{"id":1226,"date":"2020-12-20T06:47:13","date_gmt":"2020-12-20T11:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/?p=1226"},"modified":"2020-12-20T08:42:02","modified_gmt":"2020-12-20T13:42:02","slug":"prepare-for-arrival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/2020\/12\/20\/prepare-for-arrival\/","title":{"rendered":"Prepare for Arrival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Sermon for the First Congregational Church of Albany, NY<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Rev. James Eaton, Pastor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fourth Sunday in Advent\/B \u2022 December 20, 2020<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16<\/a>  \u2022 Luke 1:26-38<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Every journey has a moment when you spy the end. It is not the end but it’s time to make ready for the end. Flight attendants on an airplane say, “Prepare for arrival”. A train slows and announces the station. Driving home, you turn onto a familiar street. This is the end of the Advent Season, the time of preparation; we are almost there; come on, come to the stable. Every sailor knows the ring of the harbor buoy in their home harbor. Every Christian knows the sound of the Christmas bell. It’s ringing; today, it calls us, come to the stable, come to the Lord, come to Christmas. Come so you can say, with angels, with shepherds, with all creation: “Here I am, Lord”.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advent is about the arrival of a new way for God to be present, so I want to think about what that means today. I’m not talking about Jesus today because it isn’t Christmas yet, we aren’t there yet. I want to think about arrivals and see what God can show us as we get ready to arrive. I hope you’re ready to come along on this last little bit of the Advent journey, I hope can get ready to arrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you listen today as the Hebrew scripture was read, that part from Samuel about King David? To understand it, you have to go back a ways. What’s been happening is that God’s people settled down and prospered in the promised land. They looked around, they saw some other people around them who looked like they had it even better and they wanted to be like them. Those people had invented something called a King. So they asked God for a King. God wasn’t too interested in giving them a King but went ahead and they got one, a man named Saul who turned out to be just as bad as God thought he would be. So God sent them a new King, a guy named David, a shepherd boy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now David was a success, he was everything you hope a king would be at first. He had to take over from King Saul after some fighting, some battles. But he won them and he set up a home in Jerusalem. But he didn’t feel he was finished. He didn’t feel he had arrived. Those other people all had big temples for their Gods so David decided he’d build a temple. He emailed the prophet Nathan just to get the approval of the clergy. I don’t think any clergy have ever said no to a building project. So it was on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he forgot to do one thing; he forgot to ask God what God thought about this plan. And when God had something to say, it wasn’t what David expected. Because honestly? \u2014 God doesn’t care about buildings. God doesn’t care about how nice the altar looks or how clean the carpet is. God cares about God’s purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So there’s David, the great king, ready to arrive at the final step of greatness, the biggest thing he can imagine: a palace for him, a temple for God and God laughs and says, “Did I ever ask for a temple? Are you the one to build me one?” And then God reminded David about the wild, free part of God. “I never lived in a house”. God reminded David where he came from: “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went…” You see? suddenly David is being told that it isn’t David who is arriving, it is God’s purpose being accomplished, God’s purpose is arriving in David. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not talking about Jesus today, I want you to see that what’s arriving at Christmas isn’t just a baby, it is a purpose that’s been going on a long, long time. This incident with David is about a thousand years before the first Christmas. A thousand years, and God is already looking ahead. Because the next thing God says is, “the LORD will make you a house. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow! What a turn around! Remember how this whole story started? David was going to build a temple for God. Now it’s God saying to David, hold on: I’m the one who’s going to build, and I’m going to build your line into a home for everyone. Now it’s God saying to David, hold on: you aren’t thinking big enough, you’re thinking about a temple that’s going to last what, a few hundred years? I’m dealing in the whole of human history. I’m going to build a house, a line of generation, that’s going to last forever. That’s where I’m going. And Christmas is where that purpose is arriving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas is coming in a few days, it’s arriving, and I wonder if we’re ready. Do you remember when you were a kid and those last days before Christmas were so painfully long? Do you remember counting down? Do you remember special things you did? We used to go to a big department store every year at one of the country’s first shopping malls. And there, in the middle of the store, in the heart of the store they would have a big beautiful Lionel train running around and I’d watch it and it would run around and around. I\u2019d count the days every day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now if a few days to Christmas can seem like forever to us, what does it seem like to God? A thousand years from David to Christmas. 36,500 and some days, I didn’t account for leap years. That\u2019s how long God had been pursuing that purpose at Christmas. That\u2019s how long God had been faithful to this promise at Christmas because Christmas is the next step in the covenant God made with Dave. David wanted to build a house; God insisted on creating everything and binding together God\u2019s people in love. David wanted a big building; God built something bigger than David ever imagined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the signature thing about God: bigger than you ever imagined. We like to wrap things up, put a box around things, define them, build a house for them. This is what God says about doing that with God: \u201cI\u2019ve never lived in a house.\u201d We often come to Christmas so laden with our customs that we mistake them for Christ. We\u2019re concerned about the wrapping but we miss the most important thing, the thing Mary says: \u201cNothing is impossible for God.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why we\u2019re struggling right now. We have big problems, big issues, and a lot of us have given up. We just had the highest turnout election in American history. But 30% of eligible voters didn\u2019t vote, they didn\u2019t think it would make a difference. It\u2019s like the snow plow guy that came over the other night. There was so much snow in our driveway and he did what he knew to do, he backed up his truck with the big yellow plow and he pushed and pushed and the snow mounded up and eventually he got stuck. So he had to spend a half hour unsticking the truck and he looked at the big pile of snow in front of him and said, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing I can do about that.\u201d It was too big for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you feel that way? Do you feel like you just can\u2019t push anymore? Then stop pushing. Stop pushing! Well, I hear you thinking but then there\u2019s still going to be a pile of snow. That\u2019s true but the answer wasn\u2019t to keep pushing, it was to find another way. The more he pushed, the more stuck he got. He needed to stop and so do we. He needed to back off and so do we. He gave up but of course the snow got moved. But it wasn\u2019t pushed; it had to be pulled back, as it turned out. Just took backing up long enough to figure that out. Sometimes the answer isn’t to do, it’s to be quiet and wait. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look at the story of Mary. Mary isn\u2019t a king, like David; she\u2019s a peasant girl. Historians tell us an unmarried young woman like Mary might have been around 14 or so. I\u2019ve raised a couple of 14 year old girls. They care about all kinds of things, some small, some big. Maybe she cared about the inequality in her time, her song talks about the hungry being fed and the rich being empty. At the same time, maybe she cared about the talk at the well, what some pop star you\u2019ve never heard of said on twitter. In the midst of Mary\u2019s day, an angel appeared. What\u2019s an angel look like? Big enough to be scary, I think of angels as like bouncers in a bar. Big thick arms, a black t-shirt, tattoos. Every time one shows up, the first thing they say is, \u201cDon\u2019t be scared.\u201d You only say that if you\u2019re used to frightening people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The angel shows up and tells this kid the worst thing that can happen to a 14 year old unmarried girl in a small town is going to happen. And God\u2019s going to do it: she\u2019s going to have a baby. Her life is turning over. She\u2019s going to be a mother and there is a moment where she has to make a decision, This is the biggest pile of snow, the biggest obstacle she\u2019s ever faced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes Mary so great is that she doesn\u2019t push. Remember what she says? \u201cLet it be to me as you\u2019ve said.\u201d She agrees to be part of God\u2019s purpose, whatever that purpose will be. And she can do that because she believes, \u201cNothing is impossible for God.\u201d Because she believes that, she can say with her whole life, \u201cHere I am, Lord\u201d. Turns out I have been talking about Jesus all along, after all. Because what we\u2019re preparing for, what\u2019s arriving, what\u2019s coming is the fulfillment of God\u2019s purpose and his name is Jesus. And the way to respond to that isn\u2019t to push, isn\u2019t to say what you can do, it\u2019s to step back and say, \u201cHere I am, Lord.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now you are like David, you are like Mary, we all are. You get to decide: are you preparing for presents or for God? Are you preparing for fun or for God\u2019s future? Are you arriving at the end of advent at Christmas, or at a holiday? Are you building something or ready to appreciate what God is creating? That\u2019s the difference between David and Mary: David says, \u201cHere\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do\u201d; Mary says, \u201cDo whatever you want, God\u201d. What are you saying? What are you ready to say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That temple David wanted did get built by his son Solomon. It lasted about 400 years and was destroyed by the Babylonians. A century later, a new one was built. That one lasted about 400 years; the Romans destroyed it about 35 years after Jesus. A few hundred years later the ruins became part of mosque. Then the Israelis took over centuries later and it\u2019s now a shrine\u2014for now. David kept pushing but what he was pushing wasn\u2019t God\u2019s purpose. God\u2019s purpose, on the other hand, did get fulfilled and it came about when a young woman said, \u201cHere I am, Lord\u201d. Just that: no push, just, \u201cHere I am Lord,” it came about by waiting for God to accomplish God’s purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every journey has a moment when you spy the end. It is not the end but it’s time to make ready for the end. Flight attendants on an airplane say, “Prepare for arrival”. A train slows and announces the station. Driving home, you turn onto a familiar street. This is the end of the Advent Season, the time of preparation; we are almost there; come on, come to the stable. Every sailor knows the ring of the harbor buoy in their home harbor. Every Christian knows the sound of the Christmas bell. It’s ringing; today, it calls us, come to the stable, come to the Lord, come to Christmas. But preparing for Christmas is more than wrapping presents and putting out ornaments. Preparing for Christmas is taking the time to say, \u201cHere I am, Lord.\u201d So come to Christmas saying with Mary, with the angels, with all creation: “Here I am, Lord\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time to prepare for arrival. This is the end of advent and the question of Christmas is, are you just going to say, \u201cHere you are, Jesus,\u201d and go on pushing or \u201cHere I am, Lord\u201d and follow, as his disciple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time to prepare for arrival. This is the end of advent and the question of Christmas is, are you just going to say, \u201cHere you are, Jesus,\u201d and go on pushing or \u201cHere I am, Lord\u201d and follow, as his disciple.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1226"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1229,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions\/1229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}