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!”
Posted by srwantabee 
On the Way to Wonder 