Sermon for First week Advent Service

The text for our first reading for this afternoon is from Isaiah 40:1-2: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” The word comfort used in this passage was intended to bring peace to the Hebrew people who have been in captivity for nearly 70 years and it was time to announce deliverance. The prophet is now telling the people that God was about to end their suffering and restore them to their original land, the Promised Land. It was a message of promise and peace. Like the message of the advent season, the message to the people in captivity was one of anticipation.
Thanksgiving is now over even though the smells of the turkey and the pumpkin pie may still linger in our homes. We have most, if not all, of our Thanksgiving stuff cleaned up and put away. And now we move into the season of Advent and then Christmas. Christmas; are you ready for Christmas? Have you started making a list? Because it’s way too early to be checking it twice! For the children of God, Advent gives us a running start at Christmas.
We have the time to explore, through the Scriptures, the profound comfort and joy that God promised in the Messiah and delivers in His Son Jesus and the end of this earth and the return of our Lord. As we explore these thoughts in these four weeks of Advent, we do so under the theme “Comfort and Joy.” In the weeks ahead we’ll look at the Peace of Christ, the Pardon of Christ, the Presence of Christ and the Power of Christ. Each of these will help lead us to Christmas with renewed hearts and with a great sense of what our Lord is doing in the world.
Isaiah’s words of peace and comfort drive our theme today. Isaiah’s words are spoken into a community that had been struggling for decades with violence and insecurity. Life for the people of Israel seemed out of control. There was no Internet, no 24-hour news cycle, no Twitter feed. For all they knew there was no peace, no hope for the future. They had become second-class citizens, and the people were anxious.
I don’t know about you, but at times I get nervous because we have so much information. We’re bombarded with information. A jetliner disappears off a radar screen and we have 24-hour coverage for weeks after the incident. Russia moves in to the Ukraine and not only do we have newspaper stories, but we have video coverage, audio and people giving their reports on the ground to family via smartphones. A grand-jury decision is reached and we get non-stop coverage of the violence and destruction that is occurring each night. There’s so much information at times that it drives up our anxiety. But the news feeds aren’t the only source of unease.
Personal input also drives our nervousness, and the preparation for Christmas may lead the way in anxiety. We do make lists, some on paper and many in our minds. We have so many tasks that need to be accomplished over the next month. Gifts need to be figured out and purchased, then paid for. Cards need to be dreamed up, ordered, addressed and sent. Christmas dinner needs a menu, then shopping, then preparation, then serving. Then we somehow have to figure out a way in all this to enjoy the day. Even in our hearts, at the end of the year, we may be wondering where we go and what comes down in the year ahead. While there may not be an army at our gates, there is an army of people that needs what we have. Shopping, organizing, baking, cleaning and all the tasks of the season are done with a clock running and the clock will reach zero on Christmas Day. This is why our message for today from Isaiah is so important.
The Lord speaks to anxious people at an anxious time. He comes with words of comfort. He comes with words that herald God’s engagement in our anxiety. He comes with a word that the future will be peaceful. Peace begins not with the stuff that we have to do, but with the plan of God for you and me. The peace plan rumbles through the Garden of Eden, is sustained by faithful Noah, is affirmed in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and is brought into the world through Mary. God brings peace in the presence of Jesus, His Son and our Lord. Jesus comes to work at the root of our anxiety, not just on the symptoms.
Jesus comes to our soul and connects us to God our Father in heaven. The words of Isaiah find reality in Jesus. Jesus came to pay double for our sins. Jesus brings us peace with God. Jesus’ peace is not merely peace that is the absence of anxiety, but peace that comes from God with us in life and death. Jesus came to bring us peace! Christmas is a celebration of God’s peace for us. And we anticipate a new year of God’s peace.
Our anxiety, along with the fear that it drives, are replaced with confidence in Christ and hope for the future. God has worked, is working and will continue to work in our lives and there’s no reason to believe He’ll ever quit. There’s every reason to believe and trust that He will keep on working in our lives.
For many of us, this season is filled with traditions. Some of us have a manger scene that we unpack and put up in a prominent place in our homes. Typically the scene has all the right pieces: a stable, cows, sheep, Mary and Joseph and maybe a Wise Man or three are a part of the scene. But the central character, the most prominent piece is perhaps the smallest. It’s the piece many of us put in the scene last, but it’s clearly the most important piece. Without that little piece, the rest of the scene is useless. With that little piece the scene finds meaning for you and all who see it.
That little piece in the center of the scene, lying in a manger, is your peace. It’s Jesus, who was wrapped in bands of cloth and laid in a manger. He is God’s answer to anxiety and worry. He is God’s remedy to fear. He is our Savior from sin and death. Jesus is the center not only of that scene, but of ours. He comes to live with us and in us. He comes to be the center of the season. He comes to be our peace. May the peace of Christ be yours in this season of Advent and in the New Year to come.
Amen.