A sermon preached at Kowloon Union
Church on Sunday 1 December 2019, the first Sunday in Advent, by the Rev. Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that
day were
Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 24:36-44
Opening prayer
God of life,
open our hearts to receive Your Word.
Holy Spirit,
grant to us wisdom to know the truth about waiting. Inspire us and prepare us
to walk in the Way of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen!
Introduction
Today we have started
the season of Advent. It marks the beginning of the Church liturgical year. You
see how the church is prepared for this special season with all the decoration for
the worship space: the banners, the wreath of candles and the Christmas trees.
The word “advent” derives from Latin “adventus” meaning “coming” or “arrival”. Advent in Greek
is parousia, meaning “coming” or “presence”. It thus entails a meaning of Second Coming
of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the season of Advent serves as a dual reminder of the original waiting that was done by the Hebrews
for the birth of their Messiah, as well as the waiting for the second coming of
Jesus Christ by Christians. Waiting for Jesus’s coming again is to look for his Kingdom that brings to the world new vision, new hope and new peace.
Advent is
also a time for believers to wait for God’s promise to be fulfilled and prepare
for God’s Way.
The
Church Worship Advisory Group has taken: “Prepare the Way Together” as the
theme of Advent this year, with four sub-titles for the four weeks of Advent.
Advent is a time of waiting for the
coming of the Lord.
This week, our focus is “choose to
wait”.
Prophet Isaiah in his vision shared in the Book of
Isaiah we heard this morning has given us some light.
1.
Choose to wait is to
believe God is our centre and our ultimate promise
Isaiah was living in a world where his
nation Israel had been under constant threat of wars from the Assyrian,
Babylonian, and Persian empires. The people in Israel and Judah were living
restlessly because of the political instability. Isaiah, the great prophet of
the Israelite proclaimed to his people their future relied on walking in the
way of their God. In times of trials and suffering, human beings tend to blame
God and make complaints. Prophet Isaiah’s vision reminds us the Great God is
the one above all nations and provides a safe house on top of the mountain to
his beloved people.
2 Choose
to wait is to have vision and be transformed.
From Isaiah 2:4, it
says:
“He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
I just mentioned the Israelites were
constantly under threat and insecurity because of the strong empires nearby.
When people are living in such condition, fighting back is quite a normal
reaction. But Isaiah offered a vision that was the total reverse of
anticipation and imagination for the Jewish community. He was calling for
peace. He told his people the coming of the Lord is to bring peace, not wars
and violence. He proclaimed that in God’s new
world, not only must the weapons be destroyed; they are transformed and
repurposed.
In Isaiah’s vision of a new world, the
Lord of peace engages his people to use the tools at hand for productive
activities that can bear fruit for the benefits of the people. The setting down
of the sword indicates that there is no more aggression and domination over
others. People begin to use their resource to build lives. In verse 5, Isaiah
further called his people to walk in the light of the Lord.
Choose to wait for the Lord involved
transformation and walking in the righteous way of God: the light and peace
that are to build up lives instead of destruction.
Sisters and brothers, in what way does your
life need to be changed and transformed so that you may truly live a Godly life? What is the hope you wish to realize?
In our society, in what ways does it have
to be transformed so that God’s Kingdom of justice and peace can be achieved? How
do we and the church need to be transformed to advance God’s Kingdom as we are
waiting for the coming of Jesus and to manifest God’s presence?
3 Choose to wait is to act with love
to bring hope, joy, justice and peace.
When we realize waiting for the Lord is
to have the vision of God and be transformed, waiting is never passive inaction. On the contrary, waiting can be taken as active
participation of here and now which induces implication for future.
As Henry Nouwen
shared in his book -- Eternal Season, “Waiting is never a movement from nothing to something. It is always a
movement from something to something more.”
In today’s gospel reading taken from
Matthew, we are told the time for the Lord to come is not known and
unpredictable. It says, “about that day and hour no one knows, neither the
angels of heaven, nor the Son, only the Father”. No one knows when Jesus Christ
the Lord returns except God. The coming of the Lord is a mystery.
Yes, it
is. And yet Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. Whenever we
follow Christ’s way by leading a life of hope and love, justice and peace. Whenever
we show compassion to people who are suffering in pain. God is with us. And the
Lord has come to us. Christ is present in us.
4 Choose to wait is to be alert and repent
to God. Be patient and let go
The gospel today
reminds us to be alert to the Lord’s coming in an unexpected time. We need to
be spiritually awakened. Spiritual awakening requires us to turn inward to our
heart. Advent is a season calling us to repent, return and patiently listen to
God. While we choose to wait is to act, we need to wait with patience. We allow
anything that is unexpected to happen in life. Choose
to wait requires also to let go of our own ego and let go of our desire to
control others, to control the outcome and things that are happening around us.
5 Choose
to wait requires us to slow down
We are used
to living in a city of Hong Kong moving so fast and people work very efficiently.
Advent calls us to slow down as we are waiting. In this season of Advent, I
would like to invite you to choose to slow down a bit and take more time to
pray and meditate. Take time to read the scriptures, and to reflect on your
life and faith.
Pastor
Maggie has been very thoughtful and creative to make a four-week devotional for
the season of Advent. Each week, there is a little booklet for you to bring
home. The booklet is designed based on our theme: Prepare the Way together with
four sub-titles, one for each week. The first week is choose to wait. The second
week is choose a better way. The third week is choose to be courageous. The fourth
week is choose to trust. The devotional helps us to build up relationship with
God and nurture our faith in Christ.
Finally,
I would like to emphasize Choose to wait is to pray faithfully by
putting God at the center of our life. This is also an important step for us to
prepare in walking the Way of Christ.
When we are
waiting for the Lord, remember too God is also waiting for us to return to His
Way because God loves us. God loves to be connected with us. We are all God’s
beloved children. God wants to be united with us as One. That’s why God humbled
himself and came to the world in human flesh. In the season of Advent, let us
prepare our hearts to receive God, that baby Jesus being born in the
world.
Chanting
To close my sermon, I would like to invite you
to open your heart for baby Jesus while I am chanting a song for you. The song
is in Cantonese, with this meaning:
-
Let my heart be the manger
that Jesus is born within me. Jesus, come!
I close the silent meditation with the sound of bell.
Let
us pray:
Dear
God, As we choose to wait for the Lord, let our hearts be the manger that Jesus
is born within me. Jesus, come to us! Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, December 01, 2019
