Advent- 5: Expectation

Vulnerable, Unseen, Chosen of God

My message this evening is “The Vulnerable, Unseen, Chosen of God”

Throughout the message this evening we will see components of the movement of God through the vulnerable, unseen, and those whom He’s chosen.

Then

We take this time of year to remember and celebrate that God has come among us. That God is among us. (SLIDE) This time in the church calendar is called “Advent” which means ‘coming’. We celebrate that Christ has come and is coming again.

We read the Bible and we see that God has always been aware of the human condition and has involved Himself in the affairs of humanity. Specifically, the Bible follows the history of the Jewish people. It was through Abraham that God said He would bless the entire world. God would put on flesh in Jesus.

The Bible gives us encouragement, insight, and helpful perspective when thinking about how we fit into this thing called life.

If you are familiar with the Biblical story, as we had read earlier, Jesus was born to a couple who had not yet married. They were betrothed (engaged) but not yet married. Mary was Jesus’ mom, and the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary that she would conceive a son by the Holy Spirit.

Because of a governmental decree they traveled to a town a few days walk away. There was no reservation made or space found for them in the small town of Bethlehem. They found a stable where she gave birth to Jesus, alone, with only Joseph to help. Wrapped him in some swaddling clothes and there was no where to lay him but in a feeding trough.

God. A baby.

(SLIDE) Reading Honest Advent, by Scott Erickson- chp. 13 (Assumptions)

(SLIDE)

Vulnerable: creator of universe relied on a young woman, his mother, to feed him, keep him warm, and to protect him.

Unseen: No one knew He had come. Shepherds were told. Wise men would come a year or two later. Herod threatened by this child had all male children under three killed because he was afraid and threatened.

Chosen of God: A baby who would come to understand His purpose, yielded completely and faithfully to the Father, who would die on the cross for our sins, buried, rise again on the third day,t ascend into heaven and sits on the Right Hand of God (the symbol of authority and power) having everything placed under his authority.

This is a pattern that we see in history. Unseen. Vulnerable. Chosen of God.

A Time In The Past

A few weeks ago I had the priveledge to be in an intimate setting with Dr. Jerry Sittser. Dr. Sittser is professor emeritus of theology and senior fellow at Whitworth University in Spokane. He specializes in the History of Christianity. Dr. Sittser is one of those brilliant people that when you speak with him or connect with him, he has that presence and ability to make you feel like you are the only one in the room.

Dr. Sittser shared something with us that evening that I think is appropriate for us this evening, and really for this time. (SLIDE)

The Washington Post had an article where historians weighed in if 2020 was the worst year ever. In case you forgot, some things that happened in 2020 was:

COVID swept the globe killing more that 1.7 million people up to that time (6.7 million today, globally)

The president of the US was impeached at the end of 2019 and acquitted

Protests over police killings and unarmed black Americans and where federal law enforcement used tear gas against US Citizens.

Wildfires devastated the US West Coast and Austrailia (U.S.: $19 billion in economic loss and firefighting cost of upwards of $2.1 Billion.

Australia: Fires burned 6.75 million hectares of land (17 million acres).

Kobe Bryant and 13 yo Gianna were tragically killed in a helicopter accident

Alex Trebek died

Murder hornets arrived

Some popular memes: 1, 2, 3

(SLIDE)

It was 1348, the height of the Black Death, during which as many as 200 million people died. That would be like wiping out about 65 percent of the U.S. population. The Holocaust in 1944 ranked second, followed by 1816, when a volcano eruption in Indonesia blocked out the sun, starving millions. 2020 ranked sixth.

In U.S. history, 2020 was well down the list at No. 8, just behind the 2001 terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, the tumult of 1968’s riots and assassinations, the 1918 flu pandemic, the Trail of Tears of 1838, the 1929 stock market crash marking the beginning of the Great Depression, and at the very, very top, 1862.

(SLIDE) In 2018, medieval scholar Michael McCormick nominated 536 as "the worst year to be alive" because of the extreme weather events probably caused by a volcanic eruption early in the year out of Iceland, causing average temperatures in Europe and China to decline and resulting in crop failures and famine for well over a year. Other researchers have noted additional adverse events during the year, including a mysterious fog, possibly due to the volcanic eruption. In 536:

Rome falls to the military commander Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire

In Africa you have the battle at the city of Carthage where it is besieged by 9,000 rebels

A mysterious fog (thought to be a massive volcano eruption near Iceland sending the Northern Hemisphere into a Volcanic winter) plunged Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia into darkness, day and night—for 18 months. "For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during the whole year," wrote Byzantine historian Procopius. Temperatures in the summer of 536 fell 34°F to 36°F , initiating the coldest decade in the past 2300 years. Snow fell that summer in China; crops failed; people starved. The Irish chronicles record "a failure of bread from the years 536–539." Then, in 541, bubonic plague struck the Roman port of Pelusium, in Egypt. What came to be called the Plague of Justinian spread rapidly, wiping out one-third to one-half of the population of the eastern Roman Empire and hastening its collapse

It is thought that an estimated 25-50 million deaths, between 33-55% of the population died.

(SLIDE) SO, WHERE WAS THE CHURCH? . The church was not all that old (Constantine 313AD- Edict of Milan). In Dr. Sittser’s book Water from a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality From Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries, he shares this

In 480 BC Benedict of Nursia was born. He grew up on an estate in Italy, occupied by the Ostrogoths at the time. (SLIDE)

Attending school in Rome he became disillusioned by the worldly behavior witnessed in his fellow students. At this time Christianity and government were one.

Disillusioned at the age of 20 to pursue life as hermit, living in a cave, he practiced severe asceticism (SLIDE)

Eventually a handful of young, zealous believers heard about his ascetic exploits dan asked that he organize them into a monastic community. It would eventually fail, the monks underneath him did not care for his rigorous demands. They sought to poison him.

He withdrew from them into a deeper asceticism. Another group of disciples started to follow him a little later. They moved to Monte Cassino (in between Naples & Rome)… it was so remote that pagans still worshiped in a grove of trees… he cut them down and established the monastery there.

St. Benedict would think through his past experiences and would set to establish a rule… (SLIDE) which would come to be known as “The Rule of St. Benedict”. The rule outlined a simple way of life for the monks. The Rule of St. Benedict strikes a balance between severity and moderation, structure and flexibility, general principles and specific rules, and it uses Scripture throughout the entire document to support the guidelines it lays out.

The influence and the work grew. (SLIDE) St. Benedict established the monastery. The head of the monastery was the abbot. He would build 12 monasteries governed by 12 monks each.

In a world that was suffering from environmental affects causing a worldwide climate crisis, famine, and eventually a plague where over half of the world’s population would die, God saw fit to entrust the message of the gospel in the work of 144 men.

They would serve, love, teach, pray for and be in the community that would form around them. During the plague they would not only minister the gospel, but they would take care of and meet needs as they could. (SLIDE)

Vulnerable: During a “Justinian” bubonic plague, during a global climate crisis, where they risk their own health and well being they served their communities.

Unseen: There was no internet. There was no TV. There was no form of mass communication. If we lived in the world at that time, we wouldn’t have known what God was doing through St Benedict. It would look rather perilous in that quite literally, from our vantage point, the gospel would have died as our community was dying.

Chosen of God: But God saw fit to preserve the gospel and His word through 144 men. We would not have known them or known that he was faithful to preserve the ministry of the gospel. God uses those invisible, seemingly insignificant to the world because they are small in number or less in stature.

Expectation

We are looking for Christ to come again. He has come and will come. It is our confession that He has come which gives us confidence in the later, that He will come again.

He has inaugurated His Kingdom and will bring it to pass.

We might feel ourselves vulnerable: There are circumstances that we might be finding ourselves in where we are overwhelmed and unsure. We’re walking through difficult things… know, God is with you… God is sad with you… God is hurting with you… our confidence is that He has overcome the world, and if we let Him, He will bring beauty from the ashes… the joy of our salvation will be our strength.

We might feel ourselves unseen: Does anything we do make a difference? Sometimes we can’t know this side of heaven. But there are no small acts in the kingdom of God. Each small act of love and kindness is that proverbial rock dropped into the ocean where the ripple effects extend beyond what we can see. Very few knew Mary by name or reputation, but she was favored of God. God sees you. God loves you. God is with you.

Know we are chosen of God and the incarnation, the life of Christ (the whole of scripture) tells us that. For God loves you so much, He shows us in this way, while we were yet still sinners, that He gave His one and only Son, that we who believe on Him will not perish or be cast aside, but are saved to everlasting life in Him.

This Christmas, as we reflect and think about the birth of Christ, may we be encouraged and know that it is the vulnerable, the unseen that He chooses to bring good news and transform communities over and over again… despite the circumstances.