Advent 3A pm

3rd Sunday of Advent, Year A (evening)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The first week of Advent, we talked about Need - the difference between need and want, and the realization that we need a savior. The second week, we heard Pastor Henry talk about Promise. He reminded us of the promises we make to each other and the promise that God has made to us. This week, our theme is Fulfillment.

How many of us have “projects” in work that are unfinished? Something that was started but not completed? And when we’re confronted with it: “hey, how’s that project going? Almost done?” how do we respond? Eyes to the ground…vague response…try to find a way to describe progress while not acknowledging that we have not finished what we said we would do… I confess to having more experience at this than I want to admit.

I think I was probably born at a time when we were at the tail end of “your word is your bond”. There was a time in my teens when people could buy merchandise on “store credit”. You could basically sign a piece of paper and the store owner would let you pay for your goods later. I saw that happen once or twice even verbally. “I give you my word” actually meant something. At least it did, until you violated your word. Once you broke your promise, you could no longer enjoy those privileges. But so long as you kept your promise, you could do it again in the future. We call this quality of keeping your promises - being true to your word - “integrity”.

In the military, we treated integrity with the highest respect. In fact, we were often told that no one can take your integrity away from you; the only way to lose it is to give it away yourself. My own service had 3 core values. It started with “Integrity first”, and for very good reason. Here’s something we had to memorize: “Integrity is the fundamental premise of military service in a free society. Without integrity the moral pillars of our military strength, public trust, and self-respect are lost.” (John Stuart Mill)

If someone fighting a battle alongside you tells you something, you really have no choice but to trust him or her. You put your lives in each other’s hands. Trust is vital, and so integrity is also. Your teammates have to know that whatever you say you are going to do, you WILL do it.

And did you hear what is lost without integrity? Strength, trust, and self-respect. The strength of the entire organization crumbles without integrity. How effective will your team be if you don’t trust each other? And notice the 3rd quality that is lost: self-respect. When you break your promise…when you let people down…when you do *not* fulfill your word… you actually lose respect for yourself. Integrity is incredibly important (and not just in the military). It’s important in any relationship. And it’s important in the life of faith. Knowing that God’s integrity is perfect is absolutely vital to our faith. God keeps His promises, and He always will.

The lessons that were chosen for tonight begin with 2 Samuel where we hear a prophecy of the coming Messiah, who will be a descendant of King David. God will establish an eternal kingdom, and on that throne will always be someone from the lineage of King David. It’s a promise to David, but it’s also a prophecy - a description of something that *is* going to happen. It *will* come true. This promise *will* be fulfilled.

Now let’s consider the psalm. David himself wrote many of the psalms, possibly this one as well. The important thing to note here is that the Psalm presents God’s promise of bringing a Son into the world as a completed action. It has *already* happened. It has already been fulfilled.

The second lesson from the first chapter of Hebrews reminds us that God has provided a new revelation of his will, a Son through whom he has created all things, and is the heir to all things. This Son is God’s own glory, and he speaks directly to us.

The gospel lesson from St. Luke focuses on Jesus’ baptism by John. At Jesus’ baptism the heavens were opened, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, and a ‘voice’ announced that Jesus is the beloved Son of God with whom he is well pleased. All of these passages mark the fulfillment of the promise of the Messiah.

As we look over the narrative of Scripture, the promise of a Messiah is woven throughout. The Old Testament, the Psalms, the Prophets - all of them point to God’s promise. The Gospels show us who He actually is. The remainder of the New Testament tell us about His return. All of Scripture shows us how every promise that God has made, He has kept. God’s integrity is perfect. He has always kept His promises, and He always will.

The Advent season recalls the dark times of God’s people before Jesus’ birth. The bright star shining over his birthplace was a light in the darkness announcing to everyone that their Messiah had finally come. It also pointed the way to Him. “The people who walked in darkness had seen a great light...” Looking forward to that is what Advent is about.

Life in the world can get crazy and chaotic and frustrating and disappointing and depressing and… name the negative emotion, and that’s what the world throws at us. But for Christians, we can always, ALWAYS look to God and count on Him. We can trust Him. We know that He will fulfill His promise. We know that He will hold nothing back. He gave His Son to die for us. And He promised to do that with the foreknowledge of what would happen to His Son. He knew the cost, and He still fulfilled His promise to us. We can put our trust in Him. We can put our hope in Him and know that He will keep His promises.

That is who our God is. His integrity is perfect. He has always kept His promises, and He always will.

May the Peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.