Good morning, Friends! I hope you’re all doing well this week. Did everybody enjoy your Thanksgiving?
Believe it or not, today is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent is the season of preparing for the birth of Jesus.
As I said in the December newsletter that went out this week, Reindeer are not mentioned in the Bible. Santa Claus doesn’t appear in either Luke or Matthew. Christmas trees, little drummer boys and chestnuts roasting on open fires probably weren’t present in the stable.
I always want everyone to have fun at Christmas. I want you all to have joy, and peace, and love. I don’t want to take anybody’s candy cane away. But let’s remember the true reason for the season. Christmas is about Christ. If it weren’t for Jesus, there wouldn’t be any Christmas. But sometimes, it’s hard to get in the true Christmas spirit.
Today is the last day of November. I don’t know about you all, but for me, November has been a pretty overwhelming month. We started with the Arts and Crafts show. That was really big. We had the BBQ. That was great!
I officiated at a wedding and two funerals. We finally closed on the sale of the Allen Jay house. Our son-in-law was sworn in as a U.S. citizen, which ended over a year of anxiety for our family.
Last week, our family added a new member – our little great-niece was born, after a difficult, high-risk pregnancy. She spent her first few days in the NICU, but she came home just in time for Thanksgiving, and our whole family is thankful.
This month I was sick for over a week. Two Sundays ago, you all could barely hear my voice. Our family cooked for two days for Thanksgiving. And like most of you all, we had Thanksgiving dinner, and then we had leftovers for two days afterward.
There’s lots of other stuff that happened this month, that I’m not even going to try to list. But almost none of it had much to do with getting ready for Christmas.
Finally, on Friday this week, I hung up the Christmas wreaths here at the meetinghouse, and put up the candles in the windows.
I always love the window candles. We got them the first year that I was here at Springfield. Most of you all don’t see them lit up because you don’t drive past here at night. But they change the character of the whole neighborhood.
People drive by, and they see the lights in the windows. And they know that this is a church, and that we’re alive. The first year Joyce and I were here, nobody on Springfield Road put up Christmas lights. The whole street was dark. We were the only ones on the whole street who put up lights.
We thought maybe it might cause a problem. We thought maybe we might get singled out. Maybe someone would try to break in to our house because we put up lights.
But the next year, two or three other houses on the street put lights up. Now, almost every house in the neighborhood does.
Light can be infectious. Light, and love, and peace, and joy and hope can all be infectious.
You just have to let your light shine, Jesus said. Remember, it’s our job to be a light to the world. Don’t spread darkness and fear. Don’t spread rumors and hate. Share the light. Speak the truth. Share even just a single ray of hope.
Christmas isn’t about commercialism. It’s really about Christ. Jesus is the true reason for the season.
At the beginning of Advent, we usually read about John the Baptist. John was Jesus’ cousin. And before Jesus came onto the stage, John was considered the greatest prophet since Elijah, who lived almost 900 years before John and Jesus.
900 years is a long time to wait. There were other prophets, in between. But Elijah was the greatest. But when John came, people realized that something big and new was happening. People woke up. They didn’t know what was coming. But they could feel that something was in the air.
People had always believed that Elijah was coming back. After they’d listened to John for a while, people reckoned that John was the Promised One. But John said, “I’m only a messenger. I’m here to tell you that the Promised One is coming!”
John said, “You’ve got snakes among you! Clear them out! Prepare the way of the Lord!”
John said, “It’s not enough for you to claim to be descendants of Abraham! I tell you, God can raise up a whole new generation of descendants of Abraham, to receive his promises!
“But I’m not the Promised One,” John said. “The one who comes after me? I’m not even worthy to untie his shoes. I baptize you with water, but he’s going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with the fire of God. He’s going to shake you all out, the wheat from the chaff. Prepare the way!”
Even before John came, there were promises made. Let me read to you from the last chapter of the last book of the Jewish scriptures. This is from the prophet Malachi, and these are the closing words about what people were told to expect.
I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or like lye soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.
Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents
- Malachi 3:1-4, 4:5-6a
The Christmas season is many things. We all love our songs. We love our decorations. We love our Christmas pageants.
We love our presents. Our presents are a reminder of the gifts that the wise men brought to the stable. They’re a reminder of the love we have, for our family and our friends. Our presents are also a reminder that Jesus is God’s gift to the world, the greatest gift of all.
Our scripture reading today reminds us that Advent is the season of hope. It’s the season when we hope to see that Christ is in our world. He is the Promised One. He is the Savior that the world needs so much.
When we talk about hope, that means so many things to different people.
Most of us have what I would call gentle hopes. We hope for simple things that are close to our hearts. We all want a good life. We want our children to be strong and healthy and successful.
We want our homes to be safe. We want our table to be blessed. We want to be able to go to sleep in peace, and we want each new day to be a good one.
Those are what I call gentle hopes.
People also have what I call troubled hopes. These are hopes we all have at times, when we’re in trouble, when we hope and pray for help.
A troubled hope, is to hope and pray for people who are seriously ill. It’s a hope and a prayer for people who need a job. A troubled hope is for people who are going through loss or grief.
What I’m talking about here, is when we’re in trouble, but we know there’s going to be light at the end of the tunnel. We’re in trouble, but we know that God can help us out. Things are serious, but we know that God can make good things happen.
Gentle hope and troubled hope are both real. It’s a matter of degree. It’s a difference in the level of anxiety.
There’s also what I want to call desperate hope. Desperate hope is when people are dying.
It’s hope when there’s an illness that seems incurable. It’s hope when a nation is being torn apart. It’s hope and prayer when people are being battered or abused.
Desperate hope is when there’s been a huge natural disaster. It’s when a human being is being destroyed by addiction. Desperate hope is when the train has already left, the war is all around us, and there’s no where else to go.
These are all 100% real. Gentle hope, troubled hope and desperate hope. At one time or another, we all know them.
And Advent is – what did I say it is? Advent is the season of hope.
Hope is what tells us that even if we don’t see the light, that light still exists. Light is real. And hope says, we will see it. We will see the light, with our own eyes. Some day, even if it’s not today. We will see the light.
Hope is what tells us to look up, not just stare at the mess on the ground at our feet. Lift up your eyes, and see the Lord.
One of the early Quakers, George Fox, said, “Sing and rejoice, you children of the day and of the light; for the Lord is at work in this thick night of darkness that can be felt. The Truth flourishes like the rose, and lilies grow among the thorns. . .Never heed the tempests and storms, floods and rains, for Christ is over them all, and Christ reigns. So, be of good faith, and be valiant for the truth. . .” (Epistle, 1663)
We are here, because Fox and others like him had hope, when they were arrested and thrown into prison.
And we are here, in this very place today, because a our spiritual ancestors here had hope, and crossed the ocean, and came here looking for a place to build their homes and worship in freedom.
And we are here, because people of faith had hope, and built this church, when they were few in number – even fewer than we are here today.
Hope says that Jesus is coming, that Jesus is to be trusted, that Jesus is still at work in the world today.
Hope says, “I know the one I have faith in, and I am sure that he can guard until the last day what he has entrusted to me.” (1 Timothy 1:12)
It is our job to be messengers of hope.
Do you know of someone in your family who is in trouble? Pray for them every day this week.
Do you know someone here in this church, or a neighbor or friend, who’s lonely or afraid? Send them a card this week, or give them a call.
Do you know someone who’s out of a job, or sick and can’t go to work? Bring a meal to them. Share what you can.
Next Sunday is our monthly collection for the food pantry. Let’s make it a big one! Let’s help people who are going hungry, families who have empty kitchens, or children who need food on the weekend. Bring some hope to people who need it!
And while you’re in the store, while you’re getting groceries or doing your Christmas shopping, if you see someone who doesn’t look like they’re happy, smile at them.
Hope is a gift you can give in so many ways, whether it’s a word or a smile or a call or a gift.
When you bring hope to someone, you are a messenger of Christ. You are a messenger of hope. You are doing Jesus’ work. You are sharing his love, and bringing hope to the world.