SERMON NOTES Advent II, St. Francis Church (December 7,
2003)
Fr.
John Spencer
Opening the "'Windows of the Advent Calendar
“Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O
Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God. Put on the
robe of the righteousness from God;
put on your head the diadem of the glory of the
Everlasting. For God will show your splendor everywhere under heaven. For
your name will forever be called by God, ’Peace of righteousness and glory
of godliness.’" (Baruch 5:1-4)
Wouldn't that be nice?
Wouldn’t it be nice to “put on forever the beauty of the glory of
God? To wear the “robe of
righteousness from God?”
- How do we get from
here, to there?
- How do we get from
being old, broken-down sinners, to being the shining bright,
squeaky-clean children of God, the children of the true Israel?
The beauty of the glory of God comes with the robe of
righteousness. God has called
us to be righteous, to turn from sin back to the right way. This is not a new message. It was not new in the days of John
the Baptist. John came preaching
a message of repentance and forgiveness of sins. In this he followed in the footsteps of the Old
Testament prophets and repeated their message.
The term “righteous” in our society is rarely a
compliment. Usually it is a
term of scorn, and generally refers to one who is “self-righteous.” This is different from the
righteousness to which God calls us.
He calls us to repent; literally to stop in our tracks and turn away
from sin back to the right way.
Repentance means to change – from disobedient children to obedient
children. We are called to
repent (turn around), confess those things in our life that are wrong and receive
forgiveness for our sins.
Our Lord’s message of repentance and the forgiveness of sins
was not new. What was new was
the way we receive forgiveness.
Jesus radically changed the way we receive forgiveness for our sins.
God offers us forgiveness as a free gift. Forgiveness has always been a
gift. The children of Israel
didn’t earn forgiveness by obeying the law and offering the sacrifices, any
more than they earned freedom from bondage in Egypt. Both were a free gift, given by the
grace of God.
The idea of forgiveness as a gift has been largely lost. Much of the Jewish faith today
believes that forgiveness is earned.
This is not unique to the Jews, however; we in the Christian
tradition also tend to believe that we can earn God’s love and God’s favor.
There is NOTHING we can do to change God’s love for us. There is NOTHING we can do to earn
forgiveness. God loves us
because HE IS LOVE. He loves
us because He made us. Just as
we love our children, even when they are wayward and rebellious, so, too
our Father God loves us.
During the season of Advent we are called to focus on the
reality that we are saved by the grace of God and the love of God. The message of repentance is a message of abandoning a
life that is wayward from God and returning to God and to His way of righteousness.
We do this, not to earn
God’s love, but as a response to our understanding of God’s immense love
for us.
Did YOU ever have one of those advent calendars will the
little windows, one for each day? The Advent calendar takes us through the
season of Advent, each day opening a new window that helps us prepare for
the coming of Jesus.
Picture an Advent calendar. Imagine that each little window is a window into a
different area of your life, a different area of your soul.
Let's open some windows, shall we?
o
The window to your mind: This
one may be hard to open. For some of us, it is painted shut. Open it. What do you find? Is your
mind focused on the things of God, or is it filled with “other stuff.” Does is smell of the aroma of God,
fragrant spices of frankincense, and myrrh. Or does it smell rather foul?
How is the spiritual health of your mind?
o
The window to your mouth: Examine Your tongue, not for taste buds, but
for what comes out from it? How is the spiritual health of your tongue? Jesus said, “The things that
come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.’”
(Matt 15:18)
o
The window to your hands: What good have they done this week? Have they
done good, or evil? Have the works of your hands been works of godliness or
works of selfishness? Is there
a ring there that signifies an important relationship? How have you
nurtured that relationship this week? How is the spiritual health of your
hands?
o
The window to your work life: Some of you will say, “This
doesn’t apply to me, I’m retired.”
But we all have work to do.
Is it right? Are you doing something that serves not only yourself
but in some way serves and benefits others? Are your relationships right at
work? Are there some that are in trouble? Are there some that are black? How
is the spiritual health of your work?
o
The window to your financial
life: Is it healthy, is it weak, is it doing the work of the
kingdom, or just serving yourself? Are you working for your money, or is your
money working for you? How is the spiritual health of your finances?
o
The window to your feet: where have they taken you this week? To
church? To the store? 24/7 to Wal-Mart? To the hospital? To the nursing home? Have they taken
you somewhere you ought not to have gone? How is the spiritual health of
your feet?
o
The window to your heart: How does it feel? Is it light, full of joy? Or
heavy, downcast, heavy-laden? Is it soft and pliable, or hard as a rock,
cold as a brick? Is your heart filled with a love relationship with Jesus
Christ? What is the spiritual
health of your heart?
o
The window to your prayer life: Is it full? Are there
regular times of prayer each day, each week? Is this room empty, vacant? Is
it perhaps too full of "stuff" and too empty of room for
listening to God? Are you putting first the matters of prayer that are
pressing, the things that are most needful? How is the spiritual health of your prayer life?
o
The window to your ears:
Are you spiritually deaf?
Is God’s word always fresh and new or are you tuned out? Have you “already heard it”? God is always speaking, if we will
just listen.
o
Those OTHER Windows: What are they? What is behind them? Will you
open them and look in? Or are they tightly shut, nailed, shuttered,
double-shuttered? How is the spiritual health of your entire personal life?
This
Advent, review the “windows” daily.
Take time to open the windows, and look in: examine what you see.
Digest what YOU see. Think about what you see. Pray about what you see.
Open one each day. God will
reveal to you which windows you need to open.
Don't
worry, you won't run out.
John
the Baptist: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare
the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." (John 1:23)
Sometimes
I feel like a voice crying in the wilderness: calling you to faith, calling
you to deeper faith, calling you to a spiritual life, calling you to a
deeper spiritual life: Are you listening? Open the door to your ears. Are they shuttered, and stopped, or
open wide, listening for refreshment, listening for renewal, listening for
Good News? Listening for the Christ Child?
- What are you
listening for?
- What are you
waiting for?
As
your priest and pastor, I want you to learn, I want you to grow in the
knowledge of love of Jesus Christ, to become more and more his true
children.
- But that makes no
difference.
- YOU have to want
it.
Open
the windows on the calendar of your life.
What
will you find?
I
close with Paul’s words to the Philippians: " And I am sure that he
who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of
Jesus Christ." (Phil. 1:6)
Become
true children of God: Paul's prayer for the Philippians is my prayer for
you:
"And
it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and
all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure
and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of
righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of
God." (Phil. 1:9-11)
"For
God will lead Israel with joy, in the light of his glory, with the mercy
and righteousness that come from him.” (Baruch 5:9)
Interpretation and
suggestions are by Ruth Holmes, who is solely responsible for them. Don’t blame Fr. Spencer!)
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