Day 1851 – Waiting, reprise

This is an explanation for my tardy publication of the advent sermons at First Presbyterian Church, Spring City, TN.  There are few links to scripture in this post. You will have to do the hard work of searching for them using my hints.

As I thought about the nature and shape of the sermons over the advent season, I realized that we so often overlook the meaning behind the Latin and Greek words for advent. (See Day 1833 for details.) We also are subliminally focused on Christmas as a commercial celebration of the birth of Jesus.

As I read the classic passages in Isaiah and recalled my study of the so-called minor prophets that talk of the coming Day of the Lord, I’ve come to appreciate in the most exquisite way how Jesus and Paul caution us that the Day of The Lord will come to us like a thief in the night.

After his death on the cross, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as our guide, dictionary, encyclopedia, defender and interpreter of the Good News. Jesus promised it would serve us well until he comes again with the consummation of this great Kingdom of Heaven on Earth - if we listen with care, use it with prayer and careful consideration of its meaning,

My blessing, among the many I clearly do not deserve, is having preached on the good news, on Paul and 2 Peter and Revelation, the great prophets,  and now the “minor ones,” particularly Joel.  As many of you probably think also, I’ve always read that “thief in the night” as caution about the future, but never taken it really seriously as a warning because, really is it going to be like a thief in the night, like turning the light switch off, or stepping of the curb into the path of a truck?  Sure, I guess it is all possible but probable?

       Let me sober your thoughts about the thief in the night, whether you are 2, 12, 22, 32, 42 or 92 years old.

On November 21, I got some shocking news. Two days earlier I had my annual physical and a routine ultrasound discovered a lot of “spots” on my liver.  Subsequent CT scans verified I have a small mass in my pancreas, and all my liver but one lobe is full of tumors.  I also have three very small tumors in my left and right lung – all the while being asymptomatic, except for what I thought was a nervous stomach as I prepared to preside at the wedding of my younger son and fiancée. We went to DC and performed a wonderful wedding ceremony keeping all this disquieting information silent, praying for a great wedding – and boy did we have one!

The Monday a week after we returned (I think), a biopsy of my liver that verified the preliminary diagnosis.  I started my chemo treatment the next Thursday and felt ok until Saturday.  I had 1 more treatment over the next 2 Thursdays followed by a week off and face one or two more cycles before something else. I am exploring clinical trials of an immunotherapy method that is very successful for secondary “soft” tumors like lymphomas and melanomas, but harder to do on the kind I have. I have recovered from the very bad cold that magnified the unpleasant symptoms of the chemo treatment, and plan to shave what is left of my hair tomorrow. 

I intend to stay with First Presbyterian Church as long as constructively possible. (We have a new "new members class" of 6 people!) They are all a wonderful family. God-willing, I’ll beat this but I am a rational scientist who reads and understands the gravity of my condition.

So, as I began my advent series, I had to chuckle that my planned focus was that we should never forget that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. I commend the previous three or four sermons (posts) to you, and urge you always to be working on your sanctification and being a leading citizen in the Kingdom of God.

So, my Friends, whether you are 2, or 12 or 22 or 32, 42, or even 92 years old, I encourage you to revisit and take the advent season seriously, as a special time to think about getting ready and refreshing your testimony. (Try listening to "People Get Ready " by The Blind Boys of Alabama.) Our testimony is our life, it is how we live glorifying our creator and redeemer, the one who loves us so much that he defeated death for us.

I’ll close with and commend to you Paul’s words to the Thessalonians from my post for  Day 1805 (1 Thessalonians 5:12-28), written a few days before this discovery.

“May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.  Beloved, pray for us. Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all of them. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

Grace and peace to you all!  And never stop dreaming and working for a better world, here and in the next.

Amen