Unity Lutheran Church + Chicago
follow us
  • Welcome
  • Who Are We
    • Eternal Flame Saints
    • History of Unity
    • Affiliated with
    • Welcome & Vision Statement
    • Constitution & Bylaws
  • Our Faith in Action
    • Concerts at Unity
    • Green Space
    • Social Justice
  • Space Sharing
    • Calendar
    • Picture our Rooms
    • Space Sharing Partners
  • Contact Us
  • Donate
    • Offerings & Gifts >
      • Unity Special Funds
  • Community Resources

Sermon: "Awake" by Pastor Kinsey

11/30/2016

0 Comments

 
Readings for November 27, 2016 
First Sunday of Advent | Baptism of Amelia Jane

  • Isaiah 2:1-5  
  • Psalm 122  
  • Romans 13:11-14  
  • Matthew 24:36-44

Awake, Pr. Fred Kinsey
We live in an in-between time, in this season of Advent.  As a baptized people, we live in-between Christ’s first and second coming – (however you internalize that).  We live in-between the resurrection of the Lord, and the promise of new life arising for all believers.  We live in an-in-between time – having hope that “the kingdom of God will come on earth, as it is in heaven.” 
 
All parents know what it’s like to live in an in-between time – waiting for the new life that is coming – the day when their child arrives.  A birth or adoption, is the in-breaking of a whole new way of life for parents.  And the waiting for that is an in-between time that is filled with hope and anticipation. 
 
We have been preparing and waiting for ‘this day’ too, for the sacrament of Holy Baptism for Amelia Jane Flachsbart this morning.  And like birth, and the coming realm and kingdom of God, the in-breaking of the Holy Spirit is wonderful gift we cannot wholly perceive, but when it arrives – changes everything!  However prepared you want to be, the arrival, the coming, always bring the unexpected, just like, the days of Noah were when the normal everyday eating and drinking, and marrying were interrupted, and Noah and his family were suddenly living, in a house-boat!  So can the in-between waiting-time for parents be swept away into a whole new life! 
 
Not that I would know!  I’m child-free!  Though I have had times, mini-plunges, like taking care of my nieces and nephews, and more than a few youth retreats in my first call.  And the literature, of course, abounds in stories of young parents being changed by the birth of a child, in surprising, and unpredictable ways.  But of course, like grandparents, I could always return the children at the end of the day – or week, at the most.  Anyway, I wouldn’t take offense, if you didn’t trust me as a parental expert!  
 
But, for instance, what I’ve heard most new parents say is, the luxury of ‘sleep and a shower’ is something they can no longer afford after their child arrives.  Infants sleep a few hours at a time, and then – if we’re real – mostly eat and poop in between, and that tends to change an adults’ normal routine! 
 
No one can anticipate how all-consuming those early days, and years, of child care can be – but it’s like night and day!  Your focus is your child now, instead of yourself, and that can be both beautiful, and frightening.  Wonderfully beautiful for the miracle you hold in your hands, but a frightful fog in finding a new balance that includes your own personal needs, whether work, exercise, cooking, or, if you’re lucky, the occasional date night.  Everything needs to be renegotiated, in the new realm called parenthood!
 
Some first time parents find a new appreciation for their parents.  New mom, Kelly Johnson posted about this.  “'Wow, so this is how much my mom loves me!' My love for my own child is so visceral,” she wrote, “it made me appreciate my own mom so much more.” 
 
So much of life, is that in-between waiting-time, and then in an instant, everything can change overnight!  As a second child myself, in a family of four, my mom always told me that my birth was way late.  Like a week or ten days past my mom’s due date!  But when the day finally arrived, she said, I came out really fast! 
 
This season of Advent is about the in-between waiting time.  Waiting in hope, and waiting for peace, for joy, and for love, to be born into our world.  Like the anticipation of a new child, we don’t know when the 2nd coming of our Lord will be, exactly!  “…about that day and hour no one knows,” says Jesus in our gospel reading, “neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” 
 
And whether you believe in a literal Second Coming that could arrive any day, or some more gradual in-breaking of the reign of God, I think as a Baptized People we can stipulate, that we’re all living in an in-between time right now, before the time when heaven and earth are fully redeemed. 
 
“Keep awake, therefore,” Jesus cautions, “for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”  That, keeping awake, being aware, appreciating the promise we have already in Christ Jesus, is our calling.  I really appreciate the new phrase that has arisen thru social media these days about the importance of keeping awake – Stay woke, which really captures the urgency, I think!  It’s a call to be in the moment and be awake to social injustice, especially the structural racism that continues to live in all our institutions. Like the anticipated in-breaking of the realm and kingdom of God, it’s a call to be aware!  To get ready even now!  This in-between waiting time is the time to keep awake and make preparations.
 
Our faith, says Jesus, is about keeping awake to the reality of what Christ has already inaugurated and birthed into our world and our lives, and the promise of God’s realm that is coming, through the grace of God, and through our lives, through the baptized, through the Body of Christ, and into this world God loves. 
 
“43… understand this,” says Jesus, “if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.  44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”  (Stay woke!)
 
Sometimes parents relax when they are expecting a 2nd child, understandably so, now that they come to it, with real firsthand experience.  But second-time parents sometimes say they were surprised all over again, not prepared for a 2nd child that is so different from the first, as if they had to learn parenting techniques all over again. 
 
I understand that Maddie, Amelia’s older sister, has been attentive and proud of her younger sister, since day one!  She waited with patience, and is gentle, and protective, and helpful with Amelia.  What a beautiful gift for parents to have!  That too, may have arrived beyond expectations! 
 
Keeping awake to the in-breaking of the realm and presence of God in our lives is no easy feat, but one made easier by the arrival, the 1st coming of Christ Jesus, a teacher and model of a life well lived, who fits us in our baptismal journey’s, for the kingdom of God we long for. 
 
At this baptismal font, the fullness of God’s grace comes to Amelia and all the baptized, today, and arrives in the promised gift of the Holy Spirit, our Guide, each and every day, in this in-between time – awake in our waiting!  
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly