it takes the end of time

(it takes a long, long time)

A sermon on Isaiah's prophecy that came to pass in its speaking

Try to remember when you were young. I know! That’s a long time ago for some of you. Isn’t it?!? But try anyway. Ok?

Now, do you recall how long it took for Christmas to come? Growing up, we would make those paper chains to count down the days until Christmas. But when you’re little, a day can be an awfully long time! Can’t it? Honestly, I remember going to the same link of the chain multiple times a day! When you’re a child, the days to Christmas seem to go on and on.

It doesn’t stay that way for long, though. Does it? When you’re young, you can’t grow up fast enough. However, you don’t even have to grow up all that much to realize how quickly it passes! It doesn’t take long to realize it’s really a gift when time lingers.

Well, I don’t make paper chains to count down the days until Christmas anymore. But we do light candles. Don’t we? And today, Gaudete Sunday, we mark the point by which we’ve passed the halfway point of Advent. And all I have to say for myself is, “Already?” 

I don’t know about you, but this Advent has passed quickly for me. And I’m not all that happy about it, either. When Advent began, I told Amanda I was interested in how time itself can be sacred. As it turned out, I haven’t had much time for that. And it’s not just the musing I’m missing. I’m regretting time lost. I don’t want my time wasted on me! 

I can’t shake the notion that all our days are sacred. Nevertheless, here I am, whiling them away! I don’t want this blur to be the only thing I have to show for this Advent. No, I want to experience the sacredness of this season. However, all I’ve experienced so far is its fleetingness.

…A quick aside: this isn’t all bad. If you’re having a rotten Advent, and we all have them from time to time, it’s not the worst thing for the days to fly by. Sometimes, the only good thing about the good old days is that they’re over! Saint Don Hillard would say that. Or there’s what saint Bobbie would say: “This, too, shall pass.” 

I know Bobbie wasn’t the only one to say that. But she did have a way of saying it as if it were a confession. Didn’t she? Either way, let me be clear: it’s laudable if the only thing you want out of this Advent is to just get through it. That’s enough. 

That said, it is not a good thing if that’s all you want for every Advent! Do not absent yourself from your own life. Yes, there are days you’ve just got to get through. Nevertheless, they are all blessed. They are.

It’s no mistake you’re tootling around this ol’ world. Believe me. You’re here right now because God Thyself, in all the power thereof, is speaking you into existence out of nothing at this very instant. Don’t turn your nose up at this miracle! Got it?

Another caveat. And honestly, I don’t like sermons that are full of stipulations. But we’re in it. So, I want to tread lightly here. 

For one thing, don’t take yourself too seriously. And this is especially true if this isn’t your Advent. What I mean is, if this Advent isn’t your best one, keep that in mind! If you’re not at your best, don’t trust your judgment right now! Be skeptical of your skepticism! Doubt your doubt! 

You can do this, too! You can do this because you’re no longer imprisoned in yourself! When you were baptized, you, yourself, and you died! That’s right. In baptism, you died. But that’s not all that happened! In baptism, Christ also came to life in you! 

By the power of the Holy Spirit, there is now more to you than you! You can now step outside of yourself! You can step outside yourself and into Christ! Now, you can take a good, hard look at yourself! In other words, you are free! You’re so free, you’re even free of that most insidious of prisons, yourself!

…My point in all this, though, is if this is a blue Christmas for you, don’t let that make you believe they’ll all be blue. Ok? And while we’re on it, if this is a blue Christmas for you, come to our Blue Christmas service, for heaven’s sake! 

Talk to someone, too! And if you don’t know where to start, set up a meeting with a Stephen Minister. *Stephen Ministers, would you please *raise your hands? Look around! These people are trained. They know how to walk with you through whatever you’re going through. And they know how to listen, too. They know not to judge, and they know that whatever you share is just between you and them. 

*Thank you. You can put your hands down now.

Of course, I hope it goes without saying that you can set up a meeting with me, too. I would love nothing more! Truly! If you think attending meetings is what fires me up for ministry, you’re dead wrong!

No, you’re what gets me excited for ministry! I cherish talking with you. It’s an honor to pray with you. And it’s invigorating to discern how God may be at work in your life.

If you’re really having a really tough time of it, find a counselor! We have an abundance of those in the congregation! Or talk to your doctor about your medications. Or just go ahead and avail yourself of all of it! Faith is not a zero-sum game. God is perfectly happy to work through all of it! Christ is an all-purpose savior like that.

Listen, it’s just fine if all you want for this Advent is for it to be over. But don’t let that skew your perspective! The fact that this Advent is gloomy doesn’t mean they all will be like that! No, just ask the shepherds; Christmas has a way of surprising you with its joy!

That’s not all, either! When Christ was born into this fallen ol’ world, he filled it with God’s mysterious holiness! In Christ, even your grief is sacred ground! As the prophet Joel told us last week, the way to the Lord is through your broken heart. Or, as we sang just this morning whilst we lit the third candle on the Advent wreath, it’s into this lonely exile that we bid Emmanuel, “Come!” Bright or blue, Christ is with you this Advent. That’s what “Emmanuel” means: God with us.

Still, though, there is more! Not only is Christ present this Advent, but he has even bent sorrow to serve him! Remember, as the prophet Isaiah says elsewhere, Christ is a man of suffering himself! Christ is acquainted with grief! Yes, others may have hid their faces from him. But, by his passion, Christ refuses to hide from you or your grief!

In Christ, your sorrow is now sacred! Christ will wipe away every one of your tears! And he will do this because, by his tears, he has commandeered yours! Think of it like this: the deeper your despair, the higher your hope!

Yes, I know that’s a scandalous thing to say. And I don’t mean to make light of your hard times, either. It’s just that, in Christ, it’s true! I’m sorry, but it is! In Christ, the deeper your despair, the higher your hope! It’s true. It’s true, and the sooner you get used to that, the better! 

Take the prophet Isaiah’s word for it if you don’t believe me! In today’s passage, Isaiah prophesies a windfall for the down-and-out Israelites. It’s going to be so good, says the prophet, that it’ll be like a costume change at one of Taylor Swift’s concerts. Only it’ll be even better than that if you can believe it! The Israelites won’t just go from one set of nice duds to another. No, they’ll go from rags to riches! Literally! 

God is going to take the Israelites from the rags of their misery all the way to the riches of every last bit of all God’s mercy!

…As sweet as that is, and make no mistake, it is sweet. But, as sweet as all that is, it’s actually even better! Check out what’s happening at the end of this passage! What’s the prophet doing?

Here, let me help you out. He’s rejoicing! Isn’t he? The prophet ends the passage by doing what God promises the Israelites will do! Go ahead and double-check to make sure I’m not giving you a fast shuffle!

It’s what’s happening! Isn’t it? By the end of the prophecy, Isaiah is behaving as if the prophecy is already fulfilled! And do you know why Isaiah would do such an audacious thing? Isaiah is exulting in his God because, on account of the power of the word of God, the prophecy is set in motion!

They say you’re only as good as your word. But in Christ, God is God’s word! Jesus is the word made flesh. Is he not? And Jesus is also God in the flesh, too! Isn’t he?!? 

Jesus is God’s word! And as the crucifixion reveals, absolutely nothing will put Jesus off from fulfilling his god-given mission! When Christ said, “It is finished,” he meant it! Isaiah rejoices because, by the word, it’s now only a matter of time! 

Now that God has spoken, the word is occurring! Isaiah’s prophecy isn’t just some forecast. No, the prophecy itself is the beginning of what’s prophesied! The prophecy, in the speaking, is as good as fulfilled! It will come to pass, no ifs, ands, or buts about it!

Isaiah isn’t rejoicing because the prophecy is going to happen in a week from some Tuesday! And he’s not rejoicing because it’s going to happen one fine day, either! No, Isaiah is rejoicing because now that the prophecy has been spoken, it is transpiring, full stop! The prophecy is happening! It’s happening in the very speaking of it itself! 

And this speaking, it changes everything! The prophecy changes everything! It changes everything even though nothing has changed! The prophecy changes everything, even though nothing has changed—yet! By the surety of the word of God, it’s now only a matter of time!

…There it is. Isn’t it? Time. What makes time holy isn’t how you cherish it. And it most certainly isn’t how you fail to, either. No, what makes time holy is that God, in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, has coopted time!

No longer does time run without any greater recourse. No, as Saint Paul said, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman…” On account of the incarnation, time has now been fulfilled! Now, time itself is filled with Christ himself! It doesn’t matter how you count it. Now, time leads inexorably to Christ! 

Christ is the beginning. And Christ is also the end! Christ is the fullness of time himself! Time is not a measurement. No, time is a human. His name is Jesus Christ! And in your baptism, he’s all yours!

Christ is present in these fleeting days! As Christ himself says, he comes like a thief in the night! Your schedule is not too jam-packed for Christ. No, Christ is hidden in the hustle and bustle of it all! And Christ isn’t waiting around, either. No, unbeknownst to you, Christ pounced!

It’s now only a matter of time for you. Maybe it’s right now. And I pray it is. But maybe it won’t be until later today. Or later this week. Or maybe it won’t happen until your last day. But mark my word, by Isaiah’s prophecy, it's all begun for you this day!

Now, you are one of Christ’s own! You are no longer left to yourself! And neither are you left to the cold winds of karma or chance! No, in Christ, your beginning, your end, and everything in between is all wrapped up in the miracle of his incarnation!

The timeless one has just stopped time! Christ, the ancient of days, has hallowed this day! There’s no more separation between secular and sacred! There’s no difference between mundane and miraculous anymore, either! No, it’s all holy for you from now on! 

In these words, time gives way to eternity! Truly, it’s only a matter of time. Here, at this point of intersection of the timeless with time, the impossible union holds you, your death, your life, your loved ones, and even all of history all together! And it proves Jesus’ scandalous blessing, too! 

Now, it’s all blessed. And yes, that includes this blue Christmas. Indeed, as Christ himself said, blessed are you who mourn. Yes, blessed are you who mourn. Blessed are you who mourn, for at the bottom of your grief is the one who wept for this friend, Lazarus, and over all Jerusalem, too, Jesus Christ! Truly, in him, the deeper your despair, the higher your hope!

…Yes, weeping may linger through the night, but joy comes with the morning! And that includes, but is not limited to, this one! By the word of God, it’s all as good as done! It’s only a matter of time now! And in Christ, God makes time, and God takes time for you today!

As Isaiah discovered, there’s nothing to do but rejoice! Sure, nothing may be different. But in Christ, everything has changed! It’s only a matter of time. Christ is coming. And he won’t be stopped, either. 

So, let’s do it. Shall we? Despite everything, let’s rejoice! Our Hymn of the Day is just perfect for it, too! Hymn number 244: Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers! Hymn number 244: Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers. Let’s sing!