First Presbyterian Church
Happy New Year
Sermon for November 27, 2005
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Children's time: I read Psalm 23 from the King James Version and the New Revised Standard Version. I asked the children what they thought the psalm was about.

Our unison reading is on page 694 of your pew bibles. Our reading comes as the prophets hoped to leave their exile in Babylon. Babylon's political power was beginning to fade, and the chosen people have their chance. But some of them have accepted and even enjoyed living in Babylon. It was, after all, the cultural center of the world. Isaiah is tired of it, and calls people from their wickedness, and wants God to make another dramatic appearance. He dares to remind God of past deeds and asks God to save the people once again. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Isaiah 64:1-9.

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence – as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil – to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.

You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways.

But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed.

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.

We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.

Yet, O LORD , you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD , and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.

This ends our reading from Isaiah.

Did you catch that little bit of prophetic whining to God? You're the potter, we're your people. Mold us, take care of us. Isaiah knew God was almighty, even against the people's sin and Babylon's power.

Our psalm reading also reminds God and us of God's promises to the people, and then pretty much orders God around. We human beings are our most demanding when we feel powerless and regress back to childish ways; our only power is to make a lot of noise and hope that our parent gives us what we need before we have to throw a tantrum.

Listen for the word of God as we read it together from Psalm 80.

Psalm 80:1 To the leader: on Lilies, a Covenant. Of Asaph. A Psalm. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth 2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us!

3 Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

4 O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?

5 You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure.

6 You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves.

7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.

9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.

10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches; 11 it sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River.

12 Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?

13 The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.

14 Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, 15 the stock that your right hand planted.

16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.

17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself.

18 Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.

19 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

This ends our reading from the psalm. Our gospel reading is on page 50. In our text the disciples have asked Jesus for a sign of the end. Jesus spoke of collapsing empires, great suffering and false messiahs, then tells the disciples a parable about what they're supposed to be doing. We'll be reading from my translation. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Mark 13:24-37.

"But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will become dark, and the moon will not give its light, and then stars will be falling down from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then they will see the Son of humanity coming in clouds with great power and glory.

And then he will send out the angels, and gather the chosen from the four directions from the end of the earth to the end of heaven.

"From the fig tree learn its lesson: when the branch becomes tender and grows leaves, you know that summer is near.

So when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, at the doors.

Amen I say to you, this generation will not pass away until these things have happened.

The heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

"But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the father.

Watch out, stay awake; for you do not know when the time is.

It is like a man going on a journey, Leaving his home and giving his slaves the authority, each [one] his work, and the doorkeeper he orders to be on the alert.

Therefore, you be on the alert – for you do not know when the lord of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else coming suddenly, he may he may find you asleep.

What I say to you, I say to all: Be on the alert."

This ends our reading from the word of God. Those of you who were daydreaming as we began or caught unawares during the reading might wonder if you just heard Revelation. But no, it really is from Mark. It is called the little apocalypse. The Greek word apokalupsis is translated “revelation.” Apocalypse means something that is revealed. For us, apocalypse has come to mean the catastrophic end of the world. But let's capture its original meaning and look at what Jesus is revealing here.

Before clocks and wristwatches, people used the sun to tell the time. Before desk calendars and PDAs, people used the moon to keep track of the months. With the sun and the moon dark, all the ways of measuring time would be gone. No one knows the day or the hour. The stars helped keep track of seasons and watches of the night. In Hebrew mythology, the stars were considered angels, or heavenly hosts, gods, or powers in their own right. So if the stars fall, the powers are shaken. Only God continues to rule during this timeless time.

We aren't supposed to be concerned about when Christ returns. We are to live our lives under God's judgment, but do it unafraid, because we know who our judge is. It is the one who came at that first Christmas, and who died and rose for our salvation.

So these days of advent should be a renewal of our commitment to be open to God's judgment so that we will be prepared at all times to face Christ unashamed.

It doesn't mean being perfect, but it does mean seeking to grow daily toward the life that God intends for us.

We needn't fear judgment. It is a joyful part of the process of sanctification. Judgment doesn't come because God has to fill a quota for punishment. Judgment is about renewal.

Isaiah says of God “You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways.” But then he confesses “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.”

The psalmist asks God to restore us, that we might be saved.

Last week we heard of the judgment parable of the sheep and the goats. The sheep on the right hand of God get off lightly; they have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and visited the prisoners. The goats don't get off at all, because they didn't help those in need.

But other places in the Bible, the sheep have gone astray and are in need of a shepherd.

Let us listen to the choir sing “All We Like Sheep” from Handel's Messiah.

Realizing that we are like sheep, that we have gone astray, helps us recognize our need for God our shepherd.

But that's easier said that done. Letting go of destructive habits isn't easy to do, especially when other people value those habits.

Kathleen Long Bostrom, who wrote the 2005 Horizons Bible Study on the liturgical seasons wrote “Psalm 23 for the Modern Woman.” I think it can apply to all of us, men and children as well as women.

The clock is my master, I shall want more time.

It makes me get up far too early;

it leads me away from still waters; it drains my soul.

It leads me by the nose for efficiency's sake.

Even though I race as fast as I can through the highway tunnels,

I fear I am late, for my wristwatch is with me;

its numbers and secondhand- they control me.

It prepares a fast food meal before me in the presence of many demands;

it anoints my head with aching.

My calendar overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

but I will be one step ahead of them, forever. 1

Time should not rule us; it is not our master. Our reading from Mark reveals God rules over all the universe, even time.

The season of Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year. The year is marked by Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, the Baptism of the Lord, a few Sundays of ordinary time, Transfiguration, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and the six months or so of ordinary time until Christ the King Sunday, which is that last day of the liturgical year.

We had Christ the King Sunday last Sunday. But today is the first Sunday in Advent. The banners are different, and the paraments are another color. And so I call my sermon “Happy New Year” because today is the first day of the new church year. We begin our year remembering that Jesus was born, and comes in judgment, and we do not have to live in fear, but in hope. We have to keep alert, and be watchful, so that we can open ourselves up to God at work in our lives.

Advent is when the doctrines of justification and sanctification are helpful, believe it or not.

Just last month I read one theologian's words about judgment being a hopeful event, not a terrifying one. Catherine Gonzales said that we know that a judgment has been given already, and because of Christ we have been found innocent. Because of that, we open our lives to God's scrutiny in order to become the people God created us to be. This process is called sanctification.

We know that God the Judge is also God the Redeemer.

To the degree that our old life of sin continues in us, we voluntarily undergo judgment now. To the degree that we participate in the new life of Christ, we live already on the other side of the judgment day. 2

When we live God's way, doing what God wants, we are at peace. We don't have to try to remember the lies we tell to keep ourselves out of trouble; we don't have to deceive the ones we love in order to hide our adultery; we don't have to max out our credit cards in order to impress others with our wealth; we don't have to abuse ourselves with drugs, alcohol, or work because we doubt we're worth taking care of. When we know we've gone astray, we can look to the Shepherd to show us the right path.

When we confess our sins, when we open ourselves to God's judgment, when we allow the spirit to work in us, we can relax into doing what God wants. We get to enjoy the life the God has given us.

Happy New Year.

1 Bostrom wrote this poem for the study. Pendleton First Presbyterian tested out the study the year before it came out, and sent in their comments. They loved the poem, but apparently others did not, for it wsn't included in the study . Judy Wilkins of Pendleton gave me a copy, and said t had permission to use it. Horizons later reprinted it.

2 Gonzales, Catherine Gunsalus, “Advent and Eschatology,” Journal for Preachers, Advent 2005, p. 3.