Today's Worship Service and Sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent - December 6, 2020

 

Worship for the Lord’s Day

Second Sunday of Advent

December 6, 2020

Announcements:

·        Our churches have suspended in-person worship until the first of the year, which makes this Christmas, like Easter, a very different experience for most of us.  We do so sadly, but want to ensure that all of our members and friends that normally join us for worship stay safe and that our gathering does not in any way contribute to one single person getting sick.

·        If you are a member/friend of the congregations you’ve already received a packet to begin the Advent Season.  I will post an adapted version online each day at this site, like I had been doing with the daily meditations for most of this year.

·       This Sunday marks the Second Sunday of Advent, if you have an Advent Wreath, you can light your own candle during the service or enjoy the lighting of our virtual one by clicking on the link below during the Lighting of the Advent Wreath.

 

Let’s begin our worship service together:

 

Prelude

 

Call to Worship  (if you are worshipping with others in your house, feel free to have one person read the regular text and all others read the highlighted text)

Longing for peace, our world is troubled.  Longing for hope, many despair.  Your word alone has power to save us.  Make us your living voice.

Christ be our light! 

Shine in our hearts.  Shine through the darkness. 

Christ, be our light! 

Shine in Your Church gathered and scattered today.

The Light shines in the darkness,

But the darkness has not overcome it.

During Advent our weary souls seek God’s daily strength.

The Lord gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

We grow weary when fear overshadows faith.

The Lord gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

We grow weary when destructive actions erupt in the world around us.

The Lord gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

For all of us feeling weary this Advent season:

Grant that we might have the peace of Christ as we wait, the love of Christ as we act, and the grace of Christ as we speak.

 

Today we light two candles.  The first candle illuminates patience in the areas of our lives where God has called us to wait.  The second candle extends the promise of strength to all who feel weary and weak in the shadows of this world.  As we continue our Advent journey, may our hope be kindled as the light grows brighter.

          Lighting the Advent Wreath

         

 

Hymn:  Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

 

Prayer of Confession

God of mercy and compassion, scripture says that if we draw near to You, You will draw near to us.  In a shadowy world where human weakness and weariness reside, we confess that we rely on our own weaknesses believing them to be strengths.  We ask for You to draw near and dispel the darkness around us.  May the light of this season illuminate our hope, strength, and steadfast endurance as we await the coming Savior.  We pray this in the name of Christ, our Lord.  (Silent prayers are offered) AMEN.

 

Words of Assurance

In God’s love and mercy, we are given each new day for the healing of the world.  In the name of Christ, you are forgiven.  AMEN

 

Affirmation of Faith – The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost; born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.  I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  Amen.

 

Pastoral Prayer:

Directing God, who has offered us a way through the darkness to Your light, be with us this day as we rush headlong into this holiday season.  Remind us again of the wonders that You have in store for us.  We are getting wrapped up in ribbon, tape, and paper to the point where we can no longer move.  We are prisoners of our own best intentions, reflected in our gifts.  Break through the clutter and the darkness of our souls.  Shine Your light on our path.  Calm our spirits, lift our hearts to You.  As we have lifted so many names and situations to You for Your healing and comforting love, we also bring our lives, ourselves for Your care and mercy.  Help us remember that You always care for us.  You have sent us Your very best, not in a greeting card, but in the person of Jesus, Your beloved Son, that we might come out of our darkness and into the light of Your Kingdom.  Heal and protect us, gracious Lord.  Shine Your light again in our lives that we may see the true spirit of this season is in loving and taking time to listen and care for ourselves and for others.

Be with our families, friends, and neighbors who suffer from illness, sorrow, alienation, marginalization, abuse and fear.  Bring healing and peace to their lives and their souls.  Also Lord, be with our families, friends, and neighbors who are experiencing great joy and happiness.  May their spirits rejoice in all these good moments and in Your great gifts.  We offer this prayer, along with our silent requests today. 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  AMEN.

 

Hymn  O Little Town of Bethlehem

 

Scripture Readings – Today’s Sermon Video includes the following Scripture Readings.  So, if you’d prefer to listen to it, scroll down and click on the highlighted Sermon Title.

Old Testament: Isaiah 40:1-11

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. ²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

³A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. ⁵Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” ⁶A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. ⁷The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. ⁸The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.

⁹Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” ¹⁰See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. ¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

New Testament: Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

²As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
³the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”

⁴John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. ⁸I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

 

Sermon –  Oops, I might have said that it was the Third Sunday of Advent when I recorded this.  I think I was successful in editing it out, but in case I didn’t, ignore that.  It is the Second Sunday of Advent.

 

Prepare the Way of the Lord

(based on Isaiah 40:1-11 and Mark 1:1-8)

 

His name was John.  People knew him locally as the Baptist or the Baptizer.  Some would say that he was a religious eccentric.  Others less kind would dismiss him as being simply a flake.  He definitely did not seem to be the type of personality to usher in the news of the Messiah’s coming. He just somehow doesn’t seem to fit in with angels, and shepherds and wise men and all the other characters that we traditionally associate with the Christmas story.  Yet, here is John, God’s unlikely servant, chosen to herald the spectacular events that would soon follow.

From the very beginning everything about John was pretty unique.  His mother Elizabeth was Mary’s cousin.  Elizabeth conceived six months before Mary did.  But Mary happened to be a very young girl.  Most scholars put her probable age at about thirteen.  Which in those days, was not terribly unusual. 

Elizabeth, on the other hand, was a woman who was much older.  She had never given birth to any child.  John was her first and last.  You would think of her more in the category of grandmother (perhaps even great-grandmother) than mother.  Yet, she and her aging priest of a husband were the unlikely candidates for this prophetic child.

And then there was John himself.  Being the same age as Jesus they probably grew up together, played together as children, yet as they reached adulthood they grew more and more apart and were different in many ways.  When John began his ministry he lived in the desert solitude of Judea, a rugged desert wilderness.  He fed on honey and wild locust and dressed in garments of camel hair.  The next time you’re at the zoo, try and get a feel of what camel’s hair is like.  It’s not soft and furry like a llama; something that you want to just cuddle up in.  Camel’s hair is rough and scratchy.  While living in the desert, John constantly brooded over the scriptures, especially the prophetic ministry of Elijah, after whom he modeled his own ministry.

John was not a respecter of persons or rank.  He had an intimidating personality.  For that reason, the upper-class folk rejected both he and his message.  I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of embarrassment he must have been to his aged parents.  Their only son, the town joke.  Perhaps they had died long before he became such a recluse and oddity, nobody really knows. 

And yet, John gathered a respectable following.  He attracted many hearers among the lower class, many of whom received baptism by his hands.  John even drew a group of disciples around him, which is significant for two reasons.  First, some of these disciples later became disciples of Jesus.  Second, a number of people began to think of John himself as being the long expected Messiah.  And for that very reason the gospel account written by a different John, felt obliged to specifically point out “There was a man sent from God whose name was John.  He came for testimony to bear witness to the light that all might believe through him.  He was not the light, but he came to bear witness to the light.”

With John the Baptist being the character that he was - a question arises; what drew people to him and his message?  Why would anyone follow such a strange man?  I think that perhaps his very oddness compelled people to listen to him and perhaps his strange ways convinced some people to follow him.  Many thought he was Elijah the prophet who had returned. But there was more to John than simply a bizarre strange life.  John understood that God was about to do something that would shake the foundations of the earth and he needed to prepare the way for that event.

John the Baptist prepared the way for the Messiah by living a godly life.  In an age of corruption, John the Baptist, although completely odd and totally out of touch with contemporary fashions and lifestyle, appeared as a clean breath of fresh air – long needed by people of his day.  In his passionate embrace of goodness he spoke out fearlessly against every form of corruption.  When the religious leaders from Jerusalem turned up at his congregational gatherings, his speeches in the wilderness, he didn’t express delight in seeing them.  Instead he rebuked them and shouted accusations against them, “O generation of vipers who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come!”  John’s devotion to God and his ministry was uncompromising and complete.  And the impact of his godliness prepared the way for Jesus.

The philosopher David Hume used to visit Haddingdon Parish Church every year when he was there on vacation.  On one occasion a man in his party referred to it when they met after the service.  Laughingly he said, “Of course you don’t believe all that stuff which the old man was saying do you?”  And David Hume replied, “Perhaps not.”  “Then why go?”  Hume answered, “Because he believes it.”  And then added in an undertone “And I wish to God I did.”

The world has no answer to the godly life.  Some years ago a newspaper reporter was conducting an in depth study of a Roman Catholic order of Nuns working in Paris.  The hardened reporter was convinced that the good works, the loving philanthropy, the apparent tenderness of these women was just a cover for obtaining financial support for their institution.  He was certain, that underneath the loving exterior lived a group of women as cold and uncaring as the rest of society.  He asked if he might accompany one of the Nuns during a typical day.  She took him down some of the most dilapidated streets he had ever seen.  In the basement of one house was a man who was terminally ill.  The newspaper reporter was accustomed to grim conditions but these made even him wince.  The dirt and smell were overpowering.  Rodents as large as alley cats scurried away as they approached.  The sick man who was lying on a bundle of rags was indescribably dirty.  He was trembling.  His condition was the product of poverty, disease, alcohol and drugs.  The Nun rolled up her sleeves picked up a bowl filled it with water from a tap and began to wash him.  Suddenly the sick man jerked up. “Sister”, he whimpered, “I’m afraid.”  The reporter said “I stared in unbelief as I saw this refined, cultured woman take that filthy wreck of a man and hold him in her arms like a baby.  Suddenly the hovel became heaven because love was there.”  He was overwhelmed by the goodness, which he saw.

The world has no answer to the Godly life.  The only appropriate answer is to try and find the secret of it, imitate it, and hope others will come to know it themselves.  That’s how John prepared.  He lived a godly life.  Let me ask you a question, is God preparing the way this Advent through the influence of your life?

John the Baptist prepared the way by challenging people’s sins.  There is a growing void in knowing the difference between what is right and what is wrong.  One of the towering marks of our time is the absence of guilt.  The absence of guilt in today’s society makes it very difficult to talk about sin and the need for repentance.  For if there is no feeling of guilt (which is the emotion connected to the action of doing something wrong), then the need for repentance is greatly minimized, if not altogether eliminated.

For many the word repentance is a word that belongs to another time. Many see it as something that we do only if we get caught.  But repentance is far more than simply blurting out “I’m Sorry” when we get caught cheating on our wives or stealing from the store.  Nor is repentance merely turning over a new leaf and trying to straighten up our act.  Instead, repentance means to turn around and go in another direction.  What John the Baptist wanted his audience to hear was: turn your life toward this one called the Messiah.  When looked at this way, repentance isn’t really a negative, it’s a positive new way of looking at the world.  It breaks the chains of oppression and death that hold us back.  It means you have stopped doing what’s wrong and now you’re going to what’s right.

And it means one more thing.  True repentance means a willingness to confront sin.  John the Baptist challenged sin wherever he met it.  Even the King was not exempt from this.  King Herod had seduced his brother’s wife and taken her to live with him.  Although the people were outraged their religious leaders were silent.  They had to tread very carefully (or so they thought); Herod could be violent and brutal if provoked.  But this wild preacher man from the wilderness didn’t give it a second thought.  He had eyes only on God.  With outspoken courage he denounced the king and because of this he was arrested and eventually put to death.

There is a parallel story here told of one of Verdi’s operas.  Verdi was young but he already had a great following.  He was praised up and down for his beautifully astounding works.  But this particular work had been produced in a hurry.  He knew that it was not his best, but he had no choice (or so he thought).  It was performed for the first time in Florence and at the end the enthusiastic yet undiscriminating audience went into quite unwarranted raptures and cheered the composer.  But Verdi paid little heed to their applause.  He had eyes on one man’s reaction.  He looked to the box where this one man sat.  The adoration of the crowd would not compensate for the lack of this man’s approval.  The man was Rossini and he was not smiling.  And Rossini’s approval was the only approval Verdi sought, at the time and he knew that he had disappointed him.

The world can give us rave reviews, we can be applauded for being wonderful people, but what does God say about your life?

Much is wrong with our society.  We can all make a list; broken relationships, an increase in violence and dishonesty, lack of honesty and integrity in public life.  Like John, who will call us back to God in repentance?  Who will have eyes only for the Lord not seeking the approval of the crowds?  It won’t be a popular task.

This Advent we salute the forerunner who prepared the way by challenging people’s sins.  He was not after the popular vote.  He had eyes only for God.  Are we ready to share his work and mission?  This Advent we can prepare the way of the Lord by pointing only to Christ.   Amen

 

Hymn  It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

 

Benediction

          Dear friends, on you, the light of Hope has shined.  Keep that light in your hearts and spirits.  Remember that even the smallest beam of light can illumine a pathway.  Let your light shine before others that they may know the love of God.  Go in peace and let God’s peace flow through you.  AMEN.

 

Postlude