O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Branch of Jesse’s tree,
Free them from Satan’s tyranny;
That trust Thy mighty pow’r to save,
And give them victory over the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
2 Peter 3:8–14
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
Grace
Mercy and Peace from God our Father and Savior Jesus Christ his son our
Lord. AMEN
Our
Text today comes from the Second Epistle of Saint Peter for the Second Week of
Advent.
The
Advent season leading into Christmas is a time of tradition. Parents are out shopping for the goodies to
place under the tree, Christmas music is being pulled out and played, and
desserts are starting to come out of the woodwork. The holiday season is meant to be a happy
time, with joy and celebrations, parties and concerts, and memories. But not all memories are good. The traditions that are built in happy times can
also be marred by the evils that encounter our days here on earth. For some, it may be a break in, others a
natural disaster, and for others death of a family member or close friend. Dealing with the dread enemy of death is
never a happy matter, but dealing with it at the holidays seems to take on a
new life. Life drags on when we struggle
with the weight of sin and death. But if
we truly look at this Christmas season, death is the true reason of the season.
Because out of death comes something new.
Everyone
has their own holiday traditions.
Growing up those Christmas traditions started early before Christmas in
small ways and grew over the Christmas season. Christmas began to peek into our
lives at thanksgiving where my family would gather at my Opa and Oma’s to feast
upon a thanksgiving meal. And after a
sumptuous meal and cleanup, we would pull out the decorations for the coming
Christmas season and start setting them up.
It was simple, but very enjoyable.
Then would come the Christmas pageants and the concerts. And on Christmas eve we would go first to the
7:00 service with a sermon that almost always had a reference to Charlie brown
Christmas and then come home have cookies and hot chocolate and open our
presents from everybody. But the night
never ended there, instead, we would always pile back into the truck and head
to church again for the 11:00 candle light service and let our Christmas
celebrations end not with the exchanging of gifts but with the sharing of the
light of Christ. It was a beautiful
time. But those times are no longer the
same for my family. We as grandchildren
got older and went off to college. And
family members passed away and the traditions that seemed so permanent fade
into memory.
Humanity’s
constant struggle here on earth seems to be attempting to control our lives,
and our surroundings. We set ourselves
up as lords over the land and all that dwells within it. But, the only thing that is constant here on
earth is change. But the change that we
bring about on our own is never for the better.
When we seek to rule through our own power, we turn away from the power
of God the Father in heaven. To his
people the Israelites God had a simple response. 'As I live,' says the
Lord God, 'I will not be inquired of by you. What you have in your mind shall
never be, when you say, ‘We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in
other countries, serving wood and stone.’" Ezekiel 20:31-32 They had taken
their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity
before their faces. And God declared to them their judgment. Rarely is the modern church so crass as to
openly turn away from God, but when the people of God care more about their
earthly being trying to control their own “lives” they are forgetting God and placing false
gods in their hearts. Those gods could
be the computers, cars or money.
And there you shall remember your ways and all your deeds with which
you have defiled yourselves, and you shall loathe yourselves for all the evils
that you have committed. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I deal
with you for my name's sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to
your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.” (Ezekiel
20:43-44 ESV)
Nations
rise and fall, and yet the world keeps spinning because God keeps it moving. Things that used to be staples in our lives
no longer exist. Who here still drives a
Studebaker? Yet in the 40s it was considered
the King of the Roads in many counties.
Rulers rise up, but they fall just as quickly. Nor can we even truly control our own
destinies. We are not the “rulers of our
own fate” instead we are subject to the whims of disease, violence, or
senseless accidents. When we attempt
to rely on our own abilities we will always fail. For if we live, we
live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live
or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. Instead
of worrying about the temporary, we must live in his promises for us.
In
some ways death is at the heart of the true meaning of the season. We await the babe of Bethlehem, which was
cute and cuddly and because of our sin the man was offered for our sakes to die
upon the tree. Nativity tableaus with
shepherds and animals and kings and angels bowing down to the infant king have
no hope for us if the child does not grow up to die. The messiah became the priest for all mankind
and offered himself as the perfect sacrifice so that he could be given
authority over all of heaven and earth and reign as king eternally. Rejoice the perfect sacrifice has been born.
Not
a very cheerful thought is it? Today’s reading is all about the end of all
things, the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will
pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved,
and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Does this mean that god will take a heavenly
blowtorch to creation crying out, “Burn Baby Burn!”? Well… in a sense yes. Ok he probably wont be saying , “Burn Baby
Burn!” but the second coming of Christ will not be as a child but as a judge,
destroying the old heaven and the old earth.
We can find comfort though in
this because through this it is a fulfilling of the prayer we sang in our hymn
of the day.
O come, Thou Key of David, come, And
open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice!
Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O
Israel.
Out of death and into life
There
is comfort to be had. Yes god promised the destruction of all creation, but it
is to make room for the new heaven and new earth. 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved,
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but
is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should
reach repentance. God will work the
ultimate Extreme home makeover by removing every trace of sin death and the
devil. That work has already begun in
each person that has been baptized. They
have already drowned with Christ in the waters of baptism that we may have a
new life according to his abundant goodness and mercy all the days of our
lives. All this is possible because out
of his death Christ brought forth the life of all creation. The babe of Bethlehem would go to Calvary but
his story does not end there. Instead he
rose again from the dead and he did not even stop there, he assended and has
promised the return to judge both the living and the dead. That day will come when we are not expecting
it, but it will be a joyful and happy day for all believers because no more
will things pass away, there shall be no grief or sorrow any more. According to
his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which
righteousness dwells.
All
things human pass away but the promise of Christ will never leave us. We face a world that is full of sorrow and
grief, but we in the church look forward to the end of all tribulation in the
coming of Christ our lord. Until that
day we can celebrate the traditions of the church, celebrating the birth of the
babe who came to die, in order that all might live forever and ever. Amen.
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