Last week, it sounded like I was getting Christmas confused with Easter. Today, if you look at the sermon theme, it looks like I'm getting Christmas confused with Halloween. A Joyful, Scary time? What could that be referring to? Could the same event be joyful and scary at the same time?

A couple years ago Tim Burton made a Christmas special which played with the idea of a scary, joyful time. He had some creepy characters for a Halloween special, which somehow found their way to Christmas town. The movie was called a Nightmare Before Christmas, obviously spoofing the poem, the Night Before Christmas.

A Nightmare before Christmas. Y'know, that's not such a bad description of what our reading is about. Maybe I would have violated some copyrights to name my sermon "A Nightmare before Christmas," but that would have been a good name. The reading definitely sounds like a nightmare, but look at the good stuff. Jesus speaks to His disciples and even more to the Christians who will see these things happening, "Straighten up, raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." Again, he says, 'When you see these things taking place, you know the kingdom of God is near."

Let's break it down, nice and simple to see how this could be seen as a nightmare before Christmas. Christmas is a joyful time, right? especially Christmas day for children. It's the day they had been patiently-and not so patiently-waiting for. All their hopes, will hopefully come true on Christmas day. And even if the presents under the tree don't match the items on the long list of "must haves," it's usually better than they expected.

Of course, Christmas is not the presents under the tree but the coming of the Christ. But putting it that way, the coming of the Christ is referring to another big event, the return of Christ, when He comes again. It will be huge because everyone will see it. And for those dressed in the robes of Christ's righteousness it will be fabulous. Better than even, yes, even Christmas day for children with all the presents. No matter what you expect His return to be like, it will be so much better. So, with that mind, we will call it a bigger Christmas.

So, we have the bigger Christmas we are looking toward. But remember, the name of the movie was Nightmare before Christmas, and it's not hard seeing the scary things in this reading. "Signs in the sun, moon, stars, people in perplexity, roaring of the sea and waves. Powers of the heaven being shaken." This is all the stuff that comes before the bigger Christmas. This is what sounds more like a nightmare, and demands the most discussion today.

Here are some questions to guide our discussion: "What are the signs?" "How will people react?" "What do they mean?" And maybe, "Why are we talking about it during the holiday season when everyone is gearing up to celebrate Christmas?"

Let's start with the last question, first. "Why are we talking about this when everyone else is talking about happy things?" Most of you are not surprised to hear talk like this because we are in Advent, but that doesn't mean you don't wish we could talk about something else. I could simply say, We are talking about it, because it's the reading for the second Sunday in Advent, but the next question would be "Why is it a reading in Advent?" The answer is related to what we talked about last week. Jesus comes to make peace between God and men, to destroy sin and death. All this end times talk points to the fulfillment of that peace. Peace was made at the cross, but when it will become apparent when He returns. That's when we will see the peace between God and us. That gives us good reason to talk about it. It gives deeper meaning to Christmas, and takes it from just Baby Jesus born in a stable.

I heard about a little child who happened to see a passion procession, a parade on Good Friday, where a man was carrying a cross, like Jesus had done. His parents never told him much about Jesus other than the little baby in the manger, so he never got beyond little Baby Jesus. When he saw this man carrying a cross and being abused, he asked his grandpa who that was supposed to be. That's supposed to be Jesus. The child was horrified. Baby Jesus? He did not know the name outside of Christmas, and it shocked him to hear the name again, but in this setting. He never would have dreamed this would happen to baby Jesus, because he had no idea why He had come. So, for this child, Christianity was whacked. Better to know why He has come right from the start. But then to take it further, to see He didn't come to simply die, but to break us free from the curse of sin, which comes with His return. So that's why we talk about it before Christmas.

So we can see it is coming, so we won't give up waiting for that day, praying for it to come, He gives us signs. The thing is, the signs are kind of scary. Here's the nightmare. Signs in the sun, moon and stars. Eclipses, that sort of thing. Strange things that are natural phenomena, but with increased frequency.

Have they increased? I don't know. We don't watch eclipses the same way as the ancients did. They always took it as a divine sign. Our view is much less supernatural. Any time there is an eclipse, we hear about it on the news, and maybe go out to observe it. Most of us probably wouldn't notice if they have increased or not.

But the roaring of the seas and the waves, definitely has increased. Ask Houston from this past summer, New Orleans, FL. They saw the sea coming in land, way in land. We are hearing about more earthquakes as well. Some might say, "It's better reporting. Reporters will go all over the world for a story. But if anything, our news is inclined to tell us less, because we don't have the time or energy to hear what is happening in other parts of the world. And yet, we hear more about these things anyway

What's the reason for all these natural disasters? Are the weather patterns shifting? Is the world getting warmer as they say?

I've heard we are to blame. We emit too much carbon. The polar ice caps are melting because humans use too much energy. Is it true? Is the world really warming up? Maybe what is being observed really is happening. Maybe there is global warming, and the earth really is warming up, but how much can we do about it? Can we really do anything? The little bit we can change our life styles is probably just that, a little bit, and will make little to no difference. And yet, people are panicking, saying "We have to do something."

Listen again to our Lord's words, "people fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world." Yes, that is definitely what is happening, and everyone is panicking by asking, "What can we do to make it better?"

Jesus said that would happen too. People would see it happening but deny its meaning. They may panic over what they are seeing, but when the end comes they will be completely caught off guard.

That's because they are not asking the right questions of the right people. They are not asking Christians or even people who believe in a god that speaks of an end. Instead, they act like there is no god. They act like they are the masters of their own destiny. They are saying, "This is all our doing. And therefore we can undo it."

As Christians, we know what these things mean. It means the end is getting really close. And instead of joining in the panic, listen to what Jesus says, "Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up, and raise your heads, for your redemption is drawing near." When everyone is running around like Chicken Little screaming "The sky is falling; the sky is falling," you can respond, "I know. I've been waiting for this."

Now, I'm not suggesting that you don't go green. Stewardship of the earth is a good thing. Take care of what the Creator has given you, but don't think you can do anything about changing what is coming. If anything, as you become more green and therefore more aware of environmental changes you will see even greater reason to believe the end is coming soon, and therefore be in an even better position to rejoice. Yes, rejoice. Your redemption is drawing near.

I'll admit, I went through some wild swings this week. When I first started working on this sermon earlier this week, I had this vague belief that the end could come during my day. That belief was shaken as I did my research for the sermon. I discovered Martin Luther believed it would come during his day, and he isn't the only one. This made me pretty skeptical. That was almost 500 years ago. If he was so convinced 500 years ago then I was coming to the conclusion that the signs were general enough that any Christian in any age could say the end is coming during his day.

But as I actually sat down to write this sermon, that changed--again. I looked around at our world, and it didn't take much to convince me again that even though the signs aren't terribly specific they are being fulfilled to the "T" right now. The world's concern to be green was all I needed to convince me. Yes, the world acknowledges that these disasters are increasing. But the panic we see in people and yet the denial that this is coming from God, made it undeniable as far as I am concerned. These signs are definitely happening now.

You don't have to believe it, but I'm convinced. As a result, I have reason for great joy. And if I'm right, you have reason for great joy! It means our redemption is drawing near.

Maybe I haven't convinced you. Maybe you still believe it is a long way off. Whether you believe Jesus will return during your lifetime or not makes no difference. What we all have in common is the desire for Him to return.

Blessed are those who mourn. Jesus said that in His sermon on the Mount. What do we mourn over? Sin-our desire to be free of a fallen world and more specifically, to be free of our sinful selves. To be without sin. All throughout the week, we are faced with our sinfulness. It is painful. We sin against our God continuously. We come to worship, to ask the very God we have offended for forgiveness and He gives it joyfully. It's not merely a reminder, but God actually forgives us again. Wonderful! But we still find ourselves sinning again, even as we are receiving it we may find our thoughts drifting into sin. And before we have had a chance to digest the bread and wine in which our Lord gives us His body and blood, we have sinned some more. We still find we give ourselves what we want first, denying ourselves little. Cheating another so we get what we want. Hurting other people, and shunning our Lord's will. We know we can come back next week and receive His forgiveness again and even taste a bit of heaven, but our soul longs for more. It yearns to no longer go through the pain of sinning.

This should be a description for all of us. If it is not a description for you, then speaking of signs, this is a big warning sign. Check yourself. Are you eager for his return or would you rather see it put off longer because you don't think you are ready?

But if this does describe you, if you mourn over your sinfulness, yearning to be without sin, then you are most prepared for His return. In fact, you are likely to look at these signs as like a young person in love. That young person looks at his or her crush and watches for anything that looks like a sign that the feeling is mutual. To see something would be the greatest joy, to know the beloved loves in return. So, the eagerness in watching these signs would be the same, to look at any sign and see it as the ones you hope for.

A nightmare? Not really. Even the nightmare part gives us cause to rejoice, as long as we continuously yearn for redemption. So, the nightmare before Christmas after all is not a nightmare. Scary? Yes, for those not in Christ, but not a nightmare. Rather it is the sign that Christmas, the big Christmas is coming, and our wildest dreams are going to be found, not under a Christmas tree, but will become the stuff of our lives.

AMEN