Bishop Eric Menees
Happy New Year! I know that sounds a bit odd
coming - as the Bishop's Note happens to this week - on Thanksgiving Day, but
this Sunday is, in fact, the first Sunday of Advent and the first Sunday of the
New Church Year. There is no other season in the Church calendar that stands
out so starkly against the prevailing winds of the culture.
While our airwaves and internet are full of ads
enticing us to buy this or that in preparation for Christmas, our Bible lessons
are taken from the prophets, who call us to repent and prepare to meet the
Lord. Advent is a season that calls upon the Church to wait, watch, and prepare
our hearts and lives to meet the Lord Jesus - either at his Second Coming or
upon our death. And since none of us knows the day or the hour of the Lord's
return, nor of our falling asleep in the Lord, we'd better prepare now. There
is no time to waste!
This Sunday's lesson from the Prophet Isaiah is
an example of just such a call to prepare: "But now, O
Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all
the work of your hand. 9 Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not
iniquity forever." (Isaiah 64:8-9a) The prophet Isaiah, writing
some 700 years prior to the birth of Jesus, reminded the people of Israel that
we are not in control - we are, indeed, clay in the potters hand. In other
words: WE ARE THE CREATURE, NOT THE CREATED. Losing sight of this reality
is the source of such great sin and sorrow. In fact, St. Paul wrote to the
Church in Rome, saying that Rome had become such a sinful place precisely
because the people had worshiped the creature rather than the Creator: "24
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the
dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the
truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the
Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen." (Romans 1:24-25) To lose
sight of who we are in comparison to God the Creator is to accept as true the
LIE of the Devil.
Isaiah also reminds us, through his prophetic
message to the people of Israel, that we need someone to plead to God on our
behalf to show us mercy! Jesus is the person who not only bore the wrath of God
on our behalf on the cross, but since his ascension into heaven to sit at the
right hand of the Father he has constantly interceded on our behalf and will
continue to do so. As we prepare for Christmas, let us remember that God loved
His creation so much that He sent His only son to redeem and restore His fallen
creatures. And to that I say...Amen and Happy Thanksgiving!
Catechism Questions 46 - 48
46. What does it mean that God made
both heaven and earth?
It means that all things, whether visible or invisible,
physical or spiritual, were brought into being out of nothing by the Word of
the eternal God. (Genesis 1:1)
47. If God made
the world good, why do I sin?
Adam and Eve rebelled against God, thus bringing into
the world pain, fruitless toil, alienation from God and each other, and death.
I have inherited a fallen and corrupted human nature, and I too sin and fall
short of God’s glory. (Genesis 3, Romans 3:23; 5:12)
48. How does sin affect you?
The God-opposing, self-centered power of sin, which is present
in all people, corrupts me and my relationship with God, with others and with
creation. Because of sin and apart from Christ, I am spiritually dead, separated
from God, under his righteous condemnation, and without hope. (Genesis 3;
Ephesians 2:1-3; Galatians 5:19-21)
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