Advent 1 2025 Will we even notice?

“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son,[h] but only the Father. 37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so, too, will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken, and one will be left. 42 Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day[i] your Lord is coming. 43 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. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

What a wonderful way to begin the advent season! 

Layers of white cover empty brown fields.
Joyous red birds fill the branches.
In silence the snow whispers God’s peace
Offering pause for wearied stances.
As we wait for snow plows to free us
And the sun to warm frozen ground,
hoping for Christmas and springtime,
it’s Advent season all around.

 Advent is indeed about hope. The first candle on the advent wreath. “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”  (Hebrews 11:1)

As foreboding as today's gospel may sound, Jesus is talking about hope. Hope for what is yet to come. Hope for the answer to our prayer: “your kingdom come.” And faith in that hope. 

How easy it is to lose sight of that hope. To get so bound up in everyday things that we forget to hope. To get so buried in disappointment and sorrow and fear that hope becomes a dream, no longer the reality of what Jesus brings. Or to get so comfortable, so set in our ways, that we become too sleepy to hope that the “Kingdom will come.” It will be change.

And if it came, would we even open our eyes and see it? This is the warning Jesus gives. If the Kingdom comes, if the Spirit moves, if the Son of Man shows up, will we notice? Will we be open to receiving what that moment brings?

Two shall be in the field working. Living life as they always do. One will be taken, joined to the Spirit, or received the Spirit, and one shall be left untouched. Perhaps one noticed, looked up from their labor, and embraced the transformation the Spirit brings. Perhaps one continued on with life as they knew it, undisturbed, unchanged.

There is one quote that I have used in more sermons than I can count. My prayer is that one day it will take our churches to a new understanding of who we are and what is possible.  In her book, “Teaching a Stone to Talk”, Annie Dillard boldly writes:

Why do people in church seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute? … Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us to where we can never return.”  

When the Kingdom comes, when the Son of Man comes, offering a new heaven and new earth, will we notice? Will we be transformed? Or will we be too focused, too sleepy, too content to look up?

Do we believe that where two or more are gathered, Christ is there? If so, are we transformed in some way each time we worship together? Why or why not?

The weather turned cold.
The snow piled up at my door.
And just in that moment
 how my soul did soar.
For I saw God there
In feathers of red and fields of white.
“It is good,” God said.
And my heart took flight.

Will we even notice?

A Stewardship sermon about apple trees.

Luke 21

5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’[and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.

9 “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

12 “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, 15 for I will give you words[c] and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.

Two of my favorite Martin Luther quotes are both quotes that scholars argue he never said. Since I doubt any of us were actually around him all the time I can’t imagine we could know for sure if he said them or not. So based on that reasoning, they will continue to be my favorites.

One of them is: “Be thou comforted, little dog, Thou too in Resurrection shall have a little golden tail.”  The story is that he said this to his own dog when it had fallen ill.

The second quote is: “"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree today."  They say there is no evidence in his writings for this but I can almost hear him saying it. After all he went through with his excommunication and threat of being executed, he continued on to build a life that brought hope and joy to many. No he wasn’t perfect, he was after all very human.

But it is this second quote that came to mind as I wondered how I would talk about stewardship today in light of our gospel reading. While we are giving our pledge cards with monetary pledges written on them, stewardship is not just money. Those of us who do not have much material wealth still can give of their time and talents. These are desperately needed. I wonder if we shouldn’t include space on our cards for these things as well. 

Sometimes we feel a bit despondent about our churches. The numbers have dwindled. Finding pastors is challenging. Our budgets end up in the red at the end of the year because needs increase and incomes don’t. And today we read: “the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree today.”

Why bother?

It is about hope. It is about faith. It is about trusting God. The church will always exist. Over 2000 years of persecution and political control and changes have not done it in. The church is always about the people of God. And God will not be constrained. God has always been and will always be the merciful, gracious, generous victor.  (Amen?)

It is in that declaration that we put our trust. It is for that future that we invest. Our apple tree is not just for today's congregation, but rather for the congregations yet to come. Actually, if you plant an apple tree today it can take up to 12 years before fruit forms. (depending of course on the tree) 

Why invest your time, talents and money? Because we pray that God’s kingdom will come. And it is in that kingdom that our investments will change the world.

I feel I need to insert a personal story here. Perhaps you have heard this kind of story before but I am not sure I ever have heard this said on a stewardship Sunday. And that may explain why I tend to be uncomfortable with stewardship sermons. 

When we were stationed in Virginia, our family started attending a church there. They preached money giving all the time and encouraged people to give more than the tithe, 10% of one’s income. Maybe believing the message or simply out of guilt we gave as the preachers encouraged us. Until one day I found we could not afford boots for our daughter. That was my wake up call. I believe that God does not call us to give what we have not been given. 

There are many talents I do not have. God did not make me a vocalist or an artist for example. And so I do not attempt to give these things. For my sake and for yours. I cannot give what I have not been given.

On the other hand, I do have enough writing talent to be able to give out of that. I have enough talent in the art of compassionate listening to give from that. I trust that I have enough talent in preaching to make my giving a blessing. And it is when I do not give from what I have been given that God is saddened.

So what am I asking? I am asking that we prayerfully give out of what we have been given, no more and no less. I am asking that we invest in the future kingdom of God, whatever it may end up looking like. I am asking we invest in the hope of tomorrow, no matter how shaky it might appear today. I am asking us to plant an apple seed for the sake of generations to come.  God gave us the applre for nourishment with a seed to plant. We can enjoy the apple  and still plant the seed.

And finally I thank you for all the seeds you have already planted. FaithFundations is an amazing investment in the future of not just the church but the world! Sandwiches seem like so little but if you could see the smiles of people who receive them, you would know how much they truly are. Our music ministries bless hearts not just in this sanctuary but over the radio and internet. Quilts, layettes, prayer shawls, etc mean everything to those who receive them. This church is a blessing. For today and tomorrow. Thank you.

The future has always been uncertain. We never know what lies ahead. And I for one am just as happy I don’t. But we can know that God is forever. God’s love is forever. And as Paul writes: nothing can separate us from that love. Thanks be to God.

Sit silently with me for a moment to simply know God’s love.

Your Kingdom Come (LUke 20)

27 Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 28 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30 The second 31 and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32 Finally, the woman died too. 33 Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

34 Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. 37 But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”  Luke 20

Let me start with a quick survey. Just one question. How many have had to get up, maybe labor through a thick shag carpet, to change the channel on the television for your parents? Or maybe just for yourself? 

Okay, one more question. How many remember having to set your schedule around a television show so you wouldn’t miss it? I remember coming home from school and rushing to sit in front of the TV so I wouldn’t miss a moment of Dark Shadows! Because if you missed it, well–you missed it. Unless you caught a rerun. And who wants to wait months for that?

Such tedious difficulties have been completely done away with. A remote control allows us to never leave our lazy boy and home fashion preferences have saved us from the shag carpet. And of course, the DVR and streaming options means we set the schedule. Admit it, life is good!

But at the time we worked our lives around the television we thought just having a color TV was the best thing ever! Who knew the future would be so good?

This is what Jesus is trying to help us to see. He is trying to give us a vision of a life that is beyond what we could imagine now. Peterson puts it this way in the Message: “Those who are included in the resurrection of the dead will no longer be concerned with marriage nor, of course, with death. They will have better things to think about, if you can believe it. All ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God.”

This is a vision that blows color tv, remote controls, DVRs and AI right out of the water! How can this be? I haven’t a clue but it will be amazing to find out! 

Take a moment to close your eyes and feel the joy and peace and love that flow through that promise to us. I say feel it because it is the Holy Spirit that will open our hearts to these possibilities. “All ecstasies and intimacies will be with God.”

As amazing as this sounds to us, imagine what such a promise would have sounded like to this poor woman in the story. Admittedly, this was a made up scenario by the Sadducees, meant to trap Jesus into saying something that might get him in trouble, but it is pulled from real life. 

If a married man dies without children, his wife is obligated to become pregnant via the closest relative. (Ladies, think about that for a moment.) She is expected to produce a son to carry on the name of her deceased husband. Truly, she would then have offspring to take care of her when they grew up, but how hard would it have been for the 7 brothers to simply have helped her? Instead she was exploited for the means of carrying on the name of the man.

I wish Jesus had addressed this directly, but instead he hoped to bring their hearts into the vision of a better world so that this and other forms of exploitation would be addressed by those committing them. He is always calling us to repentance. To a change of heart. It is only through repentance things will ever truly change.

Martin Luther King Jr may have helped to change the laws of the land, but the hearts of humanity continue toward prejudice of many forms. Men and women continue to be exploited for the pleasure or prosperity of others. I choose to not mention specific examples, simply because we already know them all too well. Unless of course we choose to be blind.

And this is what the kingdom of God will be like. A place where people are treated equally. A place where we will all be one in the Father. Remember Jesus’ prayer in John 17?

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.”

There will be no labels: immigrant, poor, needy, homeless, etc. because we will all be united and if even one is homeless, then we all will be.

Every Sunday, and more often I would hope, we pray together “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.”

This is the picture of God’s will, God’s kingdom. Why do we pray this when we seem bound and determined to not allow it in our own hearts.

Your kingdom come, but not right now Lord. I don’t want to unite with those people in their pain.

Brothers and Sisters, it will be truly wonderful. One day we will be united with God. But God wants that for us now. 

Yes, our bodies die now, but if we are all united in God, then we are always together. Jesus prayed in that Priestly prayer: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

To know in the scriptures is not simply a mind thing. It is intimacy.

United because we allow the Holy Spirit to change our hearts, to bring repentance and become united with God and all of creation. United so that to exploit one is to be exploited ourselves. To reject one is to be rejected. To leave one to be hungry and homeless is to be hungry and homeless.

Some may rejoice in the vision of this future and some may not. Preferential treatment feels good but what Jesus proposes will be even better. 

I was happy with color television but how much better do I have it now! How wonderful we will have it if we are open to his kingdom.

amen

I challenge you now to take a moment of silence to hear the Spirit speak.