Waiting For the Day
Notes
Transcript
I hope that all of you had a good thanksgiving this week. Perhaps you know the origins of our celebrating this day, it was Abraham Lincoln on October 3, 1863 who set this day. He said,
“The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and even soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watching providence of Almighty God.
“I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States,… to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I commend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged”
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/transcript_for_abraham_lincoln_thanksgiving_proclamation_1863.pdf
Giving Thanks would seem a pretty good thing to do, yet this past week I read an article that surprised me as it focused on the (quote) “dark side of gratitude”. In trying to relocate it I found article after article raising concerns about toxic gratitude. Psychologists are apparently concerned that people will ignore things that are not good in their lives. I’m pretty confident in saying people do not lack a reason to complain. My sense is that it has gotten exponentially worse since COVID. Yet within Lincoln’s proclamation he commended for us to offer up “humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience.” Not only to see our blessings, but also our moral failure as individuals and as a nation. His proclamation was written in the midst of the civil war.
We’re not asking people to be pie in the sky dreamers, but instead people grounded and recognizing who it is that provides for us.
We live in a post-Christian culture
We live in a post-Christian culture
We hear that phrase a lot, but what does it mean? It means that the Bible, Church is no longer central to our culture’s social moors. This unlashing from the mooring post of faith has also brought our culture to a place that it really struggles to find hope.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
I want to show a short video on the idea of waiting and hope from the people at Bible Project.
Insert Video here: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/yakhal-hope/
Hope
Hope
For centuries the people of God had waited, watched, wondered, doubted, worried, hoped for the coming of the Messiah. A savior. The God With Us.
It was in the DNA of the people of the time.
Have we lost our sense of hope?
Have we lost our confidence that Jesus will return?
Have we lost our sense that Jesus’ return is imminent?
We read the Gospels, in fact our Gospel reading today speaks of the signs being there and Jesus telling us he is going to return.
We need to ask ourselves a serious question - do we believe it?
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
When we talk about our faith and hope, do we believe it? Or do we count it as one of those sweet sentiments that good people have?
My concern for our culture is that in losing our sense of hope and faith we are losing the actions that the faith brings.
people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Let’s stop for a moment and see what this is NOT saying. I am not saying that we should disengage from this world with a flippant attitude of “it just doesn’t matter.” I’ve read the Bible through many times and there is not a time when God nor Jesus nor the writings of apostles tell us to be unconcerned with this world. They do remind us that this world is NOT the answer, Jesus is the answer. And with that mindset we must have our priorities in order.
In verse 34 we read: Lk 21:34
“But watch 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 trap.
The truth is that the cares of this life can overwhelm us. They can drive us to seek an escape such as drugs or alcohol or the like. They become a trap for us, limiting our view to the here and now, and causing us to forget that this world is not all that there is.
Continuing in our reading: Lk 21:35-36
For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
The truth is if we are simply forcing ourselves to be thankful for everything - something the Scripture never commands us. We are to be able to give thanks in all circumstances.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica in his first letter: 1 Thes 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
In the midst of a devastating drought, farmers prayed for rain. One farmer, despite the conditions, began preparing his fields, plowing and sowing seeds. When asked why he did this when no rain had fallen, he smiled and replied, ‘Faith without works is dead.’
His actions mirrored James 2:26,
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
The farmers was simply teaching us that genuine faith requires a proactive response. Just like that farmer, we are called not only to pray but to prepare for the blessings we hope for.
In this season of Advent - we wait for Jesus return with hopeful expectation. We know He is coming because He himself has promised.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - we your servants are actively waiting. To God Be the glory. Let me pray for us:
Please bow your heads:
As we wait, Lord, we cannot help but also reflect on our own lives. Show us where we fall short and give us the courage to change and shine the light of Christ wherever we are. Help us Lord share your blessing to those we encounter in this tumultuous world. Today, LORD Jesus, we remember your life, death and resurrection the last time you walked this earth as we celebrate Holy Communion. AMEN
