Advent Midweek I 2007

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:15 (ESV)

It’s once again that time of the year when Christians prepare to celebrate a feast day of the Church calendar, so we’re not surprised to hear or see yet another apparent attack against the Christian faith and the basic teachings of the Bible.

Usually around Christmas we are confronted with “new discoveries” or “understandings” about the Virgin Birth, or the Star of Bethlehem, or Joseph and Mary; and at Easter, its startling new revelations about the crucifixion, or the tomb of Jesus, and so forth.

Whatever it might be, the truth about the Christian faith seems always to come under attack, particularly when it is time to celebrate the most important events in Jesus’ life.

Hollywood does the same thing with its movies. More and more, I’ve noticed that movies with the darkest themes frequently include Christmas as the time that the story takes place. How is it that we have come to a point that everything from Gremlins to Harry Potter have involved or included Christmas?

It as if the devil isn’t satisfied with disrupting our world by bringing sin and death into it. He has also to attack the God’s plan of salvation in His Son Jesus Christ.

You may be hearing about a movie soon to be released called the Golden Compass. It is based on a novel written by a British author named Philip Pullman. The story and movie are part of a trilogy called His Dark Materials.

Pullman is anti-Church, but even more so, anti-Christian. He has said so himself. “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.” (Alona Wartofsky, The Last Word in The Washington Post, February 19, 2001.)

His agenda includes a gripe with organized religion and the belief that without it, and especially without the church, we would be much better off. His story reflects this idea by creating a universe and characters that are in many ways parallel to ours, but his characters seek freedom from what are the equivalent powers of organized religion and God.

While I haven’t read all three books, I did buy the first book and spent quite a bit of time getting familiar with it. It is the basis of the new movie.

Basically, this story and no doubt the movie, is aimed at readers who like fantasy literature such as C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

It becomes clear however, that this author has a real argument with Christianity and religion in general. He is a person who is unable argue on the basis of reasonable discussion, and so he has created something that is not intelligent discussion, but imaginary. It isn’t very earth shattering, really. Many people act that way today. They don’t want to debate ideas, but rather make nasty attacks. They’re basically rude. It is always easier to misrepresent the opponent than to make a careful argument that is convincing. Watch some of the raunchy shows on TV in the late afternoon and see how the people treat each other: better yet, don’t watch.

And this is, after all, the devil’s work. He stands ready to get you. Immediately after he leads you into sin, he makes tremendous case against you which he knows he can because of our sins and shortcomings, and then gets you to despair. He doesn’t want you to know anything good about our heavenly father, but to have you think that he is against you and that there is no hope.

It must have been terrible for our First Parents, Adam and Eve when they sinned. Because God had never yet spoken the plan of salvation—there had never been a reason to do so. Right away they went and hid from God and trembled at His voice.

Pullman—the author of the book and movie I’ve been talking about—has admitted himself that getting people by a story and feelings, rather than by head knowledge, is the way he will win them over.

Some people are concerned that children will be attracted to the books because of the movie, further misleading them. Apparently the makers of the first movie are aware of this concern and we are told they have toned down the movie.

Perhaps the real concern in all this is that there are those who are afraid that Pullman’s stories and arguments are jus too convincing for anyone to resist. That’s why you might already have heard some Christians calling for boycotts of the movie. Fortunately, we have the Holy Spirit who enlightens us and keeps us in the true faith. Jesus says,

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” John 10:27-28 (ESV)

From the Christmas story we learn that our heavenly Father has had compassion for His creation and us human beings.

Shortly after our First Parents, Adam and Eve, sinned against God and lost not only life—because death was brought into the world—but also the wonderful home and all the good blessings God had intended for them,

God spoke the first promise of Salvation that would come through the Seed of the Woman.

Every Children’s Christmas program, and every recounting of the work of God for our Salvation begins rightly with the first great dramatic story of God promising to crush the serpent’s head, though the devil would bite back and bruise his heel.

Jesus defeated the devil with His death on the tree of Calvary and has thereby overturned the grave and ended death’s reign. The power and sting of death and the grave are no more and we need not fear them.

God fulfilled his promises made long/ before/ through the prophets, that assured of a time of spiritual comfort, peace and assurance. For centuries it seemed as though God had forgotten or changed His mind concerning the Savior. But all along His thoughts were of peace and not of evil, to give to all mankind hope and a future.

During the Children’s message we introduced the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed. Knowing who our Heavenly Father is necessary if we are to understand the tremendous love and sacrifice on His part of sending His Jesus into the World at Christmas.

Being able to confess our belief in God helps us guard against the temptations of the devil: including novel ideas as well as rehashed arguments.

Luther writes in the large Catechism:

For this reason we ought daily to study this article and impress it upon our minds. Everything we see, and every blessing that comes our way, should remind us of it. When we escape distress or danger, we should recognize that this is God’s doing. He gives us all these things so that we may sense and see in them his fatherly heart and his boundless love toward us. Thus our hearts will be warmed and kindled with gratitude to God and a desire to use all these blessings to his glory and praise.Such, very briefly, is the meaning of this article. It is all that ordinary people need to learn at first, both about what we have and receive from God and about what we owe him in return. This is an excellent knowledge, but an even greater treasure. For here we see how the Father has given himself to us, with all his creatures, has abundantly provided for us in this life, and, further, has showered us with inexpressible eternal treasures through his Son and the Holy Spirit, as we shall hear.

May our continued preparation during this time of Advent as we prepare for Christmas looking at the mysteries of our Triune God as they are revealed to us prove the same. Amen.