Sunday 11/29/20 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “To
Christmas And Beyond!”
(“The Path To Christmas” Series: Part 1 of 5)
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
New Testament Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Gospel Lesson: Mark 13:24-37
Welcome again, friends, brothers, and sisters, on this our First Sunday
of Advent, 2020. The first Sunday of Advent is the official start of the
Christian year, or calendar. So, this means that we are in a new year in the Christian
calendar. For many of us, we might wish that this were the end of the 2020
calendar year, as well. Most of us can probably agree that 2020 has been a long
and a tough year for many. A new year, therefore, sounds good to me! How about
you? While we do not have a new calendar year today, we do have a new year in
the Christian calendar.
In this being the first Sunday of
Advent, we are invited to enter this period of waiting. This period where wait
for not only for the birth of Christ, but that we also wait for the second
coming of Christ. We wait and celebrate Christ’s birth on Christmas, and we
wait still for Christ’s return here on earth.
The tradition of many Christian Churches
has come to include Advent Wreaths and incorporating such traditions and practices
into the worshipping life of this season of waiting and hoping. All of this
then, is to help prepare us, excite us, and draw us closer to Christ. Draw us to
the excitement of the birth of Christ and give us hope and excitement for his
return to earth.
For some of us, some of our Advent and
Christmas seasons have been hectic, stressful, and busy. I have heard sermon
series in Advent and around Christmas, in the past, about not overdoing it, not
being so focused on the presents and all the pomp and splendor. Some people are
worried about burning themselves out with the busyness of Advent and Christmas.
This year, however, is different.
Some of us have also, had our own past
challenging Advent and Christmas seasons. Maybe we lost a loved one during this
time of the year. Maybe we lost a job or became sick during this time of the
year. For some then, Advent and Christmas is already a tough time of the year,
because of past experiences. So, I want honor those struggles and those feelings
that you may have about this time of the year.
This said though, for most of us, this
is and will be an Advent and a Christmas season unlike any that we have ever
seen before. We are living through a global Covid-19 Pandemic, we have had over
250,000 deaths in this country alone, and our lives have been changed
drastically. What we would normally be doing this time of the year has been
limited, stopped, or changed significantly. Melissa and I for example, cannot
have our annual Parsonage Christmas party this year, for obvious reasons. We
did not have a Church Christmas or Holiday Bazaar, which was bazaar. We also canceled
many other things, and the fact that we are hoping to have modified Christmas
Eve Services, on Christmas Eve at 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm is great in and of
itself.
Melissa and I were not able to go to my
parents for Thanksgiving like we have for years, and we had to miss mom singing
funny songs into a whisk, and dancing in the kitchen. As of right now, Melissa
and I do not have big plans for Christmas around having a get together either.
It is fair to say then that Advent and Christmas 2020 will be unlike any that
we have had in our lives.
I lament truly, the many people from
our church that I have not seen in church, in person, or at all in months. I have
had many phone calls, and have visited all who I could safely, yet it is hard
when a family or in this case, a spiritual family cannot be together.
Given this extremely odd, scary, and worrisome
year of 2020, I prayed about what I would preach on in Advent and Christmas of
2020. After praying and seeking God’s guidance, and the movement of the Holy
Spirit, I am starting a sermon series this morning called “The Path To
Christmas”. In this sermon series, I am to talk about the events leading to that
first Christmas and the birth of Christ. Maybe then that first Christmas will
be realer to us than it ever has been before, because of all 2020 has been.
Again, I am not saying that all our
Advent and Christmases have been perfect, some far from it. Yet, I hear so often
how in recent years that Christmas has become so commercialized, materialized,
and filled with great excess. I see stickers and signs that say, “Keep Christ
in Christmas”. People discuss the real reason for this season. Many have said,
we should peel back all of the human and secular parts of Advent and Christmas,
and focus on Christ’ birth and one day, his return.
I truly believe that out of all of the
terrible things of 2020, including the global Covid-19 Pandemic, civil upheaval,
political and ideological divides, a tough election cycle, etc., that maybe
through this rough 2020, that this might the first Advent and Christmas in a
long time that we are getting exactly what we want. We are taking away and
limiting many things, to be focused on Christ. Probably not the method that we
would have chosen, with a global pandemic, but it does change things. As a result,
I am starting a sermon series this morning called “The Path To Christmas,” which
will highlight how our paths to Christmas this year will likely be far different
than ever before.
Before jumping into our scripture readings
for this morning, I want to just briefly highlight what this sermon series is
about more specifically. Joseph and Mary live in Nazareth, which is in modern
day Israel. They are engaged to be married and have never known each other in a
physically intimate way. The Angel Gabriel appears to Mary, tells her that she
will bear the Christ Child, and she must then tell her parents as an unwed
woman, likely a teenager, that she is pregnant. Mary tells her parents that God
did it, and I can imagine that Mary was not met with a good response to her
news.
Mary’s fiancé Joseph then cuts off his
engagement with Mary, to then later be told by an Angel of Lord in dream that
Mary’s child is of God, and that it is God’s will that Joseph marries Mary. So,
there is all that upheaval.
Then the Roman Caesar of Emperor that
rules over Jerusalem and Palestine calls for a population census to be taken across
the whole Roman Empire. With a more accurate population count, the Roman Emperor
can likely charge more taxes. Since Joseph has taken Mary back, and since Joseph
is from Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary then take a long trek to Bethlehem.
Once in Bethlehem, it is likely chaotic, Joseph and
Mary probably have little to nothing, and to boot, Mary then goes into labor. Of
course, there is room at the Inn or the hotel. Mary is forced to give birth to
her baby outdoors in animal stall or maybe a cave. It was likely cold, Joseph
and Mary were probably hungry and exhausted, and then they have there baby
outside. By the way, the long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the city of
David, was about 70 plus miles away. Some movies depict Joseph and Mary traveling
with a Donkey, but we have no biblical record of this.
Imagine being in the latter part of
pregnancy, and walking 70-90 miles, based upon the route you take to Bethlehem.
When you get there, it is probably chaos, you probably have little to nothing, then
you are in labor. Oh, and you will have your baby outside. The shepherds will arrive,
the star in the sky will shine, and the Wise Men or Magi will come bearing gifts,
but this is all after Christ is born on that first Christmas. This sermon
series, like our 2020, is the path to a new beginning. We are all hoping for a
better 2021, but what we have gone through to get there, and what Joseph and
Mary went through to get to that first Christmas is very real.
Maybe then, this year, for the first
time in a long time we can really relate to the events of the first “Path To
Christmas” that Joseph and Mary took. Maybe we can relate more this Advent and Christmas
to the struggle, the hardships, and the uncertainty of that first Christmas, when
Christ was born.
In our reading for this morning from
Psalm 80:7 the Psalmist asking to God to:
“Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved” (Ps. 80:7, NRSV).
Not only did Joseph and Mary await the birth of there son
Jesus, the savior of the world, but many waited centuries for Jesus, the
Messiah to come. Indeed “The Path To Christmas” on that first Christmas was
long and challenging, and maybe this year, 2020, we can relate to this more
than ever before.
In our scripture reading from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the
Ephesians for this morning, once again, the Apostle Paul tells us of our faith
in Christ that:
“8 He
will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of
our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful; by him you were
called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Eph. 1:8-9, NRSV).
Mary and Joseph and so many others
that awaited the birth of Christ on that first Christmas, were faithful, endured,
and suffered leading up to the birth of Christ. Many of us in 2020 have endured,
suffered, and yet have been faithful. So many of us need to experience “The
Path To Christmas,” and Christ’s birth anew.
When I first started pastoring
churches in 2012, I was struck that on the First Sunday of Advent we often have
a gospel reading like the one that we have for this morning from the Gospel of
Mark. As you have heard this morning, this gospel reading does not discuss the
events leading up to Christ’s birth or the prophecy of his birth. Instead, this
morning’s Gospel of Mark reading, once again, is on Jesus’ return or second
coming to earth. Advent then, is not only about waiting for the memory of the
birth of Christ, but also waiting and anticipating Christ’s return.
We are told of the major things that
will occur when Jesus returns. The gospel says in 13:26-27:
“26 Then
they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. 27 Then
he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the
ends of the earth to the ends of heaven” (Mk.
13:26-27, NRSV).
We are walking “The Path To Christmas,”
which is the memory of Christ’s birth, as we await Jesus’ return.
Jesus then continues in our Gospel of
Mark reading for this morning, once again, with his “Lesson of the Fig Tree,”
saying a fig tree is ready to give forth fruit when summer is coming (Mk.
13:28-31, NRSV). In the same way that a fig tree is looking ready to bear fruit,
be ready for Christ’s return. When will Christ return to earth? The Gospel of
Mark then says and concludes once again saying:
“32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake” (Mk. 13:32-37, NRSV).
We are called then, through good
Advent and Christmas seasons to stay awake and alert in our faith. Through
2020, and all that this year has been, we are also called to stay alert and awake
in our faith. As we journey in this season of Advent, soon to be Christmas, as
we make this journey “To Christmas And Beyond,” maybe this year, more than
ever, be the year that we can truly relate to Joseph and Mary, and there path
to that first Christmas so long ago. Amen.
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