Sermon Tone Analysis
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Openness
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INTRODUCTION
ST.
JOHN’S GOSPEL HAS A VERY TELLING LINE ABOUT THE TIMING AND ARRIVAL OF OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST....
AND IT IS IN THAT POWERFUL PIECE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE THAT CHRISTIANS MAY PAUSE AND WONDER, IF BUT FOR
A MOMENT, WHETHER THE WORLD WAS READY FOR THE BIRTH OF JESUS WHEN HE CAME OR WHETHER THERE
WAS NO ROOM FOR JESUS, WITHIN HIS OWN FAITH FAMILY KNOWN AS THE JEWISH PEOPLE?
WAS THERE NO
ROOM FOR JESUS IN THE TIMES HE WOULD EVENTUALLY TURN UPSIDE DOWN?
WAS THERE NO ROOM FOR MARY
AND JOSEPH’S BABY BOY?
WE ARE TOLD BY CHURCH HISTORIANS THE EARLIEST CELEBRATIONS OF THE SEASON OF ADVENT WERE
WRITTEN
AND RECORDED IN THE 4th CENTURY IN SPAIN AND EUROPE......AND SINCE THAT TIME THIS IMPORTANT TIME OF
PREPARATION, REMEMBRANCE AND CELEBRATION HAS CONSISTENTLY BEEN THE EPITOME OF THAT VERSE IN
FOR US AND FOR OUR FAMILIES, BELOVEDS, FOR GENERATIONS BEFORE US AND THOSE THAT WILL COME AFTER
US......
Advent is not only a season for waiting.
It is also a time of preparation – a time of looking for the coming of
the Lord, for the fulfillment of God’s promised restoration, for the peace that overcomes all violence, and
for that perfect love that casts out fear.
EVEN MORE BELOVEDS OVER ALL THE NOISE, CHATTER AND CLATTER OF THE WORLD THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF
THE THEOLOGIAN DUTCH SHEETS IS SURE......
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND, HE WROTE, THE TIMINGS AND SEASONS GOD ORDAINS FOR OUR LIVES,
MINISTRIES, CITIES AND NATIONS.
TOO OFTEN WE TRY TO REAP DURING PLANTING SEASON, PLANT
DURING HARVEST, RUN WHEN WE SHOULD BE RESTING AND REST WHEN IT IS TIME TO RUN.
BELOVEDS, KNOW THIS TIME AND SEASON OF ADVENT IN ALL THE WONDERS OF ITS WAITING, THE POWER OF
GOD’S PEACE, AND THE SLOW AND STEADY WELCOMING OF OUR SAVIOR INTO OUR MIDST.......
PSALM 90 & ITS SPECIAL COMFORT IN ADVENT
WHEN WE EMBRACE THE PACE AND MAKE SPACE FOR THIS PSALM IN OUR LIVES WE WELCOME THE JOURNEY THAT
COMES WITH ACCOMPANYING MOSES THE GREAT LAWGIVER OF ISRAEL, MOSES WHOSE VERY NAME MEANS HE WAS
DRAWN OUT OF THE WATER, MOSES WHO WAS CONSIDERED A SIGNIFICANT SAVIOR AND DELIVERER OF ISRAEL....
WE ARE JOINING MOSES IN HIS MOST INTIMATE TIME WITH THE LORD OUR GOD....FOR PSALM 90 IS AT ITS HEART A
PRAYER OF MOSES AND AS SUCH IS CONSIDERED ONE TO TREASURE USE AND RETURN TO IN EVERY SEASON OF
OUR LIVES........THIS IS SURELY MOSES THE POET AS VERSE 4 SAYS SO POIGNANTLY O LORD:
AND OUR VERSE FOR THE MORNING IS NO LESS POIGNANT......VERSE 12 OF THIS POWERFUL PSALM ADDRESSES
THE IMPORTANCE OF MAKING EVERY DAY COUNT, OF GIVING EVERY DAY OUR VERY BEST......
To number our days is to measure the time left in life and make every day count.
It is based on the recognition that life is short and God’s anger swift.
Thus, the goal of such numbering is a heart of wisdom.
Conscious of life’s brevity, we learn to make choices through which God can establish the work of our hands (v.
17), producing something valuable to those that follow us (v.
16) and honoring to God.
BELOVEDS, WE ARE REMINDED IN THIS SEASON OF ADVENT THAT ONE OF THE REASONS FOR OUR JOYS RELATES
TO THE WISDOM EXPRESSED IN THE LIVES OF JOSEPH AND MARY, JESUS’ EARTHLY PARENTS......
Joseph and Mary couldn’t rely on experience or past parental wisdom.
They were truly in uncharted
territory, WITH JESUS, but they were also never alone.
Not only had God given them family members in Zacharias and Elizabeth to support them along the way
(Luke 1), He had sent angelic messengers to both Joseph and Mary with the reassurance that God was in
fact with them, that this was all part of His plan, and that they were “not to be afraid” (Matthew 1:20; Luke
1:30).
Thankfully, Joseph and Mary held on to these words and obeyed God’s instructions, trusting in His power,
provision, and promises, rather than the oddity or uncertainty of their situation (Luke 1:38).
COULD THEY HAVE KNOWN THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TIMES THEY WERE LIVING THROUGH?
THEIR WISDOM
WAS EXPRESSED IN THE TRUST THEY SHOWED IN GOD.......IN THE TRUST THEY SHOWED IN THE ENCOURAGEMENT
OF THE ANGELS......IN THE TRUST THEY SHOWED IN SPITE OF THE ODDITY AND UNCERTAINTY OF LIFE AND LIVING
NOT JUST EXPERIENCED BY THEM....BUT OCCASIONALLY WHEN WE FACE UNCERTAIN & ODD TIMES OF OUR
OWN.....WE TOO, CAN BE WISE IN THE TRUST WE SHOW IN THE GOOD LORD.....AMEN?
SO TEACH US, O GOD TO COUNT THE DAYS......THE STORY IS TOLD, BELOVEDS OF GOD’S DAYS
There are two days in the week upon which and about which I never worry -- two carefree days kept
sacredly free from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is Yesterday.
Yesterday, with its cares and fret
and pains and aches, all its faults, its mistakes and blunders, has passed forever beyond my recall.
It was
mine; it is God's.
The other day that I do not worry about is Tomorrow.
Tomorrow, with all its possible adversities, its
burdens, its perils, its large promise and performance, its failures and mistakes, is as far beyond my
mastery as its dead sister, Yesterday.
Tomorrow is God's day; it will be mine.
There is left, then, for myself but one day in the week - Today.
Any man can fight the battles of today.
Any
woman can carry the burdens of just one day; any ONE can resist the temptation of today.
It is only when
we willfully add the burden of these two awful eternities - Yesterday and Tomorrow - such burdens as only
the Mighty God can sustain - that we break down.
It isn't the experience of Today that drives men mad.
It is the remorse of what happened Yesterday and fear
of what Tomorrow might bring.
These are God's Days......Leave them to GOD.
THIS IS WISDOM IN ACTION, BELOVEDS, AND THERE IS NO BETTER TIME THAN IN ADVENT TO PRACTICE THE
PRINCIPLES OF GIVING GOD ALL OUR YESTERDAYS AND ALL OUR TOMORROWS.....
PSALM 90 ALSO SPEAKS TO THE HEAVY WEIGHT OF OUR GRIEFS
SO TEACH US TO COUNT OUR DAYS, O LORD......HAS ANOTHER RICH MEANING IN MOSES’ PRAYER AND FOR OUR
PURPOSES TODAY KNOWING THE KIND OF TIMES WE’RE LIVING IN, AND LIVING THROUGH.....
IN THIS SEASON OF ADVENT, TAKE TIME TO REFLECT ON THE GIFT YOUR SIBLINGS HAVE BEEN TO YOU.....AS YOU
DO, YOUR JOURNEY WITH MOSES DEEPENS....ONE COMMENTATOR ON THE TEXT CONVEYS THAT AS MOSES
RUMINATES ABOUT THE ETERNITY OF GOD AND THE FRAILTY OF HUMAN EXISTENCE ON EARTH THIS IS NOT JUST A
PHILOSOPHICAL SET OF PROPOSITIONS STRUNG TOGETHER HERE IN THE 90th PSALM....
THIS IS MOSES DEALING WITH THE DEATHS OF HIS SIBLINGS WHO MEANT SO MUCH TO HIM.....THIS IS MOSES
DEALING WITH THE LOSS OF MIRIAM AND AARON.....AND HIS FEELINGS OF EMPTINESS AND DEEP SORROW.......
FOR WE CANNOT SEE THE DEATHS OF THOSE CLOSE TO US WITHOUT THINKING OF OUR LIFE’S VALUE, OUR OWN
LIFE’S POSSIBILITIES........OR ABOUT WHAT IT ALL MEANS, NO MATTER HOW MUCH TIME GOD GIVES US HERE ON
EARTH.....AND KNOWING THE TIME, BELOVEDS.......IN THIS TIME OF PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF OUR
SAVIOR.....WE BRING OUR JOYS AND WE BRING OUR SADNESS, OUR GRIEFS AND YES EVEN OUR FRAILTIES
CELEBRATING WITH THE HYMNAL WRITER, BENJAMIN R. HANBY WHO WROTE THESE POWERFUL WORDS ABOUT
JESUS’ BIRTH:
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