Loving God, you remind us that those who trust in you will not be put to shame.  Continue to strengthen us in our faith by the power of the Holy Spirit, empowering us for all that you call us to do; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            A survey question for you today:  How many of you know about the Borg?... For the uninitiated, the Borg are featured on Star Trek: The Next Generation – a curious race who seem to be part flesh and part machine.  The goal of the Borg is assimilation of all other races, and their tag-line is “resistance is futile.”  And yet, all who encounter them do resist.  It seems that most of us really don’t like the idea of assimilation, and prefer to keep our own identity.

         While the Borg are a fictional race, the Babylonians are not.  The Babylonians (also known as the Chaldeans) have taken the majority of the Jewish people to Babylon and have been working hard to assimilate them.  Today we heard about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, which are not their real names.  In fact, do any of you happen to know what their given names actually are?... Their names are Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, which few people know because we always hear about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  Just like Jean-Luc Picard becomes Locutus of Borg, these are names that were given to them by the Babylonians.

         In their case, it is not just that they are given new names, but that their new names reflect the Babylonian gods.  Abednego, for example, means “servant of Nego/Nebo.”  Their original names, by contrast, all refer to the God of Israel – like Hananiah, which means “God is gracious.”  Thus, not only are they to live as slaves in a foreign land, they are also expected to learn the Chaldean language and to worship the Babylonian gods.

         Yet, the three men in today’s reading from Daniel have refused to be assimilated.  They may have learned the Chaldean language, and they may be dressed like Chaldeans, but when it comes to worshiping other gods, they refuse.  After all, the very first commandment tells them that they shall have no other gods.  And so, even with the threat of death, they refuse to worship any statue or any god other than the God of Israel.

         While we might not be asked to bow down and worship a golden statue, there certainly are some similar situations in our world today.  Christians who were captured by ISIS were given the choice to convert or die.  There have also been stories of gunmen entering churches or mosques and shooting people as they worship and pray.  In fact, in one case the gunman came in and asked, “Who’s willing to take a bullet for Jesus?”

         While I would certainly hope that none of us would find ourselves in those situations, it is worth asking ourselves how strong our faith would be.  Would we continue to confess Jesus as Lord, believing that God would rescue us from death, either in this world or the next? Or, would we try to find a loophole that would allow us to escape the threat of death?

         It is interesting to note that the three men who face off against Nebuchadnezzar do not definitively say that God will rescue them.  The wording we find in Daniel is this:

If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up (Dan. 3:17-18).

There is a big “if” there.  Still, they would rather be in God’s hands than anywhere else.

         Of course, in their case things play out in such a way that God’s intervention is obvious.  Not only do they survive the fire, but not one hair is singed and they don’t even smell like they’ve been in a fire!  And then there is that strange fourth person who appears in the fire with them.  Even Nebuchadnezzar seems to know that this must be an angel.  The entire episode cannot be described as anything other than a miracle.  At the same time, it is also a story of great faith.

         As we begin the season of Advent and as we celebrate 20 years for St. Luke’s Zion, there are a number of situations in front of us that call for great faith.  In the reading from Daniel today, and also in our gospel verses, there is the kind of faith that is firmly placed in God even when threatened with torture or death.  And in each case, this faith is not misplaced, for God has power over life and death.

         Advent is also a time to remember the kind of faith that it took to believe God’s promises over hundreds of years spent waiting and longing for a Saviour.  It seems to me that there has also been some waiting and longing connected with this congregation, always hoping that eventually the city would come back to the original plan to expand in this direction.  And now, it is finally happening.

         However, the kind of faith that is perhaps most important today is the faith that trusts in God’s future.  God has plans for us, as we heard last week, and as long as we keep asking what God’s future looks like, we have nothing to fear.  God has plans for us as individuals, and God has plans for this congregation, so that we can continue to share God’s love with all people.  Our job is to continue to pray, and to hope, and to discern, and to listen to the Holy Spirit, for those who seek shall find.

         Let us then continue to walk in faith, allowing God to do the leading, and trusting in the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.  Amen.

Advent 1 (NL 4)                                                                    Daniel 3:1, 8-30

December 3, 2017                                                              John 18:36-37

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2017 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved