What is This?
Rev. Delwyn and Sis. Lenita Campbell
Waiting For Him • Sermon • Submitted
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Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
The Book of Concord Editors’ Introduction to the Small Catechism
Was ist das?
What is this season? What does it mean? Deaconness Betsy Karkan of Concordia University Chicago writes,
The Book of Concord Editors’ Introduction to the Small Catechism
Was ist das?
“At a time when much of the world is frantically gift shopping, putting up Christmas lawn decorations and anticipating the arrival of Santa Claus, Christians around the world are observing the liturgical season of Advent. From the Latin word for “coming”, Advent is a time of preparation and anticipation for the coming of Christ both in the past in His incarnation as the baby Jesus, but also in the future with His promised second coming as Christ Triumphant. Furthermore, Advent is a time to focus on His present coming to us in the Word and Sacraments[1]. In the Lutheran church there have been many traditions observed during Advent that help Christians to both prepare for and anticipate His coming at this time. Martin Luther encouraged families to observe Advent as a time for them to teach their children about the coming of Christ.
Advent marks the beginning of the church calendar. It traditionally starts on the Sunday closest to St. Andrew’s Day (November 30th) and continues for four Sundays until Christmas. During this time the liturgical paraments and vestments in many churches will change to violet to recognize Advent as a time of preparation and repentance as well as a symbol of the royalty of the coming King. The color blue can also be used as a symbol of anticipation and hope.
[Christians in many countries have adopted various traditions of lighting candles during Advent to observe this as the time of the coming of Christ who is the light of the world. One widespread tradition is the use of an Advent wreath both in the church and the home to mark each Sunday in the Advent season. While the origin of this as an Advent tradition dates back to the Lutheran church following the Reformation, the current form commonly used today was developed more recently and is used in many other Christian churches throughout the world. The wreath is made out of evergreens in the shape of a circle to represent eternal life. It consisted of four candles originally; three purple or blue candles to match the liturgical colors and one pink candle lit on the 3rd Sunday in Advent. This 3rd Sunday is known as Gaudete Sunday, meaning “rejoice” in Latin and comes from . Lighting this 3rd candle, Christians relax the fast to rejoice for the promised Messiah is coming soon. Many Advent wreaths also have a 5th candle, the Christ candle, which is lit during the time of Christmas, symbolizing that Christ, the light of the world, has entered the darkness] (Deaconess Betsy Karkan (2016), “Lutheran Advent Traditions” Lutheran Reformation Blog.
https://lutheranreformation.org/get-involved/lutheran-advent-traditions/).
Our Text Today
Our Text Today
Today’s text, , is from the closing section of a lament psalm that Isaiah writes in response to God’s declared promise of deliverance and glory to Israel. A Psalm Lament is defined as — (OT) A psalm expressing the distress or sorrow of an individual or group and asking for divine help.[1]
[1] Douglas Mangum, The Lexham Glossary of Literary Types (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
This particular lament begins in , as Isaiah writes:
I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
the praises of the LORD,
according to all that the LORD has granted us,
Isaiah remembers and calls us to remember God’s faithfulness in fulfilling His pledge, given in 56:1 -
and the great goodness to the house of Israel
Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come. I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me. I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed.
that he has granted them according to his compassion,
Looking back over Israel’s redemption story, Isaiah saw how God claimed Israel as “my people,” confirming it by His covenant faithfulness to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, re-asserted in His deliverance of the children of Israel under the leadership of Moses, His servant. God took those “who were not a people,” and made them His in a covenant of blood.
according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
More importantly, God did not promise simply to help Israel, He promised to be with Israel. This was the great Messianic promise to which those who loved God clung during all seasons, both of prosperity, and, especially, of trouble.
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
Isaiah knew that the unbelief of Israel’s enemies was an argument from silence - the seeming silence of God’s apparent absence. During Advent, we focus on the Promise, we feel its intensity, because we sense the nearness of its redemption.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .
God’s life in, with, and through the Church begins with the Promise, and so does the Church year. The Promise was fulfilled in History, as Paul wrote in
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
That Divine Act is not simply an aoristic point in time, however, but an indicative, continuous act of God’s unfailing love for His creation, especially for man, whom He created in His image, after His likeness (). In the coming of Christ, God showed that He did not simply demand that we become like Him, He chose to become like us, and then offers Himself to us.
The message of the manger is the prologue, not the climax. In order to draw all men to Himself, Jesus had to be “Lifted up” (). Unlike the devil’s and the Sanhedrin’s plans, however, it didn’t end there. As GMWA songwriter David Allen wrote, “but that’s not how - the story ends - three days later - He rose again - That’s love! That’s love!”
But right now, like right then, we aren’t basking in the glow of the Angelic Chorus of Christmas morning, nor are we rejoicing in the Great Reversal of Easter Morning. Instead, we sit on a sunny but chilly Sunday morning, having spent the week listening to, if not depressing news, at least disconcerting news. We wrestle with the impacts of decision made behind our backs, behind closed doors, by people who are out of our reach, but claim to be looking out for our interests. We wonder what lies lay behind the smile of people whom we once knew as childhood friends, classmates and playmates, but have now entered the rarefied air of politics, power and prestige measured in dollars.
With the Clark Sisters, we sigh, “Is my living in vain?” as we watch our hopes for our children and our own futures fade away, decay, or crumble like the streets and buildings around us.
So we cry with Isaiah, “Come down, Lord! Make Your Name known to your enemies - to MY Enemies!” We ask ourselves, either silently, as we take in the days disappointments, or angrily as we seek for a way to become instruments of righteousness for ourselves and our neighbor, “Is it my fault, my own fault, my own most grievous fault?” Is God angry, and we have sinned - is that why we are in the situation that we find ourselves? And more importantly, “Shall we be saved?” ()
Has God hidden His face from this place, and is our best response to, as is written in , “flee like a bird to your mountain?”
In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, “Flee like a bird to your mountain,
We must confess our role in these things, before we can see the salvation of the Lord. Nothing has happened here against which we resisted unto bloodshed, striving against sin (). We have grown weary in well-doing, hoping that someone else would do the heavy lifting for us. Some of us did run away, hoping to put time and distance between our birth and the pains that now engulf our birthplace.
But I yet believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit and in the Holy Christian Church.
By faith, I know that
From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.
By faith, I know that
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
By faith, I know that
But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
That’s why I can’t - no, I won’t quit! It doesn’t matter what our past was, it doesn’t matter what our present is. It only matters what God has promised in Christ.
“He has made me glad, He has made me glad. I will rejoice for He has made me glad!”
In this historic house of worship, I will say,
“When I think about Jesus, and what He’s done for me -
When I think about Jesus, and how He’s set me free-
I can dance dance dance dance dance dance all night!”
I know, we’re supposed to be “the quiet church, the reserved church, dare I say it, “the frozen chosen,” but who says that has to be so? Who says that we have to sit on the sidelines, waiting for the devil to steal our joy? Not my Bible, does it say that in yours? The Lord didn’t tell me that this morning.
This is the day that the Lord has made. This is the feast of victory for our God! We have the peace that passes all understanding, because we have God as our Father, Jesus Christ as our Savior, and the Holy Spirit as our Comforter.
We are blessed! We are redeemed! We are strong in the Lord! We have suffered, being united to His death in Holy Baptism, but like Christ, we won’t stay that way!
Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah
That what this is… That’s what Advent is - it’s our time to get ready. The King is coming to make His name known. The King is coming to establish His righteousness. the King has come, and His kingdom has come, for we are here.