The Night is Far Gone; The Day is at Hand

First Sunday in Advent / Advent 1

Series A

Isaiah 2:1-5

Psalm 122

Romans 13:(8-10) 11-14

Matthew 21:1-11 or alt. Matthew 24:36-44

Grace, Mercy, and Peace, be to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

Romans 13:10-12

"Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law. Besides this you know the time: that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then, let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light."

Indeed…

THE NIGHT IS FAR GONE; THE DAY IS AT HAND.

I've been looking forward to this: I get to talk to you, preach the first day in Advent! The world is looking forward to getting presents. We, the church, receive with thanksgiving the greatest gift, Christ-mas. Yet this time of year can be a downer.

Changing our clocks forward sure makes everything darker. It can be a real bummer. The sun sets earlier. It can be worrisome to wake up with the bright sun long up before you, "maybe I missed the bus?" Have you noticed how dark it's getting?

After mid-week class ends, we can't even hang out and play together as much as when it's brighter. In a way, that could be a good thing. We start at 3:45 (all perky) and well before the 5:30 Amen, I too often see darkness descend on the class. "Enough already!" Sometimes quarrelling and gossiping, we can all crave the curtain call. Finito.

We all can act like little children. When acting up, I ask my little boy Tino, are you a baby? Or are you a big boy? // With dimly lit eyes, he may even PUSH a kid down. I ask him, are you a big boy hero? Or are you a bad guy? "I'm Tino, no bad guy. Peter Parker is-ah good guy." Right on, Tino.
I add: Does Spiderman push Mary Jane? Does Super-man hurt Jimmy or Lois? "No. That's bad. Oh I'm sorry, daddy."

I let him know, "Tino, you are forgiven." No longer in sorrow, but a little more cheerful, he tries to hug & make up with who he hurt. More often than a father would like, he still needs reminding. That's what family does.

The world on the other hand can be very cold. They scoff, "children believe in fairy tales of Santa Clause," don't they? The Jesus myth…? There's a book called, "God's no so great." A response to it was written, titled, "Not so Bright" which shows that those adults who think of adult things are really just dolts, dead in their understanding. They say to us: "Grow up. Yeah right." "You can't do it. You're nothing. Who do you think you are?" We are commanded: "Stop dreaming and get your head out of the clouds!" If only we can ask ourselves the questions we point so sharply at others. In such a dark world, they do have a hope… a hope in themselves. In humanity. So modern wisdom blames religion for war, as if religion is about power, doing things, us taking care of business.

But we know, as we heard the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the conquering king is entering his kingdom. With power and might, surrounded by a massive army, like Pharaoh's? No, not a chariot with powerful steeds! Rather, he dwells with us, coming to us, on a donkey, as he dwelt in a manger, swaddled. The sign many were told to look for was a baby in swaddling cloths. See the miracle is God swaddled / dwelling in human flesh. God in the flesh... With you and I, we, in the flesh of God.

Verse 12: "So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light."

What are we dressed in? The works of darkness. Or the Armor of light. Night or Day. Works or Armor. Do you cling to the night, where you stumble on things you can barely see? Where we are hurt with the works of the darkness? ...Does the armor you wear seem too heavy to carry, a burden?

Before the youth group went paintballing, I spent quite awhile at Apocalypse Paintball, talking to the regulars. I was trying to find out what advice they had. Their best advice was to keep your helmet on. We laughed remembering the battle scene in the movie Starship Troopers, when a rookie soldier exposed his head in the line of enemy fire. The first shot, bang, his helmet saved him. That alone could have earned him the nickname of "Brainless." But y'know what he does? In shock, he takes it off. Looks at the big dent in the armor, frozen. With a helmet in hand: a second shot. The paintball regulars over at Apocalypse have some serious fun marking each other up. Remember they say, "Keep you helmet on."

You have something precious to protect under that helmet. God wants to refresh your mind, not just your gut. We don't listen as well as we eat. I'm thankful you eat well. Also listen well to what you are eating.

In the dark, it's hard to fight evil. It feels like an uphill battle. We freeze up; don't know what we are to do. You can sense the darkness swallowing you up, pulling you down into a cold sleep, where you may not wake up.

Verse 11: "You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep." Wake up! "For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed."

Luther: "'You know what hour it is: now is the time of grace and fulfillment, how it is full time, the appropriate hour', now for you, the believers in Christ, to WAKE FROM SLEEP, 'the sleep that of sin, by the resurrection of the spirit' (always more and more.) 'For our salvation,' the time of grace which has been revealed, 'is nearer to us now than when we first believed', although we were AWAITING this revelation in the Law, dealing in figure and letter."

Verse 12: THE NIGHT, the letter of the Law, which is the night of the mind and the flesh, (even) sin, in which the flesh sleeps, IS FAR GONE. The day, the Spirit, the Gospel, the light, righteousness, is at hand, through Christ, the Sun of righteousness, in which we must awake and arise. "Let us then cast off the works of darkness, of the Law and sin and the letter, and put on the armor, good works, of light," of righteousness, of the Spirit.

Luther summarized our epistle's chapter this way: "The apostle is teaching that subjects should obey their superiors by assisting them and loving them." Teachers and parents, be careful that we don't make our children think that church is man-made, all about control. One may think all Paul and Luther wants is a to-do list, how to live, be moral. They'd rebel. Yes, this is what we should do. But thankful, full of love, it's not just what we should do; it's what we now want to do. All of us children, baptized into Christ, heirs of God, we are all forgiven. That includes us A-dolts as well. The shepherd has cracked the skull of wolf! Its teeth are broken. Our good shepherd is bringing us home.

So children, verse 13: "Let us walk properly, conduct ourselves becomingly, with decorum, AS IN THE DAYTIME, let us live in such a way as is proper in the daytime, for in the day men walk about conducting themselves in such a way as to be
Honest and Pure, not in Reveling Immorality,
here he commands Abstinence and Fasting, and Drunkenness / Sensuality ...?,
here he teaches Temperance and Sobriety, not in Debauchery, the Pleasure of Slothfulness & Sleepiness,
but "be Alert," in which state practice Watchfulness and Chastity, and Licentiousness ...?, that is, be Chaste.
Here he condemns Laziness and Lustfulness and teaches
Watchfulness and Purity, for these are the Arms of the Faithful,
not in Quarreling and Envy, Emulation, Jealousy, Vindictiveness.

Verse 14. "But put on", through imitation and conforming to His image, "the Lord Jesus Christ", in sufferings, abstinence, and good works, "and make no provision," none at all, neither care nor concern, "for the flesh, to gratify its desires", or lusts. Darkness, no need to make excuses. The swaddling of pure light of light IS AT HAND. The Word is let loose and is setting captives free. There is His power. There is His might. Simple and complete. The promise made and the promise kept.

THE DAY IS AT HAND. You know what hour it is. With the mountain Himself dwelling underneath you, heads do reach the sky, touching the clouds. Resting on the TREE birds do soar. Despite the darkness all around, the Son Rises. We are moved into the glorious light that all creation has been waiting for. The day is at hand.

And God's people said, Amen.

[blessing]

May the light that shines in the darkness, refresh you, protect and keep you, now and forever. Amen!