Scripture: Psalm 130
Listen Link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab.
It’s the first Sunday of Advent. Today we lit one candle and heard the passage, in Isaiah 9, about the great light! We have heard that the great light is the child born to us on Christmas day. It is Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. Christmas is a day we will truly celebrate as we have for years and years, and our ancestors before us for centuries. Christmas is coming! Advent means coming! It is good to spend the next few weeks reflecting on all that it means for us.
We begin from the depths of darkness. The world is still suffering the effects of sin. We are still suffering the effects of a world broken by sin. And not just the consequences of our own sins. According to Romans 8:22, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” The fires in California, the floods and storms on the East coast, and all the other natural disasters we hear about occur because Adam and Eve broke the world when they rebelled. In a perfect world, there would not be such destructive events.
Not only that, but the majority of humans are actively selfish and even evil, engaging in self destructive habits, causing harm to others, committing crimes, starting wars, engaging in terrorism. We are all touched by it in some form or other. The world is a pretty dark place! These are the depths from which we cry out to God for mercy!
The one who wrote this prayer song had hope for rescue. But he did not know what form it would take, as we do. One thing he did know, any rescue would be based on God’s mercy, not on us deserving it. He wrote: “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.”
It took great faith to say that back then. They believed that God could forgive sin. They even acknowledged that they had no hope without the mercy of God’s forgiveness. But they had not yet seen Him fully work out the plan of redemption in the ministry of Jesus Christ, foretold, but not yet born. So, theirs was just a glimmer of holy light compared to the glory that we see in Jesus. But the psalmist dared to let the little light that he had shine as brightly as he could.
He went on to say, “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his Word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.” By putting his hope in God’s Word he means that he believes what he has learned already from the prophets and the nation’s history, about God’s promises to redeem and restore and one day bring true peace over all the earth by establishing his righteous and holy kingdom over all the earth. Now there’s a spark of hope!
We love light. Candles are beautiful. Fireworks are mesmerizing. A blazing fireplace is a warm comfort. Sunrise and sunset are often spoken of as God painting with light to beautify the day. Sometimes we get desperate for light. Imagine these watchmen on the wall. Standing there in the dark listening, and watching as closely as they could, grateful if there was a moon to help them see because probably they didn’t since that would give away their position to an enemy. But even if they did have a fire going it was still dark all around them. That can be scary. You know what I mean if you don’t like driving at night. So, they watched for the dawn. They knew their shift wouldn’t end and they would literally get no rest until the light of dawn arrived. Can you now feel how much watchmen wait for the morning?
The psalmist says he is waiting for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning. Do you have a deep, inner longing for God to make your life better, brighter? Really, we all should. We all know that life, as it is, is nowhere near as good as its going to get when Jesus comes again. The best we can do is live one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that God the Father will one day make all things right for those who surrender to His will, and in that relationship with God, we may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next life. (Adapted from the Serenity prayer.)
In the season of Advent, we’re looking forward to Christmas, and we tend to focus on the first time that Jesus came to us, the time that he came as a baby to be “God with us.” But that baby grew up! He lived a perfect life! He died on a cross and rose again from the dead. He’s coming back again one day and that is what we are really waiting for: Second Advent, when God will make all things right!
Christmas is fine. But what we celebrate as Christmas today is really very different from how it all started. You know that when we say Christmas that’s a contraction of the words Christ’s Mass, which is the Catholic celebration and tradition of honoring the birth of our Lord. They didn’t really know Jesus’ exact birthday. But they picked December 25 to celebrate the birth of Christ because it has meaning in that it is one of the shortest, and therefore darkest days of the year. It is also the turning point. After Christmas, the light starts to lengthen the days again as the light comes into the world. And Jesus is the true light whose coming was the turning point in history. The world has become a brighter place because of the influence and power of Jesus, first in his own life then in the Church, the light of the world.
That’s right, worshipping Jesus was always supposed to be the top priority for Christ’s mass, not Christmas trees and gift giving to each other, but Christmas carols and alms giving to the poor. Jesus is the reason for the season. It is good for us to spend the weeks of Advent remembering that so that we don’t lose Jesus somewhere under the Christmas tree.
Christ’s Mass is fine. But that’s nothing compared Christ’s return! Some say we ought to celebrate Christmas every day, or keep the Christmas spirit all year long. That’s about love and joy and generosity and that’s great. We should do that. But since the light of the world can break in on our darkness at any moment and we have been commanded to stay alert and be ready for the return of Jesus Christ, coming on the clouds of glory, I say that we all also ought to keep the spirit of Advent all year long.
We don’t even have to focus on Christmas is coming. The stores will remind us of the countdown to Christmas. But Jesus is coming! Only the Church is anticipating that with great joy and eagerness!
The last line of the psalm tells us why this is so important and such good, good news. “Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.” And that was the psalmist’s prophetic hope and vision. But he did not see how God would do it. The psalmist did not know that it would be through the life and death of Jesus who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
Yes! Jesus, the Living Word, was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. That’s the great light the Psalmist was waiting for!
Nowadays, many people in our world have seen the great light. Hopefully all of you have. But there is also a still greater light that you and I are waiting for. When Jesus, the Son of God returns to us, coming in all his glory, that will be the greatest light ever! Mark 13:26 says, “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”
Until that great light appears, we have the joyful task of proclaiming that it is coming! We get to share the good news with anyone who will listen. In Acts 26:17-18, Paul became an Apostle when he was told, “I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
But that’s our calling too! If you know the gospel message, you have little light to share with the people who are still in the darkness of sin. There is a song that has these words: “There is a candle in every soul. Some brightly burning, some dark and cold. There is a Spirit who brings a fire, ignites a candle and makes His home.
There’s a frustrated brother, see how he's tried to light his own candle some other way. See now your sister. She's been robbed and lied to. She still holds a candle without a flame. Carry your candle. Run to the darkness. Seek out the helpless, confused and torn. And hold out your candle for all to see it. Take your candle and go light your world. We are a family whose hearts are blazing. So, let's raise our candles and light up the sky. Let us pray to our Father, in the name of Jesus, “Make us a beacon in darkest times.”
It’s the first Sunday of Advent. Today we lit one candle and heard the Isaiah passage about the great light! A candle isn’t a great light. It’s just a little twinkle. Still it can make a great difference to a person in total darkness. A person who is lost in the dark will be almost irresistibly drawn to the light of even the smallest candle. You are the light of the world! And so am I. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!
But we must always remember, the light is not our own light. It is the light of Christ, the true light, who came into the world, the true light that gives light to everyone. And to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
And, as the psalmist said, “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” That’s why we have the Lord’s Supper. We begin from the depths of darkness. The world is still suffering the effects of sin. We are still suffering the effects of a world broken by sin. And not just the consequences of our own sins. According to Romans 8:22, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”
But we also rejoice in the wonderful news of the gospel! Jesus, the power of God, demonstrated his love for us by offering himself up for us so that we could be forgiven. Jesus is the power source that lights up our world, and by receiving this meal together we remember the source of the light within us. And we are refreshed and brightened to serve another day. That’s the sacramental way to let your little light shine. It’s mine because I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for my salvation and I believe the Holy Spirit is in me giving me eternal life to live right now. That’s the little light that is mine, and I’m going to let it shine. Amen.
Listen Link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab.
It’s the first Sunday of Advent. Today we lit one candle and heard the passage, in Isaiah 9, about the great light! We have heard that the great light is the child born to us on Christmas day. It is Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. Christmas is a day we will truly celebrate as we have for years and years, and our ancestors before us for centuries. Christmas is coming! Advent means coming! It is good to spend the next few weeks reflecting on all that it means for us.
We begin from the depths of darkness. The world is still suffering the effects of sin. We are still suffering the effects of a world broken by sin. And not just the consequences of our own sins. According to Romans 8:22, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” The fires in California, the floods and storms on the East coast, and all the other natural disasters we hear about occur because Adam and Eve broke the world when they rebelled. In a perfect world, there would not be such destructive events.
Not only that, but the majority of humans are actively selfish and even evil, engaging in self destructive habits, causing harm to others, committing crimes, starting wars, engaging in terrorism. We are all touched by it in some form or other. The world is a pretty dark place! These are the depths from which we cry out to God for mercy!
The one who wrote this prayer song had hope for rescue. But he did not know what form it would take, as we do. One thing he did know, any rescue would be based on God’s mercy, not on us deserving it. He wrote: “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.”
It took great faith to say that back then. They believed that God could forgive sin. They even acknowledged that they had no hope without the mercy of God’s forgiveness. But they had not yet seen Him fully work out the plan of redemption in the ministry of Jesus Christ, foretold, but not yet born. So, theirs was just a glimmer of holy light compared to the glory that we see in Jesus. But the psalmist dared to let the little light that he had shine as brightly as he could.
He went on to say, “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his Word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.” By putting his hope in God’s Word he means that he believes what he has learned already from the prophets and the nation’s history, about God’s promises to redeem and restore and one day bring true peace over all the earth by establishing his righteous and holy kingdom over all the earth. Now there’s a spark of hope!
We love light. Candles are beautiful. Fireworks are mesmerizing. A blazing fireplace is a warm comfort. Sunrise and sunset are often spoken of as God painting with light to beautify the day. Sometimes we get desperate for light. Imagine these watchmen on the wall. Standing there in the dark listening, and watching as closely as they could, grateful if there was a moon to help them see because probably they didn’t since that would give away their position to an enemy. But even if they did have a fire going it was still dark all around them. That can be scary. You know what I mean if you don’t like driving at night. So, they watched for the dawn. They knew their shift wouldn’t end and they would literally get no rest until the light of dawn arrived. Can you now feel how much watchmen wait for the morning?
The psalmist says he is waiting for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning. Do you have a deep, inner longing for God to make your life better, brighter? Really, we all should. We all know that life, as it is, is nowhere near as good as its going to get when Jesus comes again. The best we can do is live one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that God the Father will one day make all things right for those who surrender to His will, and in that relationship with God, we may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next life. (Adapted from the Serenity prayer.)
In the season of Advent, we’re looking forward to Christmas, and we tend to focus on the first time that Jesus came to us, the time that he came as a baby to be “God with us.” But that baby grew up! He lived a perfect life! He died on a cross and rose again from the dead. He’s coming back again one day and that is what we are really waiting for: Second Advent, when God will make all things right!
Christmas is fine. But what we celebrate as Christmas today is really very different from how it all started. You know that when we say Christmas that’s a contraction of the words Christ’s Mass, which is the Catholic celebration and tradition of honoring the birth of our Lord. They didn’t really know Jesus’ exact birthday. But they picked December 25 to celebrate the birth of Christ because it has meaning in that it is one of the shortest, and therefore darkest days of the year. It is also the turning point. After Christmas, the light starts to lengthen the days again as the light comes into the world. And Jesus is the true light whose coming was the turning point in history. The world has become a brighter place because of the influence and power of Jesus, first in his own life then in the Church, the light of the world.
That’s right, worshipping Jesus was always supposed to be the top priority for Christ’s mass, not Christmas trees and gift giving to each other, but Christmas carols and alms giving to the poor. Jesus is the reason for the season. It is good for us to spend the weeks of Advent remembering that so that we don’t lose Jesus somewhere under the Christmas tree.
Christ’s Mass is fine. But that’s nothing compared Christ’s return! Some say we ought to celebrate Christmas every day, or keep the Christmas spirit all year long. That’s about love and joy and generosity and that’s great. We should do that. But since the light of the world can break in on our darkness at any moment and we have been commanded to stay alert and be ready for the return of Jesus Christ, coming on the clouds of glory, I say that we all also ought to keep the spirit of Advent all year long.
We don’t even have to focus on Christmas is coming. The stores will remind us of the countdown to Christmas. But Jesus is coming! Only the Church is anticipating that with great joy and eagerness!
The last line of the psalm tells us why this is so important and such good, good news. “Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.” And that was the psalmist’s prophetic hope and vision. But he did not see how God would do it. The psalmist did not know that it would be through the life and death of Jesus who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
Yes! Jesus, the Living Word, was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. That’s the great light the Psalmist was waiting for!
Nowadays, many people in our world have seen the great light. Hopefully all of you have. But there is also a still greater light that you and I are waiting for. When Jesus, the Son of God returns to us, coming in all his glory, that will be the greatest light ever! Mark 13:26 says, “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”
Until that great light appears, we have the joyful task of proclaiming that it is coming! We get to share the good news with anyone who will listen. In Acts 26:17-18, Paul became an Apostle when he was told, “I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
But that’s our calling too! If you know the gospel message, you have little light to share with the people who are still in the darkness of sin. There is a song that has these words: “There is a candle in every soul. Some brightly burning, some dark and cold. There is a Spirit who brings a fire, ignites a candle and makes His home.
There’s a frustrated brother, see how he's tried to light his own candle some other way. See now your sister. She's been robbed and lied to. She still holds a candle without a flame. Carry your candle. Run to the darkness. Seek out the helpless, confused and torn. And hold out your candle for all to see it. Take your candle and go light your world. We are a family whose hearts are blazing. So, let's raise our candles and light up the sky. Let us pray to our Father, in the name of Jesus, “Make us a beacon in darkest times.”
It’s the first Sunday of Advent. Today we lit one candle and heard the Isaiah passage about the great light! A candle isn’t a great light. It’s just a little twinkle. Still it can make a great difference to a person in total darkness. A person who is lost in the dark will be almost irresistibly drawn to the light of even the smallest candle. You are the light of the world! And so am I. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!
But we must always remember, the light is not our own light. It is the light of Christ, the true light, who came into the world, the true light that gives light to everyone. And to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
And, as the psalmist said, “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” That’s why we have the Lord’s Supper. We begin from the depths of darkness. The world is still suffering the effects of sin. We are still suffering the effects of a world broken by sin. And not just the consequences of our own sins. According to Romans 8:22, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”
But we also rejoice in the wonderful news of the gospel! Jesus, the power of God, demonstrated his love for us by offering himself up for us so that we could be forgiven. Jesus is the power source that lights up our world, and by receiving this meal together we remember the source of the light within us. And we are refreshed and brightened to serve another day. That’s the sacramental way to let your little light shine. It’s mine because I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for my salvation and I believe the Holy Spirit is in me giving me eternal life to live right now. That’s the little light that is mine, and I’m going to let it shine. Amen.
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