2006 Advent Series

3rd Sunday in Advent, December 17, 2006, Shafter Mennonite Brethren Church

Psalm 85, Zephaniah 3:14-20, Philippians 4:4-7(8-9), Luke 3:7-18

Advent is about longing. We miss this so often because we know that Christmas is coming. In fact, we say that two thousand years ago, Christmas came. Jesus was born. We are who we are because this baby boy drew his first breath in a manger in Bethlehem. Unfortunately, we forget about Advent as Christmas draws near.

Most of the time, instead of going through Advent, we get ready for Christmas by decorating and buying gifts. We find this season festive. The glow of lights create a warm feeling for us as we are cozy in our homes. This is not what Advent is about, however.

Our advent candles in the sanctuary are purple. This is the liturgical color for repentance. Lent is also marked by the deep purple of penitence. The darkness of this color marks a somber season – four weeks of repentant longing.

What are we longing for? This is not a fill in the blank question where we get to determine what goes in the blank. We cannot search our own lives for whatever we think we long for and then make that the object of Advent. Advent has a specific object of longing.

Send to us, Lord… send us peace, send us justice, send us love. Send your kingdom, oh God. This is the longing of Advent.

Psalm 85 is a cry of longing. In it we hear Israel’s longing for deliverance, for salvation. Listen:

LORD, you were favorable to your land;
You restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of Your people;
You covered all their sin.
You withdrew all Your fury;
You turned away from Your hot anger.

Restore us again, O God of our salvation;
And put away Your indignation toward us.
Will You be angry with us forever?
Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?
Will You not Yourself revive us again,
That Your people may rejoice in You?
Show us Your hesed [your lovingkindness],
O LORD, And grant us Your salvation.

Let me hear what God the LORD will speak;
For He will speak peace to His people, to His faithful,
to those who turn to him in their hearts,
but let them not turn back to folly.
Surely His salvation is at hand for those who fear Him,
That his glory may dwell in our land.

Hesed [lovingkindness] and faithfulness will meet;
Righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
And righteousness will look down from the sky.
Indeed, the LORD will give what is good,
And our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before Him
And will make a path for His steps.

The balance of the universe is thrown off when Israel goes into exile. How can God’s people be overcome? Is not God’s reign all powerful? The cry from exile is a cry for all to be made right again – for God’s kingdom to be restored. The kingdom is marked by hesed (lovingkindness), faithfulness, righteousness, peace, fruitfulness of land. That is salvation.

In Israel’s case, exile came and God’s kingdom vanished from sight because of their disobedience, their unwillingness to live out God’s vision for life in this world. Even in this psalm we hear a warning: as the petition goes up to heaven – Restore us… Show us your lovingkindness – and as they verbalize their trust – I will hear what God the Lord will say, for he will speak peace – the fragile nature of this restoration haunts us – But let them not turn back to folly. After the warning leaves their lips, they speak the promise again, but with sober faith: Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him. I imagine the Israelites’ feeling like Frodo in the Fellowship of the Ring when he enters the realm of Lady Galadriel: her ominous voice rings in his mind – Stray but a little and you will fail.

If we look around, we will see that this is “not the way its supposed to be.” So let us long. Let us cry out.

[Play: Send Your Rain]

Though the Kingdom has not fully come, though we still long in our exile, though we groan even with creation, there is reason for hope. This is the third Sunday of Advent. This is the week that we set aside the purple of the Advent season and take up pink, the liturgical color for joy and happiness. But only for a short time. We are not there yet. Christmas has not yet arrived. But in the midst of exile, in the midst of longing, in the midst of the promise and the coming, we take up joy even if we feel none. Joy in Advent is a discipline, a deliberate response of trust and hope. When all seems as darkness, we know the truth: God is faithful and God will come to deliver. Listen to Israel’s radical hope in the midst of longing:

Zephaniah 3:14-20

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more.
On that day it will be said to Jerusalem:
"Do not be afraid, O Zion; Do not let your hands grow weak.
The LORD your God is in your midst, A warrior who gives victory.
He will rejoice over you with joy, He will renew you in His love,
He will rejoice over you with loud singing.
"I will gather those who grieve for the appointed feasts—
I will take away the reproach of exile that is a burden on them.
Behold, I am going to deal at that time With all your oppressors,
I will save the lame
And gather the outcast,
And I will turn their shame into praise and renown In all the earth.
At that time I will bring you in, Even at the time when I gather you together;
Indeed, I will give you renown and praise Among all the peoples of the earth, When I restore your fortunes before your eyes," Says the LORD.

Our minor prophet Zephaniah belts out a psalm of deep hope even though Israel is in the midst of exile. The Messiah has not yet come, but he trusts God to deliver. Can we take up and put on joy in the midst of this dark time, this Advent season? Can we sing hopefully? Is there a prophet among us who will remind us of the faithfulness of God while we cry out? Listen for his call to rejoice.

[Play: O Come, O Come Emmanuel]

You may be thinking – But Christmas did come. We live on the other side of Christ’s birth. We know he comes because he already came. Indeed, this is true. However, he also went away. Jesus walked this earth and walks this earth no longer. He ascended into heaven. Again we are waiting. And we are waiting for the same thing the Israelites were waiting for: we give voice to the longing in our waiting when we pray – Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are still waiting for God’s Kingdom to come, for his reign to be restored on the earth. We are still waiting for things to be made right.

In the midst of our waiting and longing we listen to the apostle Paul remind us to take up joy.

Philippians 4:4-9

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be
known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to
God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of
praise, dwell on these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned
and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

For four weeks we journey through Advent on our way to Christmas, but for our lifetime we also journey through Advent on our way to God’s Kingdom fully come. The Lord is near, Paul tells us. He is coming again. You can trust that promise. You can still trust God’s faithfulness. He will deliver. He will save. He will make all things new. As we eagerly await the redemption of all creation, we must take up joy. Not joy defined by circumstances or happiness come from indulgence, but joy that can walk through the fire and come out not burned, not ruined, but refined. This joy presses on. This joy endures. This joy is our hearts at peace and our lives in peace. Think about such things. Focus your mind on them. Bend your heart toward them. Meditate, ponder, look deeply. Feed on these things, on God’s promise.

And now, a reading from the Gospel…

[Luke 3:1-6]

… the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT. 'EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED, AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE BROUGHT LOW; THE CROOKED WILL BECOME STRAIGHT, AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH; AND ALL FLESH WILL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD.'"

Do you hear the echo?

Indeed, the LORD will give what is good,
And our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before Him
And will make a path for His steps.

Do you hear John taking up this language that we heard in Psalm 85 when he quotes Isaiah: Make ready the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. He is coming. Prepare the way – the road of righteousness.

[Luke 3:7-18]

So [John] began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him,
"You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore
bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves,
'We have Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that from these stones God is
able to raise up children to Abraham. Indeed the axe is already laid at the root
of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown
into the fire." And the crowds were questioning him, saying, "Then what shall we
do?" And he would answer and say to them, "The man who has two tunics is to
share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise." And some
tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, "Teacher, what
shall we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than what you have been
ordered to." Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, "And what about us,
what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages." Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about
John, as to whether he was the Christ, John answered and said to them all, "As
for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and
I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His
threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the
chaff with unquenchable fire." So with many other exhortations he preached the
gospel to the people.

Old Testament scholar and theologian, Walter Brueggemann, in an Advent sermon said:

The primal truth of Advent is that you cannot get to Jesus except by way of John. You cannot get to the sweet-smelling Jesus of Christmas without checkpoint John… John’s message matches his appearance and his demeanor. He is a baptizer, inviting his listeners to renounce the old government they are leaving, collusion with Rome or tenure or whatever. He says, “You brood of vipers, sneaky, cunning, low-life, poisonous.” And we think, “Oh, he has found us out!” This entry point of baptism requires a deep either-or, no compromise, no halfway, no vague boundary. It is either lost or found, dead or alive, free or slave, obedient or accommodating. Which will it be?

Which will it be? Which has it been? If you and I are honest, we see the need for the purple of Advent, the purple of repentance. We will see that we need to prepare for Christmas. We are not yet ready. We hear John’s harsh words and we tremble: What do you mean the Messiah comes with an axe, a winnowing fork? We find ourselves like the rest of those who heard John; we are asking, “What about us? What shall we do?” And did you hear John’s responses: share and clothe the naked; share and feed the hungry; steal no more from your neighbor; do not cheat or manipulate even if the system allows you that loophole; do not strong arm or brutalize those weaker than you; speak honestly about one another; bicker no longer about your salary – be content. These are John’s words, but we hear them again coming from Jesus’ mouth when he tells the parable of the sheep and the goats: when I was hungry… when I was naked… when I was sick… when I was in prison. Too often our lives parallel those in that story who ask, “When, Lord? When where you hungry and I failed to feed you?” We hear this kind of talk long before Jesus and John. The prophets cried out to Israel to prepare themselves… Micah says, You know! You know what God wants from you. It is no secret what he desires. He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God? (6:8). Ah, yes, we do have the need to repent. Our repentance paves the way for Christ’s coming.

[Play: I Repent]

Remember today is the day we take up pink. The purple of our repentance gives way to the pink of our joy – the joy of being taken up into the lovingkindness of a faithful God and being set down on a path toward newness. Cry out. Let us cry out in hope and anticipation as we repent.

[Play: My Eyes Have Seen Holy]

Brueggemann goes on to say in his Advent sermon:

We are poised, like God’s people are always poised, to move ahead or to turn back to business as usual. [Checkpoint John] haunts us, because it reminds us that we could indeed be different and the world could be different. It does not have to stay this wretched way, but the transformation requires leaving and stealing away to the new. The Gospel story always begins with John quoting Isaiah 40:3: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. The image presented in the poem is of exiles joyously en route home. You know what? We have never been home yet, to full justice, to full peace, full righteousness, full neighbor-love, full self-love, full trust and obedience. Never there even now. Advent is pondering what it would be like to end our common exile and come home. (Brueggemann 131 & 135)

Can we ponder it this morning? Can we sustain that pondering throughout the rest of this Advent season? Let us cry out, sing out our desire for Christmas to come, for the Kingdom to come, and let us listen on this third Sunday in Advent, this joyful breath in the midst of four weeks of dark and repentant longing, for the voice that reminds us of our hope, that calls us into joy even in the midst of longing and waiting.

[Sing together: O Come, O Come Emmanuel]

4th Sunday in Advent, December 24, 2006, Shafter Mennonite Brethren Church

Psalm 80:1-7, Micah 5:2-5a, Hebrews 10:5-10, Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

This week we are submerged again in purple. The long, dark of repentance. It feels heavy, almost oppressive. Are not we Israel? Are not we the ones crying out for relief? Yes. But we are both crucified and crucifier. We are both victim and victimizer. We have our hands in the what-should-not-be around us. Even though we are powerless to set things right ourselves. But isn’t that the first word of the gospel we proclaim: all have fallen short, all are sinners, all are locked in as slaves to the kingdom that counters God’s kingdom. The first great disobedience has imprisoned us in our own disobedience. Even if we will, even if we try – we cannot escape.

O Come, O come Emmanuel – God with us – be with us.

Let us sing that prayer again together. Though since we are dressed in purple this morning, let us remain silence where we would normally hear the prophet give us cause to rejoice. Let that space of silence be a place of longing – we long to hear those words – Rejoice… but there are times when our lives are submerged in purple – in pain, in suffering, in bruised exhaustion… and there are not always prophets readily available to speak a word of hope and promise. Sometimes we have to remember and hold tightly to remembering in the absence of those words spoken to us. So let us sing, and let us long in the silence where we hear no reassurance.

[Sing: O Come, O Come Emmaunel (without rejoice – silence during rejoice lines)]

Psalm 80:1-7

Oh, give ear, Shepherd of Israel,
You who lead Joseph like a flock;
You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth!
Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up Your power
And come to save us!
O God, restore us
And cause Your face to shine upon us,
that will be our salvation.
O LORD God of hosts, How long will You be angry with the prayer of Your people?
You have fed them with the bread of tears,
And You have made them to drink tears in large measure.
You make us an object of contention to our neighbors,
And our enemies laugh among themselves.
O God of hosts,
restore us
And cause Your face to shine upon us,
that will be our salvation.

As we call for God to come, let us prepare for that coming. Let us open our hearts in honesty and confess that we may repent. Traditionally this prayer of confession is prayed on one’s knees. Kneeling invites us to do with our bodies what we are doing with our words – as those two – body and word – come together, we draw nearer to confessing with our very souls. As you are able, I invite you to explore how a bodily posture might aide a spiritual posture; I invite you to kneel as we pray together.

[Pray: Litany of Penitence
Play: Kindness / Give us clean hands]

Micah 5:2-5a

"But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity."

Therefore He will give them up until the time When she who is in labor has borne a child.
Then the remainder of His brethren Will return to the sons of Israel.
And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the LORD,
In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God.
And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth.
This One will be our peace.

Peace. Oh how we long for peace – for shalom. That word is so much bigger than we often make it out to be. In our desperation or exhaustion we might think “peace” is merely a respite, a gasp of breath before we’re pulled underwater again. We listen to the language of “peace” used in our culture and it can mean so many things: the absence of a declared war; unconditional tolerance; warm, fuzzy feelings we get to keep inside of us while everything else around us is falling apart; indulging comfort. The list goes on. But what is peace? What is it this child that is to be born into this world will bring? Shalom. Wholeness. Completeness. To be safe, secure, tranquil. To prosper – welfare, contentment, health, fruitfulness. To be in fellowship, friendship, covenant. Shalom sounds like heaven. Indeed – heaven on earth. His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Isn’t that our deepest longing? Isn’t that what we say God has promised? Do we have the heart to long for it and to endure in our longing?

I invite you this morning to dream big, to imagine further, to hope deeper… God-with-us, this Emmanuel we cry out for is the bringer of peace, shalom. The one we are waiting for this Advent is that one, the Messiah. The one who brings God’s kingdom. Let us not allow ourselves to be constricted or numbed. Let us hope with the full force of God’s promise undergirding us. Because the one who promises is faithful; and the one who is coming is the promised one.

Hebrews 10:5-10

This is what is meant by the prophecy put in Christ’s mouth:
"SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED,
BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME;
IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE.
THEN I SAID, 'BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.'"
After saying above,
"SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED,
NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them" (which are offered according to the
Law),
then He said,
"BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL."
He set aside the first in order to enact the new plan – God’s way –
By which we are sanctified for God by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.

Jesus. Jesus is the name of the One, the Messiah, the Peace-bringer. He speaks about law and sacrifice. Are not these what God has required of us? Jesus seems to use that language – deny yourselves, pick up your cross daily, follow me. And where do we follow except where he has been and where he is going – to Jerusalem, to the cross. But also to the poor and lame and sick. To the outcasts and unclean. To the women and children. And where is he now if not in heaven making intercession for us? His prayer before leaving this earth lets us know his desire for us: that they may be one as he and his father are one, we in them and them in us. That we may in our oneness do even greater things than he did while on earth. Even greater things!?! How can that be?

If we listen as the author of Hebrews speaks to us, we might be invited in that mystery. Not sacrifice and offering, not burnt offerings… but what does God require of us, what does God delight in? I have come to do your will, O God. A body you have prepared for me. I have come to do your will. This sounds like what Paul might have been holding in his mind when he wrote: Therefore, brethren, in view of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as living and holy sacrifices, pleasing to God, for this is your spiritual worship. Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. And then you will be able to know what God’s will is, his perfect will. (Rom. 12:1-2) Jesus and Paul show us that God wants not tax or tithe, not pieces or parts – he wants all. He wants us. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. (1 Cor. 6:19-20) We do not belong to ourselves any longer; the waters of baptism washed away our ownership of our lives. It is no longer I who live… but Christ. (Gal. 2:20) It is no longer my life or our life, but Christ’s life. And in that truth we have great freedom because we have great grace. Christ has sanctified us, made us holy – that means he has set us apart to do God’s will. And because he is in heaven and we are on earth as his body and the Holy Spirit fills us, we have power that shakes the gates of Hades… we have power that exorcizes the illegitimate kingdom of Satan and ushers in God’s kingdom shalom.

Yet we do not often see this great power unleashed. We have not often exorcised and ushered in. Why? I believe our hearts have grown dull and weary. Not by our own choosing, but by the darkness of this world. Christ is away and it is difficult to endure, to remember, to hope. But on this day that we are crying out for the Coming One to come again, let us set fire to our hearts again, let us answer the call of the Sacred Romance, let us wildly cling to God’s promise and see Jesus’ prayer form us: that we may be one, that Father and Son may be in us and we in them, that we may be Christ on this earth bringing the Kingdom.

Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! "And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord."

And Mary said:

"My soul exalts the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave;
For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
For the Mighty One has done great things for me;
And holy is His name.
AND HIS MERCY IS UPON GENERATION
AFTER GENERATION TOWARD THOSE WHO FEAR HIM.
He has done mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
And has exalted those who were humble.
HE HAS FILLED THE HUNGRY WITH GOOD THINGS;
And sent away the rich empty-handed.
He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his descendants forever."

Mary’s prayer is a song… let us listen to her words again in that form.

[Play: Magnificat]

Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. Blessed is she who trusts God’s promise. Mary held the Messiah in her womb. She waited with longing. She knew the time was near, that God was in the process of fulfilling his promise. Mary’s cousin Elizabeth was going to have a son who would tell us this very thing: The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in that good news.

Mary’s song envisions the kingdom breaking in. She imagines things being made right. Those in power (the proud) who used their power unjustly – they will be stripped of their power. Those who have been powerless (the humble), who have had injustice heaped upon them – they will be lifted up from the places of oppression they have suffered. The starving poor will sit down to a banquet; the callous rich will be left out in the cold (Eugene Peterson’s translation in The Message). Hmm… that sounds like some of the parables of the Kingdom Jesus tells.

It is easy to spiritualize Mary’s song – calling “the proud” those who feel pride and calling “the humble” those who feel some sort of lowliness. We relegate “proud” and “humble” to the category of attitude. Mary’s song looked at carefully can free our imaginations to thicker, more whole interpretations.

Mary’s song is almost a mirror image of another song in the Bible, that of Hannah, Samuel’s mother. You have a sheet with those passages paralleled. Let’s take a look.

Hannah elaborates Mary’s song for us. “The proud” become those who speak arrogantly, those who think God cannot see what they are doing (think about the description of the wicked, haughty and fool in the Psalms who act as if there is no God to bring them to account). “The proud” are the mighty, those who use force. There is also a connection between “the proud” and “the rich.” On the other hand, “the humble” become those who have been without strength, those who do not have enough to eat, those who labor endlessly under less than just conditions, those who cannot have children (or who have lost children). “The humble” are connected with “the poor.” This song is about more than just attitudes and inner emotional states.

Old Testament scholar and Fuller professor John Goldingay writes: Hannah is also the first prophet to speak unequivocally of a king, as she goes on to rejoice in the fact that Yhwh “lifts up a poor person from the dirt… to sit him with princes” and “will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed” (1 Sam. 2:8, 10). Yhwh certainly does that for David. Hannah says nothing directly about a vision for kingship, though she perhaps implies that the king’s task is to be the means of implementing the vision for the people and for the world that her prayer expresses. That involves a multifaceted reversal of human priorities and practices whereby people confident in their position, strength, resources and wealth find that these disappear, while people lacking status, strength, resources and wealth find themselves changing place with them. (549)

These women’s songs cry out for shalom, for things to be made right, for God’s kingdom reigning on this earth. And that prayer is answered as the people on this earth are changed – we are transformed as we live out Kingdom ethics, as we experience justice. For some justice means great loss as we reap the consequences of our life patterns; for some justice means great joy as we are lifted up and restored.

Mary’s song is a radical song, a song of deep trust and hope. Her mind has been transformed; she sees what God’s will is, and she has submitted herself, given herself up to that will. What about us? Where are we on the journey of becoming living and holy sacrifices? Do we continue to bring gifts we can lay on the altar… or have we climbed up on the altar and given our very selves? And as we have bound ourselves on that altar, have we tried climbing down because our faith waivers? Are we weary of heart? Do we not have Abraham’s faith to trust that a ram will be provided? Do we hear God’s call and think it sounds like a death sentence instead of an invitation to life? Can we remain on that altar, bound, submitted and find that that is the very place of grace and freedom we long for? As we wait there – on the altar – can we tenaciously persist in our hope? When all seems lost, when all seems dark, when all seems like this is as good as it gets, can we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end (Heb. 3:6)? We are in the last days of Advent. We are in the last days. The end is near. Can we endure? Can we unite in our endurance? Can we be drawn up into the life of Father and Son in our endurance? Can we labor for the Kingdom in our endurance?

Let us come, let us come and renew our hope. We have confidence that repentance does not meet with punishment. We have confidence that repentance meets with restoration. Reconciliation. We come and we find that though we are not there yet, though we are still groaning, the kingdom comes moment by moment, Jesus is with us and in us and we are in him.

[Play: We come to you]