Grace Lutheran Church 3rd Sunday in Advent, December 11, 2005

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

3^rd Sunday in Advent "Pray without Ceasing, There is Abundance"

December 11, 2005 1 Thess. 5:16-24

Over Thanksgiving retail stores in America had just amazing sales, the kind of sales which cause grown men and women to do things that would have been more appropriate for the Detroit Lions to do at their annual football game. I feel bad saying it, but I found it humorous watching the people in one particular store crawling over each other to get into the store first.

As people waited outside the stores anticipating the opening of the doors there was the calm before the storm. People were jockeying for position but not too overtly and then click-click, the lock was undone, the doors were opened and people scrambled.

Mayhem resulted as people scurried after the scarce items that were on panic inducing sale.

I think the ridiculous images of that day were a magnifying glass on the feelings of rivalry and scarcity that exist in our country. Many of you cannot imagine yourself acting in that manner of panic. But consider the nature of rivalry. We fear losing out on notice, power, prestige so we respond with violence. Not necessarily physical. Rivalry in our country is that driving force of resources spent on becoming better than the man next door, instead of bettering the man next door. This sin of rivalry is built on the false assumption that there is a scarce number of resources that we must compete for or we will lose out and be the victim of defeat.

How about two women at the annual Christmas party for their company, they both walk in wearing the same dress. One of them leaves in a huff because she believes it is impossible for her to receive the notice and attention that she deserves.

Why is it that in a room full of toys, two children will still inevitably find a way to argue over the same toy? Because we worry about having what other people have. So many problems among countries, communities, and indeed individuals surround the worry that there is not enough of…________________.

As a church we have a Voters' Meeting and the main item for discussion will be the approval of the 2006 budget. It is hard to prepare a church budget in a community of dwindling resources. Prices go up on heat, groceries, gas, and medical care, but for people in our community salaries and benefits have been stalled..

But we are not victims of our problems. We pray in the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." This is not an empty petition. It is the nature of God to provide. We truly ask in this prayer that we would give thanks and recognition of that which God is already by nature giving. As you consider your home budget and as you consider our congregation’s budget, first and foremost give thanks for the gifts of God.

In today's second lesson Paul encourages the people of Thessalonica, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances."

This attitude of rejoicing, prayer without ceasing, and giving thanks in all circumstances is an attitude built on different assumptions than of scarcity and rivalry.

Instead of living in this world as a victim of a lack of resources and power and privilege and notice, we are invited to live in the abundance of God's grace revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

I want you today to not look at what you don’t have and want, I want you through faith to hold onto the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, whose will it is for you to rejoice, pray, and give thanks. Some may say almost absentmindedly “God Willing?” but I want you to hold on to the will of God for you being found in the person and work of Jesus. So when you wonder what on earth in this crazy world is the will of God for you, lift up as your answer Jesus.

Jesus began his ministry with a sermon in a synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. He stood up to read and the scroll of Isaiah was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Jesus rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. Every eye was fixed on him and he said to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

The Year of the Lord's Favor is a the announcement of jubilee. In the book of Leviticus Moses said that every fifty years shall be the year of Jubilee, the Year of the Lord's Favor. It was meant to be a year of liberty when each person could return to his land, to his tribe, clan, wrong was not to be done to neighbor, and worry was not be over what the land would produce.

In the tribes of Israel land was given by the Lord and could not be sold in perpetuity. In the year of Jubilee land was to be released and returned to the people. Land was redeemed. Debts were forgiven. Any that were victims of their own lack of business sense, the land was returned and the debt was wiped away. The year of the Lord's favor was a time when no one was to worry but return what was taken and forgive wrong that was done.

The Jubilee Year was a time when no one supposed to be a victim any longer.

Jesus proclaimed this promise to the people in his hometown and they rejoiced. They wondered how this son of a carpenter taught with such wisdom. Jesus then told them about how the Lord's favor extended out from the kingdom of Israel into the whole world. Jesus reminded the people of how Elijah the prophet in a time when Israel had its own problems with leprosy healed Naaman a foreigner that came to him for relief. Naaman was a foreigner and he too received the benefit of the Lord’s favor.

Jesus was revealing through telling them about Elijah healing the foreigner Naaman that the Year of the Lord's Favor was not just for them but for all people. But those that heard Jesus changed from rejoicing at the wisdom of teaching to feelings of wrath and attempted to throw him off a mountain.

Rivalry is a deep seated sin. An attitude of limited resources and opportunities that must be seized or we are lost leads us to violence of heart, mind and body.

But we are encouraged in Christ to no longer see the limits in this world but the abundance of the Lord's Favor that is ours through him. We are called to live according to an attitude of abundance. Consider the encouragement to pray without ceasing as an example how to hold onto the abundance of God’s grace and mercy.

This encouragement tells me a about prayer a few things. One thing is that prayer does not need to be always audible. We do not need to pray with our voices for prayer to exist in our heart.

Another thing that I learn about prayer is that there are not prescribed hours or times of the day in which we have to be about prayer. But rather at all times and indeed in all places I may have a heart of prayer. There is no legislation or demand that you can only pray when you are at a Divine Service in this sanctuary. Prayer without ceasing is not just an encouragement to the pastor but to be the attitude of every person in Thessalonica. You don't need to be a pastor, a leader in the church, or well educated in the Bible to pray. What a joy it is to know that God desires us to pray to him at all times. He does not tire nor get bored of your prayers. He wants to hear in your heart at all times a faith that is dependent upon him.

Prayer is not defined by voice, posture, time, or location. Prayer without ceasing is to discover that you can endlessly turn to the abundant grace and mercy of the Lord. There is a wealth of grace and mercy so great and numerous that we can always draw upon the well of God's care and never worry of drawing this well dry. This is not a promise of worldly prosperity but of the ability to be able to rejoice in all circumstances. Prayer without ceasing is the encouragement to encounter prayer as more than an outward action. Prayer without ceasing is an inward attitude.

We do not pray as victims but as those blessed and redeemed in this world. Consider Desmond Tutu the Anglican Archbishop of South Africa, who certainly would have been excused by the world if he would have understood himself as a victim. He said that he never fails to read the morning newspaper because it is his prayer list. The Lord is abundant in his power to bring relief and comfort, we should not fail to call upon him. Jesus is not the last resort, he is the first.

I encourage you in everything to rejoice, because there is no situation or opportunity that is absent of God's desire to work good for you. Meditate upon the suffering of the cross and you may find no cause to rejoice, but by faith become a witness to the grace and mercy of God at work to defeat sin, death, and the devil. Hold onto the promise that by Jesus you are delivered to the year of the Lord's favor. Through confidence in the will of Jesus we rejoice, we pray, we give thanks.

Soli Deo Gloria

Grace Lutheran Church

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