December 2, 2018 -I Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36
I Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36
Lighting Candles and Doing our Duty
First Sunday of Advent – December 2, 2018
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
The Gospel this morning does not sound like good news.
Jesus speaks of chaos and destruction.
But Jesus does not assign responsibility of this destruction to God.
Rather, he clearly says that when difficulty looms,
that is when you should be on the lookout for God to be busy and active and near.
When these things take place, then stand up, raise your hears, look around,
for God will then be near.
Jesus is seeking to get people’s attention with his extreme language,
but he is also seeking to provide comfort and encouragement in a dire situation.
Things may look bad, but God is working for good.
It’s Advent, and the days are getting shorter and darker.
I was so surprised to come out of the gym the other day after work and
discover it was almost completely dark.
But at First Lutheran Church we are preparing for
light and beauty to be born in the very darkest of the dark.
And we prepare actively, knowing that even now
God is preparing the world for something beautiful to happen,
for someone beautiful to come.
Jesus knew that likely the temple would be destroyed by the Romans and that that would
result in great loss of life and tremendous despair.
He knew that people would not know how to continue without the temple.
And yet the Jewish people figured it out – they knew God was still working and
they discovered God could still be at work and among them without the temple.
Christians discovered the same thing, and more: they discovered that
in the midst of persecution God could still be at work – powerfully – among them and
through them in the world.
It looks as if Beauty is leaving the world but really the dark just prepares an
all-the-more dramatic backdrop for Beauty to make its entrance.
When the dark comes, and the dark deepens, what do you do?
Take the lesson of Advent – the darker it gets, week by week, you light more candles.
A couple of hundred years ago there was an eclipse of the sun just as
the members of the New England legislature were going about their work of
trying to create a more just society.
The eclipse caught them off guard – they thought maybe the world was ending!
Immersed in darkness, some of the members panicked.
Another made a fear-induced motion to adjourn the meeting.
But in the midst of the turmoil, one member of the assembly stood up and said,
Mr. Speaker, if it is not the end of the world and we adjourn, we shall appear to be fools.
If it is the end of the world, I choose to be found doing my duty.
I move you, Sir: let candles be brought.
Let candles be brought – let’s keep doing the business we are called to do.
That is pretty sound advice when the darkness seems to deepen.
Because God is still at work in the dark, and you are not powerless.
The Apostle Paul knew about the gathering darkness.
He knew prison for proclaiming a Lord in the Roman Empire who was not Caesar.
The Christian communities he founded were not without their problems:
they knew the forces of persecution from outside and
from within they knew the forces of prejudice.
And yet today, on this day,
he writes to a little community in Thessolonica and is full of thanksgiving.
In the face of so much darkness, Paul writes, “How can I thank God enough in return for
all the joy I feel before our God because of you?”
In the face of the darkness he knew there were great people to rejoice in,
a community where there was at least a promise of great things to come.
Such knowledge – that there is within reach even a small circle of those who respond and care,
who show enthusiasm and purpose – makes all the difference.
I know just how Paul feels.
Last week I said every generation of Christians has struggled with something.
Jesus and his disciples struggled.
Luke’s generation struggled.
And the generation after that, and after that, and after that.
This congregation struggled with prejudice and issues of language back in the day.
And this is not the first time this congregation has struggled with financial issues.
And yet: stand up, raise your heads, and see how God is near, working in the darkness.
There is, within reach, right here, a small circle of those who respond and care,
who show enthusiasm and purpose.
This is a special place – I have said it many times.
Long time members will tell you that, but even more amazingly new members will tell you that.
The new members have been around, they’ve looked all over – and yet they choose here,
as president Erica reminded us last week.
This is a special place, a place where candles are lit week after week after week.
A place where food banks are held every week of the year.
A place where hundreds of hungry folks are fed hot home-made meals every month.
A place where hospitality is extended to everyone in our neighbourhood.
Where the youth are accepted for who they are and where the gifts they bring are
treasured and where they love to come and worship.
A place where week after week compassion and mercy and sharing and inclusion and
love and grace are enacted in worship.
A place where the poor are cared for in a variety of ministries.
A place where a wondrous Spirit is at work.
Here is a place, truly, where, in the face of darkness, there are great people to rejoice in,
where people respond and care, where people are showing enthusiasm and purpose.
It’s darker and darker out, the seas are roaring, there’s distress among nations, fear abounds,
there’s a deadly meth epidemic outside our doors – but we’re lighting candles.
We are not powerless – we are helping God bring Beauty near.
We are preparing to cook and serve our miraculous Christmas meal to over a hundred people
of this neighbourhood absolutely free of charge.
We are preparing 13 massive Christmas hampers to be delivered to families within
a few blocks of our church building.
We are coming to worship and caring for each other and encouraging one another and
showing great kindness to one another.
And we are continuing to invite new people into our community,
and inviting them to light candles with us.
Our sister Lyndie is the first of four people we will baptize and
welcome into our community and our mission this Sunday and next.
We lit a candle for her and invited her to join us in sharing that light against the darkness.
That was a very hopeful thing to do.
And we promised to support and nurture her in learning how to share her light.
That is also a very hopeful thing to do.
Lyndie needs us, and the world we venture into with her needs us.
We trust that God is near, and that God is working in the dark.
We are not helpless.
A few of you have lit candles of your own this past week, raising your PAR donations and
making generous contributions knowing that we can figure this out.
The candles you have lit, the PAR donations you have raised, and the generous contributions
you have made are candles you have lit that you desire others to emulate.
Some of us continue to light the candles of doing our duty, working at food bank,
teaching in Sunday school, helping with worship,
planning the neighbourhood Christmas meal – and a million other ways.
God is near.
So stand up. Raise your heads. See how very close God is in the darkness.
Prepare together for the Beauty that God desires to bear into the world this Christmas –
through you.
Love seems to be leaving the world – but we are not powerless.
Here, love comes into the world.
Here, love continues to come into this world, into this community,
into this very assembly of people – through you.
So together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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