Fair Warning

Isaiah 2:1-5

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.

Many peoples shall come and say,

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

to the house of the God of Jacob;

that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths."

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,

and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between the nations,

and shall arbitrate for many peoples;

they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war any more.

O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!

Psalm 122

I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!"

Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.

Jerusalem built as a city that is bound firmly together.

To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.

For there the thrones for judgment were set up, the thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you.

Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers."

For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, "Peace be within you."

For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.

Romans 13:11-14

Besides this, you know what time it is,

how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.

For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;

the night is far gone, the day is near.

Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;

let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness,

not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.

Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ,

and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Matthew 24:36-44

"But about that day and hour no one knows,

neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark,

and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away,

so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.

Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.

Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

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During the season of Advent, we celebrate Christ’s coming into the world and watch with expectant hope for his coming again.

The Book of Common Worship describes it this way:

“In Advent we expectantly wait for the One who has already come.

We anticipate the promised justice of God’s new world,

         yet we praise God who raised the “righteous branch”

                  to rule with justice and righteousness.

We hope for the restoration of the afflicted,

         the tormented, and the grieving,

         yet we delight that healing has come in Christ.

We long for the beating of swords into plowshares,

         yet we rejoice that the Prince of Peace has appeared.

We yearn for the barren deserts of our inner cities to flourish,

         yet we laud the desert Rose that has bloomed.

We dream of the land where lions and lambs live in harmony,

         yet we acclaim the child born to lead us into the promised land.

In our communion liturgy, we say words like these:

Christ was born! Christ has died! Christ has risen! Christ will come again!

We must be ready! Christ will come again.

There is a bumper sticker I occasionally see that says,

“Jesus is coming: Look busy”.

Lots of attention gets paid in some circles

         to whether or not we are in the last days.

Signals get pointed out and interpreted,

         calendars made long ago are tested,

         happenings both natural and man-made are identified

         as “signs of the last days”.

Why do we do this?

Why don’t we live each day, instead, as if Jesus is coming today?

And does that mean we should just look busy,

         or we should actually be busy with the work of God’s kingdom?

The Hebrew Scriptures tell us that without God’s promise,

         the future is bound to be a repetition of the past for Judah,

         for the people of God.

But with God’s promise,

         the future is based on the faithfulness of God.

Tomorrow will be different from yesterday.

There is a break with the way things were.

The future is based upon the promises of God,

         which are always new.

God’s word always comes as law and gospel. In the Hebrew Scriptures, it is not in a suggestion but in a proclamation: The people will make peace, as weapons become, instead, tools for growth and for food from the land.

The enemy is preparing for war, but the word goes forth that God’s will is peace, and the people are called to join God in God’s work of peacemaking.

As part of his commentary in Feasting on the Word, the Rev. Dr. Noel Leo Erskine points out that “the prophet sees the word of God, because he has his eyes on God and not merely on the situation.”

The warning for God’s people that is in this passage is not to focus on the present situation in such a way that they lose sight of the God who speaks and acts. Who is always speaking and acting.

God promises us that as God’s gift of peace becomes real among us, all people, Jews and Gentiles alike will seek God, to be instructed and directed by God. Those who are taught by God, and who follow God’s word, will seek peace and will practice violence no more. One day this will come to pass.

But when? In what days? How?

Here and now, two thousand years since Christ was last seen in the flesh, it is much easier for us to pin our hopes on Christmas gifts and holiday feasts than it is to open ourselves to the possibility of believing in the seemingly impossible.

The invitation we are given from Isaiah is to live toward that day, to walk in the light of the Lord, one step at a time, one day at a time, trusting that God will provide enough light for each step, enough light to live in gratitude for and obedience to God’s law and God’s gospel.

As Paul says, get up, and live honorably in the light. Get dressed in the Lord Jesus. Lay aside the works of darkness. Put on the armor of light. It’s a new day - Wake up already! You know who you are, you know whose you are and you know who is coming to make all things new. So get up, all of you, people of God, and live in this new life! Live now as though the day of God’s peace that Isaiah foretold has already begun.

Dag Hammarkjöld, former secretary general of the United Nations, wrote in his journal, “For all that has been - thanks! To all that will be - yes.”

His “thanks" dissipates regrets for the past, and his “yes” dissipates fears for the future.

And what does it mean to live in obedience to the gospel? It means to love as Christ commanded;

to love, not as a warm fuzzy feeling, but as an act of pursuing good for a person, regardless of how we feel about that person emotionally. When we love our neighbor as our self, we do as little harm to our neighbor, and as much good for our neighbor, as we do to and for ourselves. Emotional states are not what this is about.

To be awake is to not passively sleep through our lives of faithfulness, but to make the most of each day in obedience to Christ.

When we consider that every day could be the day that we stand in judgment before God, as Jesus points out in the gospel today, our response ought to be that God’s radical claims are for us here and now. We live between the times! God has made all things new, and God is coming to make all things new. How are we living in the way of Christ? How are we doing at trusting him alone? How much are we allowing ourselves to be distracted by our own cares and needs? 

God has a plan. God’s plan is us. We participate in the new future, God’s kingdom, every day, in order for it to be seen through a glass dimly; in order for there to be glimpses, more and more, standing next to and standing against the powers of evil and futility, of hopelessness and hatred.

Every day gives us opportunities to be the people of God, to live out our faith, to live as citizens of the kingdom of God.

Every day gives us opportunities to walk in the light of the Lord, to put on the armor of light.

Every day calls us to speak peace to those we encounter, to use not a spear but a pruning hook, to nurture and to nourish for growth rather than to tear down and destroy.

Every day we can show that we are indeed awake and aware and ready for the Lord Jesus Christ to come again.

There are plenty of chances for us to step into the middle of a confrontation or a hurtful situation and show we are Christians by our love.

Mister Rogers told children a story about when he was a child, how when bad things happened, his mother always told him to “look for the helpers”. That’s us – the helpers when bad things happen. That’s what we are called to be.

Here’s just one example of what that can look like.

This is a story about a grocery store in Albuquerque NM the day before Thanksgiving.

http://krqe.com/2016/11/24/picture-captures-person-accosting-woman-wearing-hijab-at-smiths/

We’ve been given fair warning;

         we don’t need a calendar date.

Rather than keeping count of the number of days to Christmas,

         and focusing on our shopping,

why not live today and every day

         as if this is the day we have been preparing for,

         and turn our selves more completely toward Christ,

         seeking always to reflect the body of Christ

         in our hands and feet and thoughts and words

         and hearts and minds.

Today is the day, dear friends.

Today is the day to do what we can.

Today is the day to do what we can in a spirit of hope and trust.

Today and every day we can act in Christ’s love in everything we do.

Now is the time.

We know the drill.

Even as we wait, praying “Come, Lord Jesus!” 

         we cannot wait to do what is right.

Held Together By the King of Love

 Jeremiah 23:1-6

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.

Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 

concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: 

It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, 

and you have not attended to them. 

So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD.

Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock 

out of all the lands where I have driven them, 

and I will bring them back to their fold, 

and they shall be fruitful and multiply.

I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, 

and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, 

nor shall any be missing, says the LORD.

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, 

when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, 

and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, 

and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. 

And this is the name by which he will be called: 

"The LORD is our righteousness."

Psalm 46 

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, 

though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

though its waters roar and foam, 

though the mountains tremble with its tumult. 

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, 

the holy habitation of the Most High.

God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;

God will help it when the morning dawns.

The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; 

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come, behold the works of the LORD; 

see what desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; 

he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.

"Be still, and know that I am God!

I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth."

The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. 

  

Luke 1:68-79

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, 

for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.

He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.

Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, 

and has remembered his holy covenant, t

he oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, 

to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, 

might serve him without fear, 

in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; 

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 

to give knowledge of salvation to his people 

by the forgiveness of their sins.

By the tender mercy of our God, 

the dawn from on high will break upon us, 

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, 

to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

  

Colossians 1:11-20

May you be made strong 

with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, 

and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, 

while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, 

who has enabled you to share 

in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

He has rescued us from the power of darkness 

and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, 

things visible and invisible, 

whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—

all things have been created through him and for him.

He himself is before all things, 

and in him all things hold together.

He is the head of the body, the church; 

he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, 

so that he might come to have first place in everything.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, 

by making peace through the blood of his cross.

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Today, on Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday in the church calendar year, we place our focus on acknowledging just who is king - and who is not.

It was in the Old Testament book 1 Samuel, when Israel became dissatisfied with God’s way of governing, and spoke to God through Samuel, their judge, saying, we want a king to govern us, like other nations. At that time, Samuel served as judge on behalf of the Lord God. Samuel was getting old, and he had appointed his sons to be judges over Israel, but scripture tells us that “his sons did not follow in his way, but turned aside to seek their own gain, taking bribes and perverting justice.” Samuel went to the Lord with the demand of the people, and God reminded Samuel that they were not rejecting Samuel, but were rejecting the Lord God as king.

God’s response to the people of Israel who were demanding a king was this: “these will be the ways of the king who will reign over you:

•     he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots;

•     and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties

•     and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest,

•     and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.

•     He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.

•     He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers.

•     he will take one tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers.

•     he will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work.

•     he will take one tenth of your flocks

•     you will be his slaves

•     and in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that easy.

But the people were determined to have a king over them, so that “we may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” And so the Lord told Samuel to listen to them, to set a king over them.” 

The first king of Israel, proclaimed by Samuel, was Saul.  Some of the people were pleased with Saul, but some despised him and refused to accept him as king. 

It is fair to say that Saul had a problematic reign, without going into a lot of details, and was ultimately rejected as king. Samuel was commissioned to find the next king, having been told by the Lord God, “Do not look on height of stature; the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Then David was anointed, a great king, though with his own problems. And many kings and rulers came after that; there are so many stories in scripture of pretty good kings and pretty terrible kings. Clearly none of them measured up to the kind of king God intended for God’s people. 

So in today’s Old Testament, the Lord speaks though Jeremiah, criticizing those who would be shepherds of God’s sheep, saying “you have not attended to them, and so I will attend to you”.  

And God describes the kind of leader he desires, he intends, he will provide for God’s people: 

" I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer,  

or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD.

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, 

and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: 

"The LORD is our righteousness.”

The name of this king will be “The Lord is our righteousness”. He will deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness. God’s beloved people shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, or be scattered. 

And of course, God gave us Christ to be the King, restoring for us God’s original intent that we would have a king of love and goodness and compassion. Christ the King, whose throne is the cross; whose crown is made of thorns. 

In Luke’s gospel reading this morning, it is the father of John the Baptist, Zechariah, who speaks the prophecy about his son and the one who his son prepares the way for, Christ the King. He says, “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” 

And the apostle Paul, coming after the time of Christ the King on earth, describes Christ in this way: 

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, 

whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him.

He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, 

so that he might come to have first place in everything.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, 

whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”

Paul tells us that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. When we look at Christ, see in scripture how he behaved, how he loved, we are seeing how God loves us, how God so loves the world. 

Paul tells us that all things were created through Christ and for Christ. All rulers and powers and thrones and dominions have their beginnings in Christ, and their purpose is for the kingdom of Christ. 

But we know fully well that there are no rulers or powers or thrones or dominions who are not just as broken and sinful as we are. We can no more say that one leader or another is the chosen one of God than we can say that we are the chosen one of God. All are chosen by God, all of us; we are all chosen and called to do God’s will. And it is our choice whether we obey that calling or not.  We are not chosen because we are good; we are chosen, all of us, to do good, to turn from evil, to turn toward God and to obey God. And thankfully, God gives us a model for how to be a leader who is doing God’s will. That model is Jesus Christ, the good shepherd. 

When I first sensed a call to leave my position in corporate America, where I was serving as an executive manager almost eight years ago now, the calling I felt was to help leaders understand how to be faithful while leading. I had spent much of the prior decade reading everything I could get my hands on about servant leadership. This was the closest thing I could find to what I read in scripture about how God wanted us to care for those whom we led.

In 1977 Robert Greenleaf wrote a book entitled “Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness”. Greenleaf was a retired AT&T executive at the time, and he proposed that "service ought to be the distinguishing characteristic of leadership.” Not only would it create better, stronger companies, he said, but business leaders themselves would find greater joy in their lives if they raised the servant aspect of their leadership and built more serving institutions. In this respect, he said, the leader becomes a follower, constantly inquiring whether other people’s highest priority needs are being served. Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants for others? True leadership, then, is an inner quality as such as an exercise of authority.” 

This was written right around the year that I was graduating from engineering school, and it became an overriding principle of how I wanted to serve others through the work I had been called to do. It fit for me because of its parallels to the work of a good shepherd, as I had learned while growing up in church. The work of the shepherd does not look anything like leadership. It’s hard and dirty work. Good shepherds put their lives on the line for the sheep. The sheep do not work for the shepherd; they are cared for by the shepherd. This is the leadership model that God provides for us as good leadership. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. The king of love my shepherd is; his goodness never fails. 

As Shane Claiborne describes in his book “Jesus for President”, "When God puts skin on to show the world what God’s love is intended to look like, he sends the Prince of Peace, to be born as a refugee in the middle of a genocide. Thirty years later this man, this king, is rescued from the trash bin of imperial executions to stand at the pinnacle of this peculiar people, set-apart by God to be a living temple. What a strange way to start a revolution.” 

Just before last week’s election, theologian David Lose wrote that 

“Martin Luther believed that God was an active God, always at work for the good of God’s people. And he believed that God exercised authority through two distinct arenas and toward two particular ends. The first arena was the spiritual one, and God worked through the church to make sure that all knew of God’s love, grace and mercy in Christ and so had peace of heart in this world and eternal life in the next. The second arena was what he would call the “temporal” one – the world of our immediate and physical needs of this time and place (as opposed to our spiritual and eternal needs) – and God’s means of caring for our temporal needs is through the family and government. 

Indeed, for Luther these two things – family and government – were quite similar in their function – to care for those under their charge – and differ only in scale. The individual household – which was defined far more broadly in Luther’s day than in our own – cared for the children, grandparents, household servants, visiting guests, and all who might take shelter under the same roof. It was the local agent for care, whereas the government was the broader, communal and societal agent of care, tending the needs of the larger society. In one sense, Luther viewed government as “parents writ large,” as they were to tend the needs of their people as parents cared for their children. 

Martin Luther’s way of understanding how government leadership exists was to care for the needs of the people, to protect them and keep them safe, and to give special attention to the most vulnerable. 

So we have Martin Luther describing government leadership as extended family, caring for and protecting the people. 

We have Robert Greenleaf describing business leadership as serving the people, bringing out the best in them, helping them become healthier, wiser, freer people. 

We have the Word of God describing the best type of leadership as that of a shepherd, and sending God with skin on to show us exactly what that sort of King looks like. And not only that, giving us that King to be our King. 

Christ the King Sunday was first established in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. This feast day was instituted at that pivotal time in history to remind Christians that their allegiance was to their spiritual ruler in heaven as opposed to earthly supremacy. This was a direct response to Benito Mussolini, who had declared himself the supreme leader. 

On this day, Christ the King Sunday, the last day of the church calendar year, let us remember these things: 

As Christians, we pledge allegiance to Christ the King, and serve him alone. 

No other leader of God’s people has ever matched up to the kind of leadership God desires for us.  

The kind of leadership God calls for is shown by the shepherd, not the conquerer. 

The character of leadership God desires was told to us by Christ in the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those that mourn, those that hunger and thirst for righteousness. 

Christ is the image of God. And we are made in the image of God, beloved children who are to be cared for by those in charge. 

And Christ came to hold all things together. Not to tear them apart. 

As Paul says, " 

He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, 

so that he might come to have first place in everything.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, 

whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”

Let us be leaders and follow leaders who hold things together in Christ, who work for the reconciliation of the world through the power of the Holy Spirit, who follow Christ by making peace and by loving one another. Amen.