Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, It is now and ever shall be world without end. Amen. Amen. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and Christ Jesus, our Lord. Behold, the Lord comes with might, and His arm rules for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before him. Let us bow our heads in prayer. Almighty God, who is and was and is to come, with expectant hearts, we, your people, await Christ's coming. As once he came in humility, so now may he come in glory, that he may make all things perfect in your everlasting kingdom. For he is Lord forever and ever, to whom, along with you, O Father, and the Holy Spirit, the honor and dominion now and forever. Amen. Our first hymn is number 198, Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates. Lift up your heads, mighty gates. Behold the King of glory waits. The King of kings is drawing near. The Savior of the world is here. A helper just he comes to thee, His chariot, his humility, His kingly crown, his holiness, His scepter, unity in distress. Oh, bless the land, the city blest, where Christ, the ruler, is confessed. Oh, happy hearts and happy homes to whom this evening triumph comes. Ring wide the portals of your heart, make it a temple set on fire. From earthly views for him to implore, Adorned with prayer and love and joy. Open wide my heart to Thee, dear Lord, now I. Let me Thy hidden presence feel, Thy grace and love in me reveal. So come, my sovereign, enter in, Let new and nobler life begin. Thy Holy Spirit guide us all, Until the morning's trail may wind. When the Lord comes, he will bring to light the things that are now hidden in darkness, and he will disclose the purposes of the heart. Therefore, in the light of Christ, let us confess our sin together using the prayer printed in the bulletin. Most holy God, who searches the hearts of all people and separates the wheat from the chaff, we confess that we have rebelled against you and committed such sin that we have loved ourselves more than our neighbors and have dishonored and rebelled against you and your holy Whitelaws. We bring nothing to you but await your salvation, who was Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, but now shall come with lightning and fire to separate the wicked from the righteous. Come, O King, and save us. Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son came to us in great humility, And on the last day when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal in the name of Jesus Christ. Please stand for the declaration of pardon. Christ was received in the flesh, proclaimed among the nations, and believed in throughout the world. He has reconciled us to God, and he is our peace. People of God, I declare to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, as a minister of his gospel, that all those who have faith in Jesus Christ are truly forgiven of all their sin. And this is the good news of the gospel. Let us say together, praise be to God. Blessed people of God, the apostolic instruction to the churches includes this one. The end of all things is at hand, therefore keep sane and sober with your prayers. Above all, hold unfailing to your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. Practice hospitality ungrudgingly to one another. As each has received a gift, employ it for one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever speaks is one who utters oracles of God. Whoever renders service is one who renders it by the strength which God supplies, in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. This is God's will for us through Jesus Christ, and let us say together, amen. Let us bring our hearts and minds together in prayer. We bring our prayers, our petitions, to our Heavenly Father. Let us pray. Most merciful and faithful God, we thank you for hearts that are set free to praise you. for lives that are rescued from the power of sin, for the gift of your beloved Son who takes away the sin of the world and makes your creation glorious. And even now as we await the coming again of our Savior, we give you thanks and praise. We worship you this day and we offer you our prayers in the full confidence that your salvation comes to set free the captives and save your people. Hear us now as we call out to you. You, oh God, are the victorious Lord. You are victorious from the beginning. You didn't become the victor, but you've always been the one who is powerful and mighty over all that would come against you. You sent your son who appeared to the nations in humility and power, and that's why the pride of rulers and governments causes us to shake our heads. We cry out with your church, come, Lord Jesus, come. See, oh God, the conflict of the nations, the misery of millions who are tyrannized by wicked and unjust leaders, who must live in filth and only have a small bit of food to eat each day. We think of the people in Syria where war and conflict just drags on and on, and in Afghanistan where there is chaos in Haiti, North Korea, Iran, and other places, and even in every country there is some degree of this kind of injustice and wickedness. We pray that the misery of the people in these nations and everywhere would be relieved, not with good intentions, not with just signs posted in the lawns, but with better governments and economies that create sustainable jobs, safe living conditions, and freedom to worship you. Here are prayers for the nations in this world and those things on our minds for these people. With your holy son, Jesus Christ, ruling over us, we pray without partisan feelings, but with a desire for peace and justice for the people of this country, this nation, the United States. So we bring petitions for those who govern us, our president, for our senators, our representatives, our governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and the justices of our courts. May good policies come forth by the direction of your gracious hand, even in the midst of all the foolishness and lust for power and inability. Here are concerns about immigration policies and justice for the poor and the weak, for disordered sexual desires, for charity between men and women, and for the fires that are raging in Southern California. Deliver us also, we pray, from this upsurge in the coronavirus. Hear our prayers. Our prayers are made with the multitude of your people around this world who confess that in you, O Lord, do we seek refuge and we are not put to shame. You have brought us to your promised Savior, Jesus Christ, and as we are joined into one body, we pray for the well-being of the church. We pray for the repentance of the church. We pray for the community of Christ's people to have a compassion for sinners without condoning sin and for your grace to transcend the barriers of politics and the barriers in our society so that we may testify to the world of the salvation of Jesus Christ that cuts through all of that. May your spirit give to us such an awareness of ourselves that we repent of trying to conform the Christian faith and worship and life to the world around us. Instead, may we make known your great and mighty deeds of salvation to the nations according to the gospel that we have received. Hear our prayers for the Church and its faithful witness to the world. As Mary sang of your regard for her low estate, so you regard our low estate in weakness and sickness and pain and anxiety and trouble. Heal us, O God, in body and soul. Rejuvenate our faith in you. Give us the means to care for one another. Hear our prayers now for Frida and Terry, for Eduardo, for Crystal, for Fawn and Jeff, for our friends Scott and Becky and David, Angie, Mrs. Mesner, Kathy, Jamie's mother, Shelly's father, Karen, and others who come to mind. Shine forth, oh God, in your glorious sun to dispel the clouds of doom and sadness that cast their shadows upon us. May his light give us joy and peace, the sun of righteousness rising in the east who burns away the fog of sin and warms the coldness of this world with your glorious redemption. To you, the one true God, we offer our prayers in the name of Jesus Christ who taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Let us continue to worship our Lord by presenting our gifts and offerings. Please join me in prayer for the presentation of our offering. Father, when the church celebrates the advent of your eternal son, we give our gifts to the ministry of Christ to proclaim the gospel in word and deed. Bless our gifts to render faithful service to you, our Lord, for we present them in the name of our most ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise him, all creatures here below ♪ ♪ Praise him, God of the heavenly host ♪ I inadvertently missed the second half. I don't know why. So let's sing it. 194, Oklahoma Company Manual. O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appears Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel ♪ Shall come to thee, O Israel ♪ ♪ O come, O come, the Lord of might ♪ ♪ Who to thy tribes on Sinai's height ♪ In ancient times didst give the law In crown and majesty and awe Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel ♪ Shall come to thee, O Israel ♪ ♪ O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free ♪ ♪ Thine own from Satan's tyranny ♪ From depths of hell thy people sing, And give them victory o'er the grave. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel! Welcome to Thee, O Israel. O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high, And hear us by Thy drawing night. ♪ Whispers the gloomy clouds of night ♪ ♪ And death's dark shadows put to flight ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel ♪ ♪ Shall come to thee, O Israel ♪ ♪ O come, thou Key of David, come ♪ ♪ And open wide our heavenly home ♪ ♪ Make safe the way that leads on high ♪ ♪ And close the path to misery ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel ♪ Please be seated and join me in the prayer for illumination. Heavenly Father, we thank you for drawing us here today, and we thank you as well for the rich bounty you have given us in your word, and in putting us in a time and a place where we can study it openly, and we just pray that as we dive into your word this morning, that you would bless us with soft hearts that would, ears that would hear and understand what they hear and hearts in which your wisdom would grow. We pray these things in Christ's name and for his sake, amen. Our first reading this morning comes from Jeremiah chapter 33, verses 14 through 16. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time, I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days, Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called. The Lord is our righteousness. Our Psalter response comes from Psalm 25. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame. They shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. Lead me in your truth and teach me for you are the God of my salvation. For you I wait all the day long. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore he instructs sinners in the way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. Our epistle reading this morning comes from 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 verses 9 through 13. Now concerning brotherly love, no sorry, that's chapter 4, excuse me. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you? For all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you so that he may establish your hearts blameless and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Our gospel reading this morning comes from the book of Luke chapter 21. Verses 25 to 36. Here are the words of our Lord Jesus. And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves. People fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near. And he told them a parable. Look at the fig tree and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But watch yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness in the cares of this life. And that day will come upon you suddenly like a trap, for it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man. The word of the Lord. Last week I mentioned that the year for us Christians begins on the first Sunday of Advent. Last Sunday was Christ our King, so you really could think of it as the last Sunday of the church year, and today's the first Sunday of the church year, the first Sunday of Advent, that's today. The new year begins today. Not all cultures begin their new years on January 1st. The Chinese culture doesn't do that. Native American cultures don't do that. They celebrate the new year at the end of January, the beginning of February. And the church has a different day to begin the new year. It is the first Sunday of Advent, which is the beginning of Advent. There are four Sundays in Advent, but it's also Sunday. We should not miss the fact that it's the first Sunday of Advent. Sunday is the day Christ rose from the dead, right? The first day of the week. Therefore, for the church, the new year comes down to Christ. It really isn't just about a process of celebration and times of the year that we remember and celebrate. It comes down to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ who rose from the dead and will come again. Advent. The Puritans and many of the early reformers declined to observe Advent. For them, it was mostly a Roman Catholic festival. The Puritan simplified the rhythm of time to the week. Six days you shall labor, but the seventh day is a day of rest and worship with the church. And of course, the Puritans recognized that that day of rest had changed for Israel. It was the last day of the week. It was Saturday, what we call Saturday. For us, it's the first day of the week, the day Christ rose from the dead. It's Sunday. Sunday is the first day of the week, and our work and service for Christ issues out of the day of Christ's resurrection. It's a very wonderful way of thinking about the week. Today, however, many Reformed Christians do observe Advent. We're not the only Reformed church to do that. Does scripture not give us more of a rhythm for our lives than just the seven-day week cycle? When all four gospels and scriptures speak of Jesus' coming, as well as the epistles, does that not also become part of the pattern of our time? Reducing time to the seven-day week is an oversimplification as far as scripture goes. We're accustomed to read the Bible as a series of verses or stories or a source for doctrines or words of inspiration and comfort. However, the Bible is also a liturgical book. The Word of God creates order, liturgy, patterns in our lives, and those patterns began in the Old Testament for Israel. But for us Christians, they are transformed by Jesus Christ to become liturgies that reshape our lives around him. Think of Passover to Lord's Supper, but also think of Pentecost coming into the giving of the Holy Spirit. And those patterns that were given to Israel that helped shape their lives are now transformed into patterns that shape our lives. So as we read through the Gospels, like the Gospel of Luke, a liturgy is being created for how we live our lives and how we observe time. And that's what's happening today as we hear the lessons for the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of the Christian year. This is the first Sunday in Advent, and Advent means coming. Of course, it's not the coming of any old thing that marks the church's calendar. We could just, the coming of, and we could fill in the blank, but that's not what we do. It's not the coming of Santa Claus in presence. It's not the coming of grandma and grandpa. the coming of cold and snow, the coming of new resolutions and a better year, the coming of more goodwill, we hope, to others, the church celebrates primarily and foremost the coming of Jesus Christ. We are an Advent church, and when I say that, I don't just mean Providence OPC, I mean all churches, whether they want to realize it or not, we are an Advent church, all of us, the people of Christ's coming. So Christ's first coming is what created us, and we're living in anticipation of his second coming. So we live in this time between his first coming and his second coming. That's our existence. So we're an Advent church. There are three orientations to Advent, there's the past, the present, the future, and our scripture lessons show these different aspects of Advent, past, present, future aspects come out in our scripture lessons, but this is the first Sunday in Advent, and the theme of this Sunday is the second Advent, or coming of Jesus Christ, his second coming, his return. Now life can be lived without an end in mind, without a goal, without some kind of sense of final destination. Life as an endless ocean, an ever-rolling stream, without a finish, a goal, a culmination, a destination, a resolution, a climax. Life lived just shopping and buying more and more and more with no contentment, no satisfaction, and just on and on and on, eating and drinking with no limits, Makeovers, so we can always look young and not look like we're reaching the end of life and we need more and more of those. Fretting and worrying over our children's development and income and house repair and getting what we want out of life, worry without end. We can live that kind of a life where it just goes on and on and over and over again, more and more. Well, contrary to today's expectations or lack of a sense of an end or a goal, An end does come with Jesus Christ. Jesus tells his disciples in our scripture lesson from Luke in verses 25 to 26, there will be signs in sun and moon and stars and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. What is Jesus talking about? Well, he's speaking apocalyptically. It's a certain way of speaking back in the centuries, the first century of Christ, the century before Christ, that was a very common way of writing and speaking, apocalyptic language. What Jesus is talking about is the fixtures in the sky are disrupted, the powers of the heavens are shaken, the earth is in distress, he's using that kind of language. And this is the language the prophets sometimes used. So if we back up to the Old Testament and look at the prophets in many of their oracles, their writings, they use this same kind of language. Isaiah said, for the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light, the sun will be dark at its rising, the moon will not shed its light. Ezekiel. In Ezekiel the Lord says, I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark, I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give its light. Joel, just one more, Joel says, the earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon are darkened and the stars withdraw, they're shining. Now it's probably a stretch to say that the prophets were thinking apocalyptically or using apocalyptic language, it's more prophet kind of language, but it has that same kind of, it can be used very easily in the apocalyptic styles in the first century and Jesus is picking up on that. Apocalyptic language, these prophets in apocalyptic language speak of an end. Jesus speaks of a great terminus and it's cataclysmic. Disruptive, and it's not like a massive power outage, but the very end of the rhythms of life that we know so well. That's the kind of end he's talking about. Economic rhythms, political rhythms, weekly schedules of work and rest and travel, seasons of life disrupted, careers and jobs, negotiations and dreams all disrupted. The end that Jesus is talking about is universal. We might even say it's cosmic. The whole creation is shaken down to its foundation. And it's not just the end in one region, like over, we could say, in the Middle East, or in Asia, or out in the universe somewhere, or a big bang happens out, not a big bang, a black hole develops out in the cosmos somewhere out there. It's not just an end for some things. Jesus isn't talking about just parts and regions of the universe, of God's creation, but not other places. He's talking about the whole thing. It's the great end for the heavens and the earth. And so no wonder there was such distress when people heard of this great end. Christians in earlier times painted terrifying paintings of the end of the world. They had stories and just descriptions of this horrifying end. It was very terrifying for them. When the sun or the moon was eclipsed, they were reminded of the words of Jesus and they were filled with dread. The sun will go dark. Now today we smile, right? We're all enlightened. We smile at those paintings, we smile at the sphere, we know what causes an eclipse. Didn't we just have a lunar eclipse just a week or so ago? I think one of us in this room got up early. I wish I had thought of it. And I got up also, it was like once in 583 year type eclipse. And that happened, and I don't think she was sitting there trembling in terror, because we have some sense of what's going on there. We think of it very scientifically. We know it causes an eclipse. We know the sun is in orbit. We know that the sun, in fact, doesn't stay, the orbit doesn't stay the same, exactly the same forever and ever. And so we just sort of accept that as part of the change in the way the world is, the way nature works. Yet a great end is still distressing for those who live as if there is no end. It is still distressing. We just think we're so enlightened that we don't have to worry about these things. But really, we do worry about an end to the things that we hold dear. An end to shopping. Can you imagine that? Which might imply the end of a capitalistic economy. An end of portfolios and pension plans and insurance. Doesn't that worry you? The end of the United States, the end of power, the end of anonymity. the end of the calendar. When we start thinking about those things, we realize, yeah, we do worry a little bit about that, don't we? Sometimes a lot. Even if we don't think of it in terms of the sun turning dark and all of that, the language that Jesus is using, it's disturbing to think of such an end, that the cycle of life comes to a dead stop. A great end comes with Jesus, and Jesus reveals it to his disciples. But I don't mean he just told his disciples about it. We always wanna, we just seem to pull Jesus out of it. He speaks, yes, he gives his word, and then we just concentrate on the teaching, and we forget that it's coming out of his mouth. It's coming from him. He didn't just tell his disciples about it. He simply, he didn't just simply make something known that was hidden before this. Jesus is that great end. That's very much wrapped up in our scripture lessons. He's that great end. The great end that Jesus talks about cannot be dissociated from Jesus. And that's what makes the end truly great. Not that it's cataclysmic and terrifying and the disruption of our lives. It's that Jesus is that great end for us. It's not just great as in universally cataclysmic, but great as in wonderful, glorious, marvelous good. And after speaking of the heavens being shaken, Jesus says, now when these things begin to take place, look up, raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Redemption is drawing near. What is that redemption? Well, it's Jesus, right? And what he accomplishes for us. He's drawing near. Our redemption's drawing near. The end is the coming of redemption, the coming of Jesus Christ. And the prophets who all talked about the disruption of life, the end, also Talked about the greatness of God's redemption with very beautiful and magnificent images and I'll point out or share some of these images for you because you need to hear the good, the marvelous part of the great end. Jeremiah, in our scripture lesson, for Jeremiah it's a just and righteous king, that's the end, the great end. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch to spring forth from David and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. That's the great end for Jeremiah. And for Isaiah, the great end of the Lord is the joy of marriage. He uses that metaphor, that image, the joy of marriage. Fear not, for you will not be ashamed, be not confounded, for you will not be put to shame, for you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your maker, your creator, is your husband. The Lord of hosts is his name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife forsaken, and grieved in spirit like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer." Isn't that a beautiful description? of the Lord as a husband, the joy of marriage, taking the widow, taking the forsaken wife back to himself. And Zephaniah, the prophet Zephaniah speaks of the great end of the Lord as a joyful feast. All these metaphors, all these images are powerful, and we need to get wrapped up in them when we hear the prophets. The great end of the Lord is a joyful feast with dancing and laughter and singing. Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Rejoice and exalt with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away the judgments against you. He has cast out your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. You shall fear evil no more. And on that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem, Do not fear, O Zion, let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will renew you in his love. He will exalt over you with loud singing as on a day of festival. A joyful feast. The great end is a redemptive event. It's the transforming moment, and so Jesus' disciples lift up their heads with joy and glad expectation, and that's you. to lift up and expect and look forward to the coming of the Lord, yes, as cataclysmic and disruptive, but also as this wonderful, redemptive event. And so, therefore, Jesus tells his disciples, he tells us, to live with this great end in mind. Don't just hear that there's a great end and believe that Christ is coming again, but live with it in mind. Our scripture reading says, but take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness in the cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare, a trap. Christians are not to live an intoxicated life. In other words, we're not to live without the end in mind. And we find ourselves slipping into that where the present dominates our minds, our hearts, our thinking, our life. We're not to live that way. We're to live with the end in mind. Someone who's intoxicated is overcome with the effects of alcohol. Their mind is foggy, their body is relaxed, they feel warm all over, and then suddenly something happens and they don't expect it. And that's why people who've had several drinks shouldn't drive, right? They shouldn't drive because they're just kind of in this woozy, intoxicated state. Well, Jesus uses that metaphor of drunkenness for the life that's overcome by the cares of this world, living without the end in mind. Without the end, the cares of life are very weighty. If people don't believe there's an end, if you don't believe there's an end to life, to this world that is not going somewhere, especially somewhere that involves God and Jesus Christ, then that's overwhelming. That's very weighty to think about living without any terminus, any end, any goal. Year after year worrying about how we can pay for all of our expenses, our minds are stuck on the fears of sickness and old age. Every day being troubled by the threats of this world that we hear about or experience violence, COVID, terrorism, ecological disaster, economic collapse, just on and on and on. There's no end to these things. Being intoxicated with these cares of life can fill us with fear and anxiety and depression and overwhelm us. There's a reason why depression has jumped in our culture. Instead, Jesus says, be alert and pray. Be alert to the coming of the end and pray to God that you may have strength. Can you imagine life without the end? Well, it really isn't hard. It shouldn't be hard to imagine life without the end because that's how most people live. Some still believe in progress. We still talk about progress. It's a very popular word. And we think that things will improve on their own. We talk like that. But there will always be sickness to relieve and injustice and selfishness to fight and hunger and greed and wars and hatred and prejudice and pride, theft and poverty. Can you imagine no end to sin and injustice and evil? What kind of a life would that be? What would happen there? Just those things going on and on and on, never ending. Well, I think what happens is we just turn in to ourselves and try to find pleasure to make life tolerable. The times are changing and people no longer have that confidence of the old moderns, the old modern people. who had all kinds of confidence in their ideas about how we can progress and eliminate the world's problems and have a harmonious world. That used to be a very, very strong mindset in our culture, especially as the United States, as America is coming into its own, becoming a global world power, becoming highly influential and like the superpower in the world. Those kinds of attitudes are very strong. But today, there's hopelessness. There's abandonment of the institutions of society and withdrawal into the private self. Individual expression rather than order for society. Seeking the God within. There's the attitude that there is nothing to pass on to the next generation. In fact, why even have a next generation? Why have children? Nothing to pass on like family. a democratic political structure where there's freedom, or a good character, these kinds of things. There's pessimism about life, living for the moment with no meaningful tradition to build upon and no end of fulfillment. Just listen to the lyrics of many songs. They don't sing about the good of family or marriage or the virtues of courage and justice and temperance and wisdom. They sing about trying to find pleasure for oneself. And this is living without the end. And if we're not careful, we might be living like this even if we do believe that Christ is coming again. It's easy to live without the great end in mind. The second advent of Jesus Christ orders our life right now. And instead of living without the end, let us be living for the end that comes with Christ. And I don't mean like those people who go out on the street corners and hold up the signs and say, the end of the world is coming. You still see that every once in a while. Okay, that's a message, but I don't mean like that. The second advent of Christ orders our personal life and our life in society. So it gives order. These days that we mark in the church calendar are not just fun times of the year when we remember what Christ has done. It gives order to our life and it does so in terms of our personal life and our life in society. Individually, we are to be prepared. And how do we do that? Well, mainly it's with the disciplines of the Christian life. The Holy Spirit is work with each of us, changing our hearts and setting our minds on Christ. And this is done with the preaching of the word, like what's happening right now. Reading scripture daily, living in fellowship with the church, these kinds of disciplines, and I'm using the word discipline, these orders, because they need to become regular, sort of ordered practices in our lives. These disciplines keep us alert to Christ and what is right and true. And I think this has been going on with you. I know it's been happening with me. Have you ever listened to someone in the media talking about something in our society or something in politics, whatever, and it occurred to you that what they were saying denied God? That there was a fundamental problem with what they were saying. You recognized something there. That's being alert. That's being alert. I don't think that happens right away when you're younger, a newer Christian. But as you grow in the faith and here in the disciplines of the Christian life, that affects the way you hear things and see things, and you should be recognizing that, because it happens a lot. Or have you ever been invited to do something that you recognize is not pleasing to God? See, there you're being ordered, you're being prepared, you're being alert to Christ. These are examples of being made alert to Christ, and he will come again. He will come again, so it's important to be alert. Therefore, becoming more and more alert to Christ prepares us for him when he returns. I tried to think of an analogy of this. The Holy Spirit is at work with the disciplines of the Christian life, preparing us morally and theologically, what we do, what we believe. But I thought this is the analogy I came up with. It's like a pair of binoculars. Each of you is like a pair of binoculars. Looking through the binoculars, you see things go back and forth, right, as they're being focused. So they're out of focus, they're in focus, out of focus, and it's just, you know how that is when you're playing with it, trying to focus on the object. They go back and forth, and this goes on while they're being focused. Well, you're like those binoculars. You're being focused until Christ returns, and that's gonna continue. as the Holy Spirit's adjusting you with those disciplines of the Christian life. You're being focused on Christ, you're being alert to him. We're to be individually prepared for the second coming of Christ, and I just mentioned how that happens, but there's also a social dimension to being prepared for Christ. It's not just individual personal. The Holy Spirit uses us for the world. I heard someone once say that Christians are living parables. Jesus tells a parable in our gospel reading about the fig tree. We're living parables, and I like that. I think it fits well. Similar to the parables Jesus told about the kingdom of God, we're parables of the kingdom of God. So as we follow Christ and await his second coming, we show something about him and his kingdom, just like the parables do. With the disciplines of the Christian life, we grow in our knowledge of Christ, For example, we heard last week that he's the ruler over this world and everything in it. So we become living parables that Christ is king of the world, which when we become parables of that, when we refuse to bow down to the gods of this world. And I'm not talking so much about the things we don't want to do, you know, we keep laughing and talking about, well, I guess it's not necessarily funny, but talking about how we Americans have a hard time being told what to do, right, by the government or anyone else. I'm not talking about that. That might be a personal, you know, issue that we have as individual Americans. But I'm talking about not bowing down to those things that are directly against, Christ is the ruler. Things that try to assert themselves as dominant in our lives and controlling our lives and the tyrants, the idols, the things like that. They're all over the place and people bow down to them every day and when we refuse to do that, we're a living parable that Christ is the king of the world. We become living parables to the world that Jesus Christ is the one who redeems us, For example, when we confess He's our Savior, these are ways we become living parables. You might not think of yourself that way, but that's what's happening. So another way we're living parables is with our God-consciousness. We live in a society that is God-ignorant. It doesn't even think about God, doesn't even have an awareness of God, at least it's not self-conscious. Much of the society lives as if we're the only ones here, and you see that question. I just saw it recently, I forget where, but, you know, are we the only ones in the universe? And there's a big movement to say, well, no, there's still life out in the universe, and they keep looking and looking, and maybe they'll find something someday, some little microbe somewhere. There's a real question, there's a real search going on, because we think we are the only ones, or maybe we're the only ones in the world, in the universe. And that's living without any God consciousness, because we're not the only ones, right? God is present. The awareness of the transcendent divine is practically gone in our society. By worshiping God, what you're doing right now, referring to him as one who's greater than us, praying to him, we show people there is a God even if they deny him. So you become a living parable. Your living parable is right now that there's a God who exists, a God who is there. But it's more than just a God consciousness. That's pretty dry, isn't it? It's love for God. Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ comes to us so that we might come back to God, the triune God, and there's a relationship in that. We love him because he first loved us, says 1 John. We become living parables of God's forgiveness and reconciliation and new life through Jesus Christ. There's love there. It's not just an awareness, a consciousness of God, there's love for God. And we become living parables of that when we express our desire for him and our thankfulness to him and all of that. As living parables of the second advent of Christ, We are people who work for change in society. It's not just about me personally and individually. We work for change in society. The shaking of the heavens and the earth is what Jesus is talking about. Lift up your heads for your redemption draws near. It means that nothing's going to stay the same. So why do we wanna sit and try to make it stay the same as the church? It's not gonna stay the same, so we need to be working for good change. Everything comes to the end in Christ and it doesn't stay the same. So we live for the end by working to change things in this world according to that end, according to the end of Christ. That would be habits and customs and institutions and work and ourselves. Living for the end means that we cannot accept the way things are. And it means we cannot give up on the way things are. But there is a catch here. It is enormously popular today to want to change the way things are to shake things up. So what I'm saying right now probably would be welcomed by a vast percentage of society here. It's very popular to want to change the way things are to shake things up. Everybody's doing it, at least according to their own commitments about the way things are, the way they think things should be based on their own personal commitments. And we're not doing that as Christians. We're not trying to do that. We Christians work for change according to Jesus Christ and his second coming. It's not whatever we want, it's according to Christ and his return. That's what we're working for, that kind of change. Now we don't accomplish it, it's Christ who brings the change, who shakes up the heavens and the earth, who disrupts things in order for his redemption. That's Christ, he does that. But we can be living parables of that, and we can be working for those things that point towards that great end in Jesus Christ. Our life is ordered by Jesus Christ and his second coming. Let us pray. Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son, Jesus Christ, came to visit us in great humility, so that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal through him who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit now and forever, amen. Please stand, let us confess our faith. Notice in the creed the confession we will make of Christ's coming again. Let us pray, or let us confess. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made. who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe in one holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. Our hymn as we come to the Lord's table is number 193, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence. That all mortal flesh keep silence, And with fear and trembling stand, Under nothing earthly minded, Or with blessing in His hand. ♪ Christ our God to earth is ascended ♪ ♪ Our full homage to thee, man ♪ ♪ King of kings yet born of Mary ♪ ♪ As of old on earth he stood ♪ Born of Lord's inhuman luster, In the body and the blood, He will give to all the faithful. His own self for heavenly food. May on rank the host of heaven Spread its manger on the way. As the light of light descended from the realms of endless day, yet the powers of hell may vanish as the darkness glints away. At his feet the six queens stand, Cherubim with sleepless eyes, Veil their faces to the presence, As with ceaseless voice they cry, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Lord, Most High. This is the last Sunday of the month, so we collect the diakon offerings. Let us pray together. Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Supper that we are about to celebrate is a feast of remembrance, of communion, and of hope. It has those three aspects. We come in remembrance that our Lord Jesus Christ was sent of the Father into the world to assume our flesh and blood and to fulfill for us all obedience to the divine law, even to that bitter, shameful death of the cross. By his death, resurrection, and ascension, he established a new and eternal covenant of grace and reconciliation that we might be accepted by God and never be forsaken by him. We come to have communion with the same Christ in the present right now, who has promised to be with us always, even to the end of the world. In the breaking of the bread, he makes himself known to us as the true heavenly bread who strengthens us unto eternal life. In the cup of blessing, he comes to us as the vine in whom we must abide if we are to bear fruit. We come in hope. believing that this bread and this cup are a pledge and foretaste of the feast of love of which we shall partake when his kingdom has fully come, when with unveiled face we shall behold him, made like him unto him in his glory. Since by his death and resurrection and ascension Christ has obtained for us that life-giving spirit and has poured out his spirit upon us, He unites us all in one body, and we are exhorted to receive this supper in faith and love, mindful not only of Christ's sacrifice, but also of the communion of saints, of your fellow Christian brothers and sisters with whom you're eating, and our obligations we have to each other as co-members of this one body. It's my privilege to invite all who have been baptized, profess their faith in Jesus Christ, and are communicant members in good standing of the Christian church, which means belong are identified and connected to a Christian church, you are welcome to come to this table of the Lord. If you've not been baptized, if you've not professed your faith in Jesus Christ publicly, or if you're not connected to a Christian church, then we're glad you're here, but we ask you refrain from participating in the sacrament until such time you're united with Christ's people in those three visible ways, baptism, confession of faith, and being a part of a Christian church. Join with me now in giving thanks to God for His salvation and life for us in Jesus Christ. The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give thanks and praise. It is indeed right and good to give you thanks and praise, Almighty God and everlasting Father, through Jesus Christ your Son. Through the words of the prophets, you promised the Redeemer and gave hope for the day when the people who walk in darkness would see a great light. For you sent your Son to us who humbled himself and came among us in human flesh. He fulfilled the plan that you formed before the foundation of the world to open for us the way of salvation. And confident that your promise will be fulfilled, we now watch for the day when Christ our Lord will come again in glory. And so we join our voices with that host in heaven with the angels and all those who've gone before us to proclaim your glory, forever praising you, saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Glory be to you, O Lord Most High. Indeed, all glory be to you, Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who of your tender mercy did give your only Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption. who made there, by his once offering of himself, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, an offering and satisfaction for the sin of the world. And he did institute, and in his holy gospel, command us to continue a perpetual memory of that, his precious death, until his coming again. Hero, so merciful Father, we most humbly ask you, and grant that by the power of your Holy Spirit, we receiving these, your creatures of bread and the cup, receiving them with faith, according to your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, holy institution, in remembrance of his death and passion, may they be for us a communion in the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, by whom and with whom and in whom, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory be unto you, O Father Almighty, world without end. And with one voice, we offer our thanksgiving and say together, Amen. The Lord Jesus Christ took the bread, and after giving thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. He also took the cup, saying, this cup is the cup of the new covenant, sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of me. Like a mordent is thy table spread, And does thy cup with love overflow. Here behold thy children bend, ♪ And let them all thy sweet angels know ♪ ♪ They'll say great things of thee ♪ of his flesh and blood. Christ hath beyond whom the earth partake, that sacred stream, that heavenly flow. What perfect place for Jesus, our exalted host, invites us to this special place. who offer these, and give thee the most. Let my table honoured be, and furnished well, with joyful guests, and may each soul's salvation sing. ♪ Sing praises to the King of Angels. So, Jesus said, as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. Take and eat this bread and drink this cup and remember Christ's body and blood given for you. Receive it with faith and thanksgiving. Take and eat and drink. Let us pray. O Lord, our God, make us watchful and keep us faithful as we await the coming of your Son, our Lord. That when he shall appear, he may not find us sleeping in sin, but active in his service and joyful in his praise. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Our final hymn is number 318, Low He Comes with Clouds Descending. ♪ When clouds descended ♪ ♪ Once more favored sinners slain ♪ ♪ Thousand, thousand saints attending ♪ ♪ Swell the triumph of this train ♪ ♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ ♪ God appears on earth to reign ♪ Every eye shall now behold him, Loved in dreadful majesty. Those who sat at lot and sought him, Pierced and nailed him to the tree. Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, shall the true Messiah sing. Every island, sea, and mountain, hell never shall flee away. All who meet him must confound him, hear the trumpet, proclaim the day. Come to judgment, come to judgment, come to judgment, come away. Now redemption long expected, see Him solemnly appear. All His saints by then rejected, now shall meet Him in the air. Alleluia, alleluia, see the day of our God appear. We are the men who all adore thee, high on thine eternal throne. Savior, take the power and glory, claim the kingdom for thine own. O come quickly, O come quickly, Alleluia, come, Lord, come. Christ, the Son of Righteousness, shine upon you, scatter the darkness from before your path, and make you ready to meet Him when He comes in glory. And the blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be upon you all now and forever. Amen. Go forth, Lord God, go to the world in peace. Be of good courage, armed with heavenly grace. Good morning. I have a number of announcements this morning. First off, Just a reminder that we'll be having our Christian education time here today in the sanctuary, continuing our study on the Reformed tradition and digging deep into that. So we'd encourage you to stay for that. Darn it. I hate that when it happens. And just also a reminder that next Sunday, in lieu of our Christian education time, we'll be having our fellowship meal. It's not a potluck. We're reformed, so it's not a potluck. It's a fellowship meal. And then just to put on your radar screen that the Christmas Eve service It will be at 7 o'clock here at the church. It's always a blessed time and we look forward to that and Just a couple Announcements with regards to the building this year we were able to do a number of things we did the painting on the exterior we did We did the drive parking lot resurface that we trim trees and Still yet to be done is we're going to replace the roof on this section of the building and Also update all the outside electrical so a number of things going on Hopefully we're kind of done on the outside and then look at and look at things that need to be done on the inside as well Let's see any other General announcements here It's a Christmas fellowship meal. It'll be festive. So you want to wear your festive wear. You know, if you have red and green and things like that, that would be good. Do not. Black and blue? No. That is forbidden. I use this as an example. It's it's a thank you it operates like a potluck where you bring a dish that you're going to share it Operates like a potluck, but we do not call it a potluck I Think it's our formal Christmas dinner bring a dish to share, but do not call it a potluck I All right.