Link to Online Worship Video for 12/13/20 – HERE
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unable to open link copy/paste this into your browser:
http://www.bethanylutheran.org/worship-service-resources/
*Direct
link to Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/489939004
Link to Outdoor Worship (8:00AM service recorded) for 12/13/20 – HERE
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https://vimeo.com/490467719
Link for printing Sunday’s Bulletin for 12/13/20 – HERE
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Link to Bible Discovery Resources for 12/13/20 – HERE
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unable to open link copy/paste this into your browser:
http://www.bethanylutheran.org/bible-discovery-resources/
V V V
Sermon Message: “Stir Up Your Power Among Us, O Lord, and Fill Us
with Rejoicing”
Text: Isaiah
9:2-3 & 6 and John
1:6-8
Winter
is here…. almost! Now I know many of you
feel Jack Frost nipping at your nose right now, and might think these days we
are experiencing are cold but let’s get some perspective. This week in Anchorage Alaska, the high will
be in the mid-20s. The sun will rise at
10:08 AM and will set just five and half hours later. The dark days of winter
are brutally experienced in the north.
While it might feel like winter out there, it officially begins with the
Winter Solstice, which is next week.
Days
have felt shorter and shorter since the first day of summer, or the Summer
Solstice on June 21 where the sun came up in Anchorage at 4:20AM and set almost
19 and half hours later. However, in
reality, we know that the hours in the days themselves are not shortening or
lengthening, but rather the amount of daylight is diminishing each day, being
replaced by the dusk and darkness of night.
This
limited amount of daylight can affect people in many different ways. Winter can
be dim and gloomy, with lack of sunlight and everything just seems gray, all
the time. There are many people who are
affected by the lack of Vitamin D, and suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder,
which is a type of depression that is related to changes in the season. In the
middle of this season, it sure seems like the light will never come back, that
darkness is all there is, that hope is lost, and things will never be right
again.
Physical darkness is one
thing but spiritual darkness is something even more sinister. Humanity knows all about living in the
dark. These past months have been filled
with darkness, despair, depression, disease, with not much hope or light or
expectation. The prophet Isaiah lived in dark times. Times when the promise of the Messiah seemed
to have been lost. He writes to a people
who have no hope, who are lost in the dark, who have given up that the light
would come, so he writes,
2 The people who
walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
3 You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil. (Isaiah 9:2-3)
However,
the people of Isaiah’s day missed the message, but God would not give up on his
people and in spite of their unbelief, he sent the light to descend into the
darkness of this sin-stained world. The day of rejoicing was yet to come.
The apostle John in his
gospel takes up the story again. From
our Gospel reading for today he writes, “6 God sent a man named
John to be his messenger. 7 John came to declare the truth
about the light so that everyone would become believers through his
message. 8 John was not the light, but he came to declare
the truth about the light.” (John 1:6-8)
This
is John the Baptizer who was a man sent by God, as a witness to testify to the
light. John was sent to point towards the one who is to come, to prepare the
way of the Lord. It is this light that
has been present even before Creation that the people of God were so
desperately seeking. They had been conquered, exiled, and made to live under
the authority of many kings and nations for what seemed like forever. There was not much rejoicing. And in John’s day they were living under
Roman rule and they seemed to be a dark place, out in the wilderness, walking
through the shadows. Again, not much rejoicing.
But John came to point to the light, the light that would disperse the
shadows and illumine their walk in the wilderness and usher in a new age of
joy! And it seems, that we have been
stuck in this wilderness as well. It seems that the longest day has come and
never left.
We
have been living in this perpetual dusk and gloom for the past year. There has
not been much rejoicing as we face continued pandemic, political strife, and
personal depression. We grope around in
these long grey days collectively and individually as we try to navigate the
murkiness and shadows of our own lives.
We have lived this past year with an increase in divisiveness throughout
our country and world. We have witnessed the devaluing and dehumanizing of our
fellow brothers and sisters. Within these shadows, we fear normalcy will never
return. It sure seems that the darkness
will win, that day will be no more.
It
is estimated that the overall mental health of our society is not good. Depression, anxiety and fear of the future
grips many. People have lost employment,
loved ones and security. But John broke
the darkness of this world with a message of hope, a message of rejoicing that
light has come!! This radiance breaks
through the shadows of life. This radiance illumines our paths and enlightens
our lives. John pointed to the light.
John provided witness, he was compelled, this light couldn’t be
contained.
This
light is not found in a vaccine or in a change in government. It is not found in technology or internal
fortitude. This light is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ, the
Messiah, the one Isaiah foretold the one whom angels sang and the one who is
coming again.
What
are those dark places in your life that are in need of the light of Christ to
shine? Where are the shadows that you
find yourself in as the days become dark and hope seems to be lost? Have you fled to the darkness because you
feel you have run out of options?
Perhaps you have created a self-imposed prison of darkness by what you
have done and by what you have left undone.
Friends,
Advent is a time to rejoice because those who have walked in darkness have seen
a great light, to you who have dwelt in deep darkness the light has come… to
you. At His first advent, the angels
brought good news of great joy, for the light has come and this light brings
healing in these words “On Account of Christ, you are forgiven!” Your personal darkness has been destroyed.
For
that light would go to the darkest place for you. The light of the world would be rejected by
the Father because he took upon himself your sin and mine. And when the devil thought he had won, when
it seemed that the darkness was about to consume all the light, Jesus rose to
defeat death, darkness and the dominion of the devil! Therefore, we can join Paul from our New
Testament lesson today and “Always be joyful.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16)
Advent
is a time of rejoicing knowing that the light has come and will come again. The
Lord has multiplied our joy and we rejoice before the nations and like John
testify and declare the truth of the light!
In this Advent season we can become light bearers in a dark world,
preparing the way, dispersing the darkness, brining joy to the nations.
Jesus
is the true light and John points to the truth that is Jesus, who breaks open
the cracks in the shadows and illumines our lives and our experiences so that
His light might shine through us.
So,
as the days seem to grow shorter, as daylight diminishes, we rejoice, for light
has come and is coming again, and when he does there will be no more night and
we will not need the light from lamps or the sun because the Lord God will be
our light forever!
Let
us pray…Good and Gracious God, you have gathered us here from all over.
Enlighten our paths, illumine are days, give us strength to witness to your
light, that others might be enveloped in the radiance of your love. And we ask
all this in your Son’s name Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
-Pr. Seth Moorman
Worship Resources for Sunday, December 20th will
be up on Bethany’s website by midday Saturday, December 19th.
