IS IT ALL PLANNED?
Romans 8:18-30

A sermon given by the Rev. Richard H. Taylor
December 18, 2005 / 4th Sunday of Advent

In the letter to the Galatians Paul says, “when the fullness of the time had come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.” “When the time had fully come, God sent forth his son.”

When Paul writes about Christmas, he seems to write with such a grandeur, such a wide sweep of things: God has this incredible plan, worked out in every detail, time and place. In this grand design, “when the time had fully come, God sent forth his son.” The pageant moves forward to its climax, mysterious, yet precise.

There is an awesome assurance in believing it is all planned. There are no worries or decisions. It all moves forward unto that place where we all are at rest.

It is attractive, isn't it? But I wonder.

Is your Christmas all planned? Every detail? Has some grand design been put in place to explain which turkeys will be burned, which presents we will forget to purchase, whose cars will slide on the ice on the way to the party, and whose husbands will drink too much and throw up the eggnog? Is it all planned? Are what seem like our strongest passions, merely the pull of our preset marionette strings?

Some people in our society believe it is all planned. They tell me so. They say “God put this in my life for a reason.” More often they say it as a question, “Why is God doing this to me?” They say, if one family gets to go to Disneyland , and another family doesn't, God planned it that way. If the house next door catches fire and spreads to your house, God planned it that way. God becomes the inspiration for every criminal, the spreader of every polluting substance, the fate behind every catastrophe. I have stood too many times in hospital emergency rooms and heard about how God appointed a drunken driver to accept it any more.

And so we have this modern cloud that has spread over our liberal churches. We want to believe it is all planned. When our children scrape their knees we kiss them and say, “don't worry, it will be all right.” We ache inside wanting that to be true. But as adults we think it isn't. As adults we know humans have responsibility. As adults we know that people have free will. We are too well educated to hide the reality that global warming, and the spread of militarism, and the decision to commit a crime are human and intentional and could be stopped if we could learn to say “no.” We want a plan for our children, but we can't force it to happen.

And so Christmas becomes a masquerade, a fantasy that we produce for the children, so that they may be hopeful, and full of promise, and radiant, and idealistic. Only later will they encounter the speed bumps of maturity.

But I still believe there is a plan. It must be hard to imagine that I mean that after all I just said. And I don't want to retract it. But I tell all my friends I am in the Calvinist tradition, at which they mostly smirk or laugh. For after all, John Calvin has been excluded from the halls of modern discourse primarily because he is considered the most noteworthy devotee of predestination. Now I must admit that my ideas about predestination are not identical with Calvin's. But I still can say I believe in a predestination. And in this modern age, this may be one of the last times you get to hear from a preacher who will call himself a Calvinist.

Let me show you the predestination I find in the Bible. While Romans 8 feels like a text about pregnancy, while it feels like an Advent text, here we find these words: “For those whom [God] foreknew [God] also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that [Christ] might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom [God] predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Those whom God foreknew, that must be everybody, because I think God knew when you were knit together in your mother's womb. Those whom God foreknew – that's everybody - he also predestined. Predestined to what? What destiny did God plan for you before you were born? That you would be “conformed to the image of his Son.” God planned it that you can be like Jesus. And what is Jesus? Jesus is God's loved one, cared for, walks in God's presence. What did God plan for you before you were born? That you would be loved. That you would be cared for. That you would be able to walk in God's presence. What did God plan, what did God predestine for your children? That they be loved. That they be cared for. That they be able to walk in God's presence. That all of us will be one big beloved family.

The plan of God is not every little detail. The plan of God is not every single event. The plan of God is the goal, and the goal is that you be loved. Now true, sin comes along and interferes with that. Some children may grow up not knowing that God's plan is that they be loved. But that doesn't change the ultimate and eternal plan. The ultimate and eternal plan is that all be loved, all be cared for, and that is the destiny that we are living towards. That is the future hope that will one day be finally revealed. When we arrive at the fulfillment of God's plan, everyone will be loved, everyone will be cared for, everyone will walk in God's presence.

Now this hope may not be seen yet. But anyway, who hopes for what they see? So if we do not see it, we wait for it.

And Paul then outlines not only what is the destiny that God is working at is: love and care for all, but he outlines the steps that God has designed to move us to that destiny. Let's just touch on the first step today. Those whom God has predestined God has also called. Okay says God, you are destined to be loved and loving. Therefore, since that's where you are going, come follow me. You are destined to be like Jesus. Jesus followed God. So God says to you, come follow me.

God calls Mary, God calls Joseph, God calls shepherds, God calls wise folk, come, look, follow. If we are all moving on the path to love and care, then come follow me on the path to love and care. Come and take the hike. Come and join the journey. The way the destiny is fulfilled is as we come and follow, as we learn the way of love, as we walk in the way. That is your destiny. That is how it is fulfilled. That is what you were designed for.

Before the stars shone, before creation itself, God designed and planned love. In the star dust God designed you for love. The intention of God is that every person be like Jesus; that every person know they are loved by God, and that God is in them; that every person walk in God's holy and loving ways. That's the plan. That's the destiny. Hear the plan. Hear the call. Accept the journey.

The plan for your Christmas is that everyone be loved, that everyone be cared for, that peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling. The time has fully come. Fulfill your destiny. Hear the call.

Amen.