A Prayer for Peace

Dear friends of faith in Christ Jesus our Lord…

In the wake of the Sydney shooting massacre, let us pray:

Heavenly Father, yesterday, the third Sunday of Advent, should have been a day of joy, wrapped in the arms of hope, peace, and steadfast love - in your promise that Jesus is coming again.  Yet we tarry here in an existence that exposes the wretchedness humanity faces with its own human condition.  Sunday the fourteenth of December now stands as a day of great turmoil, terror, and tragedy, in the minds and hearts of Australians in the wake of the Sydney Bondi shooting.

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer.

Flood hearts and minds with soothing that only the Holy Spirit can bring at a time like this.  Be with those who grieve the death of loved ones.  Help them to grieve with a Godly grief and keep them free from vengeful sin.  Where hearts are angry replace this with the compassion of your Son, Jesus Christ, who as the Son of Man, became a servant of salvation to us all.

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer.

Be with those confused and traumatised by the chaos of the shooting.  Rally medical and mental supports around them so ripples of resentment do not radiate through them.  Empower our Australian community with the forgiveness of our Lord Jesus Christ who forgave us all from the cross and calls us to carry this cross of compassion and sacrifice in our lives.

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer.

Heavenly Father, the Jewish community are your chosen people, be with this community in Australia, and in Sydney.  Console hurting hearts!  Comfort them in their grief and confusion.  Give to them hearts to receive their Messiah, Jesus Christ who also died for them.

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer.

Renew your call to the Jewish community in Israel and throughout the world.  Help them to beat their swords into ploughshares, to lay down their weapons of war, and walk the way of peace.  Help them to see the way of Jesus Christ in his cross of salvation.

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer.

Be with the Gentile communities, especially here in Australia, but also in the Middle East, and across the world.  Give them avenues to express their hurt and anger that does not replicate the hostilities that have occurred.  Fill their hearts with compassion and forgiveness that can only come through your Holy Spirit.

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer.

Encourage your Holy Church, the body of Christ, with boldness to “come out” as Christians.  Help all Christians to join in with the works of Jesus, our great High Priest at your right hand, in his holy petitions of prayer.  Help all Christians to recognise that our prayers are powerful in Jesus’ name.  When we are so stunned and dumbstruck by what has happened,  help us to trust in the petitions of Lord’s Pray (Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4) and the Psalms, knowing that the Word of God is a double edged sword given to us by the Word made Flesh, your Son, Jesus Christ.  That it’s a sword dissecting sin from the hearts of those who pray and from the hearts of those for whom we pray!

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer.

Overcome the temptation in us to join the shooters in their sin.  Help us to place our self-righteousness, self-justification, and our natural tendency for revenge,  on the cross.  Show us by the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ word that hatred is akin to murder in God’s eyes (Matthew 5:21-22).  Where we struggle with resentment and feelings of revenge help us take up the call to repentance and replace it with peace in your holy presence.

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer.

As we stand before you in this season of Advent, help us all to consider our part in why you sent your Son to die on the cross.  Fill us with doubtless hope in the resurrection of the dead, in your peace that surpasses all human understanding, joy in the good news that you are coming again to put all things right, and love for each other as Christ loves us.

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer.

Come Lord Jesus come…      Amen. 

A, The Second Sunday of Advent - Matthew 3:10-12 "Three Fires:Destruction,Spirit,Refinement "

Matthew 3:10–12 (ESV) Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

It looks like a forest full of eucalyptus trees, but on closer inspection the trees are in uniform rows and not scattered like they are in a forest.  No! These eucalyptus trees are a plantation grown for the purpose of harvesting hardwood. Because the trees were all planted at the same time they have competed for sunlight and have grown tall and straight to make good timber for construction. 

One week the plantation stands tall, and then in a relatively short time it’s flattened.  The timber is harvested.  It goes on to serve its purposes for many years to come.  But the dying limbs and leaves are pushed into piles and burnt.

The plantation forest is a dismal sight compared to its former self. The only thing left is stumps.  Over time the seemingly dead stumps show signs of life and green shoots appear.  Within a year or so, these shoots form a mass of leafy bushes growing out of the stumps.  But these eucalyptus bushes that replace the tall trunks from the tree’s former life are stunted and twisted — not good for any use.

In time the owner of the field looks to a new type of harvest, the collection of electricity in a solar farm.  But first, the stumps are laboriously and painstakingly dug up one by one and burnt with the now dying leafy bushes.  Then the land can be cleared and cleaned for a solar farm to be constructed.

Matthew’s Gospel reports John the Baptist accusing the Pharisees and Sadducees of being a “brood of vipers”, to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance”, if they were “to flee from the wrath to come.” (Matthew 3:7-8)  John refers to them as the trees at which an axe is laid at the roots waiting to see what type of fruit is produced.

Last week we heard Jesus speak about signs of his coming. With the picture of the fig sending out shoots as a sign, we hear about bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.   Here we are reminded of the fig again, when Jesus curses a fig tree for not bearing fruit as he walks the way of the cross to bear the bad fruit of humanity.

On the day after Palm Sunday, Jesus, in hunger, seeing a fig tree, “found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, ‘May no fruit ever come from you again!’ And the fig tree withered at once.” (Matthew 21:19 ESV)

These decisive words from Jesus’ mouth destroy the fig tree. Similarly, John the Baptist’s words to the Pharisees and Sadducees are equally significant as he warns of their destruction without the fruit of repentance.

Three times John speaks of fire.  First, trees are cut down and thrown into the fire.  These trees are those that are not repentant.  The Pharisees and the Sadducees have arrived to see what John was doing at the Jordan River.  Perhaps some were intending to be baptised with others who were fruitful in confessing their sins.  Were they coming to flee the coming wrath through repentance, by confessing their sin?  Or were they coming to make a show before others who were confessing sin and being baptised with a baptism of repentance?  Either way John warns that the axe lies in wait!

Second, John compares his baptism of repentance with the coming of Jesus, saying, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11 ESV)

Here John connects Jesus’ baptism in (by, or with) a baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire.  This is John’s second mention of fire.  We know that tongues of fire appeared at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given.  This was good fire.  When Jesus was baptised by John in the Jordan, he was baptised to fulfil all righteousness.  The fulfilling of all righteousness meant Jesus faced the fires of hell and death at the cross and gained victory over the fires of hell that were meant for us.  This is also good fire, when we allow the judgement to fall on Jesus at the cross through our confession of repentance.  Otherwise, as John rightly mentions these fires of judgement await all those who stand stubbornly unrepentant and will be chopped down and burnt bearing their unrepentant sin.  Then the fire becomes dire and deadly!

John mentions fire a third time to the Pharisees and Sadducees after Jesus winnows the wheat from the chaff that burns with an unquenchable fire. 

Unquenchable fire paints an ugly picture of those whose unquenchable passions resist the refining fires of the Holy Spirit.  Like one in the path of a raging unquenchable bushfire, so too is one who does not allow the Holy Spirit to backburn the human heart and the unquenchable sin that lies within.

Fire may be frightening, but I put it to you, a life “without fire” can also be frightening.  Since the first humans worked out how to make fire, we rely on it for everything.  Without fire, we all bathe in cold water, all food is cold and uncooked, and warmth in winter is just a memory.  Without fire, minerals stay in the ground and never become the metals relied upon in every part of modern life.

One might think fire and peace are mutually exclusive of each other.  The three fires John the Baptist proclaims speak differently. 

The first fire is the promise of destruction for all those who reject the two fires that follow.  Rightly, this fire fills hearts with fear.  As Luther says of Holy Baptism in his Small Catechism, “our sinful self, with all its evil deeds and desires, should be drowned through daily repentance; and that day after day a new self should arise to live with God in righteousness and purity forever.”  In other words, in the face of this fire, we flee to the cross as knowledge about our sinful selves is daily brought to light.  Like the Prodigal Son in whom the Holy Spirit wins out over the human spirit, you and I are prodigals brought to a right mind and daily returned to the graciousness of God the Father, in his Son Jesus Christ!

We are returned to the second fire which John proclaims!  This is the baptism of Jesus in the Holy Spirit and fire.  In fact, this second fire is essential to overcome the first fire! 

In his baptism Jesus was baptised into the fires of humanity’s sin — your sin!  Having put aside his divinity as the Son of God, as the Son of Man in human flesh in his baptism he received the Holy Spirit on which he relied, to sinlessly be the sacrifice for our sin — your sin! 

Just as under the old covenant God lovingly consumed the sacrifices for the atonement of sin by fire, God joyfully receives the sacrifice of our sinful pride, as we confess our sins in repentance.  Humility is a small price to pay for the reception of Jesus Christ’s sinless death,  for our sin that deserves death and the eternal fires of hell.

In light of Jesus’ sacrifice, the need to make fiery sacrifices under the Law is finished.  All who know their works are not good enough for salvation would agree this fire is very good.  Just like fire is very good for cooking food, washing oneself, and for feeling warm!  The fire of the Holy Spirit that allows us to burn our sins in repentance through Christ is truly very good.  This fire makes us warm when we are cold!  It makes us warm in Christ, as he takes the coldness of death on himself on the cross.

Where the forest, the plantation of Israel was destroyed and thrown into the fire, Jesus has become Israel for the repentant, and we the church are his body of repentant confessing believers.   Jesus is Israel’s shoot from the stump of Jesse, and now stands as the tall, towering trunk into which the church is grafted. 

The Spirit of the Lord that rested upon him, rests upon the repentant church.  This is the Holy Spirit that gives wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and fear of the Lord to the body of Christ – his holy church.  Despite our humanity looking like a fruitless fig tree, Jesus does not judge us by what he sees or hears, but by his righteousness sifting the wheat of Holy Spirit-germinated righteousness from the chaff of our humanity.

This brings us to the third fire after Jesus winnows or sifts us.  As we live in Christ, daily allowing the death of self in our baptism and being raised to life in the resurrection of Jesus, we are refined  by the fires of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ death and resurrection.  The fruit of the Spirit is sifted from the chaff of our humanity.  We are being constantly pruned and used as pieces of Holy Spirit-treated timber for the building of Christ’s church on earth. We are Holy Spirit-refined wheat, cleansed to be germinators of God’s word wherever he’s put each of us in this world.

The Advent candle of peace is lit!  Let the peace of God burn in you as the Holy Spirit leads you in your repentance and confession for the forgiveness of sin.  You have been grafted into Christ to bear the fruit of Christ to others.   In the name of Jesus Christ, you are fruitful — let grace and peace be multiplied in you as the Holy Spirit makes him known to you. 

Let the Holy Spirit make you fruitful and faithful in Christ!  May his fire warm your heart, refine your spirit, and strengthen your witness. And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now and always. Amen. 

A, The First Sunday of Advent - Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24 32-44 "Living like We're Dying: The Armour of Hope"

Romans 13:12 (ESV) “The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.”

Advent is symbolised with candles, with light.  The Advent candles represent the light of hope, the light of peace, the light of joy, and the light of love.  Without hope there is no peace, without peace there is no joy, and without joy there is no agape love or selfless love for others as God has loved us.

Today the focus is on the light of hope ­— the armour of light which gives us hope.  We have lit one candle for hope.  Let’s now hear just what real hope is!

Our hope is that Jesus is coming.  But what is this hope?  It’s not a worldly hope, a “maybe” hope, a hope full of hesitation and doubt.  No! Our hope is a certainty that Jesus is returning to judge the living and the dead!  So, how do we know this?

Jesus tells us he, the Son of Man, is coming and he calls us to be ready.  He says, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”  (Matthew 24:44 ESV)

Earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, just before the reading for today, Jesus says, “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:32–35 ESV)

Some of you like eating figs, some not so much!  But regardless of liking or not liking the fruit, the fig is a marvellous indicator for the gardener waiting to sow summer crops, waiting for the last frost before planting the summer veggies.  At one manse, we had a fig.  The chooks got the figs I can honestly declare.  But once it started to shoot, veggies were planted and they wouldn’t get frosted, even though on the other side of the head-high fence frosts still fell.  I couldn’t tell you the day or the week this would occur but when the fig shot out shoots, it was time to plant.

Similarly, Jesus says, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” (Matthew 24:36 ESV) Jesus does not even know exactly when, but he knows the Father knows when it’s coming, and so he knows it is coming.  He also says,  Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” (Matthew 24:34 ESV)

From this we know that Jesus is not necessarily speaking about the annihilation of the heavens and the earth.  Jesus tells “this generation” to be ready for he, the Son of Man, is near and is coming!  Then we hear about Noah’s generation where despite the signs all but eight people were drowned when God opened the flood gates and it rained for forty days and forty nights.

Like the fig tree giving signs that summer was coming, there was an ark shaped sign that a flood was coming, yet the people of Noah’s day didn’t read the signs and suffered for it.

Even now after the fact many are tempted to doubt the flood actually occurred.  They don’t believe that Noah heard God and faithfully built the ark, and that Noah’s generation was annihilated despite Jesus faithfully reporting the event.  We should trust Jesus because he was there, at the flood, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, administering the deluge and then drying it up as humanity was reset with eight people coming out of the ark.

 So, the promise is, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”  (Matthew 24:35 ESV) Jesus is the word made flesh.  His word will not pass away, and neither will Jesus having eternally conquered death!

Jesus’ word will not pass away but our world will.  In light of the reality of Noah and the flood Jesus then speaks about the future of his return where two men and two women are working, one of each is taken and the other is left.  It’s ambiguous whether the one taken is taken to heaven or hell, or if the one who remains, does so dwelling in the new heaven and earth, or whether the one who remains misses out!  In the flood humanity was there before the rain, and then afterwards it wasn’t.  We tend to think that those who are taken are taken to heaven, but Jesus does not say either way. 

Therefore, we do well as “this generation” to understand Jesus’ coming happens in our death and will happen, similar to the recreation of creation, as it did in Noah’s time.

Paul tells us to “wake up”, “you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Romans 13:11,14 ESV)

You are called to dress yourself in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.  In other words, you’re called to live like you’re dying , like Jesus lived like he was dying!  He was dying to forgive, that is, he was dying to give life through the power of forgiveness at the cross. When we refuse to repent and forgive, we remain with “this generation” that gratifies its flesh with its living to die attitude.  That’s death by one’s desires!

Paul calls us to put on “the armour of light”!  This is the Advent hope in Jesus Christ, to die to the passions of the flesh now, rather than when Christ returns when it will be too late.  But how do we put on this armour of light?  Or how do we cast off our works of darkness, which are revelry, intoxication, that’s not just limited to alcohol and drugs, but casting anything off that makes one toxic in the sight of God? And how does one cast off the desires of improper sexuality and sensual pleasures, quarrelling and zealousness for our jealous selves which shows our true colours, that we’re dressed in darkness?   How does one put on Christ, our “armour of light”?

We live like we’re dying!  In other words, we live like Jesus Christ who lived knowing he was going to die and having risen from death now lives and rules eternally.  But the question goes begging, “How do we live like we’re dying?”  How did Jesus live while he knowingly walked the way of the cross and death?

He lived knowing our sin was going to bring about his death on the cross.  We live in the sight of our sin, as a reminder of the death we still face.  Despite our sin being covered it uncovers the reality of death. However, the eternal death we should receive, has been covered by Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit clothes us in him.

Jesus Christ did not live hopelessly, resigning himself to recklessness, irresponsibility, and carelessness — rather, he lived faithfully.  Jesus bore the flame of the Holy Spirit who led him to live faithfully despite death.  You too are called to this life.  Rather than thinking, “I’m dying anyway, so I may as well burn out living recklessly in my desires and pleasures”, in your holy baptism you’ve been dressed in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. 

Jesus put off his divinity and put on the cloak of yours and my humanity and fulfilled the will of the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Now having victory over the cloak of humanity’s darkness and death, Jesus lives, so we can continually allow the Holy Spirit to dress us with life eternal in Jesus Christ, because he has carried our eternal death on himself, and gives perfected life for all who believe they need it!

In the knowledge that our sin brings not just earthly death but eternal death, we’re not to be defeated by this, but rather allow the Holy Spirit to use it for God’s glory.  Our sin is  covered, our humanity is covered, God now allows it to be the catalyst, or a burning wick of repentance, within.  There’s no longer the need to justify yourself!  But rather, you can allow the Holy Spirit to turn you, and to justify you in Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father.

Let the Holy Spirit continually ignite your candle of hope in Jesus Christ and his eternal word!  As hope burns in you, the Holy Spirit will also enlighten you with the eternal candles of God’s peace, joy and love.  Amen. 

C, First Sunday of Advent - Psalm 25:1-10 Good and Upright is the Lord

There once was a working-class man, who became king.    He treated his palace staff as though they were royalty; he even refurbished the workers’ living quarters to palace standards.  The new king was compassionate and kind; he wanted the best for his servants having been a labourer once too. 

But in time his staff became conceited and loathed the king — even his generous rule.  They got up to all sorts of revelry in their plush living quarters and after a short time it looked more like a pigsty than the property of the palace.  They destroyed their regal residence, and the name of the king was slandered inside its wall. 

In fact, his servant subjects had completely rejected his rule, and they credited themselves with the prosperity which had been bestowed upon them.  The king knew about this and was grieved in his heart.  But rather than rid himself of these workers, he patiently and continually encouraged them to renew their allegiance to him and his rule so that peace and harmony would return once again to the servants’ living quarters.

In time the king had a son, but the staff had become so rebellious and distracted by their own importance they didn’t even realise the king had borne an heir to the throne.  This boy knew nothing of the working-class life from which his father had come.  All he had ever experienced inside the walls of the palace was his princely life. 

So, the king lovingly sent his son, to live as a working-class servant boy, to experience life outside the palace walls, so he might better understand his father’s kingdom and better lead the country when he became king.  The boy went to work and live with the palace staff; no doubt he very quickly got some real-life experience. 

Picture what this young boy walked from… cleanliness, prestige, excesses, good manners, honour, and respect.  Now picture what he walked into… dirtiness, coarseness, hard work, debauchery, drunkenness, disrespect, disunity and fighting.  This was hardly an inheritance for a king!

King David was an earthy working-class man too.  He grew up as a shepherd boy.  But God saw that this lowly boy became king. 

David seeks God’s mercy in Psalm 25, saying, To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; 2 in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. 3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.  4 Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O Lord.  8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.  (Psalm 25:1-10 NIV)

King David knew where he stood with the Lord; he knew he was a sinner.  In the very next verse, after what we have just heard, David pours his heart out to God, saying, For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. (Psalm 25:11)  David knew the Lord’s way was loving and faithful.  However, for a sinner like David to keep the demands of the covenant is impossible, and it brings this cry of contrition from his lips — for the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my sin, though it is great. 

For the sake of God’s name, these inspired words from David among others, needed to be fulfilled in the advent of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  So we do well to see this Psalm, and all Psalms—in fact, the complete Old Testament—fulfilled in Christ.  Jesus needed to come into the world as a servant; the creator needed to be created, it was advantageous for us that God make his advent amongst us.

 We—like King David and the rebellious workers we’ve just heard about—need a Saviour.  None of us can keep God’s covenant, and, therefore, receive God’s loving and faithful ways.  All of us left to our own devices become treacherous without excuse; before God our best work still brings us shame.  We all need Christ’s coming and his supreme sacrifice.  In fact, we do receive God’s faithfulness and loving guidance, but only because of Jesus Christ.

In this Advent season as we prepare for Christmas, the coming and birth of God amongst us, let’s focus on two things.  Firstly, the heights from which God the Son came to dwell among us.  And secondly, the lengths and depths to which he went, so that we his sinful rebellious and treacherous servants might be saved.  In clearly hearing and grasping the sanctity and privileged position of Almighty God over against the utter depths to which we and all people have slumped, only then do we even begin to truly appreciate just what the grace of God is and how privileged we are to receive it!

Look at it from the point of view of the son sent to live in the servant’s quarters.  How much would the contrast have struck him between princely exuberance in which he had lived and the squalor and filth into which he was delivered?  Think of the shame and despair he could have felt!  Had he done something wrong, did his father, the king, still love him?  Had he been sent to the palace quarters to die with the sacrilegious servants?

Now let’s use Psalm 25 to see Christ’s advent — from his point of view.  To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.  Jesus came from heaven to us, he came from timelessness to a point in time, he the creator was created as a weak baby, he came from infinite knowledge and power, to be born by a mother who was pregnant outside wedlock, and grew to be the son of a lowly Nazareth carpenter.  He was handed over to treacherous men, and put to shame because of our sinful ways.  It looked as though his enemies had triumphed over him.  And yet, he still trusted in his Father who sent him into his fallen sinful creation to save us.

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long.  God taught him his paths and showed him the way that led straight to the cross.  Jesus knew the truth, he was innocent and we are guilty.  Yet Jesus’ hope remained in God all day long and now we are called to faith in him who was faithful to his Father’s will for our benefit.

Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O Lord.  Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.  Put yourself in Jesus’ place.  How great would God’s goodness and mercy and love “seem to be” if it was you he had sent to die.  Our sin and rebellious ways have continued from of old, right back from our youth.  God remembered them and placed them on his innocent Son.  How good was that for Jesus, who is good?  How good is this for us, who are not good?  Yet we walk in freedom while the Almighty King of the universe, in all goodness and godliness, walked the way of the cross.

 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.  Christ came as King and humbled himself and became obedient unto death, death on a cursed cross.  This is the loving and faithful way the Lord walked even though he kept every demand of the covenant.

As we reflect on Christ’s first coming, and wait for Christ’s second coming, know that all the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for us, because Jesus Christ has kept the demands of the covenant.  So be humble, repent, seek what is right, and allow him to teach you his way. 

By your Holy Spirit, Lord, give us the power to trust your Word, to watch, and to pray.  Amen. 

A, The Second Sunday of Advent - Romans 15:1-7,13 "Advent Pleasure"

God has placed you and me, on this earth, at this time, and in this place, we know as Australia.  Living in Australia, along with the rest of the western world, we are privileged to experience a lifestyle that many in the world don’t get to experience.  We have been blessed with prosperity that gives way to pleasures, people in other parts of the world would not even be able to begin to imagine.

At this time and in this place, with this privileged prosperity and its pleasure, people are experiencing suffering at a level never experienced before.  The pleasure, privilege and prosperity that is our expectation from life, takes the prosperity, the privilege, and the pleasure for granted, rather than receiving these things as a gift with thanksgiving to God. 

At this time and place we find our pleasure no longer gives pleasure, our privilege reveals selfish partiality, and our prosperity exposes our poverty.  We suffer at the hands of our pleasures to such a degree, people in other parts of the world would not even be able to begin to imagine.

Advent is the season for hope and peace, joy and love.  A season for waiting.  A season of patience.  A season to depart from the darkness and be delivered into the light of new life.  And a season of expectation to receive and pass on the gift of forgiveness.

John the Baptist came baptising with a baptism for repentance.  There was expectation the Messiah, was coming.  Israel and the Jews had not experienced any revelation from God, for approximately four hundred years.

There was hope, and where there’s hope one prepares oneself for what one is waiting.  Expectation of the Messiah meant many were flocking to the Jordan River, where John was baptising with a baptism of repentance. 

Over the course of one thousand years, the Israelites lived in prosperity, privilege, and pleasure, given by God through King David and others.  But in the time and place of John the Baptist this was all just a distant memory.

The pleasures of Israel no longer gave them pleasure.  The privilege given to the people of God was lost.  And the prosperity of God’s chosen nation, was taken and tossed about between the powers that overran them.

In this time and in this place, you and I suffer at the hand of pleasures that no longer please, you and I suffer at the hands of prosperity that no longer prospers, and you and I suffer at the hands of privileges that enslave.

Perhaps like the Israelites it’s time to turn from what’s within to that which we have been without!  What is it that you have been without?  Hope?  Peace?  Joy?  Love?

Instead of hope, our society today promotes, wanting without the waiting.   Patient expectation through endurance and encouragement, waiting for the fullness of time, where a community wills one in its group to grow and mature, is impatiently shoved out of the way.  Growth and development are trampled, along with fellowship and community building, in favour of instant gratification. 

The problem being since what is wanted is easily gotten, easy come - easy go, the mirage of desire moves and something else is wanted.  Impatience prematurely gets what it wants and wastes unripe fruit.  Without waiting, one does not learn to be satisfied with what one has been given, by God.

Instead of peace, our society today promotes a peace that builds walls.  When these walls are built by us in the name of peace, fellowship is broken, and individualism ends up oppressing us.  One ends up locking oneself in on oneself.   We become slaves to the darkness within, and stuck there, find a whole bunch of loneliness and despair. 

Instead of joy, our society today promotes, sickly sweet happiness.  In one’s impatience we can’t wait for the fullness of time.  We eat unripe fruit, and it sours the second it hits our palette.  So, we go looking for artificial happiness.

Happiness is different to joy.  Joy is built by people in community creating fellowship, while happiness can be celebrated by an individual without any outside influence.  Artificial happiness is saccharine and extreme and it’s usually found to be a cover for loneliness and despair.

Instead of love, our society today promotes unleashed desire.  Rights revealing what is wrong with us and our society, while our wrongs are recognised as right.   Love is no longer about sacrificed and service, but rather about satisfaction of feelings. 

However, two things are experienced when love is centred on the self.  First, confusion and chaos rules as each person’s love competes for supremacy.  Second, people seek satisfaction that’s never fulfilled.   The more one desires this kind of love, the more allusive love proves to be!

In the season of Advent, in this time and place in history, we find ourselves between two competing realities.  The hope, peace, joy and love of Christ’s coming has been departed from and  forgotten in favour of the advent of new and renewed human ideals. 

So, what have we found there?  The advent of new and renewed ways of suffering!         

Now we might think this is a terrible thing.  It might be, if it continues to deliver us into the darkness of ourselves.  However, this is also the time and place of great opportunity for true hope, peace, joy, and love, in its advent through Jesus Christ.   Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”  (Revelation 3:20a ESV)

Every day and in every place, Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, meets you in the suffering of those in our society.  Jesus makes his Advent to them through you, allowing the Holy Spirit to bring sufferers to the Advent of Jesus’ suffering and death for true hope, peace, joy, and love!

Saint Paul describes Jesus’ Advent of knocking and waiting in this way, “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.  Let each of us please his neighbour for his good, to build him up.  For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me’”.  (Romans 15:1–3 ESV)

While we please ourselves, we follow the ways of the world, in the same way as did the Israelites.  One’s suffering at the hands of seeking these pleasures, is a reminder Jesus continually sends the Holy Spirit knocking on our doors.  To enter and forgive.  To restore and return us through Jesus’ suffering and victory on the cross.  To see in our forgiveness, the pleasure of God to forgive those who have not the will nor the way to turn to the Saviour who suffered for humanity.

Just as those waited for the coming of a messiah in the time and place of John the Baptist, we continually wait for the final Advent of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.  As we wait for this final most glorious and treasured advent, like those in John’s day, we allow ourselves to be prepared for Jesus’ final victorious Advent.  

The Holy Spirit prepares us by leading us from our sinful suffering into the Word of God, where we endure and are encouraged.  This is also the place and the time in which Jesus makes his Advent through us.  He returns us to his first Advent where he saved us through our baptism into his death and resurrection.   

As we rightly suffer reproaches for being in Christ, know the reproaches of those who reproach you fall on Jesus.  Paul points us to God and his word, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.  May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:4–7 ESV)

The strange thing that occurs when God leads us from our suffering as a result of seeking our pleasures to suffering for the things that please God, we find ourselves waiting in hope, living in peace with joy and love, for those who suffer at the hands of seeking their pleasure, as well as with those who suffer seeking to please God.

As puzzling and paradoxical as it might seem in this Advent, this is the profound prosperity, privilege, and pleasure God seeks for all who suffer within, without him!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.  (Romans 15:13 ESV)

Amen.

C, Advent 4 - Hebrews 10:5-7,10 "God's Mighty Arms"

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.  Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”   And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  (Hebrews 10:5–7,10 ESV)

These are the strengths of God in our lives: For Jesus to save us, and the Holy Spirit to help us!

From his mighty arms he gives us all we need in this life.  Salvation and sanctification are two arms of love outstretched toward us, from the Father of light, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  For God to save us and make us holy, is his will for all people on earth.  God’s will is your forgiveness of sin, and his will is for you to believe you are forgiven.

Not only is salvation through Jesus and being made holy by the Holy Spirit, God’s strength in our lives; it also pleases God when we take every opportunity to immerse ourselves in his salvation and holiness. 

When we do this, it’s a “win win” situation for us.  When one is immersed in salvation and holiness, God the Father is justified in his power and plan, and we are forgiven.  This forgiveness comes through the incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension of his Son, Jesus Christ.  And the Holy Spirit continues bringing forgiveness, first at Pentecost, then through the Word of God and through baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection and through his body and blood in the bread and wine.

When we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “your will be done”, it pleases God no end, to hinder and defeat every evil scheme and purpose of the world, the devil, and the old Adam within us.  In fact, when God’s will is done in heaven, he forgives us, sin is conquered by Jesus in his death and resurrection. He has victoriously ascended to the right hand of God the Father, finishing our separation from our Father in heaven.  Jesus now stands as the embodiment of the resurrection as the first born from the dead for all people who trust in him.  This includes you and me!

Although God’s will is done in heaven by God forgiving us our sin, and the devil has been conquered and thrown out of God’s presence, the devil still has limited power on earth.  And because of this, God’s will continues to be done on earth.

This makes earth the testing ground for humanity, where within each of us the battle rages between the will of God and the will of fallen humanity.  With his plan and power of salvation and holiness, God seeks to work forgiveness and good will as we live together.  Yet, the old Adam within each of us struggles to dominate with its knowledge of good and evil, driven by the devil.  And the devil is delirious and riddled with rage because he knows he is judged and is heading for eternal destruction with limited time left to deceive the world.

However, the contest between the devil and God is unbalanced.  God is not going to lose.  He is going to win, and it pleases him when we choose to remain with him.  It’s no wonder evil causes so much fury within those who desire to be in control and do not want to be delivered from evil by God into eternal holiness.

Not only is the devil on the losing side and is limited for a brief time in the restricted realm of creation amongst humanity, but he can only be in one place at one time.  On the other hand, God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.  This means God is present everywhere, he knows all things and he is all-powerful.  And the devil is not, nor is humanity, nor is the old Adam within each of us.

Furthermore, this evil axis of the devil, the world, and our sinful self, is up against the three-fold divinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  The Trinity is all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere in creation and outside of it.

Since God’s will is done in heaven, we know it is done on earth.  Jesus is at the right hand of the Father doing his work of interceding on behalf of you and me.  The Holy Spirit is at the left hand of the Father being our help, giving us the words to pray and leading us into knowledge of our sin and salvation in God’s Word.  The Holy Spirit also brings us into fellowship with the Father through Jesus Christ and with each other.

The good news for you and me is that the Triune God embraces all who trust in him with the steadfast love of salvation, intercession, and holy help.  And this pleases God when we allow him to love us with his Trinitarian holy hug.

Mary says of God, “for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.  And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.  He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.  He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy.” (Luke 1:49–54 ESV)

Mary declares God’s love as an embrace of mercy.  Mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation… in remembrance of his mercy.  In his mercy, he helps, fills, and exalts those who look to him.  But dismisses those who won’t receive his mercy, but rather, trust in their thoughts, thrones, and treasures.

But, our thoughts, our thrones, and our treasures all come from God in the first place!  It doesn’t please God when we trust in them instead of him.  Nor does it please him if we give him what he first gave us as a sacrifice for our salvation. 

Both trusting, in what God has given us, and, giving it back to him, is a feeble attempt to justify the human spirit, the old Adam within or the collective spirituality of worldly humanity.  And it’s a deception of the devil seeking to have us believe we can deliver ourselves out of evil into the holiness of God by doing such things!

But God has a Mighty Righthand Man praying for us.  Jesus Christ is the almighty power of God’s right hand!  God has fought and won the battle with the strength of Jesus’ love, faithfulness, and submission unto death.  And even despite God giving the knockout punch to sin and death in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit also proceeds from the Father and the Son to help us, and deal with the human spirit with which the old Adam seeks to control and deliver us into self-destruction and death.

God’s will for you is to give you life, today and into eternity!  Psalm 80 testifies to God’s righthand man, the son of man, Jesus Christ, who is made strong for God’s good pleasure, for our salvation, and for goodwill amongst humanity. 

Yet, in our existence it might not always be apparent that God’s will for you is to give you life.  In fact, most of the time it appears God has delivered us over to death and decay.  

Similarly, when you look at Jesus’ ordinary entrance into the world, his life of struggle and opposition received, it looks like Jesus was not God’s righthand man.  That God had left him to die and decay also. 

Still, as Jesus stared death in the face, as the cross and crucifixion awaited him, he was faithful and steadfast towards God’s will, which is your forgiveness.

You too are called to faithfulness and steadfastness, despite what might appear as if you have been left for dead.  But just as Jesus was raised, you too are called to see your resurrection in Jesus’ resurrection.  It pleases God when you see and hear his plan for your salvation fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

For God to give you life, he needs to show you darkness, destruction, and death within yourself, so you might willingly receive his restoration and let his face shine on your darkness so you might be saved. 

Hear Psalm 80… But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!  Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name!  Restore us, O LORD God of hosts!  Let your face shine, that we may be saved!  (Psalm 80:17–19 ESV)

Jesus now shepherds you in his forgiveness.  His face shines on you in his good pleasure.  But it also shines in the darkness to show the way of peace.  Jesus, together with the Father, sends the Holy Spirit to guide you and help you remain within his boundaries and to live, the life he won for you, in peace. 

God promises Jesus will shepherd you in his church.  The prophet Micah declares on God’s behalf, “And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.  And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.  And he shall be their peace.” (Micah 5:4–5a ESV)

In God’s mighty arms there is peace and love, to the ends of the earth.  Amen.

C, Advent 1 - Luke 21:27-28,36 "Stand Before The Son Of Man"

Luke 21:27–28, 36 (ESV) And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.

A man and woman, a dog, a horse, and a chicken, all find themselves standing before God after their time on earth, and he asks them, “What was your purpose while you lived in the world?” 

The chicken tells God that her purpose was to lay eggs for food for the man and the woman and to have baby chickens so they too could produce eggs and more chickens.  Some of us chickens would also be food for humanity too.  The chicken testified to its practice of scratching around the place eating insects, grubs, and grains of seed during the course of each day.  The chicken also joyfully tells of its production of chook poo and how it fertilises the ground.

The horse is then called to testify to its purpose to which it tells God it is a beast of burden.  We horses carry humanity on our backs, pull loads of goods, and plough paddocks with our horsepower. And, like the chicken, the horse also confesses its poo is good for the garden.

The dog is then brought forward to attest to its function in the scheme of daily activity.  The dog reveals its purpose as a protector and a friend of the man and woman.  It tells of its dogged determination of chasing down other animals like cattle and sheep, to help humans round up their herds and flocks.  But the dog also freely bears witness to the not so nice practise of eating rotten flesh, scavenging, and even returning to its own vomit from time to time.

Finally, the humans stand before God to give evidence of what their function is in the world.  But the humans don’t know what to say to God.  They didn’t realise they had to stand before God.  In fact, they had forgotten God existed and thought they were the ultimate reality on earth.

Humanity has forgotten its function!  What is our purpose in life?  When Jesus returns how will we stand before the Righteousness of God. 

How does one stand before the Son of Man?  Face to face, toe to toe with Jesus Christ on the last day we will all stand before the Son of Man!  And as we stand before him, the full account of our lives will be revealed down to the last dot and tittle. How does one stand before the Son of Man?

The Son of Man is a title that Jesus often used for himself and often connected with his coming at the end of time.  Jesus is also the Son of God, but he never uses this title. Rather, it is spoken of him by Gabriel the Archangel when Jesus was conceived in Mary. He is named the Son of God in the linage of man in the genealogy of Adam.  The Devil, demons, and the Jews all accuse him in connection with being the Son of God.  But Jesus lived, suffered, and died as the Son of Man, and during this time promised his return as the Son of Man.

In stark contrast to Jesus calling himself the Son of Man, we position ourselves as sons of ourselves, second to no one.  Each of us would prefer to be recognised as heroes of humanity rather than a son of man. 

Man in his misogyny and females in their feminism, both challenging each other and turning in on the centrality of their humanity, seek to stand aloof in one’s own righteousness. Being a son of man like Jesus doesn’t appeal to us, as something to which we might want to attain or to one whom we would want to submit.

But Jesus promises, “…they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”  (Luke 21:27–28 ESV)

And he continues, “But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:36 ESV)

To understand what Jesus is telling us about straightening up, raising your head, and standing before the Son of Man in the future, we need to see what Jesus teaches us about standing before the Son of Man in the word of God.

Jesus addresses how a person stands when he tells a parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:  “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.” (Luke 18:9–14a ESV)

Jesus stands before humanity as the servant Son of Man.  Then Jesus will stand before humanity with power and great glory at the end of time.

Jesus tells us, the Son of Man comes to us in this life and knocks, he says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20 ESV)

And, “…once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’  Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’  But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.”  (Luke 13:25–28 ESV)

Jesus stands to serve, and he will come and stand to see if we have received his service.  Those who do not want his service in this life will continue in that.  Those who realise they need his service and allow him to be our servant will enter the eternal service of God the Father where there is eternal peace.

Jeremiah looked forward to the time of Jesus’ service of righteousness in a time when salvation and security on earth seemed fleeting.  He says, “In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 33:16 ESV)

It is advantageous for us, as we enter the Advent season,  to let the light of Christ serve you.  Let him illuminate your sin and save you as he stands before you and knocks.  Let God function in your life as your God so you can stand in his eternal kingdom functioning as saints saved for all eternity. 

For the kingdom and the power and the glory belongs to the Son of Man. And he stands before us, offering himself as gift, today and every day, until he returns with all power and glory. Amen.

B, Advent 4 - Luke 1:30-35 "The Advent of Love"

How does one love?  How does one love with the right love?  What is the “right” love?  As we light the candles of Advent we light the candle of love.  As we wait and watch for the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ do we love waiting and watching for him?

If you are like me, waiting and watching, is a task that frustrates.  I want to wait and watch but without much notice I find myself waiting and watching for the things God will not find pleasing when Jesus Christ returns.  “How” I love comes down to “what” I love.  What do you love?  What you wait and watch for shows what you love?

When you love something or someone, love demands all other loves must die.  For humans, love usually expresses itself in desire, or what one wants.  When I want something all other things seem less important until I get the thing or person I want. When I get it desire then builds for the next thing I want to conquer.

As people of God you and I come up short in the love God wants us to have.  Why is it I find myself loving the stuff, I know and have been taught as a Christian, comes from the darkness within me? To my dismay I begin the day saying to myself I am going to follow you Heavenly Father, but somewhere each day I end up finding myself following my desire.  Love for God disappears, dead and gone, and in its place I find I love with a love that has me at the centre.

King David was no stranger to this frustration as the battle of love raged within.  David ruled with the promise that God’s steadfast love would not depart from him. But even being the anointed King he struggled.  David finds himself concerned that while he has a dwelling, a king’s residence, God does not.  And yet not long after his outwardly looking concern for God, from the roof of his very dwelling, he finds himself in the midst of lust and craving over Bathsheba, and then the death and cover up of her husband Uriah. 

I imagine after David was caught out in adultery and murder, he must have wondered, how he had got things so wrong!  Hear his plea for mercy and steadfast love...

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” (Psalm 51:10–13 ESV)

When you and I get caught out we too wonder in our shame how we get things so wrong, how love is so corrupted within us.

How do you respond when you get it wrong?  Do you say, “It happens”, then forget about it and move on to the next disaster?

I suspect you do.  Why? Because we’re children of this generation!  We’re taught to watch and wait in all the wrong ways.  We watch our televisions and wait for the internet to load.  We bombard ourselves with information twenty-four hours a day, in front of the misfits and mischief of television, the internet, and social mediums.  Our lack of response and learning from love gone wrong is dictated by what we do most of the time.  And that is nothing because that’s what watching TV teaches us to do as we wait for the show to continue after each break.

The human spirit loves the technology of instant gratification.  The human spirit loves how it feels with little regard for the facts.  Television and the social media of our age care little for stopping and investigating what and why we fail, let alone do much about having it fixed.  Rather you and I have been taught to seek the quick fix of feelings as we watch funny failures and the feel good mountains of mindless media.

Do we feel the love? Can we feel the love?  Only for a fleeting second then no, nothing once again! When love is based on my feelings, this kind of love leaves me feeling dumb and numb.

So we return to the question, “How do we love?”  Its here we need to address the question.  The focus of the question is all wrong.   The focus needs to be taken away from us and our feelings.  We need a revelation from God on how we are loved to even begin to know what the right love is.

But you can learn from your failure.  You can stop and see how the techno-gods work destruction in you.  We need to learn they serve us by taking our focus from the things that serves us for eternal salvation.  Our craving for love, our ability to watch and wait with love, needs to be answered but not from within our human spirit being entertained to death but from the true source of constant, unwavering, unfailing, unfaltering, steadfast love.

This love came upon Mary most unexpectedly when Archangel Gabriel without warning appeared to her.

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. (Luke 1:30–35 ESV)

When God’s steadfast love came to Mary, it came bring unknown knowledge and love to challenge the status quo of humanity’s misguided love. Imagine Gabriel as the power app of the day.  He was the facebook of God, the Studio Ten transmission, the Snapchat service, the good newsfeed sent to inform Mary.  Gabriel in the Hebrew literally means “the mighty one of God” and what a mighty message it was this angel brought from God.

This message of love through incarnation was like no other.  It would have been hard to hear and understand.  But Mary went on to allow the power of the Most High to overshadow her and we too can surrender to this Most High Love.

How do we love with the right love? We need to allow God to love us and we do this by yielding our human spirit to the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit leads us in God’s word.  The Holy Spirit also gives us the right perspective on God’s word so we might be found living under his word, hungering for love and righteousness because we realise just how much love and righteousness we truly need.

The Holy Spirit reveals what love is in the Word of God, the same Holy Spirit that conceived the Love of God incarnate in Mary’s womb.  The Holy Spirit reveals our need for this Steadfast Love too.  The fact is we cannot love God unless we have received the forgiveness of sins[1].   And we receive the forgiveness of sins as we believe and confess we are sinners. The Holy Spirit enables us to remain in Christ and confess him as our Saviour.  The Holy Spirit works in us throughout our lives teaching us more and more to abide in this Steadfast Love, as he works to kill off what we often love more than God.

Also a fact, without the forgiveness of sin there can only be terror in our knowledge of sin and death.  So let the Holy Spirit return you to the home of repentance and confession of sin before Jesus Christ.  Let him lead you from the haughty house of feelings where the words of love echo around it in emptiness that leads consciences into pride or despair.  Let this love die so the Holy Spirit can build you up with the steadfast love of God in Christ Jesus.

You and your human spirit cannot create this true love but you can receive it and let it flow through you to others.  Let it flow through you as forgiveness.  The Holy Spirit, through the word of God, has brought us to Jesus and our Heavenly Father, he is bringing us to Jesus and our Heavenly Father now, and he will continue to bring us to Jesus and our Heavenly Father.  So let us pray for the full incarnation of God within us and for all whom we forgive this advent of Christmas...

Holy Spirit – be, come, do, give, forgive, lead and deliver as we wait and watch for the only wise God who in glory reigns together in triune steadfast holy love, now and forever. Amen.

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[1] Apology IV:311