Waiting With Open Eyes

Transcript

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[0:00] which comes from Luke chapter 21, verse 25 is where we'll start. And there will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth, the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory.

[0:35] So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near. Then he gave them this illustration. Notice the fig tree or any other tree. When the leaves come out, you know without being told that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things taking place, you can know that the kingdom of God is near. I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear. Watch out. Don't let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness and by the worries of this life. Don't let that day catch you unaware like a trap, for that day will come, and the world will come upon everyone living on the earth. Keep alert at all times and pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man. Let's pray.

[1:42] Our God, we thank you that this is the time where we remember not just your birth, but we look forward to your coming again. God, we pray that At this moment, you would prepare our hearts and minds to hear what you would have for us. God, would you speak through your spirit to us and help us to be aware of your presence. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[2:11] Has everyone gotten an ornament and a sharpie? Not yet. Okay. Oh, Hans-Erik needs one. And Kaya needs one. Oh, okay. Okay, gotcha. You might end up with the sparkly ones, which means you'll just have to write harder.

[2:41] I tried to write on one this morning and it worked. It was just really faint. Okay. So later you're going to get into groups, but there won't be too much group discussion because you're going to work on your ornaments for a little while too. So for those of you who liked group discussion, there will be some. And for those of you who dread it, it won't be that much. So don't worry.

[3:20] Thank you. Oh, we used almost all of them. Great. So, I'm going to go ahead and start with the first one. Ooh, is Oliver getting one too? All right. So, Happy New Year. This is the first Sunday of the new church year. The first Sunday of Advent is what kicks us off for the new season or the new year. I actually, I recognize this. I don't know how I missed this yesterday and even part of today. But Advent is the purple time of the year. And so, we'll fix that and I'll iron the purple ones today. We can't miss purple times. No, it's okay. I missed it too. I don't know how I let that slide. I'm a little ashamed of myself.

[4:12] Advent is the purple time of the year because it's a time of royalty where we think about Jesus' kingship and the coming of God's kingdom on Earth. And so we spend the four Sundays before Christmas looking ahead and preparing for what is coming. Today is the Sunday of Hope. Each of the four Sundays of Advent has an idea associated with it. This Sunday is the Sunday of Hope and it's the season of hopeful anticipation. Every year we look forward to the usual Advent cast of characters. There's John the Baptist who cries out in the wilderness, imploring us to prepare the way. He calls us to realign our lives in faithfulness. And then we walk alongside a young Mary, who is part probably so frightened and yet so faithful. And we hear how God intends to use her in the divine plan for the world's salvation. But this first Sunday in Advent begins at a really seemingly unusual place. It feels a little bit uncomfortable because we want to think about joy and peace and a sweet baby born to save us. But instead, we talk about the nations being in turmoil. And we talk about escaping the coming horrors.

[5:54] That's directly from our reading today. Horror and turmoil is not what we want to associate with Advent. So we talk at the very beginning of the year about the very end of time. And we don't look backwards. We look to Christ's first coming. Advent begins by focusing our eyes forward to Christ's coming again at the end of all time.

[6:24] In our reading today, the disciples had asked Jesus about the end of the world. How will they know when that moment is drawing near? Jesus talks about the cosmic signs that will mark the end. There will be signs of global disaster. People will be overcome. People will be overcome by fear and dread. And then the Son of Man will come from the heavens. Jesus encourages his disciples to remain alert and ready. The end of the world. And that's not something in our day-to-day lives that we generally spend a lot of time thinking over. As Christians, we're excited. We are hopeful for the end of times. We sometimes think about it. But our day-to-day lives get in the way and we forget to think about it. We live a lot in the here and now. And to a degree, that's a good thing. But we also need to be preparing ourselves and spending more time thinking it over.

[7:30] But that potential might seem more sobering while we face the effects of global warming or the melting of the polar ice caps and climate change. We think about plastic continents floating in the world's oceans and wars around the world. And we actually do start to think thoughts that maybe the apocalypse is near.

[7:54] Watching the news leads to this ever-growing sense that things are falling apart. And we lie awake at night worrying over what kind of world we're leaving in for future generations. I was actually advised by my counselor to say, stop watching the news after 5 p.m. to read it early in the day and then do something totally unrelated to watching the news at night because it does keep you up worrying. And our hearts grow heavy and we try to just drown out the world around us. So maybe all this Advent talk about the end times isn't so outrageous.

[8:37] Saint Bernard of Clairvaux spoke about three comings of Christ. Not two. His first coming was in the Nativity. Born as a baby to take on flesh, to take on our vulnerability, to draw near to us and to dwell with us. That's his first coming. His last coming will be the ultimate one at the end of time. Christ will return from the heavens to judge the quick and the dead.

[9:11] And both of these, the first and the last coming, Bernard of Clairvaux said that Christ will come visibly. But the middle coming of Christ, here Bernard says, here Christ comes invisibly. In this middle coming, Christ comes every single day, fresh and anew into our lives.

[9:37] Christ comes in spirit and power. This middle coming, this is what the season of Advent is all about. Advent teaches us to wait for Christ's third coming in hope and expectation. Advent shows us about Christ's first coming. This spiritual waiting endows us with a whole set of character traits. And I'm going to mention the five traits. Patience. patience, endurance, active preparation, focus, and hope. And we're going to spend a little time in each of those, just kind of reflecting, partially because the kids are in the service today and I didn't want to make them sit through me just talking the whole time, but partially because the work of Advent needs to be very personal. You need to put the personal effort into the waiting of Advent in order to make it worthwhile. So we're going to put some personal effort in. So before I talk about the first one, which is patience, I want you to get into groups of maybe, we've got a decent-sized crowd today, so maybe like groups of five.

[11:02] Do we think we can get into groups of five? And then... And then try and make them people that you don't normally sit by, just so that you get a difference of opinion and ideas. So let's split up now, get into groups of five, and we'll remain in those groups for the rest of the time.

[11:54] Okay. There can be four or six if you need to. It doesn't have to be exact. Okay. So the first character trait is patience. Now, I'm from Minnesota, and we do a lot more hunting in Minnesota than there is in California. But this is something that deer hunters have, is patience. They may have to wait several hours in their cold, snowy stands, doing nothing but being quiet, and waiting for a deer to come. for a deer to present itself.

[12:38] And there's this old joke that says, never pray for patience because God will give it to you. Or there's another joke that says, give me patience, Lord, but please hurry up. Waiting spans time, and how much time we don't always know.

[13:01] As we wait, we learn patience. So as a group, I want you to take a couple of minutes to talk about where you have demonstrated patience in your life already, and where you could grow in patience. And also, what does patience look like for you as you wait for Christ's final coming? So that's three things.

[13:25] Where have you already demonstrated patience in life? Where could you grow in patience? And where could you grow in patience? And what does patience look like for you as you wait for Christ's final coming? And we'll take about, well, there's five in your group, so we'll take five minutes. And if it gets quiet beforehand, we'll stop early.

[13:49] Go ahead and start now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ! . . Thank you. The second, well does anyone have any great examples that they want to share from their group? You don't have to, I'm just, if you do, you can raise your hands.

[19:38] Okay. The second characteristic of waiting is endurance. So waiting is about the long game. The thing we wait for, our goal, is in the future and it's going to take some time before it arrives. As we mature in the spiritual practice of waiting, we grow in endurance. Endurance sustains us for the long haul. So from where you are, you don't have to talk in your groups, but those of you who want to can just shout out and shout it out clearly so that we can all hear. Unless, do we want to do a microphone, Eric? Or is that possible? Okay. So we can hear Eric will come around with a microphone. Just tell us what gives you endurance in life. And go ahead and raise your hand and Eric will come around. Adele is raising.

[20:53] Unanswered prayer. I'm one of those people that says, God, I'd like patience right now, please. Yeah. Unanswered prayer. I think we get a lot of seconds on that. Like, that's something that a lot of people can relate to. Anyone else? What gives you endurance in life?

[21:20] Kind of related to the unanswered prayer, but when God does answer something, and it took a really long time, but you can later remember, like my 102-year-old mother-in-law coming to Christ on her deathbed after, you know, years and dozens of years of prayer. Yeah. Remembering what God has done before. That's great.

[21:46] I think it's the same thing. But the past experience of trying something hard or doing something for a long time and that being in a way rewarded or seeing answers to that, that past experience of that motivates me.

[22:11] Using a sports analogy, if you practice and for the race, then, to get the strength, endurance, you need to practice and you need to just keep working on it. I think focusing on the goal and the importance of that goal gives you the strength to keep doing work to reach it. Mm-hmm.

[22:49] Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. I like that, the stones of remembrance. Jared over there. Hi. Another one might be just actually hearing other people's stories as well. Like, as like, if you're just focused on that one thing and it's not moving, but actually hearing other people talk about other situations, just remembering God's surprising provision. So even as people have been saying things here, that's actually helpful when you're waiting for something, is knowing that that's okay to feel like things are taking forever, because it's happened to all of us before. Yeah.

[24:10] All right. I think that's everyone, unless anyone else has one they want to throw in. All right. So we'll actually use the microphone one more time later, I think. But right now, we're going to get you ready to get your artistic juices flowing.

[24:30] So a third characteristic of waiting is that we actively prepare. And that, I think, is really, what this Advent season is truly about, is actively preparing for the coming of Christ. So waiting isn't a passive activity. We don't toss our waiting in the corner and forget about it while we focus on other things. When we wait, and especially when we wait with spiritual expectation, we have to be actively engaged. This kind of active preparation is something that we have to be actively engaged in. And that's what we're doing. And that's how parents get ready when they're expecting their child. If they just sit around waiting for it to happen, they're not getting themselves ready. They're not preparing the baby's room. They're not, the mother is not taking prenatal vitamins or, or doing all the things that they need to do to make sure that their baby is healthy and make sure that their little world is ready to grow and expand with another person. So they use this time of waiting to get everything squared away and in place for when the baby comes.

[25:46] Waiting can't be lazy, at least not spiritual waiting. It's filled with action and with active preparation. So now, each of you have an ornament and a sharpie, and I want you to write on your ornament or draw on your ornament, um, how you would like to actively prepare this Advent. You might just write one word or you might write a whole paragraph. I don't know if you can fit it on there and some of them aren't smooth so it's going to be hard. Or you could draw an example or you could just have a symbol. But do something that is important to you or that is meaningful to you on your ornament about how you are going to actively prepare during this season of Advent. And when you are done, come and hang it on the tree. I saw a big blank space on the top and the back. But you can hang it wherever you want on the tree. Maybe make that symbolic to you as well. If you are unable to, if your mobility is limited or you'd rather not walk, then go ahead and either hand it to someone next to you or raise your hand and I can come get it from you. But yeah, use this time. We're going to take a full five minutes this time. All right. And also use this time to get your creative juices flowing and say how you are going to actively

[27:14] prepare this Advent. Yes. Asher, do you have the bucket of ornaments still? Oh. Are there hooks in there? . Well, okay. Change of plans. Set them around the base of the tree and I'll hang them this week. But the act of coming up to the stage is your act of placing them near the altar just as a symbolism. So again, if you can't make it up here, have someone else near you or raise your hand if you can. And I'll come get them.

[28:12] . . Thank you. . Thank you. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[29:09] Thank you. Oh, thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Oh, thank you. Thank you. That was pretty good. We did it in just over four minutes. So fourth, waiting involves alert focus. So back to the Minnesota hunting, if that hunter gets bored in the stand, and instead of actively waiting and being alert and focused, and starts playing games on their phone or dozing off or whatever the case may be, the opportunity to spot them is going to be a huge opportunity. It would be a huge opportunity to spot them and see why a deer would pass by without their even knowing. The deer might come by and grab a little nibble on the trees and bushes and the hunter won't know because he won't be paying attention.

[32:17] When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane with his disciples, he told them, watch and pray. Within this unseen middle coming of Christ, we find ourselves waiting. And we wait with alarm. focus. So we look for the unfolding experience of Christ. We look for Christ to enter our midst in spirit and power. In your groups, and this will be your last group quest, I want you to talk about how you can be focused spiritually, how you have been focused spiritually in the past, and how you would like to be focused spiritually. And this might include ideas of how you've seen Christ turn up unexpectedly in your waiting. That happens all the time. We constantly see Christ turn up in unexpected ways. But this is mostly how you can be focused when you're not necessarily seeing him and when you're expecting him. So yeah, we'll only take a couple minutes this time because it is 11 o'clock. Let's take three minutes and just talk in your groups about how you would like to be focused spiritually.

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[35:27] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[35:56] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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[36:41] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . we wait in hope. To wait without hope seems so futile and despairing. Waiting without any hope is miserable. Waiting demands hope. In the spring we wait to see the greening of trees, and we know it's coming and we wait in hopeful expectation.

[37:27] Let's shout out loud things that give us hope, and especially things that give us hope in this time of waiting for Christ's return. But things that give us hope for any reason. Oh sorry, use a microphone. I said shout out loud because I wasn't prepared for Eric to be as on top of things as he is. So actually raise your hand and the microphone will be on. Things that give you hope.

[38:04] The extraordinary beauty of nature. The knowledge that God is with us. Yeah. The hope of salvation and knowing that there is something better than this world. Mm. Being in this lovely church that preaches the word. Mm. Amen.

[38:50] Oh, Pam had her hand up. Spending time with children. Mm. Absolutely. Oh, did some, no, never mind. I think someone just moved over there. Say others are with us in the journey? Mm-hmm. . . I think that's all of them.

[39:25] So as we wait, we do so in the hope that Christ will come. Christ has already come and he comes to us presently in spirit and in power. . But we know and we also hope that he will come again when time reaches its conclusion. So the Nicene Creed says he will come again in glory to judge the quick and the dead. We wait for this end in hope and expectation.

[40:00] For who is this one who will be the judge? . It is the very same Christ who came to live among us, who took on our flesh to live in solidarity with us in all of our joys and sorrows. It is our very Lord who became the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. He did not hesitate to accomplish his destiny on the cross for our sake. And his actions on the cross were the healing of that sin. It was that chasm between humanity and God that was made in Eden.

[40:40] This is the one who will come to judge all things. And this is the one who is to come the very same Lord who denied death its victory, our Lord who stepped from his own grave to pave the way for our eternal life. He's the one who will judge us. And where will his judgment be grounded?

[41:01] Will it be according to our flaws and limitations? or will he judge from his nature, which is his grace and his truth? This great judgment will flow from the same trajectory that his life had and his death and his resurrection. So we begin this Advent looking ahead. We look to judgment, not as a depressing, as a scary, as an awful time, but we look to judgment to the end of time, and we look ahead with strength and hope because more than 2,000 years ago, our Savior was born into humanity to dwell among us, and he still dwells among us today.

[41:49] That is what Advent is about. And I'm so excited to enter into another Advent with all of you. Let's pray. God, we thank you that you did not hold back on sending your Son. You saw us in our frail state, and you sent your Son to die and rise again for our salvation. And so we can look with hope to your coming. And God, we pray that your coming would be soon.

[42:23] And in the meantime, we wait. We wait with active expectation, God. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.