SPECIAL DAYS: November 28, First Sunday of Advent, Hanging of the Greens

Lessons: Jeremiah 33:14-16; Luke 21:25-36

Sermon Title: Endings and Beginnings

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. I found a lot of humor about ends and endings.

A friend of James Harnish e-mailed him an article suggesting the headlines certain newspapers might use to announce the end of the world: (1)

USA Today: We're dead

Wall Street Journal: Dow Jones plummets as world ends

TV Guide: Death and damnation: Nielsen ratings soar!

Discover Magazine: How will the extinction of life as we know it affect the way we view the cosmos?

Ladies Home Journal: Lose 10 lbs. by judgment day with our new "Armageddon" diet!

Victoria's Secret catalogue: Our final sale

America OnLine: System temporarily down. Try calling back in 15 minutes.

XXX

The Grizzwells comic strip by Bill Schorr.

A goat walks by carrying the sign "The World Will End Tomorrow."

Shortly after, another creature walks by carrying another sign: "Only One Shopping Day Left."

XXX

Impatience (2)

Our five-year-old son went to a church conference with my wife and me.

He got restless, so my wife handed him a pad and pencil and suggested he mark down every time the speaker said the word "and."

After a while, he grew bored, and I asked, "Would you like to listen for a different word?"

"Yes," he whispered. "I'd like to listen for 'Amen'."

XXX

Preaching (3)

The pastor stood to preach his sermon and had a bandage on his chin. He explained that while he was shaving that morning, he had concentrated on his sermon and cut his chin.

After the service, a deacon met him at the door and said, "What a pity you didn't concentrate on your chin and cut your sermon."

    1. That is enough about endings

    2. Beginnings are important too.

Cardinal Newman, in the last year of his life, wrote in his journal: Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.

XXX

The famous "dark night of the soul" on the path of illumination should not be spoken of in the singular, writes Dan Wakefield in his book How Do We Know When It's God?

He has learned that there is not just one but many such tests and passages, and probably will continue to be, as long as one is on the path, as long as one is alive and seeking.

He likes the following prayer by Ted Loder:

Help me to believe in beginnings,
to make a beginning
to be a beginning
So that I may not just grow old,
But grow new each day
To this wild, amazing life
You call me to live
With the passion of Jesus Christ.

  1. There are many facets to Christmas, but there is one or two that are most important.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. Christmas is not an end in itself.

    1. Christmas is a beginning.

    2. Christmas is the beginning of the end.

    3. Christmas is about developing the security to endure to the end.

    4. We all know many beginnings and many endings.

      1. The beginning of the New Covenant.

      2. The beginning of faith.

      3. The beginning of love.

      4. The beginning of hope

      5. The beginning of peace.

      6. Christmas is about beginnings and endings.

  2. There is a long-range solution to the question that is appropriate to our complete understanding of Christmas.

    1. Christmas is not a closed event.

      1. Jesus is born

      2. He is born for a purpose

      3. He is not only a teacher of righteousness

      4. He is the Messiah, the Savior.

      5. He is the one born to be the eternal king with an everlasting kingdom.

    2. Christmas is the beginning of a process that will lead to the final resolution of the human condition.

      1. The human condition which is responsible for pain and suffering, disease and death.

      2. What if I were to tell you that the day is coming when there would not be one wall of this church standing.

        1. How would you respond?

        2. Would you want to know when and how?

        3. Would it be to your advantage to know?

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  1. This is why Jesus told his followers about the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the end of the age.

"As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."

    1. After he told them he looked for their response.

    2. We humans respond in different ways to the news that Christ is coming again.

      1. Indifference

The Barna Research Group conducted a study for the Lutheran Hour Ministries. It found that in 1996, fewer than half of Americans who identify themselves as Christians say the most important part of Christmas is the birth of Jesus.

Family time ranked the highest as the feature of Christmas that makes it most important to them. (4)

We share the gifts without serious thoughts of the reason or purpose.

      1. Simple Neglect, which may not be so simple.

Davis Carothers, Salem-Friendship Union Hill United Methodist Church, MS tells a story about a mom named Mary

The rush of the Christmas season carried Mary along its demanding way when tryouts for the Christmas program were announced. Certain that the whole church clamored for her six-year-old Billy's great talent, she looked forward to teaching him Joseph's part.

When he came back as a prophet, she decided he would be the best looking prophet in a pageant.

Cramming designing and sewing the costume into an impossible schedule, she frantically finished it, complete with bushy, fake-fur beard.

The pageant was magnificent, especially Billy, and especially all the beautiful carols the children sang.

Mary praised Billy to the stars for singing them all.

Then the director announced a new wardrobe closet was beginning.

Would the children donate their costume?

Mary urged Billy to donate his, which he did.

Except for the beard, which he continued to wear.

Pressing him to hurry so they could go on to the next thing on their schedule, he refused to give it up. "Why, Billy?"

"Mom, you know those songs? I never learned them. With this beard, I could just move my mouth and nobody knew."

Mary said, "That was when it hit me. I was going through the motions of Christmas when I didn't know the song."

  1. Learn the song of Christmas.

        1. It is more than birth.

        2. It is redemption.

      1. Scoffing, this is the "Bah Humbug," attitude.

        1. These were the attitudes of many who observed Jesus and listened to his teaching, but not the disciples

        2. They wanted to know.

[7] They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?"

      1. In the remainder of the chapter he provides them with information that will help them and us to better understand.

(Luke 21:25-36 NRSV) "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.

[26] People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

[27] Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory.

[28] Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

[29] Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; [30] as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near.

[31] So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

[32] Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place.

        1. Not the final event.

        2. They would see the beginning of the end.

        3. They did, Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE (Christian Era).

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CONCLUSION

  1. Jesus warns us to be on your guard, to be watchful.

[33] Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

[34] "Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, [35] like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth.

[36] Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

    1. Can you believe?

    2. Will you learn?

    3. Will you have faith.

    4. Then you will know the meaning and power of Christmas

A piano teacher taught many students over a lifetime career. (5)

When she got them ready for recitals, she would encourage them to perfect their endings.

She insisted they practice the endings over and over again.

When her students grumbled that it was boring going over and over these last few measures, she would answer: You can make a mistake in the beginning or in the middle or in some other place along the way. But all will be forgotten when you manage to make the ending glorious.

1. James A. Harnish, "You'd Better Watch Out" November 1, 1996, Tampa, Florida.

2. Thanks to Pastor Tim for this joke! Crosswalk [You_Make_Me_Laugh@lists.crosswalk.com]

3. preachingnow@preaching.com

4. --As reported in Christianity Today, November 9, 1996, 71.

5. As quoted in Paul J. Wharton, Stories and Parables for Preachers and Teachers (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1986), last page.

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