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ONE MORE GREAT
SURPRISE
A sermon preached November 30, 2008 at University United Methodist Church,
East Lansing, Michigan, by John Ross Thompson
Mark 13:24-37
13:24 "But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and
the moon will not give its light,
13:25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the
heavens will be shaken.
13:26 Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power
and glory.
13:27 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.
13:28 "From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes
tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.
13:29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is
near, at the very gates.
13:30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these
things have taken place.
13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
13:32 "But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven,
nor the Son, but only the Father.
13:33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.
13:34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts
others in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the
watch.
13:35 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,
13:36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.
13:37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that
has been given you in Christ Jesus,
1:5 for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge
of every kind--
1:6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you--
1:7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the
revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:9 God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Please turn in The Faith We Sing hymnal to 2051, a new hymn titled “I
Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry”. Peter Hickman’s mother, Martha Whitmore
Hickman, has written that this is the hymn for United Methodists that is the
biggest tearjerker. I agree. I’m not one to show my emotion very openly in
worship. You won’t find me dancing in the aisles very often or shedding a tear
openly, but when I sing this hymn, my eyes well up and I feel the deep emotion
in it.
The hymn carries each of us through the stages of life, from birth and
baptism through childhood and the searching years of youth, and reminds us that
in all of these years God is with us. It goes on through middle age and then in
verse 6 it is at old age. It’s the last few words that I thought of when I
studied today’s Gospel lesson from Mark. At the end of life, the God who has
been with us through all of life has “just one more surprise.”
Even though it’s still November, it’s Advent today. We have entered the time
of waiting for the coming of Christ. There is no nativity scene yet. We are not
in Bethlehem, and Christmas carols are still ahead of us. I confess that I’ve
been playing Christmas music for two weeks already, but I’m jumping the gun.
These early days of Advent are not about the birth of the Christ child. They
are about preparing for his coming. They are a time, as the Gospel writer tells
us, to “keep awake.”
The joy of this season is that we already know Christ has come. We know
Christ is with us. And we know Christ will come again.
Recall the liturgy we all say every time we partake of Holy Communion.
“Christ has died.” “Christ has risen.” What’s the last phrase? “Christ will
come again.”
Many of you will remember Bishop Judith Craig, who served in Michigan from
1984 through 1992. Not too many years ago, she took part in a seminar that
was intended to bring together United Methodists who differed in their beliefs.
One participant in that seminar focused on the scripture as the place where
God’s truth is revealed to us. He recalled how our United Methodist heritage
proclaims that the scripture contains “everything necessary for salvation.” He
then said to Bishop Craig, “I understand that you believe that God is still
being revealed to us today.” She promptly said, “Yes.” He said, “That’s the
end of our discussion, then. If you don’t believe that the entire revelation of
God is contained in the Bible, we have nothing more to talk about..”
How pathetic! I certainly understand how rich the Bible is, and how much we
need to continue to study it to discover more of God as revealed to us in Christ
in its pages. But for someone to say that God stopped being revealed to
humankind in 30 A.D. is ridiculous.
The God I know, and the God I hope you know, is one who continues to be
revealed every day. God is a living, active God, and we continue to experience
that divine life in our lives every day.
Advent is the time when we celebrate that God is not done with us. God still
comes; God still connects with God’s people, and there continue to be more
surprises from our God.
Advent is not an invitation to party! The first
Sunday in Advent is characterized by the use of apocalyptic texts full of fear
and dread and disaster. Advent is launched with sobering images and ideas. How
will you deal with these thoughts and images in light of the wave of disaster
that has swept across the planet since last Christmas?
We don’t know what will happen in the coming year,
just as one year ago we had no idea what would happen in 2008, including the
economic meltdown of the last few months. What we do know is that God is not
done with us yet, and the God who has come, is also here now, and will come
again.
When anyone asks about the Second Coming of Christ,
we can look at the scripture references to it, but none of us knows how or when
it will happen. It is evidence that the God who surprised us in years past will
continue to surprise us in the days to come.
As the scriptures tell us, it is time to be awake, to be alert, to be ready
to see the signs of God in our lives.
Advent serves a dual function:
It looks backward to the original Christ-event that we celebrate on Christmas
Day, and it looks forward to a second event that we commonly call the Second
Coming of Christ. Let us not become like those in several parables who either
fell asleep or lost interest while waiting. Christ is indeed coming again!
I believe that the ways we see
God at work in our world today are glimpses of what God can and will do in the
future. Take what we know of God, magnify it many times and we have only a small
part of the vision of God’s plan and desire for us.
Many of us have just come from
a precious Thanksgiving time with family and loved ones. Even if you were not
able to be with loved ones for the holiday, you undoubtedly know how God breaks
into our world through relationships with others. If you don’t have that joy
now, there is hope for all of us to find God at work in our lives through
others.
How many of you will admit that
you were out shopping at 5 a.m. last Friday? We have a grandson who slept all
night outside a Best Buy store, supposedly to get a TV for his roommate. The
early morning stampede became literally true in Valley Stream, New York, where
early shoppers trampled to death a Wal-Mart worker, and then became upset when
the store was closed for a few hours because of the death, and injuries to other
workers. How insensitive human beings can be to others!
That is all the more reason
that Christ needs to break into our world, again and again. And Christ will.
I was in Younkers Department
Store yesterday and someone came up to me from behind and said, “Are you lost?”
It was John Walters from our church, who is working there for the holidays. For
some reason, I had negative thoughts and said, “You probably will be really
tired of people by the time Christmas comes.” He quickly answered, “You know,
most people are really nice.” Evidence that in the ordinary things of life,
God is in the lives of God’s people!
Just ask Ed Romblom about God
at work in his life. One year ago this week he underwent a heart transplant, and
now he is back at work and back to church, fit and healthy. Excellent medical
care played a big role in his recovery, but just ask him whether or not God was
in the mix.
That’s the challenge for all of
us. As we prepare to commemorate the coming of Christ, 2,000 years ago, we also
need to celebrate his presence with us now. The challenge is to find God
breaking into our world this week, and to name it for what it is. A God who is
with us is reason to celebrate!
Listen to the contrast in these verses from Isaiah:
Isaiah 64:1-9
64:1 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the
mountains would quake at your presence--
64:2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to
make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at
your presence!.
64:8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our
potter; we are all the work of your hand.
We want God to break through into our lives, but God already has. The God who
can shake mountains also gently molds our lives like a potter molds clay.
Let’s make Christmas a spiritual experience. The only way I know to do that
is to use this Advent season to look for the ways that God is being revealed in
our world. When we see God at work around us, we are aware that God is not
finished with us yet, and God will be doing even greater things in the days and
years to come.
.As the Gospel told us today, “Keep awake!”
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