advent – Page 4

November 30 – Isaiah 40 : 1-2

November 30, 2016

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

The moving piece Handel’s Messiah starts with the words from today’s scripture, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.” George Frideric Handel composed the music Messiah over the course of about twenty-four days in the summer of 1741. The lyrics, a combination of scripture texts from the King James Version of the Bible and The Book of Common Prayer, were compiled by Charles Jennens. Have a listen here: https://youtu.be/iTMJVvld9ok – (the whole thing is over 2 hours, but you can hear the opening if you don’t have time for the entire work).

https://youtu.be/iTMJVvld9ok

Comfort … Comfort comes in many different packages. Comfort can be found in the people we love, familiar experiences, smells, memories, pictures, music and more. We find comfort in smiles, hugs, shared meals, a warm coffee, a good book, a movie, the list goes on. This passage starts with comfort – not once but twice – a message for the people of God. A message of relief, if you will, that through the trials and tribulations that the people have undergone, Jerusalem has paid the penalty for their sins, and as a result, God’s people are to be comforted.

We seek comfort when we are sad, when we are uncomfortable, when we are broken, shattered and feel incomplete. Can we know and understand comfort without trials? Without pain? Without loss? My guess is no. I know for me, the times that I have felt the most comforted have been when I was also the most in need of comfort. In a way – seeking comfort is seeking hope – hope that things will improve, hope that the pain of loss will sting a little less with each passing day. Each little comfort found is a hope that something new is coming, something better, something that will make the waiting worth it.

In the Hebrew text, the word used for comfort is nachamu – which literally translated means “to cause to breathe again.” God is speaking through Isaiah telling the Israelites that they can breathe easy again – their waiting is done. In that same way – Advent is our time of waiting – waiting for a promised king, a savior, a messiah. In Advent we are seeking the comfort of Jesus – a comfort we have to experience to understand. Let us seek the comfort of the Christ-child this Advent season, so that we can breathe again knowing that discomfort is temporary and God will care for us when we need it the most.

Let us pray:

“Mercy and love and peace belong to You, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. Just as you care for each hair of my head, You assure me that Your love surrounds me every day of my life, that I might live to Your praise and glory. Remind me of your comfort so that I may breathe in peace, in love and hope as I await the coming of Jesus. Thanks be to God, Amen”

Written by Merry Willis

November 29 – Isaiah 11 : 1-2

November 29, 2016

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

One of the great stories in the Bible is God’s selection of Abraham and Sarah’s descendants to be a light to the nations, carrying out the divine plan of bringing humanity back to a proper relationship with God, with each other, and with nature. To help them fulfill their calling, God gives them the Promised Land and vows that King David and his heirs shall have a perpetual kingdom. But while God remains faithful to the covenant, the Israelites do not. To bring them to their senses, God allows greater powers to conquer them and send their leaders into exile.

In Isaiah 10, the chapter just prior to our text, the prophet proclaims God’s mercy in allowing a purified and faithful remnant to return home. In Isaiah 11:1 Jesse is the father of David. The stump of Jesse is a poetic reference to the remnant, and the shoot from the stump is a descendant of David, a messiah (anointed one), who will restore Israel. In its entirety, Isaiah 11 paints a beautiful picture of the life of the age to come when the spirit of the Lord rests on the Messiah, while all of God’s creatures live in peace and justice and harmony.

We read these scriptures in the Advent season because as Christians we believe that the Messiah prophesied by Isaiah is the child born in a humble manger in Bethlehem. How strange and wonderful are the works of the Lord who begins the plan for salvation with a childless couple, seemingly too old to have children, and, fulfills it, in the words of C.S. Lewis, in a stable that had something inside it that was bigger than the whole world!

Saint Paul picks up on these themes in the 8th chapter of his letter to the Romans when he envisions all creation groaning in labor pains as it awaits its redemption and the Spirit helping us in our weakness, interceding for us with sighs too deep for words. In the present age it’s easy to be cynical about such visions and think the way to get ahead is by being self-centered and ruthless. But everywhere there are saints that carry with them the spirit of the Christ child.

One of my dear colleagues grew up poor in a small Southern town. She has spent her career helping struggling students by endowing a needs-based scholarship, raising money to buy dozens of laptops for those who can’t afford them, helping several hundred students pay their tuition or find a place to live, and even giving her car to a student who was homeless before she came into his life. She’s also a Stage 4 cancer survivor who was told twenty years ago she had less than six months to live. Ever since, she’s tried to do as much for others as she can for as long as she can.

There are plenty of people like her that pray for and act as though we are already living under the just king of Isaiah’s vision. Some are in our church. May we pray that all of us be filled with God’s Spirit as we celebrate the birth of the Messiah (the Christ) this Advent season!

Written by Tom Scott, HPC’s “Bible University” teacher

“What am I passionate about at Heritage? I love our education program and the opportunity to teach an adult Sunday school class for the last 23 years. I love the fact that Presbyterians are so open to new perspectives, to metaphorical and poetic language, and to studying biblical texts in historic context.”

November 28 – Isaiah 9:2, 6-7

November 28, 2016

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Next month we will be celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We all have grown up hearing the same phrases that half of this scripture is telling us. God has given us his Son, and Christ will have reign over all the earth. His kingdom will live forever. We know this is fact, but what does his birth do to us? Due to his birth, we no longer have to walk in the darkness. Jesus was and continues to be the light of this world. His light will shine upon us for as long as we live.

Since Jesus did this for us, how should we repay him in this season? Throughout my life, I’ve seen the Christmas season go from Christ to capitalistic greed. I don’t believe society can reverse this shift, but we personally can. For the past few years, instead of thriving off of receiving, I’ve tried to become the best giver I could be. Whether it was volunteering my time, or giving my loved ones meaningful gifts, I felt better by doing that than getting/giving flashy gifts. And that’s how I’m giving back to Christ this season. I get the most meaning from Christmas when I truly feel Jesus’ presence. This is why I love participating in events like Shop With a Longhorn at my school or Santa’s Caravan here. I am spreading the true meaning of Christmas to others.

Be kind this season. Be loving. Go out of your way to do good deeds. Help spread the light. We need to give glory to God’s kingdom and spread the light of our Savior.

Written by Nikki Martin, who currently serves as a Youth Elder.

“What am I passionate about at Heritage? I am passionate about the mission and music at Heritage Presbyterian.”

Sunday’s Sermon: Living in Light – Isaiah 2:1-5, Romans 13:11-14

November 27, 2016 Leave a Comment

How many of you spent some time in the past few days decorating for the holidays? For me, one of the best things about the holiday season is enjoying decorations. While I am one who prefers to wait until after Thanksgiving to put them up, now that the time is here, I am excited to enjoy them. Specifically, I love Christmas lights. Whether on a tree, candles in a window, or in the lawn, it is beautiful to see those twinkling lights. When I was little, there was a house not too far from us in Manassas, Virginia, whose yard was covered in different Christmas light scenes, from Charlie Brown to the Christ child. I love discovering those gems in each place I visit. I’ve even enjoyed driving through the Bristol speedway or state parks, complete with a cup of hot chocolate and Christmas music playing. There’s something magical about lights. Have you ever seen infants on their first Christmas? Here’s what Nathan looked like two years ago [show picture]. They can sit and stare at a lit tree or string of lights for an amazingly long amount of time. Even now, one of my favorite things to do is sit in the living room with only the Christmas tree lights on. There is something quite peaceful and reassuring about those little lights nestled among the branches that brings a sense of calm to the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

Thanks to some wonderful volunteers, our Sanctuary is now festive for the season. But more than just being pretty, our decorations offer a liturgical purpose. They remind us that the season of Advent has begun, the start of a new church year, and help draw us in to the awe and wonder of preparing for Christmas. During the next four weeks, we’ll hear a lot about light. Our worship will begin with the lighting of candles, a reminder of the light of the world that is to come. They help us build our anticipation, adding one flickering flame each week, as we eagerly wait to celebrate the birth of our Savior, lighting the way to the manger and leading us to Christmas Eve when we will sing Silent Night with our own candles flickering. But we aren’t there just yet. In fact, we have a ways to go first. Advent, is our journey to get there. In children’s chapel this is illustrated with a long purple road that leads to an outline of the city of Bethlehem, and describes the next four weeks in this way:

“This is the season of Advent, the time we get ready to celebrate the mystery of Christmas, the time we are all on the way to Bethlehem. . . But who will show us the way? . . . The prophets. . . prophets listen to God. So they can show us the way.”(1)

We begin Advent with the words of the prophet Isaiah, who invites us on the journey saying “come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!”

The writings in Isaiah are among the most dazzling and complex in all of our Scriptures, speaking to a complicated community. In these opening chapters, likely written sometime in the 8th century BCE, the people are on the brink of the Syro-Ephraimitic war, as the northern kingdom of Israel and the Aramaean kingdom of Damascus tried to force Judah into an unwise alliance in opposition to the Assyrian Empire. When these foes finally laid siege to Jerusalem, King Ahaz turned to the prophet Isaiah for advice and assurance.

Isaiah is known as the “poet of light,” offering powerful imagery of light and life even as he condemns the current priorities of God’s people. In these and other images, the prophet offers a vision of a new heaven and a new earth, prompting the people of God to look ahead to the future and imagine a world in which God, not them, is center-stage. The people in Jerusalem will experience one challenge after another, often brought upon themselves because of pride and arrogance that puts distance between them and God. And yet, this vexing city is an integral part of God’s plan and purpose for the world, so the prophet speaks repeated words of hope and promise in the midst of struggle.

One of his first images features people of all nations coming to the mountain of God and joining together. This means the people of Israel and others – a radically inclusive group that would have been virtually impossible to imagine. A critical part of this interaction is that they come as students, sitting together to learn from the Almighty and seeking wisdom and council for where to go next. The prophet’s vision is not accidental – he wants to remind the people of Israel that their help and guide comes not from their own devices, but from God, and more specifically, from the Torah. All the students, it seems, are on a level playing field and have something to learn. It is the Word of God which will be their guide and open them to new possibilities. Isaiah’s vision is of a community that comes together to discover that path.

This, I think, is a vision many of us can get behind. Like the people of Isaiah’s day, we too are people of God who long for such an image of peace and harmony. We read this text on the first Sunday of Advent as a reminder of hope and aching expectation for the world. Advent is a chance to imagine the world not as it is, but as it should be, and Isaiah paints a beautiful picture for us. The second image gets even better. The very things that separate and divide – weapons- are no more. This is significant. They are not just laid aside. They are transformed into useful tools for growth in a way that only God can do. As one commentary notes:

“It is not enough to end spears and swords as an act of romance or of goodwill. There must at the same time be production of instruments of life, such as plowshares and pruning hooks. Thus human energies and public resources are reassigned to vinedressing and agriculture. The economy is transformed; the earth is also transformed, from battleground to fertile garden.” (2)

Advent doesn’t just hope for an end to the challenges in the world. It proclaims a hope that God will bring about new life; the kind of life that comes in a newborn baby in a manger, and leads to all of creation being restored to right relationship with God. The birth of a Savior.

But Advent isn’t just about that sweet little baby in the manger who was promised long ago. There is another arrival at play for us as Christians – the second coming of Christ. In Advent, we recognize that we are living between Advents, or comings, and are called to embrace the expectation for the time when Christ will indeed return to earth and fulfill in their entirety those promises proclaimed by Isaiah.

Our Epistle reading from Romans highlights the hope of the promise of this second Advent.

Paul calls the early church to look to that day with the same kind of eagerness that the people of Israel had for the hope of a promised Messiah. There is an urgency born of this hope that reminds us Advent is more than just a simple time of waiting to open presents under the tree and sing Away in the Manger; Advent is a time of action. Paul puts it in the imagery of waking up to the dawning of a new day. Cynthia Campbell describes it this way: “. . . it is still dark outside when this theological alarm clock goes off; the day is “near” but not quite here. Perhaps it is that mysterious moment when the darkness of night begins to give way to shadows, and there is just enough light to know that morning is around the corner. This is a time of anticipation, and Paul urges his audience to action. It is time to get up and get dressed!” (3)

No snooze buttons here. We are called to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, as if Christ is coming at any moment. The clothing we put on, according to Romans, is Christ, the light of the world. Bathed in this light, we will be ready to face the new day, even if it seems that darkness has not quite departed.

Isaiah calls us out of the darkness, “Rise and shine! Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” The words of the prophet are meant to fill us with hope – a hope that God’s word will be enacted. That what has been promised will indeed come true.

God’s word does not return empty but accomplishes its intent. God’s word happens as the word becomes deed. The word, as promise, is always looking toward fulfillment. “The God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” (Gen 1:3).

Advent declares that God’s light is coming into the world, just as it did so long ago in Bethlehem. Our job is to be awake, ready, looking and listening for it to be revealed to us.

In the end, what Isaiah offers is not only a vision of global transformation, but an invitation to live toward that day. . . The future belongs to God, but the first step toward that future belongs to those who have glimpsed God’s light and are willing to trust that enough light lies ahead. (4)

For both Isaiah and Paul, it is God who provides the light. Advent invites us to look for God’s light and seek to follow it, as we string lights of decorations and hear about magi who followed a light in the star. To live in this way is to embrace the mystery of Christmas and align ourselves with ridiculous good news that is unfathomable. To hope in what we do not yet see.

Theologian Henri Nouwen writes that it can be quite a challenge to live in this way:

“Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, “How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?” There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go.” (5)

May the hope of the prophets light our way as we go up to the mountain of the Lord together. May we learn God’s ways, and may we walk in his paths. Let us walk in the light of the Lord! Amen.

(1) Sonja M. Steward and Jerome W. Berryman, Young Children and Worship, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1989).

(2) Texts for Preaching: A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV – Year A, Walter Brueggemann, Charles B. Cousar, Beverly R. Gaventa ,and James D. Newsome, editors, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995).

(3) Cynthia M. Campbell, “Pastoral Perspective: Romans 13:11-14,” Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 1, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010).

(4) Stacey Simpson Duke, “Pastoral Perspective: Isaiah 2:1-5,” Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 1, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010).

(5) Henri Nouwen, Henri Nouwen Society Webpage, http://henrinouwen.org/meditation/enough-light-for-the-next-step/. Accessed 11/22/2016.

November 27 – Isaiah 2 : 1-5

November 27, 2016

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

The season of Advent is upon us. A new (liturgical) year in the life of the church has begun! Over the next four weeks, we will prepare to welcome that sweet little baby Jesus in the manger, and at the same time proclaim that Christ will return again in glory. Advent provides us a time to wait and anticipate these dual pieces of good news, all while examining how we are supposed to live the life in between. We begin this contemplation with the theme of “hope,” specifically the hope that is spoken in the words of the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah is often called the “poet of light,” for the visionary and beautiful images he presents about the coming reign of God. The book of Isaiah is one of the richest and most complex in all of the Bible, and captures the drama of the life of a community living under peril and promise surrounding the exile to Babylon and Egypt over almost 300 years of history.

Isaiah is God’s prophet who unfolds a vision of new heavens and a new earth to God’s people, and to us today. The verses for today begin to lay out that vision, and assure the people of Israel that transformation is the foundation of what God will do, and peace will be the result.

In an ever-changing world, the words of Isaiah inspire hope. Here, it is seen joyfully as people from all the nations come to worship together, seeking instruction from the Almighty. These words are invitational to us as well, encouraging us to seek God’s wisdom and guidance for our own lives. All are welcome on God’s holy mountain, where incredible transformation can and will happen. Here, God will fill us and inspire us to lead lives of peace, so much so that those weapons we once held will be turned into instruments of peace and productivity. Our angers, frustrations, and animosity will be transformed into that which brings us together and makes us thrive as a community. Surely, this is the work of God!

As we enter this Advent season together, may we come as those seeking to learn from God and allow Christ to shape us and reconcile us to one another and to God. Then, we will be well on our way to walking and living in God’s light – over the next four weeks, and beyond!

— Written by Rev. Elizabeth Lovell Milford

November 30 – Isaiah 40 : 1-2

November 29 – Isaiah 11 : 1-2

November 28 – Isaiah 9:2, 6-7

Sunday’s Sermon: Living in Light – Isaiah 2:1-5, Romans 13:11-14

November 27 – Isaiah 2 : 1-5

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