December 2, 2007

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church

Pr. Per Inge Vik  

Text: Matt 24:36-44    

You must be ready!

It is a special experience to wait for one’s first grandchild! For the time being I’m practicing how it is to be married to a grandmother.. We prepare ourselves, rejoice and look forward with excitement.

The child has been included in our daily prayers for a long time. A lady in the congregation has knitted a tiny, beautiful pair of baby socks. The grandma-to-be is making a baby quilt, and has started to buy baby clothes.

This week we got a phone call from our oldest son. We had expected it, and looked forward to it with excitement. As we knew that our daughter-in-law was going to have an ultra sound. Now we got answers to important questions. First of all if the child is well. In addition this examination gives the answer of which gender this new world citizen is.

Now we thank the Creator that everything seems ok with the little boy. The coming joyful event gives an extra dimension to Advent for our family this year. Helps us even more to live with expectation, prepare ourselves for what is going to happen. 

The whole Christian world starts today on the 1st Sunday in Advent, the countdown towards the Christmas festival. Once again we are allowed to celebrate the Heavenly King’s Son coming to our planet. While the secular society around us celebrates “X-mas” in advance, and may get tired of it before it starts, we as Christians are called to an alternative. The time of Advent is too valuable and beautiful to be skipped.

Advent may well be celebrated by a simple way of life. Let the Bible texts, the hymn tunes and the Advent symbols speak to us. The purple color, the candles that grow in number for each Sunday, as the time of winter darkness goes towards culmination.

The young Mary in Nazareth didn’t have any ultra sound. Even so she knew more about her expected child than any other pregnant women! She had the knowledge about the gender of her child. The name was decided from the highest.

And she got to know beforehand that the child that was conceived in a miraculous way, will be called the Son of the Most High,.. and of his kingdom there will be no end. (Luke 1:32-33) All this was told to Mary by the angel Gabriel, when he came on a surprising visit.

You must be ready, is the headline of the first sermon text of this year. Jesus says so to his disciples, you must be ready. What he aims at, is his second coming in glory. The time of Advent has this dupli-city in it. We make ready for Christmas, and at the same time we are expecting Jesus’ second coming.

Keep awake, therefore! Jesus says, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. Yes, in the beginning of the text he even includes himself in the ignorance about the exact time, But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Imagine that. The time is in the Father’s hand alone. As we think about it, it is wisely done. So we do not need to worry about it.

How is the time around Jesus’ return going to be? Let it be admitted that this is not a favorite theme for this preacher. There is so much unhealthy focus on the end of time. What the Bible says about it can be interpreted in different ways. We do not get a clear picture of what will come and how it will happen.

Concerning the two men working in the fields, one will be taken, the other will be left, and likewise the two women grinding meal together, the one will be taken and one will be left, this can be felt as threatening and can create anxiety if we misinterpret it. Jesus wants by no means to create anxiety. What he says, is meant to help us be ready and live a life in prayer.

The night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; the apostle Paul says in the Roman text we read (13:12). Let us put our lives into his light, ask for forgiveness for what we have left undone and for our misdeeds. Prepare ourselves to meet him.

Then he reminded us about something encouraging: For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers. Every new church year, we are one step closer to the fulfillment. That’s for sure.

Even if the details around Jesus’ coming are unsure, there still is something clarifying that can be said;

Even if we do not know what and how things are going to develop, even so we as believers know who is coming. To know him, is the essential thing.

Jesus himself states in his “High priest intercession” (John 17:3) And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Jesus’ return will be like a new meeting with an old friend.

We can prepare for this meeting. We can encourage each other saying with the prophet Hosea (6:3) Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; The Old Testament text we heard, points out the direction to where we can find that knowledge: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.

We have a house of God where we can find what we need to know. The very building is not the important thing, but the faith fellowship we find here. The services every Sunday. And in addition several newly begun Bible study groups with room for more members, that is an invitation to each one of us to come closer to God and to each other. It is above all in the fellowship with other Christians that our fellowship with Jesus is being renewed and strengthened.

We can start the new church year with excitement. Just like a family waiting for a birth. Beforehand one can feel some worries, and some extra prayers are sent that everything may go well.

A woman going to give birth, can dread the pains she is going to go through. But above all it is with hope and expectation she and the rest of the family look forward. A child’s birth implies something totally new. A new beginning.

That is exactly what God is giving to human kind. A child that implies a completely new start. Let us prepare our hearts to meet with him. The purpose of the time we are in now, is exactly that. Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming, for the salvation from our God.

Glory be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who was, is and shall always be one true God from eternity to eternity. (Congregation:) Amen  

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716