For Advent this year, we are focusing on the Charles Wesley hymn, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.” In our hymnal, it’s the first hymn in our Advent section.
Charles Wesley wrote this hymn in 1744 and as we mentioned before, it’s a hymn that is meant not only to prepare us for Jesus’ birth. It’s also a hymn to prepare us for Jesus’ 2nd coming.
There are only two verses of this hymn and notice that Charles Wesley doesn’t use words describing the manger scene in these verses. You’ll find no mention of a manger or shepherds or angels.
And I think this is very intentional for Charles Wesley, because he doesn’t want us to only focus on the birth of Christ. He also wants this hymn to point us to that future time when God will send Jesus again, to establish God’s reign as fully on earth as it is in heaven.
This is the ultimate good news of our faith, that one day Jesus will come again and establish his loving and gracious kingdom of justice, mercy, and peace on earth.
This is what Advent is all about; anticipating the coming of Jesus into the world at his birth as well as anticipating that future time when Jesus will come again and make all things new. And this is why this is such a powerful hymn for us to sing during these weeks leading up to Christmas. It reminds us of this bigger picture of our faith.
Last Sunday, our focus was on the first phrase from verse one, the phrase, “Born to set thy people free; from our fears and sins release us.” And we talked about how the coming of Christ into the world is more than simply celebrating a miraculous birth. It’s about the good news that God sent us Jesus to set us free from our fears and our sins.
And this is why this four week season of Advent is so important. It gives us time to reflect on our fears, our sins, and our shortcomings so that we can take a deeper look within ourselves to see those areas of our lives that are in need of healing, wholeness, and transformation.
Jesus was born to set us free from our fears and sins. We are released as the hymn says. And this leads us to the very next phrase from that hymn where Charles Wesley writes, “let us find our rest in thee.” When we are open to allowing Jesus to set us free from our fears and sins, we do find our rest in God.
The word, “rest” is an important biblical word that carries a lot of meaning. The word, “rest” reminds us of one of the Ten Commandments that tells us to honor the sabbath. We honor the sabbath by taking time out of our busy lives to rest and find renewal. Rest and renewal are the result of being being delivered from our fears and sins.
Our Hebrews scripture reading refers to rest and renewal when it writes about how the Israelites finally found rest when they made it to the Promised Land after that long forty year journey through the wilderness. But even then, the author of Hebrews points out that we are all to make every effort to enter that rest.
In other words, we are never really done entering that rest that God has in mind for us because life is a journey where we do need to rest along the way. Life isn’t meant to be a full out spring from beginning to end. We need to rest along the way. And we need to encourage each other to rest along the way.
Last winter, I started to feel emotionally and physically tired from pastoral ministry. I think the pandemic had a lot to do with it because it constantly required new ways of doing ministry. I shared this with a couple of people and they encouraged me to take more time off and find more rest and renewal.
I love preparing and delivering sermons but I realized that there were some other people who could fill in for me from time to time. It’s also good for the congregation to hear a different voice instead of just one person all of the time.
The other blessing that came from those extra times of rest was that when I came back to preach the next Sunday, I was on fire! My energy and passion were renewed. I feel more creative and alert. Word of warning though, watch out for those Sundays when I’m back after being away. They tend to be longer sermons!
Rest does wonders for our souls!
Preachers need rest and renewal! We all need rest and renewal along the way.
I never thought I’d use a “Leave It to Beaver” story as a sermon illustration especially in the season of Advent, but God works in mysterious ways.
I want to share a story about Tony Dow, the childhood actor who played the part of Beaver’s older brother, “Wally Cleaver.” You might have noticed in the news a couple of months ago that Tony Dow died from cancer at age 77. He was living in California.
The news of his passing took me down memory lane as I thought about that popular TV series. The series ended the year I was born but I loved watching the reruns during my childhood years and I still watch the show from time to time.
By the way, did you know that Hugh Beaumont, the actor who played Ward Cleaver, Beaver’s father was also an ordained Methodist pastor? See what you learn when you come to church?
Anyway, after the series ended in the early 1960s, that’s when Tony Dow started dealing with clinical depression. In an early 1990s interview, Tony said how six or seven years after the show had ended, he started to realize that he was becoming more irritable and was developing a bad attitude toward life.
He says there were days when he couldn’t get out of bed, couldn’t go to work or do anything. He was feeling a sense of worthlessness and hopelessness and the more he thought about it, the worse he felt. He said that depression ran in his family but that being a celebrity also added to his depression because he was always expected to smile and not be sad.
He also said that he noticed he was becoming more angry each day and he believes his anger is from his childhood acting days because he felt he didn’t have any control over his life. He also says his anger is from when people never recognized who he was as an adult, only as the character he played on “Leave It to Beaver.”
In one of his interviews later in life he said something I won’t forget. He said that a therapist helped him to understand that, “Anger turned inward leads to depression.” For Tony, it was his anger toward himself that was causing a lot of his depression. But thanks to therapy and proper medication, he was finally able to find some healing and lead a normal life.
I’m glad that Tony Dow was willing to be so vulnerable and share about his struggles with depression because all of us are in need of some kind of healing whether it be physical, emotional, mental, relational, or spiritual healing. All of us, including celebrities have some type of brokenness in our lives because we’re all human.
Finding rest isn’t just for those who are feeling broken. It’s for the high achievers among us as well. It’s for those who feel like they never have enough in the bank, never have enough success, never work long enough hours, never have a busy enough schedule.
Tony Dungy who is now a sports commentator was a very successful NFL head coach missing the playoffs only twice during his very successful 13 year head coaching career which included a Super Bowl victory when he was with the Indianapolis Colts.
When asked why he decided to retire when he was achieving all of this success, he said that it was one of the most difficult decisions he ever made but he knew it was time. Why? Because he said how success can be addictive and you can never get enough of it. It sounded like Tony just needed some rest.
This is what Advent and Christmas help us to do in our faith. It’s not about adding more holiday stress and pressure to our already way too busy lives. It’s about as Charles Wesley writes in the hymn, “Let us find our rest in thee.”
Let us find rest by slowing down during this busy holiday season and think about what areas of our lives are in need of healing:
What have people been trying to tell us about taking better care of ourselves but we have ignored them? What are some of the signs of stress that we have been experiencing but haven’t taken the time to address?
What are those unhealthy habits or patterns in our lives that are keeping us from experiencing joy and peace? What grief are we carrying in our hearts that we have yet to name so that we can find healing? What are those unspoken feelings that we keep to ourselves because of fear, pain, shame, or even anger at ourselves and others?
These are the questions of Advent because God wants us to find rest for our souls. God wants us to be released from our fears and sins. God wants us to be real so that we can receive the healing and renewal that will help us to be the people God has called us to be.
Our Hebrews scripture reading reminds us that Jesus is not a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but that we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are yet without sin.
This Savior who was born in a manger and who will come again not only sets us free from our fears and sins, but is also the one in whom we find our rest.
And this is why we sing, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.”
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus! Let Us Find Our Rest in Thee
O God of Love, come. On this the last Sunday of Advent and as the new day dawns, may we remember how your birth lit the darkness of night with the hope of freedom, the joy of a promise fulfilled. Be with us. Shine your light in our hearts so that we might know your wisdom, see your faithfulness, and believe in your creative, seemingly impossible ways. We ask this through Christ, our Savior and our love. Amen.
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