The Hopes and Fears of All the Years

The Hopes of All the Years

Luke 21:25-33[1]

As we begin the celebration of the Advent season, I think it may be helpful for us to remind ourselves what it’s about. In the original church tradition, Advent was meant to be a time of reflection in preparation for the celebration of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” from December 25 to January 6. The idea was that we prepare to celebrate the “coming of the Lord” by waiting quietly and patiently for Christmas to come. Lighting the candles on the advent wreath, and even using advent calendars, have been traditional ways to practice this “waiting.” Of course, these days the Advent season is filled with all kinds of celebrations of Christmas, which in our minds is over on December 26. Some people who are sticklers for liturgical correctness complain about this every year. I used to do some of that complaining myself. I’d like to think I’ve mellowed from being such a liturgical stickler!

If we think about the focus of the four Sundays in Advent: hope, peace, love, and joy, then maybe the way we “celebrate” Advent isn’t all that far off from the original intent. As we approach the end of the year, many of us may focus on the hopes we may have for the coming year. While the busy-ness of the season may make it not so peaceful to some of us, it is a time when we think about peace in our world: peace between countries, peace between different factions in our country, peace with those who may have anything against us, peace between family members. Advent is a time when we sing songs that tend to remind us of the love that we have in our lives, and the love that God has given us. It’s a time when we may go out of our way to be loving toward our friends and family. And as we seek to practice the kindness and giving associated with the season, it all reminds us of the joy we have in our lives.

I realize that much of that may not hold true for some of us. This may be a time for many of us when our hopes have dimmed and faded. We may struggle to hold onto our hope in the face of all that life continues to throw our way. Some of us may have had a difficult year, and we may simply feel weary from all the losses and disappointments we’ve had to bear. Or maybe this year hasn’t been that kind of year for some of us, but you’ve had years like that in the past. All of it can make “hope” seem like a flimsy thing to use to get through difficult times. Our past experiences may make the songs of hope we sing in this season sound hollow to some of us. So, on this first Sunday of Advent, when we celebrate the hope that the birth of Jesus represents for us, we may be wondering what good hope can do for us.

Especially in the uncertain times we live in, most of us would probably choose safety and stability over hope. As much as we may be looking forward to new things in our lives, we like to know that tomorrow will be, in all essentials, basically the same as today. We rely on the stability of the routines that make our lives familiar. But our experience of recent years may have left us wondering whether anything in our lives is really stable or secure. That’s a question that’s more than unsettling; if we’re honest, we have to admit it’s downright scary! Again, it can leave us wondering what good “hope” can do for us.

In our Gospel lesson for today Jesus addressed this question, but in a way that might seem to be coming through the back door. He was answering the questions his disciples had about the uncertainty of his times. But he did so in a way that they may have found less than reassuring. The setting of our lesson is the final week of Jesus’ ministry. What we should understand is that the political situation in Judea was unstable and even chaotic. Although the Romans maintained control through their powerful armies, there was a constant undercurrent of resentment and even rebellion among the Jewish people. All of this would boil over into an all-out war within a few decades, and the result would be Jerusalem destroyed and with it, the Jewish nation.

I think Jesus’ disciples must have been aware of what was going on. Tjhey must have sensed the tension in the air. As they were walking through the Temple, the most magnificent structure in Jerusalem in that day, I would imagine they saw the strength of the structure as a reassurance of God’s presence among them. To them it may have been a kind of promise that whatever the future may hold, God would be with them. But Jesus told them that not one of the massive stones that made up the Temple complex would be left on one another. They asked him to tell them the “signs” as a way of making the stress of an uncertain future more “manageable.” But Jesus didn’t give them any signs to reassure them.

Instead, he told them that the world in which they lived would continue to be as uncertain and as unpredictable as ever. If they wanted reassurance, they would have to look beyond the structures they had come to rely on. They would have to reclaim their hope in God. It may seem like a strange response on Jesus’ part. But I think Jesus was pointing them to something beyond what they felt they could “manage.” He pointed them beyond the safety and stability they had come to rely on in their daily lives. He reminded them that none of those things are ultimately reliable. Rather, he reminded them that God, the promises God had made, and the hope all that creates for us, are the only things we can truly rely on in this life. As Jesus told them, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Lk 21:33).

That brings us back to the hope of Advent. In our worship today, we sang the verse from the hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem” that said “the hopes and fears of all the years” were “met” in that village on the night of Jesus’ birth. I think we can easily imagine the “hopes of all the years” fulfilled in Jesus’ birth, but what about the “fears”? I’m no specialist in the history of hymns, but I would think that the idea is that the birth of Jesus relieves the “fears of all the years.” The hope that Jesus brought into this world is one that helps us overcome all our fears, especially in uncertain times. It’s the hope that God’s love for us never fails, and that’s something we can rely on when everything else around us does fail. It’s the hope that God’s promises stand forever, and that God will not stop working in this world until every promise has been fulfilled. Most of us pin our hopes on some part of our lives here and now that we want to continue just as it is. But life is always changing. It is the hope we have in God through Jesus our Savior that we can rely on through all the years. That hope remains; that hope will not pass away; that hope will see us through this year, and all the years of our lives!

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[1] © 2024 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 12/1/2024 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

Jesus is Lord!

 Jesus Is Lord!

Revelation 1:4-18[1]

If anyone happened to pay attention to the bulletin or the PowerPoint and noticed that today is designated “Christ the King” Sunday, I’m not sure that would mean much. The only “royalty” we pay much attention to these days is the British royal family. But they’re really not much more than “cultural icons” as Wikipedia calls them. They’re known for their wealth and celebrity. They function as figureheads with no real authority or power to do much of anything. The best of them use their position to advocate for good causes; the others are infamous for their family drama. If that’s our image of what it means to be a “King,” it’s no wonder observing this day as “Christ the King” Sunday gets passed over without much notice.

Nevertheless, the image of God reigning over all things as “King” is one that is central to the Bible, as our Psalm lesson for today reminds us. It is an affirmation that, regardless of who may hold power in this world, God is the one who ultimately determines the outcomes in the end. That, too, may be a problem for us. We see a lot of outcomes in this world that seem to be contrary to God’s ways. It may be all too easy to assume that God’s power isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, or perhaps God may not be paying attention, or maybe he’s just taking a long nap. Meanwhile, the world continues to go on as it always has. The rich get richer and might makes right.

Our lesson from the book of Revelation for today addresses this question. In the first-century world, Christians had to face this challenge in a similar way that we do. The ultimate power in their day was the Roman Empire, and any time anyone questioned that power, they were met with brutal violence. The presence of vast and powerful Roman armies throughout the world of that day constantly reminded people where “true” power was. And Roman Governors like Pontius Pilate didn’t hesitate to unleash the soldiers on unarmed crowds of men, women, and children to keep a firm grip on their power. The problem for believers in that day was that they confessed their faith that “Jesus is Lord” in their worship! And yet, all around them were images that contradicted that faith. 

I believe the book of Revelation was written to remind those Christians that at the heart of their faith was a very different vision of what life is about. It’s a vision of the one who sits on the throne, who bends everything that happens, both evil and good, toward his purposes. To convey this image, our lesson speaks of God as “the Alpha and the Omega,” the one “who is and who always was and who is still to come,” and “the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8). This description of God is full of implications, but essentially, it’s a reminder that God is the one who sits on the throne of the universe, and it is his rule that will ultimately define all things and everyone in the end. It’s a reminder that “Our God is an awesome God; he reigns from heaven above; with wisdom, power, and love; our God is an awesome God.”[2] That remains true regardless of what we see or who claims to hold power here and now.

The Book of Revelation also speaks of the one who stands at God’s right hand: “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead” (Rev. 1:5). Again, there’s a whole theology about Jesus packed into that phrase, and it takes the rest of Revelation to explain. One of the most important images of Jesus in the Book of Revelation is that he is the lamb who was slain and who has triumphed through his death. As in our day, so also in that day, “triumphing through death” didn’t make much sense. And it still doesn’t. Sacrificing one’s life the way Jesus did would seem to be weakness, not power. But the Scripture contradicts that point of view by proclaiming that, because of his death and resurrection, Jesus is “the ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev. 1:5). All the kings of the earth! Because of his death and resurrection, he alone has the right to rule over all the so-called “powers” of this world. And he rules over the “kingdom of this world,” and the promise is that “he shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15) as we know from the familiar oratorio “The Messiah”!

At the heart of the Christian faith is a vision of a reality that directly opposes the visions of power in our present world. God reigns over all things by the power of his love. And Jesus demonstrates that power by working in each of our lives to transform this world into “the kingdom of our Lord” (Rev. 11:15). At the heart of our faith is the conviction that this ultimate reality, God’s reign in and through our lives through Jesus our Lord, is the true reality that defines all of life. This reality, the reign of Jesus Christ as Lord, exposes the falsehood of all the boastful claims of the rich and powerful in our day. And the promise is that one day the reign of Jesus Christ as Lord will overthrow all the false powers in our world and bring true peace, justice, and freedom to everyone!

I guess the question we have to answer is whether this vision is more convincing than what pretends to be true in our world. Things haven’t changed much since the First Century. But the real question we have to address here is where we place our faith. As a recent lesson from the Psalms reminds us, if we place our faith in “mortals,” no matter how powerful they may seem, we find that in them “there is no help” (Ps. 146:3). The Scriptures call us to place our faith in the God who is working right now to establish his kingdom and his justice, peace, and freedom for all peoples everywhere. The Scriptures call us to place our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord, the one who by his death and resurrection exposed the lie of those who abuse their power in this world. The Scriptures call us to place our faith in our Savior who lives and reigns for all time and unto all eternity. And the Scriptures tell us that one day all creation will worship him as Lord of all.

I think we need that kind of “bigger picture” perspective for our faith in these days.[3] It’s all too easy for us, especially when we go through hard times, to think nobody’s paying any attention, nobody really knows or cares. If God did, why would this happen? But as a good friend reminded me once when I was going through a hard time, nothing that we have to go through in this life escapes God’s notice. God always pays careful attention to each one of our lives, because that’s the nature of who God is. That’s the nature of his love for us. When all we see reinforces the appearance that power in this world comes from force, or intimidation, or wealth, it can be discouraging to those of us trying to live out our Christian faith, hope, and love.

But the Bible gives us a different image of power: it’s the image of the all-powerful God who created all things in the beginning. It’s the image of the God who entered this world in the person of Jesus to redeem us all with the power of love on the cross. It’s the image of the power of new life defeating the power of death on Easter Sunday. It’s the image of Jesus reigning as Lord even now over all the “powers” in our world. It’s the image of that reign fulfilled one day “on earth as it is in heaven.” What that means for us is that one day all the wrongs of this world will be set right, and all that we have to suffer in this world will be turned to good. That’s the nature of Jesus’ reign as Lord. And the promise is that Jesus shall reign as Lord like this “forever and ever”! Amen!

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[1] © 2024 Alan Brehm.  A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 11/24/2024 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman NE.

[2] Rich Mullins, “Our God is an Awesome God,” 1988, BMG Songs, Inc.

[3] Cf. Richard Bauckham, Theology of the Book of Revelation, 31, where he says that the “vision of God’s sovereignty in heaven” is what “makes it possible for John to enlarge his readers’ perspective on their own situation by setting it within the broader context of God’s universal purpose of overcoming all opposition to his rule and establishing his kingdom in the world.” This reign of God is “the true reality which must in the end also prevail on earth.”

Assurance

 Assurance

Hebrews 10:11-25[1]

Lately I’ve been sharing with you stories about my journey with the Bible. I think it’s appropriate for us to talk about this in connection with the book of Hebrews. The first “serious” study of the Bible I engaged in was a study of Hebrews. I was in my Junior year of High School, and I had found a booklet that walked me through Hebrews with background information and questions to answer, much like the ones that are still available today online. In fact, the splash screen for my sermon on the PowerPoint this morning is a picture of the lesson from Hebrews in the Bible I used in those days. It’s a King James Version that I keep because it was one of the Bibles I used when I started my journey of following Jesus. At least when I became more intentional about that journey in High School.

One of the things that drew me to Hebrews was that it was obvious that there is a connection between the New Testament and the Old Testament. That has been an interest of mine for decades. In fact, one of the aspects of the Reformed Tradition that attracted me to the Presbyterian church is the fact that we focus on what has been known since the days of the Protestant Reformation as the “whole counsel of God,” meaning the full biblical witness. Many of the churches in those days identified primarily with the New Testament. Some of them even called themselves a “New Testament Church.” While I understand that, I was always curious about how a follower of Jesus could and should make use of the Hebrew Bible.

Another aspect of the book of Hebrews that attracted me is the fact that there are some confusing passages in the book. For example, “it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who … have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come—and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance” (Heb 6:4-6 NLT). That didn’t make sense to me in light of the affirmation of Scripture in general and the Gospel in particular that God’s love for us never fails. What I learned was that there are several of these “warning” passages in Hebrews. But each time, the warnings are followed up with an assurance. In this case, “Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation” (Heb 6:9 NLT).

That brings to us to our lesson from Hebrews for today. Our lesson for today speaks of the assurance we have as we seek to keep following Jesus, even through the most difficult times of our lives. It assures us that “we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place” because “by his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way.” (Heb. 10:19-20, NLT).  Therefore we can “go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him” (Heb. 10:22, NLT). I think the point is that God hasn’t left us to try to find our way to him on our own. We have an open door to God’s grace and mercy and love any time we need it. In fact, whether we realize it or not, that open door has flooded our world and our lives with God’s grace, mercy, and love. There’s no challenge we will ever have to face alone. There’s no hardship or injustice or pain that we can undergo without the presence of the living God who created all the heavens and the earth right there with us, supporting us every step of the way.

That’s what it means to “go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him” (Heb. 10:22). A more literal translation of that verse speaks of our being able to go into God’s very presence with the “full assurance of faith.” For example, the NIV says that because of what Jesus has done for us, we can go into God’s presence “with the full assurance that faith brings.” The letter to the Hebrews has already presented the message that Jesus died to break the power of everything that keeps us from the life God intends for us. And it has affirmed that Jesus became a human being in order to demonstrate that God loves us enough to enter our struggles, and his love is powerful enough to transform them into new life.

In our lesson for today, the Scripture defines that new life by taking it one step further. It tells us that Jesus also died to open the way to a relationship with God that is meaningful and fulfilling. An important part of the biblical idea of sin is that we have broken our relationship with God by our willfulness, our resistance, our pride, and our selfishness. But the good news is that God takes the initiative to heal that breach.[2] God holds no grudges against us; God does not need to be softened up toward us. God already loves us unconditionally and irrevocably.  And so it is that, through Jesus, God seeks us out like a shepherd searching for lost sheep. And once we are found, he never lets us go! I think that’s what our Scripture lesson means when it speaks of a “new and living way” opened to us by Jesus. It’s new in that it is completely different from other ways people have taken to reach God. In this new way, we can “go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him” and have the assurance that he will always be there to welcome us and to support us on our journey.

One contemporary preacher calls this experience of Jesus as presented in the letter to the Hebrews as the “parabola of salvation.” By that, he means that after Jesus “moves down into human history, experienced testing and suffering of every kind,” he is “then swept back up into the heavenly places.” But “this parabolic arc was not only the pathway that Christ traveled, it is also a pilgrim way of grace that we travel, a highway leading into the very presence of God” opened up for us by Jesus.[3] In a very real sense, just as Jesus came to experience our human existence fully, so also we are in a sense, “swept up” into his experience of suffering followed by new life in God’s presence. We all have the assurance that based on what Jesus has done, both at the cross and in the resurrection, we’re on the same path into the very presence of God that he took. And the good news is that this way is open for anyone and everyone. There is no gate-keeper who keeps out those who don’t belong. There is no special password. Jesus has already opened the way for anyone and everyone to have the kind of relationship God has always intended for us to have—a life of lasting peace, and heart-felt joy, and love that sustains us even in our darkest moments. That is the full assurance of our faith!

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[1] © 2024 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 11/17/2024 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, N

[2] Cf. Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1:36-38, where he says this is a fulfillment of the covenant promise, “I will be your God and you will be my people,” which means that from the start “God willed to be God for [us].”

[3] Thomas G. Long, Hebrews, 104.

(Not) Just for Show

 (Not) Just for Show

Mark 12:38-44[1]

We like to think of ourselves as individuals who are capable of standing on our own two feet without any help from anyone else. But the truth of our lives, all our lives, is that we’re very much dependent on our place in a community. Without our families, without our jobs, without having a “place” in society, we are very much “adrift,” and even perhaps “invisible.” The history of migrants in this country demonstrates that. Whether they were Latino, or Chinese, or Irish, or Italian, there’ve always been individuals we deemed “less than” and a threat to “our way of life.” As a society, we did that to American citizens who were displaced by the Great Depression and the “Dust Bowl.” And we still do it to people who don’t “fit in,” for whatever reason.

We like to think we have good reasons for this kind of shallow judgment. We reinforce our prejudices against those who look or dress or talk differently from us with all kinds of “justifications.” They commit crimes. Or they carry diseases. Or they brought their plight on themselves. But what it boils down to is that we believe they’re a threat to our way of life, our safety, and our success. We believe that people who “aren’t like us” are to blame for their own misfortunes, while we consistently let ourselves and those in our circles off the hook for whatever difficulties may come our way. Our compassion is limited to those who are a part of our “circle.”

The real threat here, however, is not the “others,” however we define them. The real threat is the fact that, deep down, we all know that our way of life depends on being able to “keep up appearances.” We all harbor the secret fear that if people really knew who we are, down deep, it could cost us our place in the community. And along with our place in the community, we could lose everything. I think the fear of losing our place in this world, and with it our way of life, is what has always driven us to label certain “others” as a threat. But the real threat is from the fragility of our place in society.

Our Gospel lesson for today throws this issue into the spotlight in a way that might seem rather uncomfortable. Jesus was at the Temple in Jerusalem, watching the people making their contributions. The Temple in that day was a huge organization, the largest in Jewish society, supporting religious leaders that numbered in the tens of thousands. In that setting, Jesus saw “A poor widow” who “came and put in two small copper coins” (Mk 12:42). What she gave was next to nothing. It wasn’t enough to buy food for a single meal. It certainly wasn’t going to make or break the Temple treasury!

By comparison, Mark tells us that “Many rich people put in large sums” (Mk 12:41). We don’t know exactly what kind of container held the offerings, but apparently it was something that would have been very public. And since money in that day consisted of coins, it would have been obvious to all present that they had given a lot. But Jesus wasn’t impressed with their large gifts. He said it this way: they “have contributed out of their abundance” (Mk 12:44). They gave what was convenient to give. They gave what may have been “pocket change” to them. They gave what they wouldn’t miss. They made a show of being “religious,” but that’s all it was: it was just for show.

I think that what may be easy to miss was that this woman had obviously lost her place in society. She was a widow who was poor, which likely meant that she was alone in the world. She couldn’t afford nice clothes or a decent place to live. She couldn’t even afford to buy one meal! While she may have had some support from the Jewish system of charity, it was likely only “token” assistance. She was a non-person to all the prominent leaders who were at the Temple to “worship God,” essentially invisible. The contradiction between the show they were putting on and the true condition of their hearts couldn’t have been more obvious. But clearly, it was that very show that maintained their place in society, so the show went on.

In Mark’s Gospel, this episode is preceded by Jesus’ criticism of the Jewish religious leaders. He said they went to great lengths to look impressive with their beautiful robes and to be noticed for their “presence” in worship. But he knew that it was all for show (Mk.12:40). They wanted to make it look like they were spiritual. But the fact that their real agenda was about themselves was revealed by the indictment Jesus made. They were literally “devouring” the homes of widows like the woman who gave her last two coins. They were defrauding some of the most vulnerable people in their society. They were wrapped up in their own self-interest. Their lack of care for a poor widow who had lost her place in the community exposed their “show” of piety as a sham.

In contrast to the religious leaders and the prominent people in the community who were putting on a show simply to maintain their “place,” Jesus affirmed the faith of this woman, whom they chose not even to see. He said that while they “contributed out of their abundance,” she “put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mk. 12:44). What may not be obvious on the surface of things is that the Greek phrase translated “all she had to live on” could also be rendered “her whole life.” As hard as it may be to comprehend, it sounds like she gave the last two coins she had to her name!

I think it’s hard for most of us to grasp why she would do that. Perhaps it was because she had reached the end of her rope. She had had exhausted her resources, and she was offering herself entirely to God, trusting him to care for her needs. She had clearly lost her “place” in society. She was alone, she had no means of supporting herself, and it seems clear that the only one who even noticed her presence at the Temple on that day was Jesus. Everyone else was too busy keeping up appearances, keeping the “show” going that kept their “place” in society safe and secure.

But was there more to it than just an act of desperation? I’d like to think this was the final act of devotion in a lifetime of true devotion to God. Perhaps that’s why Jesus said her gift was more substantial than all the “large sums” the others gave. While they gave just for “show,” she gave from the heart. They were concerned with keeping their “place” in the community secure. But she was concerned with something much more important. She embodied the kind of attitude that Jesus was talking about last week: a commitment to loving God with all we are, all we have, and all we hope to be.

Those of us who are the “haves” in our society tend to believe that we “deserve” our place in the community, along with the safety and security that goes with it. And we still tend to assume that the “have nots” are in that place because they must have done something to deserve it. But the hard fact of life is that it’s not about “deserving.” Life happens to us all, “haves” and “have nots” alike, and life doesn’t care what we think we deserve. Our ultimate assurance is found in God, and in God alone. But if that really sinks in, and if we truly understand that God loves us more than we “deserve,” that God has given us far more than we “deserve,” then we have to respond to those who are without a place in our community with compassion. If we don’t, no amount of giving really amounts to anything. And everything else we do around here is nothing but a lot “noise” (1 Cor 13:1-3). It’s all just for show. What counts is caring for the people who have lost their place in this world and showing that our care is real by helping them. That’s what makes everything else we do in the name of Jesus real.

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[1] © 2024 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 11/10/2024 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.