Ready or Not
November 29, 1998
ORGAN PRELUDE
ANNOUNCEMENTS
CALL TO WORSHIP
*OPENING HYMN I Know Whom I Have Believed #310
*INVOCATION AND LORD'S PRAYER Shake us awake, O God, from the lethargy brought on by our sins- -that we might truly be a people prepared to receive you at your coming. In Jesus' name. 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. And, 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.
*GLORIA PATRI
SCRIPTURE READING Psalm 122 READER
MISSION MOMENT RMMO
OFFERING (Psa 68:19 NLT) "Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms. "
*DOXOLOGY
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION Father, we do not know how wonderfully we have been blessed: So many of your blessings are beyond our knowledge or ability to appreciate. Open the eyes of our understanding and help us to recognize the marvelous gift's of your grace and to walk in the assurance of your presence with us. AMEN.
CHILDREN'S STORY TIME
CHORAL ANTHEM
PRAYER Lord, so often we have allowed our focus to be on the divisions and conflicts in the world and we have lost the vision of Your kingdom to come. So often we have sacrificed and died for standards of our own making and we have turned away from Your standard of the Cross. Forgive us, Lord, and restore our vision of Your mighty kingdom. Lord, so often we have been like those who waited for You to send a Savior. We have prayed for You to deliver us from our circumstances but we have been unwilling to accept Your leadership in our lives. Forgive us, Lord, for not seeing Your presence around us and for acting at times like Jesus had not been born. We want to be ready, O God, today and every day. We willingly surrender all our attempts to calculate when your Son will return, and instead, we will apply our full attention to making ourselves, and our world, ready, every day. No science fiction writer could invent a promise that confers so much hope; nor a warning, that elicits so much fear, as the knowledge that your Son is coming again, O God, there are parts of our world still hurting and which have not yet heard the good news of Christ. Help us, Lord, to seek ways we can personally share your message of love
Help us to be ready, O God!
*PREPARATIONAL HYMN Come, Thou Almighty King # 88
SCRIPTURE TEXT (Mat 24:36-44 NRSV) ""But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. {37} For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. {38} For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, {39} and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. {40} Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. {41} Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. {42} Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. {43} But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. {44} Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."
SERMON Ready or Not
Our text appears within a block of eschatological material (Matthew 24:1--26:2) which contains several passages on spiritual preparedness. This gospel is straightforward. The disciple is to be ready at all times for the end of the age. The Son of Man will come suddenly and unexpectedly, like a thief in the night, so be ready at all times! Not even the Son of Man is cognizant of that day.
As children we would engage in a game of hide and seek. The person designated as "it" would close his eyes, turn his face, and after counting to ten would cry out: "Ready or not, here I come." That is the message of the gospel lesson and of Advent. Christ is "it" but there is no place we can hide from him; ready or not he's coming for us. Are we ready?
"As were the days of Noah ... so shall be the coming of the Son of Man ..." There won't be any signs, any warnings. No leaflets will drop from heaven warning of impending crisis. When the rain starts it will be too late to build an ark or even to get aboard someone else's. No, we had better locate our ark long before the deluge drops. The name of the game is perpetual readiness, a life of faithfulness. The same point is made with the example of the thief in the night; the thief's key tool is the element of surprise. Christ is coming; the kingdom is ready. Ready or not.
Sermon Angle: Noah was ready when the Lord acted but the others were not. Christians need to be ready not only for the second coming of Christ but also for the Lord's ongoing visitations.
Several communities have been devastated by hurricanes. Nothing can stop them, but if you know they are heading your way you can, at least, save your life, together with those you love. Several people have lost their lives because they weren't prepared. . If warning is
issued, heard and heeded, it can save life. If our ears are tuned to God's warnings, we won't be blotted out by the moral disasters that swoop down on the unsuspecting. Of course, we need to be ready not only to avert the whirlwinds of judgment but to inspire
the life-giving gusts from the Spirit of God.
In August 1993, hundreds of thousands of young people gathered at the Roman Catholic youth festival in Denver, Colorado. The big draw was Pope John Paul. One priest from Omaha, in charge of a bus load of kids, was left behind. He directed a bunch of the
youth to go to the bus, while he searched for the rest of his group. The missing teens found their way to the bus but when the youths' shepherd arrived at the place of departure the bus had already pulled out. Not only evil things but even good pursuits can prevent us from our appointed meeting with the Lord. If you're not ready, for whatever reason, you get left behind. That's the point of the gospel lesson. Christ is coming to take home all who belong to him; be prepared and ready to go.
The author of an article in the U.S. Catholic magazine tells of the time when he was not ready for the opportunity of a lifetime. Like many young men, he dreamed of playing baseball in the big leagues but never really thought the opportunity would come his way. Suddenly, it materialized as he was scanning the want ads for a summer job. The Toronto Blue Jays were having tryouts in his hometown. His baseball cleats were rusty and his pony league uniform was layered with dust but he decided to go for it! Why not! After arriving at the try-out site his anxieties soared. He even imagined that he heard some of them sharpening their spikes. "How long ya been practicing for this?" one hopeful asked another. " 'Bout six months. Wished I started sooner," he moaned. Our would-be big leaguer had already struck out. He knew it and it was too late to do anything about it. People who have their minds set on playing baseball know the importance of readiness. When the opportune pitch comes over their home plate, they are ready to swing for all they're worth. They won't always connect but they are prepared to play the game with gusto. It is the same attitude of readiness that is required of all who would follow Christ. Our spiritual senses must be honed and ready when Christ comes where we live.
Is it possible to be pregnant and not know it? Apparently it is, if written accounts are to be believed. In one account, an obese woman was experiencing abdominal pain and was taken to the hospital where they discovered she was in the process of giving birth. It blows one's mind to think that a new life could be forming inside a woman and yet she would not be cognizant of it. Does this come about because layers of fat disguise the pregnancy and insulate the mother from the quickening of the infant within? This explanation seems likely, since the few women that this has happened to were definitely overweight. Whatever the cause, these women probably felt cheated. You see, they didn't have time to
get ready for this great event. There was no opportunity to buy clothing and furniture for the baby, because it was not anticipated. There was no chance for the mother's or the father's friends and family to share in the joy and expectation, the waiting and the watching for the precious gift of a new life from God. Most importantly, there was no time for the parents to prepare themselves emotionally and spiritually to properly receive their surprise package.
Many denominations teach that the Spirit of Christ has been conceived in our hearts through baptism. Yet millions of so-called Christians seem to have no awareness of the Christ who dwells so near. Could it be that we are insulated from his heartbeat by spiritual obesity and lethargy? Do our jobs, our families, our amusements and even our holiday preparations, keep Christ concealed? One day it will be revealed that Christ was within us. How shamed and disappointed we will be if we are caught off guard and unprepared. Pregnancy ought to be a time of active waiting, watching and anticipating, leading to joyful fulfillment, but so should Advent. The world was not ready for the birth of Jesus. Are we any better prepared now? We need to pay heed to the quickening of Christ within so that we are ready for his appearing.
Life is designed to flow along at a reasonable pace so that we have time to take in our surroundings. We might compare the flow of existence to one of those people movers which are seen in airports and other places where it is necessary to transport large volumes of people. You know what I mean: it's like an elevator that doesn't go up, just carries us along. Have you ever noticed how quite a number of people are not content with the speed at which this conveyance is moving them along? It's as if the track beneath them is the course for the Grand Prix and they're a super-charged BMW determined to win the race. There may be legitimate reasons for them to race their engines (such as the need to make a connecting flight) but for many it is a way of life.
Such revving of our engines is a common practice for many of us during the Advent/ Christmas season. Christmas is seen as a kind of finish line and to get there in time one has to make all the required laps in record time. The gifts, parties, cards and other activities are the laps. The result of this mind-set is that the peace of God is vanquished from our soul, God's gift of grace is left unwrapped and we become wound so tightly that we are in danger of breaking. The object of our celebration is not to pass others so that we can get to Christmas in record time but to permit Christmas to get to us in God's good time. We cannot make ourselves ready for Christ or Christmas. God makes us ready as we look to him to carry us along.
*INVITATIONAL HYMN O Come. O Come, Emmanuel # 186
*BENEDICTION Like a small child waiting for Christmas Day we wait eagerly for the day of our risen Lord's return. When he surprises us by coming at a time we least expect, may you receive the Savior with open arms and a heart full of delight, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
ORGAN POSTLUDE
Husb: (speaking to congregation) I used to grumble and growl with the best of them.
Wife: That's for sure.
Husb: (shrugging off his wife's comment) Every year I would march into the pastor's office, and announce how offensive it was to me that we had to sing Advent hymns instead of singing Christmas carols. "Christmas carols help me get in the mood for Christmas," I would tell her (him).
Wife: (in a deep, grumpy voice) "It's your job to get me ready for Christmas." You used to say that a lot too.
Husb: Yeah, I know. I used to really rant and rave. But I did it because I was convinced that the pastor was just being stubborn about some nonsense he (she) learned in seminary!
Wife: Of course, that's why the Church sends pastors to seminary, to learn nonsense.
Husb: I know. I know. Seminary really does not fill pastors with a lot of nonsense.
Wife: And you also know that Advent hymns really aren't nonsense either.
Husb: (to his wife) Do you mind! This is my story.
Wife: Of course, dear. I'm waiting patiently for you to tell it.
Husb: (to his wife) Thank you. (to the congregation) It all happened when my wife and I went to visit her elderly aunt in early December one year.
Wife: (interjecting) She had been asking us to visit for years, and so we finally went.
Husb: (gives his wife a grumpy look) As I was saying, my wife's aunt really taught me a lesson. You see, this aunt collected baby Jesus figures. As soon as we stepped in the door, we were surrounded by shelf after shelf of baby Jesus figures lying in mangers. She had baby Jesus figures made of every substance imaginable: wood, china, ceramic, tin, lead, copper, glass, plastic, paper, brass, cloth, straw, granite, alabaster, mother of pearl, jade, and even one carved by an Inuit hunter out of a walrus tusk. This aunt also had a whole gallery of paintings of baby Jesus, and various dolls dressed up like baby Jesus and
lying in their individual mangers. Everywhere a person looked hundreds of baby Jesus eyes stared back at you. I could not wait to get out of that house.
Wife: When we got into the car and drove out of my aunt's driveway, my husband leaned over close to me and said,
Husb: "Your aunt kind of overdoes baby Jesus, doesn't she?"
Wife: It was such a scream! I couldn't stop laughing. After spending the day surrounded by thousands and thousands of baby Jesus figures, he leans over and says, (in a deep voice) "Your aunt kind of overdoes baby Jesus, doesn't she?"
Husb: When my wife finally recovered, she said, "Thank God, that we did not go later in December." "Why do you say that?" I asked her.
Wife: Because while I was setting the table with the baby Jesus knives, forks, and spoons, my aunt said it was too bad that we had visited her so early in December. She had not had time to get out the rest of her baby Jesus figurines that she only puts out at Christmas.
Husb: Can you imagine? The woman had even more of them!
Wife: He said, "Why would anyone want so many baby Jesus figures?"
Husb: Then my wife said...
Wife: (interrupting) "I think she's one sick Christian. Baby Jesus may be sweet and cuddly," I said, "but if a thief was holding a gun on you, would you call for a baby police officer? If a dam were breaking would you send for a baby engineer? If you were deathly ill, would you send for a baby doctor? No! And I am not waiting for a baby Jesus!
Husb: (as an aside to the congregation) Don't you love her when she starts preaching?
Wife: "I need an adult Jesus to handle my adult-size sins and problems," I said. "And on those days that I feel hateful and mean..."
Husb: Whenever would that be, dear?
Wife: (shouldering him aside) "On those days that I feel hateful and mean, I need an adult with a mature and understanding love that can quiet my anger and call me back to my Christianity. Don't give me a baby Jesus. Give me an adult Jesus who can die and save the world from itself!"
Husb: After visiting her aunt, as much as I hated to admit it, I knew that my wife was right.
Wife: Better mark this on your calendars, friends.
Husb: (ignoring her comment) I had learned a lesson. I'm never again going to complain about singing Advent hymns. I'll still sing some Christmas carols, and we'll still celebrate Christ's birth, and we'll even have a baby Jesus in our manger. But, like my wife, I need an adult Jesus. And from now on, everything I do will be directed toward getting ready for when the adult Jesus finally returns.
Wife: (in a stage whisper to the congregation) Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?
Husb: For your information, dear, I've even thought about asking the pastor to let us sing more Advent hymns. But then I thought, "Nahhh, why give her (him) a break!" Instead, I'm just going to pray that you don't inherit your aunt's baby Jesus collection.