Latin:
O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster,exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.[d
Isaiah 7:14
Latin:
O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum,lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:veni, et salva hominem,quem de limo formasti.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
Isaiah 2:4
Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 64:8
And as we think of those leaves, and the passing of Winter through to the hope of a Springtime when life will emerge from the frozen earth, we remember that we also are a part of that cycle of death and rebirth, that the seeds we sow in this life will fall to the ground with the potential to grow and be fruitful.
As a part of nature’s wondrous cycle
Of new birth, growth, fruitfulness and death
We rejoice in the creation of new life,
For parenthood, the passing on of knowledge,
For understanding and the wisdom of years.
We are grateful for those who have gone before
Passing on to us our spiritual heritage.
May our lives blossom as the apple tree in Spring
May we become fruitful in thought and deed
And may the seed of love that falls to the ground
Linger beyond our time on this earth.
God of Winter, Springtime
Summer and Autumn,
God of Light
God of Warmth
God of Love
God of Potential
God of Hope
Who in the darkest days
Enters our lives
As you entered this world
Bringing Love
Healing and Wholeness
All: We praise your glorious name!
Latin:
O Oriens,splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae:veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darknessa light has dawned.
Isaiah 9:2
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
Isaiah 60:1-2
But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.
Malachi 4:2
Latin:
O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel;qui aperis, et nemo claudit;claudis, et nemo aperit:veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris,sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.
“I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.”
Isaiah 22:22 (NIV)
“Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.
Isaiah 9:7 (NIV)
He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”
“…to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
Isaiah 42:7
Latin:
O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem Gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.
The father of King David was Jesse, the prophesy of Micah says that the Messiah will come from the House of David.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
Micah 5:2 (NIV)
“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.”
Isaiah 11:1 (NIV)
“In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.”
Isaiah 11:10 (NIV)
Latin:
O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel,qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,et ei in Sina legem dedisti:veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.
Isaiah had prophesied:
“[…] but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
Isaiah 11:4-5 NIV
“For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.”
Isaiah 33:22 NIV
Latin:
O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia:veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae
In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah We read the following:
“The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears”
Isaiah 11:2-3 NIV
All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent.
Isaiah 28:29 NIV
For the Christian hearer this prophecy is important part of Christian doctrine coming from the first chapter of the Gospel of St. John describing the Incarnate Word of God, Jesus.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1-5 NIV
During the years I spent in a Benedictine Monastery, I became acquainted with the singing of the O Antiphons during the evening service of Vespers. The O Antiphons are used during that last seven days of Advent during the evening service and begin with the vocative particle “O.” Each antiphon is a name of Christ along with one of his attributes from Scripture
Used primarily in the Roman Catholic Church they are also used in many Lutheran churches as well as Anglican and Episcopal Churches. The Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church, USA includes them as a praise litany that can be used during morning and evening prayer. The hymn O come, O come, Emmanuel is a paraphrase of these antiphons.
Time travel is a large part of Science Fiction books and movies. The ability to go back and forward in time aids the hero, and the villain, in stories but there is always the fear that if the characters interfere in some way the future will radically change. If you had the opportunity to go back in time what is one this you might change? Would you try and prevent war? Would you go back and tell your younger self not to do something or to do something?
How differently would you act today if you knew what tomorrow was going to bring? How different would your life be if you knew that at a particular time it was all going to end? I want to think that our lives would not be any different but I truly believe they would. We do not know the future; we do not know when it is all going to come to an end. Sure, people make lots of money trying to predict what and when but it does not usually turnout well for them, or us.
The prophets, like Zephaniah, that we heard from this morning, come at times in history when things are not going well for the people of God. Prophets say things no one wants to hear. Prophets point to the uncomfortable truth about people and the world around them. Prophets call people out for bad behavior and when they are causing others to skew their actions and beliefs. Prophets point us in directions that we do not always want to look and call us to things we do not always want to do.
However, prophets also hear God. Prophets feel God. Prophets feel God’s love and compassion for us when we do not feel it ourselves.Prophets dream God’s dreams. Prophets hope God’s hopes. Prophets call us to awaken. Prophets sing God’s songs when no one wants to sing and sometimes interrupt the program with a change in tune.
The Rev George Whitfield was an English born Anglican minister who is considered, along with the Wesley brothers, as one of the founders of Methodism. He came to America in 1740 and preached a series of sermons that became known as “the great awakening.” Like the Prophets,Whitfield was calling people to repentance and action. He did not do this with flashy worship services but by telling people what they needed to hear not what they wanted to hear. Whitfield had this to say about what I call prophetic preaching:
“It is a poor sermon that gives no offense; that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher.”
The prophet’s job and the preacher’s job is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.
The song that Zephaniah sings is a song that calls God’s people to lament and to repent. The Jerusalem of his day has become idolatrous and complacent; the nations have become corrupt and along comes Zephaniah as one crying in the darkness with the joyful imperative “Sing aloud… The Lord, your God, is in your midst.” “This day of darkness and gloom will be supplanted by a day of gladness.”
Unlike us, Zephaniah knows the future and the future will be different from the present and even different than the future that has been foreseen. It is import for us to listen to the prophets during Advent because centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ they were the messengers of the Good News, “Do not fear…. The Lord, your God, is in your midst.”
I am an amateur historian. I have no real formal training other than what I received in seminary. I dabble in the past and like to dress up from time to time in “period appropriate clothing” and stand in the pouring rain and the blazing heat and tell people what it was like to live in 18th and 19th century. I believe, as do most historians that a clear understanding of the past will help us in the present and the future. Our history does not and should not dictate our future, but understanding where we have come from will help us to determine the direction we go and point out the pitfalls along the way.
I also believe that what something meant in the past, songs,words, actions, etc. can say something different in the present at that we have to reevaluate those things and their present meaning continually. Sure, a favorite song in a different time might have sent a different message, but in our 21st-century world with our 21st century understanding of things, that song might be carrying an entirely different message.
In the past decade, or maybe even longer, we have witnessed church communities coming to grips with their past, much of it unpleasant, and asking for forgiveness for the things they had done. They are not trying to excuse it away, only asking for forgiveness. Asking for forgiveness is a very Christian thing to do. We have to own up to our past and understand it. We have to use our history as a guiding light toward the future. We need to come to grips with our past, and our role in it, so we do not make the same mistakes as we move into the future.
Knowing our past is a good thing but dwelling back there is not good. I know many of us long for the days when the church was full with people and no one did anything on Sunday but go to church and then go home for the big family meal and some football on television. I hate to be the one to tell you but those days are gone, and they are never coming back. Our greatness is not in the past. We cannot point to a time and say “that is when we were great.” We can surely say, “that is when we were different”but greatness is not something from the past. Greatness is about our potential and living up to our potential. Jesus Christ was born into this world not to pass judgment on it but to point the way, give us a road map, to encourage us to live up to our potential in everything that we do.
Our potential, that untapped, undiscovered thing, is what makes us great not something that has already happened or a period of time in our past, but the sheer possibility of what is possible, that is where our greatness is, and that is what we have to look for.
Zephaniah tells us, “do not fear.” When the angel appears to Mary to announce to her that she is to become the mother of God, the first words the angel speaks to her are “Do not fear.” When Joseph is about to eject Mary and send her away, that same angel comes to him and says to him, “Do not fear.” When the shepherds, “keeping watch over their flocks by night,” are visited by that same angel, the first words the angel says to them is “Do not fear.” And, when Jesus comes and stands before his apostles in the Upper Room after the Resurrection, he says to them, “Do not fear.” And today, right here and right now, in this place, God is saying to you, “Do not fear.”
There are those out there that want you to be afraid. They want you to be fearful of people from different places. They want you to be scared of people who look different than we do. They want you to be afraid of people who believe and who worship differently than we do. They want you to be frightened by telling you God has turned his back on us as a nation because of specific political issues. They want you to believe that God meets outs his retribution on this nation with hurricanes, earthquakes, and fires. However, I am here to tell you, “Do not be afraid” for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that those who believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Do not be afraid because God loves you…..
Today we light the third candle of our Advent wreath. You will notice that it is a different color. The candles that surround it are purple which is not only the color of repentance but that of royalty. With each candle we light we bring a bit more light into the darkness and today we light the pink candle that represents joy. We pause in the season to remember that joy follows the darkness. “Behold I bring you tidings of great joy, for today in the City of David is born Christ the Lord.” This pink candle represents the future while the others represent the past. We have to stop longing for the way it was and start working on what it will be. We have to look forward into the future and rise to our potential and remind people that there is another way, that hatred, anger, and fear can be replaced by hope,love, joy, and peace and that is what Advent and Christmas is all about,reminding people that they no longer have to be afraid because God loves them and no matter what we do, that love will never change.