We Wait
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Sermon Notes:
At the 1:39 point, there is a quote from Fred Craddock’s Commentary on Luke from the Interpretation series of commentaries. (Westminster John Knox Press, 1990), p. 243.
Scripture
Jeremiah 33:14-16
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Read more…
Luke 21:25-36
There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. Read more…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
My niece, when she’s in a particularly pessimistic mood, is fond of telling me that the generations that have come before her generation have ruined the world and that our planet will not survive past 2050 as a result. She’ll be in her mid-40s when it happens.
I have a friend who is so overwhelmed by the evils perpetrated by the far right, racist, misogynistic, self-protectionist population that she’s chosen to stop listening to the news altogether and simply assumes that everything about the world these days is horrible.
I can understand their viewpoint. Though I wish they’d both spend at least a bit of time researching and learning about the great things people are doing to combat the evils of the world. For instance, there’s this young man from Ireland named Fionn Ferreira who invented a device that uses a magnet-based method to remove microplastics from water. And there’s an architect from Italy, Stafano Boeri, who is at the forefront of something called Vertical Forests. Essentially, these are high rise buildings that incorporate the equivalent of thousands of square meters of forest and undergrowth onto a few hundred square meters of urban space. The world is not as bleak as it sometimes appears to be. There are good things in our world. There are good people in our world.
It’s easy to focus on all the things that are wrong in our world. As Christians, we are not immune to this tendency. In fact, there are parts of the Bible that feed this tendency in us. We’re going to read one of those parts from Luke’s gospel on Sunday. These are the words from Luke 21:25-26:
There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
It would be so easy to simply curl up in a corner in fear and trembling, or lock ourselves away from the world while we wait for the end. But that’s not the way of Jesus. In fact, In Luke 21:28, this is what Jesus said in reference to the above quote: “When these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Stand up and raise your heads. Because no matter how bad things seem; “no matter how much it appears that the world is coming un-done, God’s way endures; His reign will not be impeded.”[1] This is our Advent hope. This is why we need never be afraid. As we look toward Christmas, we look toward Jesus’ return and the fulfillment of God’s promised Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
As you prepare for Sunday, perhaps spend some time meditating on these words from Jeremiah 33:14-16:
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
Where do you see evidence of God at work executing justice and righteousness in the world? Where do you see evidence of God’s Kingdom in the world?
[1] Audrey West. “Commentary on Luke 21:25-36.” Working Preacher. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/first-sunday-of-advent-3/commentary-on-luke-2125-36-5 (accessed Nov. 18, 2021).