers for this day. Advent makes Christians realize that "the best is yet to come, "in the promised return of Jesus Christ, but almost 2,000 years have passed since Jesus promised to return and usher in the fullness of the kingdom of God. When will Jesus return, "coming in a cloud (much as he ascended, according to St. Luke) with power and glory?" Will he ever come again to the earth? What about the end of this age, of the earth? This much we know: We have to prepare as if he were to return today, and this means responding to the gospel and his promises by caring for the earth and everything that inhabits the land and the sea. The parousia calls for reorienting our lives to the way of the Lord, through daily repentance and a fresh start every day. Ours is not to ponder the parousia, but to get busy with the continuing work of living out our lives under the rule of the living Lord here on planet earth.
The Prayer Of The Day
The church prays one or another version of the classic collects for this First Sunday in Advent: "Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. Protect us by your strength and save us from the threatening dangers of our sins, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen."
It would be well to add a second prayer, such as this collect from The Book Of Common Prayer, which anticipates the "end time - present action/response" of Luke 21: "Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen."
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 25:1-9 (L); 25:4-5, 8-10, 14 (RC) - This is the prayer of a person who knows himself to be in deep trouble and, accordingly, prays fervently for God to teach him his truth and lead the helpless sinner in his paths and his ways. It is the prayer of a "patient penitent," who looks to God's future in trust and hope.
Psalm prayer (25 LBW) - "Lord our God, you show us your ways of compassion and love, and you spare sinners. Remember not our sins; relieve our misery; satisfy the longing of your people; and fulfill all our hopes for eternal peace through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
Psalm 50:1-6 (E) - The Episcopal lectionary assigns the entire psalm, primarily for Morning Prayer, realistically offering, according to the rubrics of the Book Of Common Prayer, a portion of the psalm for use in the Eucharist. This psalm speaks about the God who created everything and who is an "advent God:" "Our God will come and he will not keep silence; before him there is a consuming flame, and round about him a raging storm. He calls the heavens and the earth from above to witness the judgment of his people." The sixth verse declares, "for God himself is judge." God will not only return - in Christ Jesus, Christians believe and anticipate - but he will come as ruler and judge.
Psalm prayer (50 - LB W) - "Heavenly Father, because Jesus your servant became obedient to death, his sacrifice was greater than all the holocausts of old. Accept the sacrifice of praise we offer you through him, and help us show the effects of it in our lives by striving to do your will, until our whole life becomes adoration in spirit and truth; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
Note: All of the psalm prayers are from The Lutheran Book of Worship, mainly because it alone offers prayers in conjunction with the psalms.
The Readings:
Jeremiah 33:14-16 (RC, L, C) - Jeremiah sees Yahweh as a God who makes and keeps his promises, and has pledged to bring back his chosen people from their exile and restore the Davidic kingdom under a ruler who will "execute righteousness and justice in the land." He predicts that, no matter how long it takes, God will act and fulfill his covenant with his people; perhaps that is why Jeremiah (or one of his disciples) repeats the prophecy made in Jeremiah 23:5-6. Judah was brought back from exile, but the fullness of that promise, Christians believe, could only be realized in Jesus' advent as the "Promised One," the Messiah. He alone can complete the promise made by God through the prophet to save his people from their sins and bestow salvation - justice and righteousness - upon them. The fullness of that prophecy will only be realized, from the Christian perspective, in the parousia of Jesus, the risen Lord.
Zechariah 14:4-9 (E) - This "the day of the Lord is coming" chapter of Zechariah, is still speaking about the restoration of Judah (see chapter 12) after the exile. The beginning of this reading throws the lection into a Christian perspective (although this was not in the prophet's mind, of course), because it begins at the place where, according to Luke, the ascension of Jesus took place: "On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives which lies before Jerusalem on the east." Zechariah could have been speaking to Christians, not only to Jews, when he described what "that day" would be like. Indeed, it will be glorious, "and the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one." That kind of a Messiah has to be the Christ, the crucified and risen One, who has said he will return with power and glory. There can be no other.
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 (E, L, C); 3:12-4:2 (RC) - A recent study of the largest Protestant churches in the United States, which indicates that most Christians have not matured in their faith, makes verses 9 and 10 relevant to the human predicament today. Paul gave thanks to God for the faith of the church at Thessalonica, asking the Lord God to supply "what is lacking in (their) faith." He wants, as his letter continues, to see them mature in love for all people as they await the "coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints." He expected that they wouldn't have a long wait, as we have, but Paul was positive that the Lord would return, thereby keeping his promise and initiating the fullness of the kingdom of God. That continues to be the hope of Christians in this modern age.
The lection employed by the Episcopal Book Of Common Prayer picks up the last part of the previous reading and calls for an ethical response "That as you learned from us how you ought to live and please God, just as you are doing, you do so more and more" that prepares people for the parousia of the Lord. Christians are to grow in love and do works of love in the world as they await the second coming of Christ.
Luke 21:25-31 (E); 21:25-26 (L, C); 21:25-28, 34-36 (RC) - Time was running out on Jesus during that period that we call Holy Week; his passion and death were imminent. But he had just witnessed a beautiful act of sacrificial love, when the widowed woman put her two copper coins into the temple treasury. Prompted by comments made by people (his disciples?), who seemed to have missed what Jesus saw and were impressed by the beauty of the temple and the splendor and its "offerings" (of the wealthy), Jesus spoke of the age to come, the "final time" of the earth: "There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations ... for the powers of the heavens will be shaken." Echoing Jeremiah (his redactor, at any rate), Jesus promised that the Son of Man would return and be seen by all people living on the earth. That's the prophecy and his promise which call for a response of obedience and faith - "look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." The last portion of the Gospel for the Day is Jesus' exhortation (the redactor's?) to the Christian community to live hopefully and ethically in expectation of his return. That word "situates" us in the world that is in serious trouble.
Sermon Suggestions, Synopses, Sketches, Stories
Luke 21:25-36 (L, C); 25-31 (E); 25-28, 34-36 (RC) - "The Signs And The Times" - Early in 1990, the Church Universal and Triumphant which has located its operations in Montana, has announced that a nuclear holocaust will occur in the near future. The leader, Evelyn Clare Prophet, has convinced the members of that cult that the end of the world is at hand, that it will occur by nuclear warfare, and that they should build bomb shelters for protection. They have done just that and armed themselves "to the teeth" with assault weapons and machine guns. The whole business seems terribly out of date in view of the movements to disarm the Western World and rid the world, ultimately, of nuclear weapons. Any nuclear threat now would come more from nuclear accidents (as at the disaster in Chernobyl) rather than by nuclear war, and while such accidents might be terrible, they might not be on a world-wide scale.
It was Ray Bradbury, in The Martian Chronicles which he wrote shortly after World War II, who was one of the first persons to write about nuclear warfare as the total destruction of the earth. In the next to the last chapter, "August 26 - There Will Come Soft Rains," he wrote: "In the living room the voice-clock sang, tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o'clock! as if it were afraid that nobody would. The morning house lay empty. The clocked ticked on, repeating and repeating its sounds into the emptiness. Seven-nine, breakfast time, seven-nine!" The automated kitchen prepared breakfast and a second voice spoke from the kitchen ceiling, repeating its message three times, "Today is August 4, 2006 ... in the city of Allendale, California." The house went about its business; everything was automated and done by machines and robots, but there were no people in that house, in Allendale, or anywhere else on the planet Earth. People had been eradicated by a type of nuclear weapon which left buildings and other structures standing. It was the end of the earth for the human race and those species of life that existed during the first quarter of the 21st century.
1. These are different times - The 1990s have been called the "critical decade" for the earth and all that inhabits it; pollution, over-consumption, especially by people in the United States of America, depletion of the ozone layer, plus rampant spread of the drug culture and its consequences, and the breakdown of morals and ethics are some of the problems that have to be faced and dealt with in this decade or, some scientists insist, the end of life as we know it is at hand - the end of this world, if you will. That's the setting in which we preach the gospel as good news, declaring that Christ will come again, as he promised.
2. The signs should wake us up - The signs of the times tell us that, despite the fact that time is running out on the inhabitants of the earth, there is still time to take definitive action and, as Joseph Sittler put it, to take "care of the earth" because "it is all that we have." A modern type of repentance is needed that will reverse the processes of consumption and destruction and begin to restore the world we live in. The signs of these times are sure and certain; there is no mistaking the signs! They call for repentance and the recognition of our sin and for change of mind and lifestyle.
3. Preparing the world for the parousia - That's our task, which involves preaching the gospel to all people, and responding in faith and obedience to the word of the Lord.
It is time to reject "dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life" and get on with the business of God. The "signs" take us back to the Garden and the responsibilities God gave human beings to take charge of the earth and care for it and to fill it up. We have filled it up, but we haven't really taken care of it, have we?
4. There is nothing to fear - We don't have to fear the bomb, nor do we need to fear the task at hand, although we know the tragic consequences that may occur if we don't take radical action to save the world. So, pray, "Come, Lord Jesus! Come, quickly!" - right now so that we may live in faith, hope, love and obedience, doing those things which he has commanded us to do until he comes again.
Jeremiah 33:14-16 (RC, L, C) - "The Day Of God's Promise."
1. The God who makes good promises to his people
2. God is good to his promises
3. The people of God live the good life
4. Indeed, "the Lord is our righteousness," our salvation
Zechariah 14:4-9 - "The Day Of The Lord"
1. The Lord will come and stand on the mountain
2. The whole earth will know that God is Lord
3. In Jesus, he will begin his reign over all the earth
4. He will announce this from his holy mountain
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 (E, L, C); 3:12-4:2 (RC) - "Germination And Growth"
1. People become Christians when the seed, God's holy Word, germinates in their hearts, souls, and minds.
2. God's Word, through the Holy Spirit, sends down deep roots, so that there might be believers that might mature in their faith.
3. The growth process has to continue as long as people live, or they retrogress and faith may shrivel up.
4. Mature Christians are ready for the parousia; they have nothing to fear, and go about their Lord's business as long as they live.
After the funeral of Dr. Carl Volz's brother Victor, some years ago, the family gathered to share a meal. A stranger noticed that one of his sons, Martin, was wearing a carnation from the flowers on the casket, asking him if he were from a wedding party. Martin told him, Volz writes, that "he was with the party, but it was not a wedding but a funeral. The stranger said he couldn't tell from our actions that we had been to a funeral. And Martin said, 'That's because we are believers.' " Isn't that the stance of the mature Christian who believes in, and anticipates Jesus' parousia?
The powerful impetus toward eschatological awareness and preparedness, which comes from the theological framework of the Christian year, as well as the particular lections as-signed to this day, makes the preacher conscious of how the future affects the present age. The result is a "get your house, and the world, in order" kind of theology emanating from a reading of the propers for this day. Advent makes Christians realize that "the best is yet to come, "in the promised return of Jesus Christ, but almost 2,000 years have passed since Jesus promised to return and usher in the fullness of the kingdom of God. When will Jesus return, "coming in a cloud (much as he ascended, according to St. Luke) with power and glory?" Will he ever come again to the earth? What about the end of this age, of the earth? This much we know: We have to prepare as if he were to return today, and this means responding to the gospel and his promises by caring for the earth and everything that inhabits the land and the sea. The parousia calls for reorienting our lives to the way of the Lord, through daily repentance and a fresh start every day. Ours is not to ponder the parousia, but to get busy with the continuing work of living out our lives under the rule of the living Lord here on planet earth.
The Prayer Of The Day
The church prays one or another version of the classic collects for this First Sunday in Advent: "Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. Protect us by your strength and save us from the threatening dangers of our sins, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen."
It would be well to add a second prayer, such as this collect from The Book Of Common Prayer, which anticipates the "end time - present action/response" of Luke 21: "Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen."
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 25:1-9 (L); 25:4-5, 8-10, 14 (RC) - This is the prayer of a person who knows himself to be in deep trouble and, accordingly, prays fervently for God to teach him his truth and lead the helpless sinner in his paths and his ways. It is the prayer of a "patient penitent," who looks to God's future in trust and hope.
Psalm prayer (25 LBW) - "Lord our God, you show us your ways of compassion and love, and you spare sinners. Remember not our sins; relieve our misery; satisfy the longing of your people; and fulfill all our hopes for eternal peace through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
Psalm 50:1-6 (E) - The Episcopal lectionary assigns the entire psalm, primarily for Morning Prayer, realistically offering, according to the rubrics of the Book Of Common Prayer, a portion of the psalm for use in the Eucharist. This psalm speaks about the God who created everything and who is an "advent God:" "Our God will come and he will not keep silence; before him there is a consuming flame, and round about him a raging storm. He calls the heavens and the earth from above to witness the judgment of his people." The sixth verse declares, "for God himself is judge." God will not only return - in Christ Jesus, Christians believe and anticipate - but he will come as ruler and judge.
Psalm prayer (50 - LB W) - "Heavenly Father, because Jesus your servant became obedient to death, his sacrifice was greater than all the holocausts of old. Accept the sacrifice of praise we offer you through him, and help us show the effects of it in our lives by striving to do your will, until our whole life becomes adoration in spirit and truth; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
Note: All of the psalm prayers are from The Lutheran Book of Worship, mainly because it alone offers prayers in conjunction with the psalms.
The Readings:
Jeremiah 33:14-16 (RC, L, C) - Jeremiah sees Yahweh as a God who makes and keeps his promises, and has pledged to bring back his chosen people from their exile and restore the Davidic kingdom under a ruler who will "execute righteousness and justice in the land." He predicts that, no matter how long it takes, God will act and fulfill his covenant with his people; perhaps that is why Jeremiah (or one of his disciples) repeats the prophecy made in Jeremiah 23:5-6. Judah was brought back from exile, but the fullness of that promise, Christians believe, could only be realized in Jesus' advent as the "Promised One," the Messiah. He alone can complete the promise made by God through the prophet to save his people from their sins and bestow salvation - justice and righteousness - upon them. The fullness of that prophecy will only be realized, from the Christian perspective, in the parousia of Jesus, the risen Lord.
Zechariah 14:4-9 (E) - This "the day of the Lord is coming" chapter of Zechariah, is still speaking about the restoration of Judah (see chapter 12) after the exile. The beginning of this reading throws the lection into a Christian perspective (although this was not in the prophet's mind, of course), because it begins at the place where, according to Luke, the ascension of Jesus took place: "On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives which lies before Jerusalem on the east." Zechariah could have been speaking to Christians, not only to Jews, when he described what "that day" would be like. Indeed, it will be glorious, "and the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one." That kind of a Messiah has to be the Christ, the crucified and risen One, who has said he will return with power and glory. There can be no other.
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 (E, L, C); 3:12-4:2 (RC) - A recent study of the largest Protestant churches in the United States, which indicates that most Christians have not matured in their faith, makes verses 9 and 10 relevant to the human predicament today. Paul gave thanks to God for the faith of the church at Thessalonica, asking the Lord God to supply "what is lacking in (their) faith." He wants, as his letter continues, to see them mature in love for all people as they await the "coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints." He expected that they wouldn't have a long wait, as we have, but Paul was positive that the Lord would return, thereby keeping his promise and initiating the fullness of the kingdom of God. That continues to be the hope of Christians in this modern age.
The lection employed by the Episcopal Book Of Common Prayer picks up the last part of the previous reading and calls for an ethical response "That as you learned from us how you ought to live and please God, just as you are doing, you do so more and more" that prepares people for the parousia of the Lord. Christians are to grow in love and do works of love in the world as they await the second coming of Christ.
Luke 21:25-31 (E); 21:25-26 (L, C); 21:25-28, 34-36 (RC) - Time was running out on Jesus during that period that we call Holy Week; his passion and death were imminent. But he had just witnessed a beautiful act of sacrificial love, when the widowed woman put her two copper coins into the temple treasury. Prompted by comments made by people (his disciples?), who seemed to have missed what Jesus saw and were impressed by the beauty of the temple and the splendor and its "offerings" (of the wealthy), Jesus spoke of the age to come, the "final time" of the earth: "There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations ... for the powers of the heavens will be shaken." Echoing Jeremiah (his redactor, at any rate), Jesus promised that the Son of Man would return and be seen by all people living on the earth. That's the prophecy and his promise which call for a response of obedience and faith - "look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." The last portion of the Gospel for the Day is Jesus' exhortation (the redactor's?) to the Christian community to live hopefully and ethically in expectation of his return. That word "situates" us in the world that is in serious trouble.
Sermon Suggestions, Synopses, Sketches, Stories
Luke 21:25-36 (L, C); 25-31 (E); 25-28, 34-36 (RC) - "The Signs And The Times" - Early in 1990, the Church Universal and Triumphant which has located its operations in Montana, has announced that a nuclear holocaust will occur in the near future. The leader, Evelyn Clare Prophet, has convinced the members of that cult that the end of the world is at hand, that it will occur by nuclear warfare, and that they should build bomb shelters for protection. They have done just that and armed themselves "to the teeth" with assault weapons and machine guns. The whole business seems terribly out of date in view of the movements to disarm the Western World and rid the world, ultimately, of nuclear weapons. Any nuclear threat now would come more from nuclear accidents (as at the disaster in Chernobyl) rather than by nuclear war, and while such accidents might be terrible, they might not be on a world-wide scale.
It was Ray Bradbury, in The Martian Chronicles which he wrote shortly after World War II, who was one of the first persons to write about nuclear warfare as the total destruction of the earth. In the next to the last chapter, "August 26 - There Will Come Soft Rains," he wrote: "In the living room the voice-clock sang, tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o'clock! as if it were afraid that nobody would. The morning house lay empty. The clocked ticked on, repeating and repeating its sounds into the emptiness. Seven-nine, breakfast time, seven-nine!" The automated kitchen prepared breakfast and a second voice spoke from the kitchen ceiling, repeating its message three times, "Today is August 4, 2006 ... in the city of Allendale, California." The house went about its business; everything was automated and done by machines and robots, but there were no people in that house, in Allendale, or anywhere else on the planet Earth. People had been eradicated by a type of nuclear weapon which left buildings and other structures standing. It was the end of the earth for the human race and those species of life that existed during the first quarter of the 21st century.
1. These are different times - The 1990s have been called the "critical decade" for the earth and all that inhabits it; pollution, over-consumption, especially by people in the United States of America, depletion of the ozone layer, plus rampant spread of the drug culture and its consequences, and the breakdown of morals and ethics are some of the problems that have to be faced and dealt with in this decade or, some scientists insist, the end of life as we know it is at hand - the end of this world, if you will. That's the setting in which we preach the gospel as good news, declaring that Christ will come again, as he promised.
2. The signs should wake us up - The signs of the times tell us that, despite the fact that time is running out on the inhabitants of the earth, there is still time to take definitive action and, as Joseph Sittler put it, to take "care of the earth" because "it is all that we have." A modern type of repentance is needed that will reverse the processes of consumption and destruction and begin to restore the world we live in. The signs of these times are sure and certain; there is no mistaking the signs! They call for repentance and the recognition of our sin and for change of mind and lifestyle.
3. Preparing the world for the parousia - That's our task, which involves preaching the gospel to all people, and responding in faith and obedience to the word of the Lord.
It is time to reject "dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life" and get on with the business of God. The "signs" take us back to the Garden and the responsibilities God gave human beings to take charge of the earth and care for it and to fill it up. We have filled it up, but we haven't really taken care of it, have we?
4. There is nothing to fear - We don't have to fear the bomb, nor do we need to fear the task at hand, although we know the tragic consequences that may occur if we don't take radical action to save the world. So, pray, "Come, Lord Jesus! Come, quickly!" - right now so that we may live in faith, hope, love and obedience, doing those things which he has commanded us to do until he comes again.
Jeremiah 33:14-16 (RC, L, C) - "The Day Of God's Promise."
1. The God who makes good promises to his people
2. God is good to his promises
3. The people of God live the good life
4. Indeed, "the Lord is our righteousness," our salvation
Zechariah 14:4-9 - "The Day Of The Lord"
1. The Lord will come and stand on the mountain
2. The whole earth will know that God is Lord
3. In Jesus, he will begin his reign over all the earth
4. He will announce this from his holy mountain
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 (E, L, C); 3:12-4:2 (RC) - "Germination And Growth"
1. People become Christians when the seed, God's holy Word, germinates in their hearts, souls, and minds.
2. God's Word, through the Holy Spirit, sends down deep roots, so that there might be believers that might mature in their faith.
3. The growth process has to continue as long as people live, or they retrogress and faith may shrivel up.
4. Mature Christians are ready for the parousia; they have nothing to fear, and go about their Lord's business as long as they live.
After the funeral of Dr. Carl Volz's brother Victor, some years ago, the family gathered to share a meal. A stranger noticed that one of his sons, Martin, was wearing a carnation from the flowers on the casket, asking him if he were from a wedding party. Martin told him, Volz writes, that "he was with the party, but it was not a wedding but a funeral. The stranger said he couldn't tell from our actions that we had been to a funeral. And Martin said, 'That's because we are believers.' " Isn't that the stance of the mature Christian who believes in, and anticipates Jesus' parousia?
