Concordia Lutheran Church
The Feast of Christ the King – November 22.2009
Doxology Time!
2 Peter 3:13b and Psalm 39
† IN THE NAME OF JESUS, LORD AND SON †
May you be always able to focus on the goal, the incredible time when faith and hope fade from view, as the peace-filled love of God dawns with crystal clarity as you see Him reigning in all His glory! Amen!
It is Doxology Time!
The massive cleanup has been accomplished.
The tasks are but a faded memory.
The sun has set, and there is but a glow in the sky…
Everyone in the room almost simultaneously, takes a deep breath, as their bodies relax in almost an eerie quietness.
The stress of preparation and the anxiety that built all week, is satisfied by the completion of the day of feasting and fellowship, and the day is made complete, as all rest, and realize the blessing that has been shared.
That scene could be your home, or the home you visit this Thursday. Even more perhaps, I believe it describes the feeling the moment after the judgment, the moment when we realize we are in God’s presence forever, and the celebration of God’s prodigals returning home, turns into the reality of eternity in His presence.
As we celebrate this, last worship service of the church year, as we prepare to feast at the table of the Lord, we spend this time, looking to that future. We are not just looking to the future of 2010, or even 2011 or 2012. We look towards “the” future, we focus our awareness and hope to that which is described in our Introit – and we look forward to that new heaven and that new earth, described as being the home of righteousness.
As we consider this future, may our hearts soar as we express with words of praise, the glory of God, Father, Son and Spirit!
• Looking forward – 2 Pet 3:13
o New and Improved
o New Completeness
o Righteousness dwells
In the introit this morning, the antiphon is an incredible encouragement. It comes from Peter’s second epistle – a work written in the midst of persecution, and a time when the church was incredibly challenged by what was going on around it, in a world that didn’t make sense. Hear the words again,
“We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”
I wish that we could all, in these days, remember these words daily! Not only remember them, but the incredible significance that they bring to our lives. The words are loaded with meaning, and as we grasp that, we understand even more why God deserves not only all of our praise, but all of the glory, honor, praise!
Peter tells us we are looking forward to, awaiting eagerly, this new heaven and new earth. The word new there, doesn’t just mean another, or a younger earth. It’s not just another edition of the same old thing, with the same old problems and the same old broken promises. This isn’t about the 2010 new car, that has a couple of new upgrades and a newer looking coat of paint, but in 40,000 miles will be old again. Nor is it talking about the newer television or the new computer. When God talks of a new creation, it is complete.
The new heaven and the new earth – everything that is, as one commentator put it, everything that is life, and all that sustains and contains it. In ancient times, they saw this in the idea of the egg – the new life in the yoke, being the earth, and the whites being all that in the universe that sustains life, the ecosystem, the heavenly bodies that provide light and heat and gravity and growth. The shell, being that which contains and protects it all – and the very concept of God – the egg – being all that, and more.
All, except for God, recreated, made new, made pure and perfect.
Peter describes this, as the home of righteousness, the home of that which is just. This isn’t just talking about just and righteousness as in our time – but just in the manner that everything is the way it should be- everything in creation, and everything working in harmony, in concord. Everything so good, and complete, that it is like the perfect Thanksgiving feast, where every bite is savored, as is every word is likewise enjoyed! And yet that doesn’t even begin to describe it, for the presence of God is not just felt, but experienced with every sense overwhelmed by His love, His purity, His glory!
• Look back – Pslam 39
o The Short Measure
o Lifetime = nothing
o What am I waiting for?
Even as our introit looked forward to that incredible moment, it moves, for an instance, to look back, as the Psalmist leads us to pray,
O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure | of my days;*
let me know how fleeting | I am!
Behold, you have made my days a few | handbreadths,*
and my lifetime is as nothing be- | fore you.
Maybe it is because I am older, but it seems like we should still be in September. It does not seem like my son is almost 3, or that Kay and I have been married 20 years. Truly time flies, and in view of that, asking God to help us know the end makes it seem like it flies ever more quickly.
To consider how long our life is, or its value in the scheme of the universe, seems almost impossible. As if I tried to find on one speck of sand on a beach. The psalmist isn’t exactly helping my self esteem, by indicating that a few hands could hide my life in the pages of time. Realizing that all of my existence, the totality of my action is nothing in the sight of God, seems true and yet saddening.
There is pinch of truth in the atheistic concept of the value of man. Looking at the stars and realizing that I am just one person of 6 billion, on a small planet in this system, dominated by a star much smaller than most of the stars in our galaxy, and that our galaxy is but one in the galaxies of the universe is indeed daunting.
Add to that, that our sin marks us, and stops us from living to our potential, that we are flawed and challenged. Why would the Creator of all this bother with us, with me?
Many a philosopher dismissed Christianity for just this reason, that it does not seem logical that God would bother with us. Yet, I believe that even puts more into perspective the incredible marvelous, nearly unbelievable love of God for you, and for me. He knows us, and in Him, the psalmist found His hope. IN God who revealed his name that we may call upon Him, and encourages us to call Him our Dad, our Father, our Papa.
And yet, it is He who provides that hope – as the psalmists prayer is answered…
Deliver me from all my trans- | gressions.*
Do not make me the scorn | of the fool!
Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear | to my cry;*
hold not your peace | at my tears!
No wonder the psalmist, no wonder why we have hope…in the midst of a dark and challenged world. The hope is found in Him.. it always has been.
• A Closer Look
o What’s Missing – This is according to His promise!
o The connection to the Eucharist
o That leaves us with the doxology
We have dealt with the opening antiphon, the description of what we are looking forward to – the new heaven and new earth where all is perfect and uncorruptible. We saw why we look back, understanding it is not for condemnation, but to show how glorious our deliverance from darkness to life is,
As we get to the closing antiphon, notice in the bulletin, that there is a letter “b” next to the verse citation. That means it is only part of the verse. I would have you hear it entirely, “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.” 2Pe 3:13 (NIV)
This focus, this keeping focused on the prize, as the apostle Paul describes it, is not based on our own ideas, or our own speculation. It is grasping that promise that God gives us, in Christ. It is the hope into which we are baptized, as we are united, yes with His crucifixion and death, but also with His resurrection, and eternal life in the presence of the Father!
I love how Luther described how King David and we live out this focus, how he describes the now and not yet…
“ (King) David looks into such a future, and he feels just as though the world had already ended and he had already risen from the dead and were seeing heaven, moon, and stars new before him. Indeed, he really did see it—but in faith and spirit. In Ms time he will see it with us and we with him in the revelation. The Prophets and Apostles proclaimed it to us. Isaiah says (65:17, 18): “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create.” And St. Peter says (2 Peter 3:13): “According to His promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” Such proclamation of the Prophets and Apostles took place through the Holy Spirit and cannot fail.
Having looked at the antiphon and how it begins and ends the introit, and the body of the psalm, there are only a few words left for us. And as we end another church year, they are indeed incredible words for us to say together… for it is doxology time
Glory be to the Father and | to the Son*
and to the Holy | Spirit;
as it was in the be- | ginning,*
is now, and will be forever. | Amen.
….
The Introit for The Last Sunday of the Year
We are looking forward to a new heaven and a | new earth,*
the home of | righteousness.
O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure | of my days;*
let me know how fleeting | I am!
Behold, you have made my days a few | handbreadths,*
and my lifetime is as nothing be- | fore you.
And now, O Lord, for what | do I wait?*
My hope | is in you.
Deliver me from all my trans- | gressions.*
Do not make me the scorn | of the fool!
Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear | to my cry;*
hold not your peace | at my tears!
Glory be to the Father and | to the Son*
and to the Holy | Spirit;
as it was in the be- | ginning,*
is now, and will be forever. | Amen.
We are looking forward to a new heaven and a | new earth,*
the home of | righteousness.
