Good morning, Friends! It’s seventeen days till Christmas! Somehow, Christmas seems to have sneaked up on a lot of us this year. It’s been kind of like, “Yeah, yeah, sure, OK, got it covered, not a problem,” and then, WHOOSH! All of a sudden Christmas is rushing towards us.
I don’t feel ready for it somehow. I was a week late, putting up my outside lights over next door. We started out last week using last year’s Advent candles, because I forgot to buy new ones a month ago. This week someone came to the rescue and bought us some new ones this week, when the old candles had burned down so far they were about to set fire to the Advent wreath.
We are getting our decorations up. We are going to have Christmas! But it still feels like we’re catching up, and we need to take time to get into the real meaning of Christmas.
Every time I say that, I always feel kind of like the Grinch. Whenever I start talking about the real meaning of Christmas, I see people sink lower into your seats. “Here he goes again.” I can almost read what you’re thinking. “He’s going to do all that preacher-style trash talk about things that I enjoy!”
Well, I love all the same things that you do. I love presents, and carols, and lights, and family. I love all the special treats and Christmas recipes. I like decorating the tree, and all that great stuff. I just want to remind you there’s even more.
We always need to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. Maybe for some people, Christmas is just a big commercial enterprise. But for Christians, it’s so much deeper. There’s so much more.
So, enjoy everything. But listen! Because the greatest gift of all is still to come.
This morning, I want to read to you from the prophet Isaiah. For hundreds of years before the first Christmas, people were waiting for a Savior.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her slavery is past, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
A voice says, “Cry out.”And I said, “What shall I cry? We humans are like grass, and we last no longer than flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely, we are like grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”
There is good news for God’s city! Shout it from the highest mountain! You who bring good news, lift up your voice, don’t be afraid; say to all the towns of Judah,“Your God is here!”
See, the Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, he rewards his people, and he brings with him the people he has rescued.
He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.”
Isaiah 40:1-11
Advent is basically the season of hope. Not just hoping for Christmas presents. It’s the season of hope for God to come.
We talk about Advent being the season to prepare for the birth of Jesus. But really, Jesus’ birth came as a huge surprise to the world.
At the time, most people never noticed. Jesus’ birth didn’t make any headlines. The only people who really cared, at the time, were his parents, a few shepherds, a few wise guys, and, of course, the God’s infinite heavenly host and all his angels.
What people did have, back then, was hope. They didn’t know how. They didn’t know when. But they believed that God was going to do something special, something extraordinary. They believed that God cared about them, that God wouldn’t leave them hanging, that God would help them somehow.
Isaiah’s words were written at least 500 years before the birth of Jesus. But these words were a beacon of hope to people for generations. They remembered these words of hope during their endless exile. They remembered them in times of poverty and oppression. They read them after their country had been invaded and defeated.
Hope is like a secret candle, burning in the darkness. It’s what we hang on to, when everything else is lost. Hope is treasuring the memory of what God has done, and believing that God can do great things again.
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her slavery is past, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”
Those are the opening words of this morning’s reading. They’re not written to people who have arrived safely. They’re not written to people who are already comfortable.
They’re written to people who are in desperate need of help, who have lost everything they have. Hope, for these people, means being given their life back. Hope is a lifeline in a time of despair.
“A voice cries out: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. . .”
What God is going to do isn’t going to happen in the places where our old success stories took place. Hope doesn’t blossom where people are comfortable and prosperous.
It happens in places where no one would ever think it could happen. Not in the Temple. Not in the holy city. But in the wilderness. Out in the desert.
Hope really means something when we’re not hopeful. Hope is something we cling to, when we’re really in trouble.
When things have already gone wrong, when the worst has happened, when it’s dark and there’s no lifeboat and no ship on the horizon – that’s when hope helps to save us.
“Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.”
All of the obstructions you see so clearly will be gone, Isaiah says. All the unbridgeable valleys and the deep canyons you think you never could cross, will be filled in. All the reasons you think couldn’t succeed, are going to be bulldozed by God.
Do you think you can’t succeed? Do you think things will never get better? Do you ever feel defeated and forgotten? All the way across the landscape of impossibilities, Isaiah says that a new interstate highway is coming through – a broad, clear highway where God’s people can walk.
What is impossible for us, is easy to God, because with God, all things are possible. Families with no children can have a child. Grief that seems unbearable can get better. As impossible as it seems, death doesn’t have the last word. Things which were about to destroy us, can melt away.
“And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
This is what Christmas means. It’s not just about presents. It’s about glory.
It’s going to happen. It’s going to take place. God’s glory, which has been hidden, will be revealed, to everyone. The whole world will see what’s going on.
That’s hope, folks. That’s expectation. That’s faith that God is really going to do, what God has promised. That’s a hope that we hand down, like a jewel, to our children and to our grandchildren.
God’s day is coming. Get ready for it! You may not see it yet, but it’s on the way. It’s been promised. And God’s promises never fail.
Isaiah talks a lot, both here and in other places, about human failure. Isaiah says we’re like grass – it grows green in the spring time, but it fades and withers away.
Even the strongest of us feels that way sometimes. We get tired. We lose heart. We give up. But “the word of our God will stand forever. . .” That’s hope!
“There is good news for God’s city!”, Isaiah says. “Shout it from the highest mountain!”
Hope means not keeping it quiet. Jesus used to say, “Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered. Nothing is secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell it in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim it from the housetops. . .” (Matthew 10:26-27)
Whenever we feel a whisper of hope, we need to share it. Whenever we see a glimmer of light, we need to tell other people about it. Hope is meant to be shared. It’s a gift. Part of our job is to lift each other up, by sharing the hope that we feel.
We all feel down at times. Sometimes we feel unbearably down, for long periods of time. When we feel that way, it’s a gift when someone lifts us up or shares a word of hope with us. And when we feel hope, it’s our job to help other people, and not keep it to ourselves.
Part of what we do, here, in meeting for worship, is to wait for God to bring us the gift of hope. It may be just a single word, or a brief message. It may be a feeling, without words.
When we feel hope, it’s our job to share it, to share it explicitly, with our words and with our actions, so that other people will be lifted up as well.
We are the messengers of hope sometimes. We are the ambassadors God gives the message to. You may not feel like an ambassador. You may feel you’re just ordinary. But it’s our job to lift up our voices. It is our job to shout from the roof tops, or to whisper in the dark, or to light a candle, or to share a gift.
Our job is to share God’s hope. It’s that simple. Our job is to keep God’s hope alive.
I have known people who, no matter how old they are, they have never given up at sharing hope with whoever they see, every day. I have known people who literally, with their last dying breath, have never given up on God, who have passed on their hope as their final gift.
Are you willing to be that kind of ambassador? Are you willing to be someone who share’s God’s hope?
You may not feel that you’re strong enough, or that you’ve got the right words. You may not feel like a herald, or an ambassador. Most of us feel like – well, just me. But see, it’s not who we are. It’s what the message is. The message is faith. The message is joy. The message is hope.
It’s not about us. It’s sharing that God loved us so much, that he sent his only son into the world. It’s sharing that God is really alive, that God really cares, that God can really help.
You can be an ambassador of hope, no matter who you are, whether you’re old or young. Our church can be a lighthouse, a light on a hill, whether we’re big or small.
Our job is to share light and hope, in every way we can, every day, with everyone we meet.
And then the section we read today finishes up with a wonderful image. “The Lord will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them close to his heart, and gently lead those who are with young. . .”
God isn’t just mighty warrior, or a triumphant king. God is also the good shepherd, the one who cares for us. God isn’t just the Lord of power and might, but the God of love.
God will never abandon us, any more than a shepherd would abandon his flock, any more than a mother would ever forget her children. God never forgets us. God never lets us go.
These are times when hope seems kind of hard to come by. So many people are in trouble. So many people are out of hope. What we need to remember is that hope isn’t about strength. Hope is about faith, and expectation.
When we don’t see the next step, when we’re afraid that the next thing we do, we’ll be hurt worse, when fear says we’re about to drop down a bottomless hole or fall off a cliff, hope says we need to trust that God is really there.
It’s OK if we’re not very strong – hope tells us to rely on God.
It’s OK if we’re poor or if we don’t have a lot of resources – hope says that God has all the resources we need.
It’s OK if we feel lost – hope says that God’ll give us directions. We just have to stop and ask. We just need to be willing to listen and be led.
Our weakness is an opportunity for God to give us strength. Our fear is an opportunity for God to give us hope. God can turn the tables on just about anything. God can turn anything to advantage.
Advent is the season of hope. It’s the time when we remember that the promises of God always come true.
One of the early letters of the church says, “Pay attention to these things, like a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. . .” (2 Peter 1:19) Jesus is the morning star. We need to hang on, and hope, until God’s promises come true for us.
Different people of faith, down through the ages, have all said the same thing. Poets and prophets have talked about God as a tender shepherd, as a nursing mother, as a light in darkness, and as a rock to stand on. God has been described as wisdom, as power, as justice, truth and freedom.
We know, because we hope, that God has never given up on us. We look around with our eyes, and we can see that God’s world is more beautiful than anything we could invent or imagine. God’s love has been hard at work for longer than we will ever know.
It’s time for us to believe. It’s time for us to hope. It’s time for us to feel that hope, and pray that hope, and share that hope.
Later in this same chapter, Isaiah says:
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. God does not faint or grow weary; God’s wisdom can’t be measured. God gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. . .Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. . .” (Isaiah 40:28-29, 41:10)
Yes, it’s getting to be time for Christmas. Just remember, what it’s all about.