First Reading: Isaiah 40:1-11

 ¹Comfort, O comfort my people,
  says your God.
 ²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
  and cry to her
 that she has served her term,
  that her penalty is paid,
 that she has received from the Lord’s hand
  double for all her sins.
³A voice cries out:
 “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
  make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
 ⁴Every valley shall be lifted up,
  and every mountain and hill be made low;
 the uneven ground shall become level,
  and the rough places a plain.
 ⁵Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
  and all people shall see it together,
  for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
⁶A voice says, “Cry out!”
  And I said, “What shall I cry?”
 All people are grass,
  their constancy is like the flower of the field.
 ⁷The grass withers, the flower fades,
  when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
  surely the people are grass.
 ⁸The grass withers, the flower fades;
  but the word of our God will stand forever.
 ⁹Get you up to a high mountain,
  O Zion, herald of good tidings;
 lift up your voice with strength,
  O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
  lift it up, do not fear;
 say to the cities of Judah,
  “Here is your God!”
 ¹⁰See, the Lord God comes with might,
  and his arm rules for him;
 his reward is with him,
  and his recompense before him.
 ¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
  he will gather the lambs in his arms,
 and carry them in his bosom,
  and gently lead the mother sheep.

Psalm: Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

Righteousness shall prepare a pathway for God. (Ps. 85:13)

 ¹You have been gracious to your land, O Lord;
  you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.
 ²You have forgiven the iniquity of your people
  and blotted out all their sins.
 ⁸I will listen to what the Lord God is saying;
  for you speak peace to your faithful people and to those who turn       their hearts to you.
 ⁹Truly, your salvation is very near to those who fear you,
  that your glory may dwell in our land. 
 ¹⁰Steadfast love and faithfulness have met together;
  righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
 ¹¹Faithfulness shall spring up from the earth,
  and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
 ¹²The Lord will indeed grant prosperity,
  and our land will yield its increase.
 ¹³Righteousness shall go before the Lord
  and shall prepare for God a pathway. 

Second Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-15a

⁸Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. ⁹The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. ¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.
 ¹¹Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, ¹²waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? ¹³But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

 ¹⁴Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; ^15aand regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.

Gospel: Mark 1:1-8

¹The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
 ²As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
 “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
  who will prepare your way;
 ³the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
  ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
  make his paths straight,’ ”
⁴John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. ⁸I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

CHILDREN’S SERMON:  Advent 2: PEACE

         Today we will try a little quiz.  I will tell you a slogan and you tell me the name of the product. 

• “betch ya can’t eat just one”   (Lay’s Potato Chips)
• “You’re in good hands with…”  (AllState)
• In 2009 this company claimed, “We live to deliver.” But now they say, “Where now meets next.”  (Fedex)
• “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom…” stops these carriers.  (The US Postal system)
• And of course if I said “Golden Arches” you would know I was talking about McDonalds.

All these slogans bring smiles to our faces.

Let’s pray.  Lord, may the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my Rock and my Redeemer.

SERMON

¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.   Colossians 3:15

            Today is the second Sunday in Advent and we light the PEACE candle.  Last week we learned that the journey of Advent is a journey of hope.  God always fulfills his prophecies and promises and so we celebrate the incarnation in Bethlehem with hope.  Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled. We know Christ’s promise that he will return and take us to be with him will come true.  We live in that hope.  Today we ponder peace with God. 

         So back to slogans.  I will say a slogan and you tell me the company.

1. “The original.  If your grandfather hadn’t worn it, you wouldn’t exist.”  It’s Old Spice.  (I didn’t recognize it but I have often given my father Old Spice at Christmas.)
2. “The happiest place on earth.”  (People in California would recognize that as Disney Land’s tagline but people in Florida would say Disney World.)
3. “The breakfast of champions.”  (Wheaties)
4. “Fly the friendly skies of…”  (United)

Today’s text points us to a very different slogan and logo.  If I were to ask you who preached wearing clothing of “camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey,” you would probably identify John the Baptist, even if we had not just read the Gospel.  His slogan was not a call to happiness like Disney, not to safe car issues like AllState, or not even to a friendly trip into the heavens with United Airlines.  He preached “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  The people from all levels of society flocked to hear John the Baptist and be baptized. His slogan is worth checking out this morning.  John the Baptist paved the way for us to understand PEACE.

“a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”

Our text today suggests that a world as chaotic, fragmented and fraught with political intrigue as theirs, was changed by a slogan that opened eyes to a new reality.  Our world is just as chaotic, fragmented and fraught with political intrigue.  John the Baptist came offering a way to find peace.  So let me start by asking you this question this morning, “What do you understand to be the core problem with our world today?  What really needs to change?”

• Some might answer, “all the world needs now is love, sweet love” written by songwriting team Burt Bacharach and Hal David and sung by Dion Warwick.
• Others might cry for equality, “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage,” as Herbert Hoover offered in the 1928 presidential elections.
• Then again, our constitution originally saw “each man’s home is his castle”, secure from unreasonable searches and seizures of property by the government.”

         The Gospel of Mark starts the story of peace with John the Baptist as an adult calling people for repentance to prepare the way for a Messiah’s coming.  John the Baptist, born to Zechariah and Elizabeth in their old age, as the prophesized forerunner to the promised Messiah, has grown up and now appears on the world stage, like a real prophet in camel’s hair clothes and eating locust and honey.  He certainly caught the attention of people.  He did not preach health, wealth and prosperity as God’s solution for life like our TV evangelists do today.  He was not performing miracles as far as we know.  He was a voice of truth confronting people about peace, an issue of their day….and ours!

         We are separated from God because of the things we do and the things we forget to do.  We are not at peace in our world or within ourselves.  We open our worship service, as we come before God, with a confession that we just cannot seem to get it right.  We are separated from God – HELP – forgive us.  Perhaps it has come to feel like a routine part of coming to church, kind of like a prelude, but it is core to peace, peace that passes understanding.

“prepare the way for the Lord”

         Confession prepares our hearts for forgiveness, for the ability to reconnect with God and be at peace.  Confession is a way of coming to grips with reality.  In the 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous, a person must first admit powerlessness over alcohol making their life unmanageable, next they agree that there is a Power greater than themselves that can restore them to sanity, and thirdly that they will turn their life over to the care of God as they understand him. Until we understand that we are the creatures and God is the creator, we live with victim mentalities.  We are the victims of the government, of our family history, of our bodily imperfections and we have trouble taking responsibility for our lives.  I love the confessional that admits we have done wrong but also we have forgotten to do right.  Confession is saying out loud the accusations that the evil one loves to whisper in our ears that we just are not enough in and of ourselves.  Speaking the truth lays our souls open before that higher power and allows for God to speak.

         Slogans appeal to something core within a person.  Disney appeals to those who want to be happy and who pray a happy vacation will draw their family or group into greater harmony.  Old Spice appeals to our deep desire to be loved and to find a faithful spouse.  And United Airlines speaks to our fear of flying.  If we are honest, we also have a deep desire to be at peace with our world, others in our world and with the power that controls our world.  Conflict is not fun even for those who enjoy the adrenaline rush at first.  Conflict is exhausting.  I would suggest that the wars going on, the mass shootings, and the high divorce rates would say that our generation is looking for peace also.

“make his paths straight”

         Repentance is the act of straightening out the paths of our lives.  Many will acknowledge that they are powerless and caught in self-destructive behavior.  They might even be willing to admit they were partially to blame and acknowledge that the whole problem is not the other person.  I think counseling tries to get us to see two sides to the story.  Acknowledging the problems of reality does not make things right, though.  How do we straighten out our paths?  That’s called repentance.

         Repentance is not just saying we did wrong.  It is changing and going in a new direction.  I can cry in my beer about the grip alcohol has on my life but it is as I work on giving up drinking that my life starts to change. I have shared with you before how much I enjoy a chapter in Walter Wangarin’s book, As For Me and My Household.  Forgiveness is not just saying the words, “I’m sorry,” not just kissing and making up or making out, and not just trying to forget an event happened.  Forgiveness is acknowledging the part I had in the sin that occurred and laying it at the foot of the cross for God to take care of in his time.  I am giving up my right for justification and vengeance.  It is allowing God to have the final word.  I open my fist and turn my anger or my fear or my greed or my addiction or my loneliness or my mistakes over to God.  It is hard stuff and often I cannot do it myself but need the help of the Holy Spirit and perhaps a friend to pray with.  When I no longer need to be in control of the outcome of a situation, I can find peace.  It is no longer mine to deal with.  I turn away from that destructive behavior.

⁸I have baptized you with water;

 but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

         John the Baptist appeared on the world stage to prepare people for the arrival of Jesus the Messiah.  I remember back in the earlier days of computers when the word used to capture our imaginations and money was the word “power.”  If we would only buy a computer we would have power at our fingertips. Now we focus perhaps on the time saving value of technology so we have “instacart”, “zoom” meetings so we don’t have to waste time going places, and CNN claims they have instant news in case an event like Mohamed or Jesus appeared anywhere in the world.  We can hear about it tonight on the news.  But back in the day, technology gave us “power” over our lives.

         John the Baptist has a promise.  He is but the “voice of one crying in the wilderness” telling us that his baptism prepares our lives for the arrival of the Messiah who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.  For sure that sentence collapses a lot of religious wisdom into a few words.  We probably don’t fully understand and nor can fully explain as much about the Holy Spirit just as we understand kind of the “world wide web” and “the cloud.”  Slogans don’t tell us how Disney delivers happiness or how eating Wheaties makes me into a champion but slogans speak to a truth, to a deep human desire.  John the Baptist spoke to a world hungry for peace.  They did not want Roman rule.  They did not want the poverty and problems of their day. 

         Today Advent speaks to us through the fulfilled prophecies that give us hope and through the spiritual disciplines of confession and repentance that open our hearts to hear the message of forgiveness.  Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit who walks with us to achieve peace.  We can be at peace within ourselves, with our acquaintances, with our world and with the God who created us.  Wow.  That is a slogan worth wearing camel’s hair clothes and shouting in the wilderness about.  Advent promises PEACE.

Let the people of God say, “Thank you, Lord.”

First Reading: Isaiah 64:1-9

 ¹O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
  so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
 ²as when fire kindles brushwood
  and the fire causes water to boil—
 to make your name known to your adversaries,
  so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
 ³When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
  you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
 ⁴From ages past no one has heard,
  no ear has perceived,
 no eye has seen any God besides you,
  who works for those who wait for him.
 ⁵You meet those who gladly do right,
  those who remember you in your ways.
 But you were angry, and we sinned;
  because you hid yourself we transgressed.
 ⁶We have all become like one who is unclean,
  and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
 We all fade like a leaf,
  and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
 ⁷There is no one who calls on your name,
  or attempts to take hold of you;
 for you have hidden your face from us,
  and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
 ⁸Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
  we are the clay, and you are our potter;
  we are all the work of your hand.
 ⁹Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,
  and do not remember iniquity forever.
  Now consider, we are all your people.

Psalm: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

Let your face shine upon us, and we shall be saved. (Ps. 80:7)

 ¹Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock;
  shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.
 ²In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,
  stir up your strength and come to help us.
 ³Restore us, O God;
  let your face shine upon us, and we shall be saved.
 ⁴O Lord God of hosts,
  how long will your anger fume when your people pray? 
 ⁵You have fed them with the bread of tears;
  you have given them bowls of tears to drink.
 ⁶You have made us the derision of our neighbors,
  and our enemies laugh us to scorn.
 ⁷Restore us, O God of hosts;
  let your face shine upon us, and we shall be saved.
 ¹⁷Let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
  the one you have made so strong for yourself. 
 ¹⁸And so will we never turn away from you;
  give us life, that we may call upon your name.
 ¹⁹Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
  let your face shine upon us, and we shall be saved. 

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
 ⁴I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind—⁶just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you—⁷so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Gospel: Mark 13:24-37

 [Jesus said:] ²⁴“In those days, after that suffering,
 the sun will be darkened,
  and the moon will not give its light,
 ²⁵and the stars will be falling from heaven,
  and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
²⁶Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. ²⁷Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
 ²⁸“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. ³⁰Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
 ³²“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. ³⁵Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, ³⁶or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. ³⁷And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

CHILDRENS’ SERMON:  “Let’s start at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start.”  Maria in Sound of Music teaches the children to sing by using the Do-Re-Mi song.  The song opens:

“Let’s start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read, you begin with A-B-C
When you sing, you begin with Do-Re-Mi”

Where do you begin when you want to tell someone about your faith or talk about Jesus?  Today we connect the past to present to start our Advent Season and learn to sing our faith song.

Let us pray.  Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight.

SERMON

         Today we start a new church year.  Advent opens our church calendar.  In Advent we celebrate the physical nativity of Jesus in Bethlehem, the birth of Christ in the heart of a believer, and Advent looks forward to the return of Christ at the end of time, as we know it.   Today we switch from looking at our faith through the Gospel of Matthew to seeing Jesus through the Gospel of Mark.  Mark is a bit problematic for Advent because it opens differently than Matthew who starts talking about Jesus by sharing a long genealogy and Joseph’s story of finding Mary pregnant.  Mark also does not open as Luke does with the traditional Mary and Joseph story and the journey to Bethlehem.  Nor is Mark philosophical like John who goes back to creation when the Word was God and the Word was with God.  Mark is a much more action packed narrative and he jumps right in opening with John the Baptist and Jesus as an adult.  Next week we will go to Mark 1 but our Gospel text today goes to chapter 13 as a bridge, a connection between the end of Pentecost to the beginning of Advent.  In Mark 13 the writer reports Jesus saying, “In those days…” What days?

²⁴“In those days,

         In Mark 13, Jesus has been talking to his disciples about the end of time when he will return.  He gave the disciples the parable about the wise and foolish bridesmaids followed by the parable about the owner entrusting his slaves with talents while the owner goes on a journey.  He warns that the bridegroom or the owner will come at an unexpected time.  Be prepared.  Perhaps it is not so very different from all the advertising about Black Friday and Christmas right now.  We put on our happy music to welcome a Christmas that has not yet arrived and we hurry and scurry to get gifts, prepare menus, ponder who travels where and we budget how many programs we can attend.  “These days” for us are like “those days” of the Bible.  Both are days of anticipation and preparation for Christ’s coming or return.  As Christians we celebrate the coming of Jesus in the manger but we also anticipate the return of Christ.  Prophecy, those words that speak of God’s plans for the future, give us hope for our future because God does what he promises.  Hence our Advent candle #1 is hope.  God WAS faithful to fulfill his prophecies and his promises in the past and so we know Jesus IS going to return.  We are people of hope.

         So what are the “do, re, mi-s” of Advent, the building blocks of our anticipation?  Jesus says today that suffering will precede his arrival.  I do not think he is referring to our stretched finances in December.  Jesus gives the example of the fig tree.  We know summer is coming because the tree puts forth buds.  How do we know the end is coming near? The tree starts shedding leaves.  As an elder, I feel the signs of aging in my body.  Somehow I just don’t jump out of bed like I used to.  Beloved friends die like leaves falling from a tree.  I am reminded now is time to prepare myself spiritually to meet the Lord.

         We go through this cycle of suffering that precedes a big event in other areas of our lives.  After all the uncertainty, we won’t call it suffering, of wondering if the wonderful person will propose or not and after agonizing over clothes, cake, and invitations, we know the wedding is coming.  After hours of committed workouts in the fall before schools open, football games fill our TV screens and we build up to the big “bowl” on New Years Day.  We get blisters preparing Bethany Gardens to produce.  Struggling and perhaps suffering often seems to precede a big event. 

         “In those days”, those days of preparation we work hard, suffer, to prepare.  We know Christmas is coming and so we put up the tree, change the colors of our church decorations, practice for programs, and invite friends.  Culture reminds us of the do-re-mi-s of preparing for Christmas in 2023 but our text challenges us today to ask ourselves how we are preparing for the second coming of Christ. Some of us will focus on “end times” and believe we will meet Christ when he comes in the sky.  Some of us, who sit by the side of a declining spouse or friend, realize meeting Christ again may be sooner than we would like.  Hopefully none of us will have to experience an accident or medical emergency that takes us into Christ’s presence immediately.  How are we preparing during Advent for Christ’s coming whether it is physical or spiritual? What are the building blocks your hope is built on?  Might I suggest that spiritual disciples like reading the Word, prayer, singing and fellowship are all things that we need to remember now in anticipation of Christ’s return.

“Then they will see…”

         “Then.”  Maria tells the children that once they have learned the sounds of the notes, then they can put them together to make tunes.  Jesus tells his disciples that once we have gone through the preparation period of suffering “then we will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.”  May I suggest that in the midst of crisis we cry out “help.”  Often it is only as we sit back afterwards that we can identify God’s hand that carried us.  The phone rang.  A surprise check came in the mail.  When all hope was lost, Jesus turned to the thief on the cross and said, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”  We put the notes, the events, together and begin to see a bigger picture of God at work.  It was his power that rescued us and he deserves the glory, not us.

         Jesus adds that the angels will be sent out to gather the saints from the all around the world.  Tunes are not individual notes or single group notes but are created when we put the notes together.  Even as the eye cannot exist for long by itself, so we all are products to the Church universal.  We are part of a body.  Often it is through fellow Christians that help comes.  We stand together during moments of suffering like death and illness and at moments of celebration like baptisms, confirmations, and weddings.  Hopefully we gather to support each other during divorce when our dreams die, during illness when our friends decline and during other crises in our lives. Do-re-mi notes are the tools that when put together makes tunes.

         Maria continues to tell the children that when we put words to the tunes, a word for each note, that then we create songs, music.  As we put words to our spiritual experiences we create testimonies that share our spiritual truth with others.  I would suggest this is not referring just to the preacher who shares experiences with “words.”  Your words may be art, may be music, may be helps, may be the love of sitting silently with the grieving or the gift of a meal to the family overwhelmed by life.  It may be the gift of gardening and giving fresh vegetables to food shelves.  We need each other in community to see the bigger picture, the music God is creating.

³⁵Therefore, keep awake…

         “In those days” that so often seem characterized by suffering, “then” are followed by insight into the ways God is working in our lives and in our world.  We see his power defeating evil not with vengeance but with sacrificial love.  We are part of a bigger picture, bigger than our individual lives.  God deserves the glory.  A song is emerging as we learn to put words to our tunes and tell our story.

         I love to watch orchestras or bands play music during Advent.  I can’t do two things at once but those musicians read the notes on a piece of paper, tap their feet and know just when their note is needed. The over-all affect is enjoyment.  I especially love the song “Sleigh Bells Ring, Are You Listening.”  Near the end of the song, the trumpet makes the sound of a horse neighing and someone cracks something that sounds like a whip.  My son played the trumpet and I always listen for that horse to come it at just the right beat and make us all smile. Will the trumpet sync with the rest of the song?  I always listen.  Each musician’s notes combine to make a tune and the audience knows the words that bring a message.  Can you imagine what a mess the concert would be if the players decided to take naps or forgot their music or did not watch the conductor?  Catastrophe.  They must “keep awake.”

         One of the other times the disciples are told to “keep awake” is in the Garden of Gethsemane, “³⁸ Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak’ (Mark 14:38).”  How very true.  I am willing but I am not always “awake.”

         We do not know when we will be called up to meet the Lord face to face.  It could be the end time theories are right.  It could be that we will have a long life full of years.  And it could be another time.  But for sure our lives are in God’s hands and the timing of meeting him is for him to decide.  We are weak, prone to be sleepy about our faith and need to be reminded to “keep awake.”  God is daily working in our world to bring about a great symphony.  As we prepare for Christmas, as we prepare for the arrival of the Christ child, as we anticipate the return of Christ and as we celebrate the presence of Christ in our lives, may we never forget that we worship a God who has and who can incarnate into our very lives and walk with us through the suffering of preparation of meeting him face to face.  Keep awake!

We are people of hope.

Let the people of God say “AMEN!”