First Sunday in Advent, 12/02/2012

Sermon on Luke 21:25-36, by Amy C. Schifrin

25 "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." 29And he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees; 30 as soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all has taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 34 "But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare; 35 for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. 36 But watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man."

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Stir up your power, O Lord, and come, we pray, Stir up your power, and so Advent begins. Since the earliest centuries of the life of the church, Advent has been a time when we call upon God to come, and to come quickly. As night comes swiftly to the end of each day, so our hearts recall the words of our Lord about the coming of the end of all days, and in that encroaching darkness we are led into prayer, Stir up your power, O Lord, and come.

Some of you may remember an earlier translation of this ancient prayer, Stir up, we beseech thee, thy power, O Lord and come; that by thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by thy mighty deliverance.

Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. We will hear this plea and we sing it through the season: Savior of the Nations, Come; Come thou Long Expected Jesus; O Come, O Come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel. Stir up your power, we join the church's cry with these ancient words, and they are for us as they have always been, a confession. In praying this primal cry, we are confessing that we cannot rescue ourselves, and that the peril of our sin is beyond our power to deal with. We confess that we have, by our own actions, empowered the Evil One, and that now he stands knocking at the door, waiting to collect his due.

Stir up, we beseech thee, thy power, O Lord, and come. These ancient words are also a plea, but not for repentance. It's too late for repentance. These words are a plea torn out of the heart of the swirling chaos of the night, a plea when there is no other recourse, when there is no one else to turn to: a plea that the Lord God Almighty should stretch forth his hand, stir up his power, and come and rescue us. Can you picture what the end will be like? Can you hear the moon and the starts crashing around in the heavens? Can you feel the wind rip right through your flimsy clothes as the sun goes down forever? Can you find your way in a never-ending darkness? Either you will cry out to God to save you, or you will eternally hide in your fear.

Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. When the powers of the heavens are shaken and the earth no longer moves on its steady course, when the nations are in utter dismay at the mess they have made, and women and men faint with fear at the thought of the evening news, Jesus tells us that we will see him, the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Do you trust his word? Do you trust it now? If your lives are in great personal turmoil, if your bank accounts are empty, if your houses are filled with the silence of a raging anger-do you look up and trust that God will do something new in your lives? Do you call out to God or do you just trudge along, head down, trying not to notice how bad things really are, but everyday day dying more and more on the inside? Do you have a few more beers when you don't want to deal with the problems in your home? Do you call out to God now, or like a child who crawls under a bed during a thunderstorm, do you cover your eyes, too afraid to look up? If you don't trust God enough to look to him now, do you really think that you will look to him at the end? If you don't place your life in his hands now, who do think you will trust when things really get bad?

The signs of the end are always around us from the parched fields after a summer of drought to the daily obituaries in the newspaper. The signs of the end are always around us, and what we do now may give us a clue as to what we will do when the end really does come. For the treat of a terrorist's dirty bomb, to a banking system's collapse, to the melting of the polar ice caps-these are all but a prelude to the day of judgment when we will be stripped bare and can make no pretense about who we really are, for the peril of our sin is beyond our power to deal with. When that day comes, look up and call out to the Son of Man and your redemption will be drawing near.

For when you have at last learned that no power on earth will save you, when you finally believe that you cannot control your own destiny, when the trembling in your heart ceases, and when you realize that you can do nothing on your own: Look to Jesus and there he will be. Look to Jesus and there he will be for you. The Son of Man will come in power and great glory and he will give you the strength that you need. And I'll tell you a secret-you can even look to him now, calling upon him to stir up his power and save you in this day, from sin's grasp.

Jesus Christ came into the world under the bright and shining stars of a cold winter night, and he left it when night took over the day. In the heavens were signs of his glory, but the earth was looking away. His birth and his death went unnoticed for most of the world, but when he comes again, there will be no mistaking him. The signs of the end will be far more recognizable and they will be seen by all. The deafening roar of the sea and its billowing waves, the utter distress and collapse of the nations, the sun, the moon and the stars outside of their orbits-you won't be able to miss it, but nor will you know it means unless you are looking to him now. For as unexpected as his first arrival was, when only those who knew the signs went looking for him. So now those who know the signs, who look into chaos without fear, who see destruction and yet trust that life lies ahead, only those who have their hearts fixed on him will be able to stand before the Son of Man.

Until then he will use you, his holy church, to be his sign on earth. You who trust in him, you who celebrate as he calls you to his heart around his table, you who bring your children to be baptized in his name, you who hear his eternal word and believe it, you who do his beautiful works of mercy, you who know-that you will never know when this is to be. And so it is you who are the ones, who are, indeed, staying awake. Amen

The Rev. Dr. Amy C. Schifrin
Strawberry Point and Monona, IA
E-Mail: amyschifrin@yahoo.com

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