Advent 1 - Ad Te Levavi

Text: Romans 13:8-14 and Matthew 21:1-9

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today begins the Advent season, so we started the service in a strikingly different way through the praying of the Litany. On our knees and in prayer, we lift our voices to God with pleas for His help and mercy. 

The somber tone conflicts with the world's busyness and holiday chatter. Children are feverishly writing their wish lists, and outwardly, adults are doing their best to make this the hap-happiest Christmas of all. 

An aspect of the Christmas season leads us to believe the façade that we can make the season bright. We can alter the course of time. We can put away all sadness. We can "gift" our way out of family turmoil and strife. 

Yet, still, as we move forward from Thanksgiving and look towards the stockings stuffed with joy and presents under the tree, we all wrestle with the feelings of unreturned love as Elvis Presley's rendition of Blue Christmas plays in the background. 

And this is one reason we begin the season of Advent the way we do, by realizing we are a broken people in need of help, love, and rescuing that cannot come from within nor from the hands of mere mortals. 

Did you catch today's collect at the end of the Litany? We prayed, 

Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection, we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty deliverance.

The first item I would turn your attention to is how the prayer begins, “Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come.” Throughout Advent, three of the four collects start with the words, “Stir up Your power, O Lord.” The Latin here is, Excita, which means to excite or rouse. It’s an urgent plea (like the pleas for mercy within the Litany) for saving and rescuing. And it’s addressed directly to the Son of Man, the second person of the Trinity, to come and rescue us from the threatening perils of our sin. 

The prayer ultimately redirects us to examine ourselves inwardly, to realize, as the Epistle brings to light, that we have not fulfilled the requirements of the Law because we have not loved others as we sincerely ought. 

Sadly, what truly excites us throughout this life is the sin that continues to dwell within us from birth.

However, the Apostle Paul warns, “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” In other words, you know Christ has already come bodily in the manger, and now you must guard against falling into the sleep of unbelief. 

So Paul continues, “let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

Paul says the time has come for you to be aroused from your sleep, confess your sin, and cast off the works of darkness. And you should begin to do this through confession and absolution before those you have failed to love as before God. 

Now, while only six sins or works of darkness are listed within the Epistle, don't look for loopholes. They are ultimately linked as a chain to others. For where excess resides, immorality and wickedness often follow in your life. As the eyes of man stare wildly at another, not their own, so your hands, feet, and all your members are quick to follow into sexual sin. Likewise, jealousy, anger, and hatred manifest when quarreling exists -we can easily see this within the home or work. 

So, what are we to do? Pray as we did today, “Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty deliverance.”

In other words, dear Jesus, rescue us from ourselves! 

And that is what Jesus processes into Jerusalem to do as the words of the prophet Zechariah are fulfilled, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9)

Jesus enters Jerusalem to be led to the cross out of love for you, to fulfill the Law you cannot, to save you. As Luther writes regarding this procession of Christ, “Here there is no violence, no armor, no power, no anger, no wrath. . . . Here there are only kindness, justice, salvation, mercy, and every good thing” (AE 20:94).”

The great struggle for us is that we often fail to feel the love our neighbors have for us, and in return, we fail to show them the kindness, justice, salvation, and mercy that we receive from Christ Jesus. And I believe this is due to the reality that we attempt to love others apart from His cross. 

The gift-giving, the time with family, and the joys of traditions of the season are all beautiful gifts for us here on earth. But the truth is that apart from Christ and His cross, one cannot truly define, understand, receive, or give love to another as one ought.

That is because the love of Christ is manifested in the giving of Himself upon the cross of Calvary, and that changes everything. Because now, those who have been baptized into Christ Jesus know that they were baptized into His death, and just as Christ was raised from the dead, they put on Christ as they were raised to walk in the newness of life. 

Still, as you walk through this life and this season of Advent, there is wrestling that continues within your heart, it’s a grappling of sin, and this struggle should stir up your heart and voice to join crowds that first Palm Sunday is praying, “Hosanna to the Son of David,’ that is, save us now!”

And by doing so, your pleas confess and exercise your trust that Jesus can and will save you. 

Now, the four Sundays of Advent all have Latin names, and they do, in fact, call us to approach Christmas differently than the world. The name of the First Sunday in Advent has historically been called Ad Te Levavi (Odd T LeVaVee), and the name is derived from Psalm 25, “To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You.” (Psalm 25:1)

As you journey through this Advent season, I want to encourage you to spend more time in prayer, not only alone but with family, friends, and this congregation. Because through prayer, you exercise the faith and trust Ad Te Levavi confesses. You learn to place your trust in Christ as individuals, as families, and as the body of Christ more deeply. 

Through your prayers, it will also be revealed that you cannot save yourself, put away your sadness, or gift your way out of turmoil and strife. 

Instead, your petitions will reveal that Jesus, your Immanuel, has saved you, put away all your sadness, and now He gives you the gift of Himself. He grants you His unfailing and enduring love here in the Sacrament of the Altar. 

So, as the days of Advent and life go on, when troubled and uncertain times appear, do not hesitate to call out, “Hosanna to the Son of David,’ save us now!”

Your Savior hears you, He has rescued you from your sin, and He will deliver you from this valley of sorrows and tears at His final Advent. +INJ+