It seems all I post lately are sermons and weekly updates. Well, this one is a little different.

A busy week, or so it felt. As I look over what was done, it doesn’t look like a lot, but what I experienced of it is different than how it reads. I guess that’s because, though it’s a short line or blurb in the retelling, it amounts to more time than it reads, and that would be preparation.

God is faithful. He makes promises, and He keeps them.

Hear the promise of the Lord from the prophet Amos: “’Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the LORD.’” (Amos 8:11) Days are coming, He says, when there will no longer be the hearing of the words of the LORD. The Word will cease to be given and received, and God likens it to a famine.

Hear the promise of the Lord from the prophet Malachi: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6) There will be a famine of hearing the words of the LORD, but God will send Elijah to them. Elijah will come before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

Fifty. Five-Oh. 5-0. I’ve been thinking, actually, about week 52 since there are 4 more days in the year after week 52 and since I started this whole thing by trying to post a daily entry. I’m not sure yet if I’ll make the Number 52 entry an 11-day entry or the usual 7 then a daily entry for the last 4 days of the year. I’ve got some time to figure that out. As for this week, however, it seemed pretty normal—normal, that is, for a week in Advent.

Perhaps you recall a word from last week or hearing a word from last week, though it was a Greek word: Theotokos. The word means God-bearer, though it is often translated, for the sake of simplicity and impact, Mother of God. Did you cringe at that at all when any of that was said, last week or this week?

It was at the Council of Ephesus in AD431 that this title for Mary was decreed. This is a council in our history, dear Lutherans; that is to say that we confess the same faith as the Church when it convened in council in Ephesus (as well as other councils), and so for us, then, Mary is Theotokos, the bearer of God.

“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

I grew up as the Cold War was coming to an end. While I never had to practice them, I recall stories of classrooms running duck-and-cover drills. From time to time, you can still see fallout shelter signs on one building or another, even in places that would be untouched by fallout from a power plant disaster. I watched movies such as Red Dawn, Firefox, and War Games in which Soviet invasion, the Cold War, and global-nuclear annihilation were central themes. These and other signs are all remnants of the preparations and ideas this nation made and had for nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

Mr. Gorbachev may have torn down the wall, but the threat of global annihilation still exists as terrorists plot to knock down buildings, overthrow governments, steal nuclear materials to make a dirty bombs, and devise new and horrific biological weapons. There are threats of war left and right, governments posturing here and there, even as, as I have recently read, there are plans to send 100 American tanks to Lithuania to counter “Russian aggression,”¹ a response to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

It’s the first week of Advent, which means two full-fledged church services. I say “full-fledged” because when we have Confessions study, we begin with Vespers, a full-fledged service to be sure, but the setting is more relaxed than the mid-week services during Advent and Lent. Before we get, there, though, of course, there is Sunday service. So, let’s get to the week...

What we observe today begins the second greatest mystery of the Christian faith: God comes to earth and dwells with man.

Religions around the world are filled with what are called theophanies—the appearing or manifestation of their god or gods on earth to man. These gods appeared to someone to instruct them, to give them some bit of their holy writings, or to interact with them in some other way. In Greek mythology, these theophanies often resulted in the birth of demigods—half divine, half human creatures, and these were not always human in appearance. Perhaps the most notable among these demigods is Hercules—son of the lord of Olympus, Zeus, and his human consort, Alcmene.

When YHWH appears to man, when He comes and dwells with man, His is no theophany like those of ancient, false lore. Some may wish to draw connections between the myth of Hercules and what we heard in tonight’s text, as if somehow part of what was read tonight was borrowed from that myth. But it is not so; the Son born to Mary is no demigod hero, but He is the very Son of God and YHWH Himself, the Creator and Savior of the world. He is Jesus, Immanuel, God-with-us, the second person of the Holy Trinity enfleshed and dwelling with man—He is YHWH’s theophany!

The closing words we heard Jesus speak last week were, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” (Matthew 25:13) Therein lies the promise and prediction of Jesus’ second Advent—His second appearing on earth, coming in judgment. Jesus would not have told His followers to watch were He not intending to return—that’s His promise. And the prediction is that no one will know either the day or the hour of His return; even Jesus doesn’t know, as He said elsewhere. (cf. Mark 13:32)

The word that follows, “Watch,” is, “Prepare.” It’s the ensign for this season of Advent. We’re at the time of year when we prepare to celebrate, once again, the first Advent of the Son of God, ever mindful of His impending second Advent; preparing—or, more properly, being prepared, by receiving from Him all that He has to give, watching and waiting for, anticipating and expecting Jesus to return and judge the world.