A Thrilling Voice is Sounding

You can tell me if it is just that I’m strange, but I always thought most of us have this junk drawer of various topics that just keep returning. Nothing in that junk drawer is absolutely necessary, except in that exact moment when you need a potato masher or small flashlight or battery tester or the letter opener. The big potato masher of my mental junk drawer has always been the doctrine of election. The first thing that you see when you open that junk drawer. The thing that might be big enough to prevent the drawer from opening. And you have to fiddle with it a bit – shaking the drawer to get some things to move – to get into it. Not today election, I don’t have the time. And if you demand my attention, I’m just going to force this drawer open. I’m going to become a gross Calvinist so I don’t have to think about you anymore. Sure, forcing that drawer open breaks the countertop. Like Calvinism breaks the incarnation. Who needs an incarnation with its revelation if the eternal decrees which remain His forever are all that matters? Who needs time? But somedays you just need the potato masher firmly in hand.

Some days you don’t need the potato masher. Somedays there are other things in that junk drawer. Right next to that potato masher of the doctrine of election is the kitchen timer – time itself. Somehow the eternal decrees and “I AM” and speculations about the eternal now, morph their way into this one moment. Running through Dr. Who’s timey-whimy tardis adventures and AI dreams of titanium terminators coming back in time for John Carter – another JC. Advent is a season in some ways about time. A season of waiting, of longing, of fulfillment. All things that depend upon time. And then you find yourself thinking that you live your life week to week – Sunday to Sunday rhythms. And how many of those weeks you might have (50 x 80 = 4000 plus 160 for the other 2×80). And how many of those weeks did you make matter?

We live in time. And we can become so used to its rhythms. 60 beats a minute, 60 minutes an hour, your heart beats them out. If you’ve got a pacemaker, you know how disturbing it can be when the heart isn’t keeping time. Or if your heart in your 53rd year starts throwing in extra beats that occasionally wake you in your 8 hours of slumber. Maybe trying to make up for weeks that didn’t mean anything? We live in time. We like our ruts.

And in the middle of our ruts, we hear a voice in the distance. Is that the TV? Does one of the kids have their earphones out? “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

“You brood of Vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”

“Even now the axe is laid to the root of the tree!”

And we are no longer in time. This is not the week by week. The heart is running a little faster. We’ve been called out into the wilderness. Maybe we’ve gone there willingly. Maybe we’ve been drug there. Maybe we are there because we want to turn it off and get back to our time, to our rut. “Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him.” Right now, we are not in time exactly. Today we have been called to a moment. Today we have been called to the desert where time doesn’t move the same.

Today you have been baptized with water and fire for repentance. Today the voice calls, “make straight the way.” And don’t think you can call on ancestors – “we have Abraham as our father.” This is about you. This moment is yours. Tomorrow the threshing floor clears and the chaff is burned. Today, this moment, is yours. “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

And then you are back. In time. What are you going to do with it

Advent Midweek 1 – Description of a Reign

Text: Psalm 72

Introduction

I feel a little guilty sometimes. I just don’t use the Psalms all that often in worship. The Introits are usually Psalms…but chopped up ones that use selected verses to support the later texts of the day. Rarely do we touch anything like a full Psalm. So for our Advent midweeks I’ve picked a couple of full Psalms to read and meditate on.

Text

The one this week is Psalm 72. If we believe the inscriptions – those parts often at the start of every Psalm – this is one written by Solomon. And it makes sense as some type of installation or coronation prayer. And that might explain the last verse – 20 – when it says the prayers of David are ended. Some priest or scribe at sometime collected what we know as the book of the Psalms. Much like we publish hymnbooks. But you can imagine a prior collection of just the Psalms of David – probably including those lost to us – that ended with a Psalm of his son Solomon.

It almost feels like a litany. May…May…Let…May. Repeated request of God for various blessing on the King. And our editors I think give us a good clue. The first four verses are requests for the justice of his reign. And for the King of Israel justice also mean righteousness. And what does that mean? Let prosperity come from the mountains and the hills. The mines and the grazing spaces of the herds of Israel. Let the prosperity comes of honest work, and not oppression. “May he defend the cause of the poor, give deliverance to the children of the need, and crush the oppressor.” The opposite of most pagan rule, in which the rulers did the oppression. And the prosperity was not for the people, but for those who might rig the economy.

And the right response to such just and righteous rule is verses 5 to 7. A proper fear of the Lord’s anointed. And may the righteousness of the King lead the to the flouring of righteousness and peace among the people. And may they want such reign forever – “till the moon be no more.”

And no King or people is ever content with their current domain. Even the US would like Greenland. Verses 8-11. “May he have dominion from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth.” Desert tribes – that would be Arabia – to Tarshish – that would be Spain – to Sheba – deep into Africa. Oh heck. “May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him.”

And sure you could just chalk this all up as coronation hyperbole, but this is beyond that. All kings die and all houses eventually disappear. Whoever compiled the Psalms had to know that the coronation this was for – Solomon – that Kingdom didn’t make it to the next generation whole. 10 of the 12 tribes split. And if Solomon at one time might have reigned from the river – Euphrates – to the Edge of Egypt, and received the Queen of Sheba, that was it’s extent. What would a king of Judah – that dramatically reduced Kingdom – think upon hearing this? I would think this is not my kingdom and never will be.

And maybe more of that if he heard verse 12 to 14. “He delivers the needy…has pity on the weak…redeems their life and precious is their blood in his sight.” Does that sound like any earthly ruler? Does that sound like any kingdom of this world?

Conclusion

Maybe it is Solomon’s prayer. Maybe young Solomon – full of wisdom – could ask for such a kingdom. But that wisdom and desire wouldn’t make it to the end of his Kingdom. Solomon of 700 wives and 300 concubines. Fully invested in the world. Solomon in all his glory, and completely unable to prevent the fracture of Israel.

But one greater than Solomon came. And his Kingdom is not of this world. Although it does have citizens from the River to the ends of the earth. And in that Kingdom the good news is preached to the poor. One greater than Solomon is here and his reign abounds producing grain 30, 60, 100 fold, and the fruit of good works. “May there be an abundance of grain…may its fruit be like Lebanon.” One greater than Solomon lives and “his name endures forever.”

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.

Like forgiving the sins of all who call on him and promising them an inheritance.

May the whole earth be filled with his glory.

As the angels announced one night long ago…as it shall be on a day not long off.

The King’s Order

I don’t know if it has passed Gunsmoke yet for the longest running TV show, but Law and Order has been on forever. And I’ve always had a bit of a bone to pick with that name. In that show the first half is supposed to be “law” which is taken up with the police while the second half is the “order” which is the lawyers in the courtroom. Lawyers may think their operations are the working of order, but already that is at order’s breakdown. True order springs from the place where the law is just and the people desire to live in peace. In a perfectly ordered society the law becomes an afterthought because it is written on hearts and hearts are attuned to follow, and the law is no longer necessary as even a curb. Isaiah’s picture of the Messianic society in our Old Testament lesson is a picture of perfect order.

The nations’ and peoples’ statement is “let us go up to the mountain of the LORD…that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths (Isaiah 2:3).” It is on the mountaintop that the law is given, but what the nations’ desire is the ways of God. The desire to walk in his paths. The law at best defines the boundaries of those things. The law states what is off the path or what is outside of the way of God. But the desire is the fullness of divine order. To live in harmony with the will of God.

The start of that order can be the law. “Out of Zion shall go the law (Isaiah 2:3).” But the law is not the end. For by the law we only know where we have trespassed. The law multiplies the sin. As Paul would say, those under that law are being tutored. They are under the pedagogue. But Isaiah says parallel to the law “the word of the LORD (goes our) from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3).” It is that Word – the order of God that we seek. Because it is only within that order that we find true peace.

As long as we are testing the boundaries of the law – sinning – we find ourselves at war. We find ourselves at war with the King and his law. We find ourselves at war with our neighbor as we attempt to advantage ourselves at their expense. We find ourselves at war with ourselves. For in our hearts we know the law, and the Spirit in us longs for the Order of God, but we continue the war in our members. It is only when we submit ourselves to the King that we shall find peace. “He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples (Isaiah 2:4).” As the song says “I fought the law and the law won.” God is sovereign. His law is the only true law. And it ultimately decides between nations and peoples. The only question is if we are brought before it as outlaws or as those who desire true justice.

Those whose hearts are submitted to Christ there will find peace. “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks (Isaiah 2:4).” We can put down our war against God and our neighbor and ourselves. We can do that in repentance and seeking God’s order for our lives. Isaiah’s ultimate vision is that “nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore (Isaiah 2:4).” The peace of the Kingdom of Heaven is what stands as the promise. God’s order will be established. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. And that is not some Star Trek Borg like forced compliance – “Resistance is futile.” No, that is the desire of nations. Peoples and Nations tired of war, tired of the disorder, tired of testing laws and finding them wanting at exactly the point they are needed. Tired of sin and its degradation. “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord (Isaiah 2:3).” We are tired of war. May the LORD grant us his peace, his order. And then the King shall come.

Rejoice! You’re Invited to the Wedding

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This is midweek advent 2 and for us the last of the Advent midweeks this year. A Short Season. Part of that is we are going caroling next week. I ran with LCMS worship’s themes for the season this year. And they did what most LCMS products do. They gave you two hours of stuff for something you want around 25 mins. That is much better than the flip which is 10 mins of content and you’ve got to fill an hour. (There is a reason BigEva places go through the refrains of the worship songs multiple times.)

The biggest problem for me with jumping off of someone else work – something I rarely do because of this – is connecting the theme and material to the lives of the people present. If I was only teaching the scriptures this wouldn’t be a problem, because most study of most things isn’t practical. You learn calculus because “it’s the next thing” not because you’ll employ it in the job. And the dirty secret of education is that the things we label least practical – say literature – are the stuff that is real. And preaching is supposed to be real. Theology is for everyday living. The bridge here is two fold. We all have piety practices and a shared one in advent is the candle wreath. There are lots of meanings given to each candle. And older form of that piety that we connect with theological virtues connected with the 4 last things: death, judgement, heaven and hell. And the Wedding Feast is the biblical picture of Heaven.

The text, the parable of the wedding banquet, establishes a contrast between the invitation to the wedding and what those who refuse to go do instead and the outcome of the choice. It is the contrast between tragedy and comedy. The invitation you have – Come to the Wedding Feast – tells you about this life. All Comedies end in a wedding. The road may be laughter and tears and cringe, but it ends in love.

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Advent Apology

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Biblical Text: : Luke 3:1-20

I’m using apology above in the original sense – a defense, an argument for something, in this case, Advent. Advent is something that has largely gone missing from the US culture. To the extent that the pressure is on churches like ours that have it to say why. This sermon spends a little time in reminiscence of how Advent disappeared. But, it spends most of its time on why Advent really is a necessary season. Of all the seasons of the church year, Advent carries with it the themes most aligned with the Christian life in this world: hope, longing, preparation. John the Baptist stands in the lectionary as the character that we must go through. You can’t get to the manger without hearing the forerunner. And he’s got a couple of messages. One is apocalyptic and the other moral. This sermon develops those for the listener’s Christian life.

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The King’s Peace

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Biblical Text: Luke 19:28-40

This is the first Sunday of Advent and the Gospel text is always Palm Sunday – the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The theme or motif of the day is the Advent or Coming of the King. What this sermon takes up is our distance from even the idea of a King. What does it mean to have a King? What are successful Kings? And how is the Kingdom of Heaven different from all those?

The core of being a king is to reign. But there are many ways that reign is established, justified and judged. The Reign of Jesus is specific in two ways called out by the crowds. It brings peace and it brings glory to the highest. This sermon develops how we live in that peace and how we can recognize and join in the glorification.

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Return of the King

“And this the name by which it will be called: The LORD is our righteousness.” – Jeremiah 33:16

The first Sunday of Advent always seems out of place to me and I’m not exactly sure why. The primary gospel lesson assigned has always been Palm Sunday. It is the Advent of the King. I think it might be because the Pastor I had growing up always switched the lesson up. If my memory is still working, I tend to remember a couple of Apocalypse Sundays. And there is an alternate text given. It could also just be that as an American, speaking about Kings seems foreign, maybe traitorous. We are citizens, not subjects. But the Advent Palm Sunday is about all the legends of the Return of the King and a dwelling of peace.

In the Old Testament you can talk about three covenants. (Well, there is a 4^th, but that one with Noah is something of a prefigurement of the three. Noah receives the promise of no more floods which can only be received by faith. And immediately after men have no faith and start building the Tower of Babel. Noah also receives a bit of the law in regards to killing men and animals (Genesis 9). And according to the apocryphal book of Jubilees that Noahide law had six of the 10 commandments.) The three primary covenants are the one of Faith through Abraham, the law of Sinai through Moses, and the promise of a King with an eternal throne through David. The old testament reading for this Sunday (Jeremiah 33:14-16) reminds of all three covenants. “At that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

We have a natural sense of justice. Those Noahide laws, the 10 commandments, are a revelation of the natural law. A major part of the purpose of a King is to execute justice. But a King is also called “Your Grace.” Not only executing justice, the King is to execute righteousness. And it is that grace, that righteousness which is tougher. We have no true innate sense of righteousness. We only know it when we see it. And even then in our fallen condition don’t always see it let alone desire it. Because right now, to fulfill the law and justice, the cross is our righteousness. Our King took his own punishment. The LORD is our righteousness that he might treat us by his grace.

On that first Advent the King came to execute righteousness. “In those days Judah will be saved (Jeremiah 33:16),” But we await the return of the King. “In those days….Jerusalem will dwell securely.” We know the law, but the devil the world and our flesh are still too much with us. Our righteousness and salvation are sure in Christ, but what we will be has not yet appeared. We walk in danger all the way. The stewards can be faithless. Tragedies befall kingdoms of this world. We long for the righteous branch. We wait for the King to approach Jerusalem once again. And to enter that heavenly city, where the righteous might dwell securely under the eternal throne.

It’s Camelot and Gondor and Rome and Constantinople and Shang-Ri-La and Atlantis and Avalon and every legend, but made real. The LORD becomes incarnate. The LORD has raised up a righteous branch for David. The LORD keeps his promises. His covenants are true. The King shall come when morning dawns. And he shall execute justice and righteousness. And we shall dwell securely under his throne.

Mary’s Song

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Biblical Text: Luke 1:46-55

This was our 2nd midweek advent. We took up the 2nd song in Luke 1 – Mary’s Song. Often called the Magnificat, which is simply the Latin for magnify. And that is the word that this meditation picks up and plays with. What exactly does it mean for a soul to magnify the Lord? And why would anyone do that?

(Note: Sorry about the recording, I don’t have one right now. All the copies left the building before I could grab one. When one comes back I’ll rip it.)

Liminal Time

There is a word I love – liminal. Yes, nobody knows what it means. Or, you all do, just not as that word, but as a gut feeling. It means a sensory threshold. A liminal sound would be one that you can barely hear. A liminal vision is that one just on the horizon. But my favorite use, and probably its most common use, is in regards to things of the Spirit. A liminal space is that sense of walking on holy ground, or the other way might be “walking past the graveyard.” A liminal time is usually only noticed in hindsight. My middle child is in something of one right now in college applications. As an old guy I can recognize it. For him, it just expresses itself as procrastination. That’s a common way to know you are in a liminal state, you procrastinate. You are trying to stay in the known, not willing to give way to the unknown just yet. Liminal states are necessarily scary, because what is on the other side is unknown or at least unexperienced.

Advent for me has always been a liminal time. The old year is passing away; the new thing is coming. You have things like congregational meetings. You prepare budgets. Officers are renewed. In the church year sense the old has already passed away, but Advent is a strange season even on the church calendar. It was added as a season of preparation for the staggering mystery of the incarnation. Sometimes that preparation was penitential. John the Baptist appears twice in Advent with his calls to repent and warnings about what is to come. I often try to imagine what a John the Baptist would look like today and usually fail to come up with anything convincing. The Baptist is a liminal figure proclaiming things are about to change dramatically, repent in preparation. That penitential sense is usually captured in the purples of the season. But the liminal nature of Advent to me is not so much about those purples, which are constant in this life, as about the blues. They are the blues of right before dawn. It is still night, but the sun is just below the horizon. As we sang at the end of last Sunday, “The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns.”

And that is what the historic text for the first Sunday of Advent shows us, Jesus on Palm Sunday entering Jerusalem. Anytime the King arrives it is a liminal space because the King has absolute authority. His word is law. But approaching the King is always scary because you don’t know the ruling. But that is part of why Jesus presents himself twice. The first time humbly, riding a donkey. The first time toward the cross, which addresses all our sins, so that we know the judgement. The second time to set us free. To set us free from those sins that still encumber us. To set us free from our fears of this liminal space.

Advent is the season we ponder living in a liminal space. Knowing and seeing what is on the horizon – the judgement and the New Jerusalem, the King arriving in power not grace. Yet, that dawn is not yet. Today is still the day of grace. Today the King still comes humbly, as a little child, as that knocking at your heart. It is a liminal space that says “repent and believe, for you salvation comes quickly.” A liminal space that reminds us “all idols than shall perish and Satan’s lying cease, and Christ shall raise his scepter, decreeing endless peace.” A Great and Mighty wonder lies just beyond this liminal time.

Behold and Rejoice

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Biblical Text: Zephaniah 3:14-20

The third week of Advent is often labeled Gaudete, Latin for Rejoice! It’s a command word. But commanding someone to rejoice is a non-starter. True Joy is pulled out of us. It is the natural reaction of the loved seeing the lover. This sermon reflects on these themes and how God coming from outside of us brings for that Rejoicing.

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