First Sunday in Advent
The Voices of Christmas: Israel
Dr. James McTyre
Lake Hills Presbyterian Church (USA)
FIRST SCRIPTURE READING
Psalms 130:5-8
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
8 It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.
Isaiah 30:18b
For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
SECOND SCRIPTURE READING
Luke 7:18-23
18 The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples 19 and sent them to the Lord to ask, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" 20 When the men had come to him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?' " 21 Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. 22 And he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. 23 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."
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In two Sundays, the Sunday after next, December 11, the Choir will sing its annual Cantata. "The Voices of Christmas." I'll be around for the prayers and the offering - preachers always are - but everything else in worship will be in the hands of Scott and Carla and the Choir. The Cantata is one of those special Sundays a lot of people really love. Me too. The only thing I wish is that it could be more than one Sunday. I know a lot of you do too.
So this year, we decided to do something about that. This year, the theme for worship for the entire month of December is, "The Voices of Christmas." The scriptures and themes for worship every Sunday of this month will come from the spoken parts of the Cantata, read by the Cantata narrators, George and Wanda. Each week, they're reading a set of scripture from the Cantata, and I'm basing my messages on it.
On one hand, it's kind of a preview of coming attractions. But on the other hand, it's a statement that the voices of Christmas are too big, too loud, to rich to be contained on one Sunday.
So, today, the voice of Christmas we heard is the voice of Israel, which says...
[insert reading from Cantata text here.]
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Today the Crumptons lit the candle of Hope. Isaiah sings a song of hope. But Isaiah's song is also a song of waiting. It's a song of waiting... with hope.
"Blessed are all those who.... wait... [for the Lord].
John tells his disciples to go ask Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come? Or are we to... wait... for another?"
I loved in last Sunday's Children's Sermon, Roseanne asked the kids what holiday was coming up, and they said, "Christmas!" Kind of skipped right over the thing we had last Thursday. People complain about that. When you start playing Bing Crosby the day after Halloween, Thanksgiving gets lost in the hubbub.
Here's my idea. I think we all know this isn't a fight we're going to win. So what if, instead of complaining about how retail Christmas is crowding out Thanksgiving, we just moved Thanksgiving? To a better date? What if we moved Thanksgiving to, say, late January, or early February? Like, Thursday before the Super Bowl. If you're going to clean the house for one party, why not have two? Just get more chips for Thanksgiving, and your Super Bowl shopping is done.
Besides, wouldn't it make more sense to give thanks AFTER you got the toys you've waited for? Instead of giving thanks while you're waiting, give thanks after Santa's brought you the Blu-Ray player. Instead of giving thanks before you get jewelry, before you get a flat-screen TV, or an iPad, or a Kindle, or a Lego Hogwarts Castle, or a dried-fruit basket, or bacon-flavored lip balm, or a toaster that toasts a UT Power T into each slice of bread ($33.95 at amazon.com, but supplies are limited. Oh Lord. Everyone's pulling out their smart phones now)... instead of giving thanks before you get these life-changing gifts, wouldn't it make more sense to do Thanksgiving after? Wouldn't it make more sense to do Thanksgiving after you get what what you've been waiting for?
I know what you're thinking. How can one man come up with so many good ideas? You're welcome.
We kind of do that, though. Don't we? When do you thank someone? Unless you're playing tennis at the club, it's after they've done something nice for you. We say, "Thank you," and there's always a "for something" that follows. Thank you... for fixing my car. Thank you... for getting me a gift. Thank you... for cleaning your room without me asking. Thank you... for giving me a ride to the grocery store. There's always a "for something" that follows "Thank you." Which means in real time, the thing we're thankful for came first.
The car was fixed. The gift was received. The room was cleaned. The ride was given. So... thank you. Thank you for what you've already done. We've been waiting, now the "for something" is here. We have what we wanted. The wait is over. So, thank you.
When you think about how we operate, it makes sense. After you get what you want, after you get what you've been waiting for, give thanks. That's how we operate.
But it's not how God operates.
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I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
We might wait to give thanks until after we get what we're waiting for. But that's not the way the Bible works. The Psalm is Israel's voice. The biblical nation of Israel is calling out for God's help. Israel is waiting.
The nation of Israel, God's people in the Bible, spent way more time split up, way more time taken captive, way more time fighting for its life than as a sovereign nation. But here's the thing. Israel is called to give thanks. The Psalm is Israel calling out thanks for God's steadfast love.
And it's calling out thanksgiving before Christmas. Calling out thanksgiving before a single gift has been opened. Calling out thanksgiving while it waits.
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What are you waiting for? Really. What is it that would make you the way you really, really want to be? Maybe it's something you can wrap up and put under a tree. Maybe. But I bet not.
I bet what you're really, really waiting for is something better than any gift you could get at Christmas. What you're really waiting for is something more abstract. More abstract, but also more real.
What are you waiting for? Really? Is it hope? Is it peace? Is it joy? Is it love? You don't really want something someone can buy for you. Oh, sure, those things are fun. It's always good to get new toys. But seriously, are the toys going to satisfy your heart? Really?
What is it you really want? You want your kids to respect you? You want your parents to listen to you? You want someone to cry with you? You want a friend to make you laugh?
You want to wake up in the morning and not hurt? You want something productive to do with all your boredom?
What do you want, really? What are you waiting for, really?
You see, here's what the Bible tells us to do. Here's what the Bible tells us to do. And, seriously, it doesn't make sense. Not in the retail world. The Bible tells us to give thanks. The Bible tells us to give thanks before we get what we want. And even more crazy is this: The Bible tells us to give thanks while we're waiting.
How are we supposed to do that? How are we supposed to give thanks for what we haven't got? Is that supposed to schmooze God into giving us what we really want?
Do you think God falls for schmooze? Really?
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We're so used to thinking retail the words of the Bible seem crazy. You don't give thanks for something you don't have. What does that mean? How can you give thanks for something you don't have?
I guess you give thanks for something God has.
You see, most of the time, when there's thanksgiving in the Bible, it's not because God has done something really nice for the people of Israel. Sometimes yes. And because they're polite and their mamas raised them right, they know to say, "Thank you," and to write a handwritten note (not an email or a Facebook post), because that's what people with manners do.
Most of the time when there's thanksgiving in the Bible, it's not because of what God has done. Most of the time when there's thanksgiving in the Bible, it's because of what God is. Because of who God is. And because of who God can be when we... wait.
Israel gives thanks because with the Lord there is steadfast love. Israel gives thanks because with God there is great power to redeem. Israel gives thanks because with God there's enough love, with God there's enough mercy to take what is broken... to take what is displaced... to take what is beaten up... to take what's worn down... and make it new. Make it whole. We give thanks because God can love, God can redeem, in spite of our faults, in spite of our brokenness. We give thanks because we don't have everything we want, and because God does. We give thanks because we don't have everything we want, and because God has promised the one who is to come, and after whom we don't have to wait for another.
Our hope is in the Lord, the Bible says. The maker of heaven and earth. And so we wait. More than those who watch for the morning. More than those who watch for the morning.
Give thanks. Give thanks because waiting, as long and as painful as waiting might be... give thanks because in God your waiting is never, ever wasted.
What do you want, really? What are you waiting for, really?
You might be able to get whatever it is for Christmas. And if so, I really hope you get it. And I hope it makes you blissfully happy for the rest of your life. But on the chance that you don't get it... on the chance that whatever it is doesn't make you nearly as happy as you thought it would... well, maybe what you were asking for wasn't really what you wanted, after all. You will never be able to possess all you want. You'll never be able to get everything you need.
But you can still give thanks. You can always give thanks for what God has. For what God has promised to share with you in Jesus Christ.
Let's pray.
Gracious and merciful God. We thank you. We thank you for your goodness and your kindness. We thank you for your love and for your redemption. Help us to wait with thanksgiving instead of waiting to give thanks for what we're given. In Jesus' name. Amen.
