Preparing Our Hearts - Luke 3 - Advent 3 Year C

Preparing Our Hearts

Tony E Hansen

Sermon based upon Luke 3:7-18, Isaiah 12:2-6,Philippians 4:4-7

Opening Prayer

How easy it is for folks to read texts from the scriptures and close the book.  How easy it is for folks to go to church, walk in hear the good news, and then walk out. How easy it is for us to just talk about God and our faith, but don’t actually live that faith.

This text from Luke is a taste of what John the Baptist preaches and that which Jesus picks up thereafter. 

Here, John lays out clearly what we can do in our regular lives.

“Whoever has two coats must share with one who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise. … Collect no more than the amount prescribed. Don’t extort, don’t push false claims.”

Pretty simple stuff folks. This is wisdom and people wonder, are you the One ? 

No, but there is One who will baptize not just with symbols of water but with the truth and fire of the Spirit.

The question for us who have experienced this baptism, whether youth or observed, what do you do with this baptism of the Spirit in your lives. 

People will hear the words, read the words, walk in the temples and churches, and they will say good things, but then words are all that is there.

Will you do the things that have been commanded of you? To love God and to love your neighbor - all of your neighbors (and your enemies). Are you willing to share your coats, your food, your love and your abundance with those who have none? Are you fair and equitable to people around you.  

Are you willing to be the example of God’s love in people’s lives? 

John tells them, “I am not the messiah for I could not tie the strings of their shoes”, and so do I. 

Titles are just that: titles. We don’t need a title to teach and to live the word of God and to live in these ways.

It is the fulfillment of the word through our thoughts and actions that give life and love.  It is the commitment to faith, hope and love that give life to those around us just the same. 

I am a broken person and always will be, but there is One that is perfect and that has no blemish. There, you will find all that you need and want. There, you will find your heart when you let God come to you and be with you.

And then we don’t wrap that up and tuck it away in a box for next week when we do it all over again. That is not the point of church or religion. That isn’t what we do. We don’t leave these teachings that prepare us for Jesus who leads us into the light of God. 

We take that love, that faith, that hope into the world around us and with us to share with the many.

So yes, this lesson from John prepares us, and gives us specifics. This is what you do. Through our prayers we talk to God and through our actions we live out our love of God and neighbor. Frankly, don’t be a jerk!

Beloved, this is simple stuff, but we like to throw obstacles in the way.  “I just cant today for whatever reason we give…”

Why do we do that? To escape our accountability or our responsibility?  To be lazy with our gifts? Or to live in the familiar gloom of a broken world? - all too familiar feels safe and convenient. 

Yes we have days of long hours or work. Yes, we have people that let us down. Yes we have those who take from us and lie to us.

But we don’t have to stay there. That doesn’t need to rule our lives.

Yes, the broken world wants to shackle us to emptiness, false promises, and materials that don’t have true meaning. “The chaff” 

If you, instead, turn your eyes, your hearts and let God be with us this minute - this hour - this day, you will realize that we don’t need all of that brokenness. We don’t need the chaff. What chaff (not who) do we want to see go away.

Through these words and following the words in our daily lives and actions, if we let these words, the Spirit, enter our lives and be part of our lives, we will find something substantial - far more than emptiness. When you do, we will be truly fulfilled, and there is no other place you will want to be. 

We prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord by witnessing the word of God in our hearts, our minds and and our deeds. 

You may still have to work long ours and people will still do things that disappoint, but we can be the beacon that shines in darkness, in political tensions, in anxious times. We can be the light that is sorely needed. We can be the respite from all that is broken when we let the Spirit be with us.

Let go of the brokenness and let the joy of Christ be with you and in you.

That beloved is liberating and lifting.

That Beloved is…

Thanks Be to God 

Lessons and Carols - Christmas Eve - Year C

Welcome to worship with us!

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24 Dec 2024 | Christmas Eve “Lessons and Carols”

“No Matter Who You are or Where You are on Life’s Journey, You are Always Welcome Here!”

Opening Prayer 

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 and ever. Amen.

Assurance 

Lighting the Christ candle.

Hymn:  Joy to the World.

First Lesson: Creation - Genesis 1:1-5 

Hymn: O Come O Come Emmanuel. 

Second Lesson: Covenant - Genesis 9:12-16 

Reflection for Genesis  – Creation and Covenant

Hymn: O Come O Come Emmanuel (refrain). 

Third Lesson: Compassionate and Forgiving God – Psalm 103: 1-8

Hymn: O Little Town of Bethlehem. 

Fourth Lesson: God of Peace and Justice – Micah 5:2-5; 6:6,8

Reflection for Micah and Psalm 103 - God of Peace and Justice.

Hymn: It Came upon the Midnight Clear.

Fifth Lesson: Angels announce to Mary – Luke 1: 26-38 

Solo : Ave Maria (Schubert)

Sixth Lesson: Birth – Luke 2: 1-7 

Reflection for Luke - Birth

Hymn: What Child Is This. 

Seventh Lesson: Shepherds Visit – Luke 2:8-16 

Offertory:

Hymn: Angels We Have Heard on High.

Eighth Lesson: Foreigners Visit – Matthew 2:1-11 

Reflection for Luke 2:8-16 and Matthew 2:1-11 - Shepherds and Foreigners.

Hymn: The First Noel.

Eighth Lesson: God’s Promise Fulfilled - Luke 2:28-40 

Hymn: O Come All Ye Faithful. 

Ninth Lesson: The Incarnate Word - John 1:1-14

Reflection for John 1:1-14 – Promises Fulfilled with Divine Love.

**Lighting the Candles 

Hymn: Silent Night.

Benediction:

*********************

Tony E Hansen presiding.

* Please rise as you are able spirit and body. 

** Please make you way to perimeter of the Church for lighting the candles, sharing the light of Christ, and singing of Silent Night.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, ©1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Portions of prayers, ©2021 Local Church Ministries, Faith INFO Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH  44115-1100.  Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education.  All publishing rights reserved. 

Wren, B. 2008. Advent Christmas and Epiphany, Liturgies and Prayers for Public Worship. Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville. Reproduced with permission.

Hope - Luke 21 - Advent 1 Year C

Hope

Tony E Hansen

Reflection based upon Luke 21:25-36, Psalm 25, Jeremiah 33:14-16

Opening prayer 

Happy season of Advent! 

We light the first candle to represent hope as one of the many sacred gifts we are given.

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise…”

The Luke text offers ominous tones of distressed nations, roaring seas, and people fainting. Just what we need in folks that don’t think we are moving towards “peace and gladness.”

As people pray the words of the psalm “do not let my enemies exult over me…. Let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.”

So “stand up and raise your heads, redemption is drawing near.”

God shakes things up all the time, and as we think of Jesus in a manger, we are here reminded that the power of God is beyond comprehension. That power coming into this world can be a terrifying thought. 

Yes God’s power is majestic, all-encompassing and will fulfill, and yet that power is humble and compassionate in its delivery. 

What does that mean for us? 

This text isn’t necessarily about scaring us into believing but to raise our awareness and to be attentive. 

We have to be attentive, not just for the words and voices we read in Advent, but what attentive means in our lives. This is how we are attentive to the people around us (friend, foe, or neighbors near and far) and how we bring hope to people. 

This is a chance for us to reflect on that notion and to analyze how that can look in our lives (for we all know we fall short.)

Advent is a season of preparation not just for the day of gift giving with family and friends, but what the reign and power of God means for us and in us. It beckons for us to see that reign in our lives and what we do not just as expressions of authority and supremacy for that belongs to God. 

This power is the compassion that walks with neighbors, feeds the homeless, cares for the sick, protects the innocent, teaches the good ways and invites all to sharing. This is God leading the way and through Jesus, we have the word fulfilled and living.

So yes, we are reminded that our creator will lead “the humble in what is right and teaches the humble the way.”

Beloved it is for that and for all that is possible with God, we place our faith and trust. We have hope that all is possible. And then, we say …

Thanks be to God.

What is Christian - John 18 - Reign of Christ (Year B)

What is Christian

Tony E Hansen

Sermon based upon Mark 13:1-8, Psalm 93, Daniel 7:9-14, John 18:33-37

Opening Prayer

Happy Reign of Christ Sunday! This is the end of the liturgical year for the wider church. Next week, we begin our journey into Advent and the Christmas tide.  

Last week, Jesus gave ominous tones in Mark 13 in talking about the destruction of the temple and warning us of people who might try to lead us astray from the light and the Word. 

Deception during hard times is something for us to be wary because we want to hear the good story, the one that promises. 

In desperation, we look for those that promise everything we want and need, and people will allow them to put curtains over eyes - numb our senses. (This could also be the work of substances like drugs, alcohol, gambling, etc.)

No one wants to be deceived and no one wants to realize that they have been deceived. Many will even defend their own egos against the deception. And when we do this, when the time comes that we can no longer avert our eyes, we see the damage that has to be reckoned and path that has to be corrected.

Yes In hard times, we look for answers, and there will be people that give them, whether those answers hold actual truth or not is for us to consider.

Remember that easy answers are just that - easy. Rarely does life offer us easy but rather complex with a need for us to think and to check those answers.

This weekend, we celebrate the reign of Christ (or Christ the King) remembering that Jesus’s last name is not, in fact, Christ. For “Christ” is a title and designation that means anointed or Messiah.

Then to be Christian is to be followers of Christ - followers of the anointed one. That is also how we define and interchange the words disciple of Christ - follower of Christ (the anointed one). 

So “Christ” is not some military or political title (nor does Jesus seek violence or division as a means to accomplish goals.)

We, also in this time and place, recognize what the reign of Christs means and what it truly is for us and for all people. 

This reign is a power, a kingdom, beyond this world, politics and titles.  This being is beyond anything military or social. So what is the reign of Christ?

Good question.

Because we, as followers of the Christ, to be Christian , we must understand what the reign of the anointed one is. For in order to be a truly dedicated follower, we must know the mission and purpose set for us.

This mission, this purpose of this reign, is also a way of living and a way of being that has been given to us and for us.

We can see that way of living, that way of being, expressed in the Word- in the Gospels - as the stories of Jesus and the Words of Jesus. That “way” is in what Jesus preached, what (and how) Jesus did, and how (and why) Jesus sacrificed for us.

Question then is upon us to answer how that is lived in our ways, our paths and thus, how we live.

Are we welcoming? Are we sharing? Are we giving? 

Are following the words that tell us to give without expecting rewards? 

Are we showing mercy without exception? 

Are we the peacemakers who loves not just our neighbors, but also our enemies and those who persecute us?

Are we heeding the words that warn of false prophets who twist and turn these beatitudes and precepts into money changers and scorn?

With the Gospels, there is no need for guns, no need for violence, no need for hate or fear because we have all that we need in this reign of Christ.

We can read and talk about these passages all day long, but until they are exhibited in what we do, we miss the point. 

Until they are rooted in what we do and how we think, those words, those Gospels are merely words.  Until we root ourselves in the Words of Jesus building our lives and attitudes around the Way of Jesus, one cannot call themselves Christian. 

None of this is just “simple” because it forces us into areas of discomfort. Yet, loving God and loving our neighbors and enemies is what we are called to do. 

Yes this can cause discomfort (at first), but when we let this be our life - to truly follow the words and build that life - we let God take control. 

Then, the impossible becomes very tangible and very possible even in the face of dark times, persecution or threats. There is possible because you let your hope, your faith, and your love be you and guide you.

Then, the rewards are boundless and immeasurable.

Turn your hearts from false words, words that hate and hurt. 

Turn your hearts, your thoughts, and your actions to love, to the reign of the living Christ and be filled with unimaginable joy.

That Beloved, is to be Christian - a follower of the anointed One.

Thanks Be to God.