What's Your Story?

Advent, part 1

 

This past Sunday, the church began the season of Advent. 

Never have I felt so acutely the benefit of the liturgical calendar more than in 2020!

 

The old hymn cries, “Tell me the old, old story.” 

But I’ve been caught up in stories of elections and diseases.

 

The church in her wisdom through the ages, tells the story of Jesus and His love.  The Jesse Tree is probably the best-known rendition of telling the story of the Bible, leading up to Jesus’ Incarnation, His arrival, His advent.  We start in these early days of December with Creation, and the Fall into sin and misery.

 

But there are times we get caught up in other stories.  We are especially prone to this now.

Stories focused on this world, with the Lord Christ in the background at best, and more likely not in the story at all.  Some are compatible with the story of the Bible, and some are not.  But none are The Story.  Here are three of the many out there:

 

“The oppressed will rise up and demand justice and equality, overthrowing the systemically racist and unjust establishment.” – Marx, BLM, 1619 Project

 

“The free market will provide the greatest good for the most.” – Milton Friedman, Bill Buckley

 

“If we all work together and do the “right things,” we can stop COVID, or injustice, we can fix any problem facing us.” – Disney, state governors

 

 

The TRUEST story is this: when God made a good world, one of His servants wanted to take His place, so he set out to wreck that world.  He got the first people to disobey the Lord, even though it would ruin them, just out of spite.  God had already decided to let this happen, and to save the world by sending His Son later to pay for his peoples’ disobedience.  He let the serpent tempt and wreak havoc in His world, to show everyone the difference between the glory of loyalty to Him, and the chaos of rebelling against Him.  He plans to showcase His church’s faithfulness in the end, but most of all, His Son’s sacrifice for His church.

 

 

So when CNN or MSNBC draws me into the story of COVID fear,

Or when Facebook or Mewe or Newsmax draws me into the story of election fraud,

 

The Word of God and the church calendar draws me back to the deepest story we are in.  The Christmas story of the Incarnation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

My REAL problem is sin and God’s wrath against me for it. 

Not exposure to COVID or being victimized by an oppressive society.

My fundamental identity is not a black person prejudiced against by the police, or a freedom-loving, non-masker.  It is that I am a sinner, saved by grace.

 

My REAL solution is Jesus Christ and His righteousness.

Not the moralism of everyone “doing the right thing.”

Either wearing a mask, or voting for Trump, or sharing the right social media articles.

 

Our hope is not in earthly solutions to the problems we think we have (or to real but temporary problems).

Our hope is in Jesus Christ, God’s answer to the problem we truly have.

 

 

(I’m making a simple point here, which needs some follow up nuance later.  Stay tuned!)