01 Advent 1st Sunday in Advent
My friends, I greet you this morning in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our lesson is recorded in the 64th chapter of the book of Isaiah. “No one has ever heard, no one has paid attention, and no one has seen any god except you. You help those who wait for you. You greeted the one who gladly does right and remembers your ways.”
You help those who wait for you. Ah waiting. Do you enjoy waiting? What are you waiting for? We wait in lines at six flags. We wait for traffic lights. We wait for the phone to ring. We wait for Christmas? If you deal with the government at all you well know the meaning of hurry up and wait. And we’ve all heard that good things come to those who wait, but who enjoys waiting? I sure don’t. I want what I want right now. And I know that I am not alone. At the very least six year old Calvin agrees with me.
After consuming four boxes of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs breakfast cereal. Calvin finally has obtained enough proof of purchases to send in for an Official Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs Beanie; complete with a battery-powered propeller on top and a big star on the front. He proudly shows off his accomplishment to his best friend Hobbes. (‰) When Hobbes informs Calvin that he will have to wait six weeks for the Beanie to arrive in the mail, Calvin laments, “I’ll be OLD then!”
Calvin waits for his beanie. What are you waiting for? In the breathtakingly busy hustle and bustle we find ourselves doing a lot of waiting. And you can tell how important something is to someone by whether or not they choose to wait for it. So what exactly does it mean when we read in our Old Testament lesson “You help those who wait for you”? What are we waiting for from God? Keep that thought in the back of your mind. We want to be faithful to what these verses are saying, so let’s take a moment to consider their background.
This text is very rich and extensive. It is a prayer that is prayed in the midst of trouble and tribulation. The last two verses of the previous chapter help to set the stage. They read “Your holy people possessed the land for a little while. Our enemies have trampled on your holy place. We have become like those whom you never ruled, like those who are not called by your name.” And then we get to the first verse of our text which perhaps should be read, “If only you had split open the heavens and come down!” In other words, Lord, things are really bad, you could have prevented it.
Now remember we are once again talking about the exile again. Around the year 587 B.C. The Babylonians have come in to Jerusalem. They destroyed the temple and lead the most important people in the city away to Babylon. This is the event that is in the mind of the author as this prayer is being prayed. For the people of Jerusalem the exile is a defining moment in their history. At the very least it is like the Revolutionary War for the people of the United States.
The prayer goes on. “When you did awe-inspiring things that we didn’t expect, you came down and the mountains quaked in your presence.” No I don’t know about you, but for me this image comes to mind. About two months after Moses and the children of Israel had exited out of Egypt they arrived at Mt. Sinai. You can read about it in the 19th chapter of Exodus. Listen to verse 18. “All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had come down on it in fire. Smoke rose from the mountain like the smoke from a kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.” Asking God to split open the heavens and come down is not an unreasonable request. He has done it before and now in the 64th chapter of Isaiah he is being asked why he didn’t do it again.
These seem like some pretty bold things to be saying to God. I mean who are we to question his ways and how he works. And yet this prayer does just that. It’s important to realize however that it’s not questioning God in a disrespectful way. This is not a question that arises out of doubt. No this question comes from faith. You see our author knows who God is. He knows God’s love for his people. He knows how God has consistently acted on their behalf. But in spite of that there is this whole exile thing. He seems to be asking, “God, in the past you have acted toward your people one way. Now you seem to be going in the opposite direction. What gives?”
He doesn’t attempt to answer his own question. Instead he goes on to say that there is no god like God. He is faithful. He helps those who wait for him. He greets the one who gladly does right and remembers his ways. Yet he was angry because of their sin. The prayer informs us that everyone had become unclean. Even their good works were like bloody rags. This ruined their relationship with God and thus they were ruined by their sin.
At this point things seem pretty depressing and desperate. However, it is at this point that we see great hope. “But now, Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. We are the work of your hands. Don’t be too angry, Lord. Don’t remember our sin forever. Now look, we are all your people.” In the midst of trial and tribulation, in the midst of our own sinfulness there is hope in God and who he is. What are you waiting for? We are waiting for God.
(‰) Well this is a very appropriate theme for Advent. After all, Advent is a season of waiting. We are waiting for Christmas, where we celebrate Jesus coming into our world, true God and true man. Who lived the perfect life in our place. Suffered and died on the cross and raised to life on the third day. Taking our dirty filthy rags and washing them, making them whiter than snow. We are also waiting for his return when he will restore all things to himself. Now that seems pretty simple. What are we waiting for? This Advent season, and all year long we are waiting for God.
Now there is something you should know about the word “waiting” in our text. It is not the kind of waiting we might normally think of. It is not just standing or sitting around until something happens. Rather the Hebrew word that is used here is one that denotes an expectant and hope-filled waiting. It is a waiting that is sure and certain that God will act in his time. And because there is that sure and certain hope-filled waiting, it is an active waiting; it is a waiting that remembers God and his ways. So the question isn’t what are you waiting for? Rather the question is, “How are you waiting?”
We know that God will keep his promises and so we live that out in lives. Even in the midst of exile, trial, tribulation, and sin. Even when all things seem to be hopeless and void, we know that because God is faithful, we can actively wait for his return. So how do we actively wait for God? We do it in service to him and to one another.
We actively wait for God as we come to his house to worship every week. Because we know that he strengthens our faith through the hearing of his word and in the sacraments. We actively wait for God as we take care of the homeless, the poor, the need, those whom society has neglected and deemed to be merely a burden. We actively wait for God as we walk with each other. Bearing one another’s burdens, by praying with and for each other, by providing a shoulder to cry on, and just listening. Now to be sure I am not saying that God is not currently active in our lives. He certainly is. But we currently are waiting for all of his promises to be fulfilled. His promise to return. His promise to completely restore all of creation. So even though he is active. Indeed the light of his Son has shined, and continues to shine in our lives. He is not finished. And so we wait for that completion.
(‰) Because the light of Christ has shined in your life and in mine we can carry that light out into the world. Because we know that God is faithful the waiting that we do for him this Advent season and all year long need not be a passive waiting, but and active waiting. That is a life of service.
In college I had the privilege of spending my spring breaks on various servant events in Orlando. Every year a group from my church would spend the week working with Habitat for Humanity building a house. However, one year we did not build a house. That year we re-furbished a house. We did some minor repairs, a lot of cleaning, and a lot of painting. It didn’t seem as glamorous as the previous years. That is of course until we met the man who was going to live there. He didn’t have much of an education. No more than fourth grade I believe. He was quite poor. Yet he was one of the neatest men I have ever met. This man, who had so little, spent most of his time in service. He would volunteer for a consignment shop, driving a truck and stocking shelves. He would also spend a lot of his time working for Habitat himself. To be sure he could have been doing many other things. But he wasn’t. Instead he lives a quite life of service to others.
You and I are blessed in this congregation for many reasons. One of those reasons is that we have many opportunities to serve around here. If you have something that you enjoy doing, then there is something here that allows you to use that gift in service to others. Whether it is doing something like Habitat or working with the Youth our volunteering for the altar guild. There are many opportunities for active service. We do these things not because we have to, not because they will make God love us more. Indeed they will not. But we do them out of thankfulness for his love and grace. In this way our lives are consistent with his character. We show the world who God is, in the lives of service that you and I lead.
What are you waiting for? The answer is God. More importantly, how are your waiting for him? May our great and gracious God bless you and me as we actively wait for him. Amen.