Advent Sermon #3
Oh Lord How shall I meet Thee
Tonight our sermon Hymn was written by an influential Lutheran Hymn writer by the name of Paul Gerhardt and this year is the 400th anniversary of his birth. He was so important that Bach included this very hymn in his famous Christmas Oratorio. He grew up in difficult times. The Thirty years War raged throughout his life, which reduced the German population by almost 30%. Armies roved about foraging for food and holding towns to ransom; if they didn’t pay they would destroy them. During the war he studied at Wittenberg University where Martin Luther led the Reformation. He was an admirer of Luther, his theology and hymns but he differed from Martin in that when he wrote his hymns there was a very personal emotional component. But that makes sense. He worked in a an area where disease and famine were rampant and Pastors weren’t getting regular calls because there was no one to sit in the church seats. And in the midst of this what do people need to hear? What do they need to sing? Hymns that talk about the reasons for suffering; sin. Hymns that talk about the power of God. Hymns that talk about how Jesus Christ is more powerful than your sin and has come to release you from that sin and death. Hymns that promise that God is listening to your pain and fear. He was a great man in our church’s history. Lets sing his words.
1. O Lord, how shall I meet Thee,
How welcome Thee aright?
Thy people long to greet Thee,
My Hope, my heart's Delight!
O kindle, Lord, most holy,
Thy lamp within my breast
To do in spirit lowly
All that may please Thee best.
2. Thy Zion strews before Thee
Green boughs and fairest palms,
And I, too, will adore Thee
With joyous songs and psalms.
My heart shall bloom forever
For Thee with praises new
And from Thy name shall never
Withhold the honor due.
3. I lay in fetters, groaning,
Thou com'st to set me free;
I stood, my shame bemoaning,
Thou com'st to honor me;
A glory Thou dost give me,
A treasure safe on high,
That will not fail or leave me
As earthly riches fly.
Now, we must ask the question. How should we greet him? The Angels appeared to the Shepherds and immediately they wanted to see this thing that had happened. They went to see this new king. When the Wise men saw the star in the sky they came quickly over long distances in order to see this new king. In our Exodus reading, God is about to come down and talk to all the people and he tells them that they must clean themselves and their garments. What is the common theme through all of this? These people heard a message from God and did tangible things. Real earthly things. How do we welcome Jesus now into our heart? Well, Paul Gerhardt tells us. In verse two of the hymn he writes that Zion strews palms and green boughs before thee so we too will adore thee with songs of praise and psalms. In other words we will worship. We will give thanks for all we have been given. What else? How else will we welcome our Lord now into our hearts?
Well I think of the Shepherds and Wise men again and think of their reactions. They saw wondrous signs and immediately they went to praise and give thanks for this gift of the son. But we might ask ourselves, “Are the Shepherds and Wise men better believers than us because they come when they are told and we seem to forget Advent and take it for granted?” I think our problem is that we don’t realize that events just as miraculous are happening everyday here at church and out there in the world.
Jesus comes to us in the waters of our Baptism where his spirit entered our hearts. And our Baptisms are not moments in time that we celebrate only once but everyday we wake and remember our Baptism. As Martin Luther said, “We drown that old Adam daily,” and live in the Spirit which has entered our heart. When someone is baptized, we can’t see the Holy Spirit entering in. We can’t see the Devil being cast out. But miraculous things are happening before us. Jesus comes into our lives when we receive his body and blood in the Holy Supper. Jesus comes into our hearts when we hear his voice speak through the Holy Scriptures. Jesus is able to come into our hearts when we are forgiven our sin by our pastors in Christ. Wow! This is awesome.
If we ask ourselves how we should welcome Jesus into our hearts it becomes much simpler. Wake every day and spend a moment to remember your baptism and what happened on that day. You were claimed by God. Come to communion and receive the Lord Jesus Christ in this feast. Study his word where you will find his voice. Set aside a little time each day to read your bible. Read about the prophecies of Jesus in the prophets Isaiah and Malachi. Come to church to receive forgiveness of sins and the proclamation of Jesus Christ. Let the light of Advent kindle in us good works towards our neighbors. Fear not friends we are not any better or worse than the shepherds or Wise men. It is not that we fail to greet him when he comes. We fail to see him when he is here! But lets go further into this hymn,
4. Love caused Thy incarnation,
Love brought Thee down to me;
Thy thirst for my salvation
Procured my liberty.
O love beyond all telling,
That led Thee to embrace,
In love all love excelling,
Our lost and fallen race!
5. Rejoice, then, ye sad-hearted,
Who sit in deepest gloom,
Who mourn o'er joys departed
And tremble at your doom.
Despair not, He is near you,
Yea, standing at the door,
Who best can help and cheer you
And bids you weep no more.
6. Ye need not toil nor languish
Nor ponder day and night
How in the midst of anguish
Ye draw Him by your might.
He comes, He comes all willing,
Moved by His love alone,
Your woes and troubles stilling;
For all to Him are known.
These are probably my favorite verses of the hymn because it is the true Gospel being poured out in abundance. We might ask why does Jesus come? The Shepherds were told that Jesus had been born to be the Savior of the world. The wise men also know from the prophets that Jesus will be a shepherd for his people. What does Gerhardt have to say about it?
In verse six Gerhardt makes the point that you and I cannot will Jesus to come in his advent. “Ye need not toil or languish, nor ponder day and night, how in the midst of anguish ye draw him by your might.” Or in other words you shouldn’t think about how you can make Jesus come by your deeds or prayers or might but instead you should rather thank Jesus that he comes willingly out of one reason and one reason only. “Love caused thy incarnation, Love brought thee down to me.” So, the way in which we prepare our hearts for him in Advent is to thank him for already coming. For already being with us. Now we will sing the last three verses.
7. Sin's debt, that fearful burden,
Let not your souls distress;
Your guilt the Lord will pardon
And cover by His grace.
He comes, for men procuring
The peace of sin forgiven,
For all God's sons securing
Their heritage in heaven.
8. What though the foes be raging,
Heed not their craft and spite;
Your Lord, the battle waging,
Will scatter all their might.
He comes, a King most glorious,
And all His earthly foes
In vain His course victorious
Endeavor to oppose.
9. He comes to judge the nations,
A terror to His foes,
A Light of consolations
And blessed Hope to those
Who love the Lord's appearing.
O glorious Sun, now come,
Send forth Thy beams so cheering,
And guide us safely home.
Finally, we must return to Gerhardt and his time. These final verses at first glance might seem more of the overabundance of Gospel he gives in his hymns but if you look at his time and circumstances you will realize that there is more. His family home and church were burned to the ground by Swedish protestant forces during the Thirty Years war. The wars made food scarce and disease rampant. One of the major composers of the era wrote music for a smaller ensemble and I finally realized why. Because everyone else was dead. So it is no wonder that in verses 8 and 9 he speaks of the peace we can take in Christ even though battles are raging round us. He lost all five of his children save one and his wife to disease. He was kicked out of the ministry for standing up against Calvinistic reforms in Germany. Through all of this he promises to his believers that, “Though the foes be raging, Heed not their craft and spite; Your Lord, the battle waging will scatter all their might.” Gerhardt had something to hold on to but what was it? What did he know that maybe we don’t? Gerhardt knew that suffering in this world was due to our sin and our neighbor’s sin. And he also knew that Jesus Christ is more powerful than our sin. Jesus Christ will wipe away our sin. Jesus Christ will destroy it forever. And the best part of all is why Jesus came to do that; because of his great love. Jesus came down because he saw his people in distress and as Gerhardt puts it, “thirsted” to set us free. What love! What Grace!
In this Advent season we might ask ourselves we might ask ourselves if we have truly welcomed Christ into our heart. There are things we can do to prepare our hearts for the Lords coming. There are amazing miracles that happen here everyday that point out that Christ is coming, no that he is with us. But Gerhardt shows us something more important. Gerhardt shows us why he comes. Jesus doesn’t come because of our preparation. Jesus comes because he “thirsts” to help us. The Shepherds and Wise men were told of this Savior and so are we. We have figured out how to prepare. We have figured out that it is real and tangible. The question is what will we do when we are given this wonderful message of peace? Brothers and sisters; let’s share it!
Amen