Scripture Readings
Isaiah 11:1-10
Romans 15:1-9
Matthew 3:1-12
I don’t know about you, but I am feeling particularly grateful for this season of Advent this year. In what has been a year filled with divisive and hateful rhetoric, acts of violence, and now much fear and uncertainty, I am grateful for the rich images and symbols that Advent surrounds me with. The light of a candle flame conquering the darkness. A voice of reason crying out in the wilderness. A green shoot coming out of a dead tree stump. A reconciled creation. Gifts of hope surround us in our celebration tonight.
Fitting that we too are in a literal time of darkness as the days grow shorter, until the celebration of Christ, the incarnation entering the world, and then the light comes back a little more each day. We all have times of darkness and despair in our life. Advent reminds us that even in the deepest darkness, we can kindle the flame of hope, because in the words of my friend Claire Hitchens, “our darkness is not darkness, in your sight Lord in your sight, our deepest, deepest night Lord, is clear as day light.” (listen here)
The prophet Isaiah and the community of Judah in our first reading tonight knew about living in dark times. They knew about despair and fear, living under an oppressive empire. Isaiah's audience for our first reading tonight has had their rulers cut down like the stump left after a felled tree. There seems to be little reason to hope or rejoice, and yet it is out of this context that Isaiah reminds them of the power and promise of their God, who is greater than any earthly ruler or structure. Out of what seems to be dead and barren, new life will spring forth. And not just any new life, but a new leader who clothed in the gifts of the Spirit who will bring justice and righteousness, filling the earth with the knowledge of the Lord and bringing peace.
Now the people of Israel and Judah came from an oral tradition; they were great storytellers. And during their darkest moments, they would often look back, to look forward, remembering and praising God for the ways that God fulfilled her promise to their ancestors. Living under an unjust empire, they would recall how God led them out of Egypt and into the promised land. While being slaughtered and persecuted they would remember how God made a great nation from Abraham and Sarah with descendants to outnumber the stars. These stories reminded them of God’s promise that God is not only with them, but in the words of another great prophet, Jeremiah, has plans for them to prosper and not be harmed, will give them a future and a hope. Paul recognized this in his letter to the Romans we heard today, that all that was written in former days was to give us hope.
This tool of remembering our stories and looking back to cultivate hope is useful for all of us, and perhaps you have experienced it as well. When we are in our own moments of darkness and despair, when it feels hardest to find the hope of how things could possibly work out or get better, we are blessed to have those around us remind us of all we have already overcome, remind us of who we are and whose we are, remind us of God’s power, promise, and unfailing love.
Just recently I had two such experiences to draw me out of my own darkness and despair: one through the Call To Action Conference in Albuquerque and another at a special commitment ritual for a dear friend following her spiritual path. Surrounded by communities grounded in faith and hope, I was called out of myself and into the deeper reality of the Spirit of Life who is still just as present with us now as she was at the beginning of time. We shared stories of connection, life, reconciliation, and love. Being able to shift my consciousness from myself and my own worries, to the Spirit’s work in the world and reconnect to this larger web of light, life, and love that infuses all of creation, I was able to see and experience the hope that can only come from a deep connection to God and the infinite river of love that is always present for us to tap into.
Looking back at the stories of our ancestors in the bible, at the promises that they believed in even though they did not see them come to fruition, we have the benefit of knowing that a shoot did spring forth from the stump of Jesse, that people of all different backgrounds have been united through Christ, and that we have been gifted with the power of the Holy Spirit to bring about the kin-dom of heaven on earth. Who am I, of little faith, to doubt the power and promise of God in the world today? When I know that in just a couple weeks we will celebrate and remember how God’s infinite love did become incarnate in the person of Jesus, who through his life and message tuned us in to the reality of the kin-dom already present but not fully realized, and tasked us with continuing his holy work.
Advent provides us with a time to remember and prepare anew, to nurture hope so that we can act in faith as co-creators of God’s promise and plan for the world. And the hope we nurture this Advent season is not a passive or lazy hope. It is not a hope that allows us to sit back and wait for things to get better. No, the hope of Advent is an active, energizing hope, fueling a faith that calls us to act for justice here and now in order to bring about the shalom we are promised by our God. It is a hope that connects us to our ancestors and through their stories reminds us that with God, all things are possible. It is a hope fueled by knowledge, the lived experience, of a God who’s love is so big, and infinite, and mysterious that it took on flesh to fully enter into our human experience and free us from all that binds us and separates us.
I want to end with a beautiful quote I saw this week shared by one of our fellow ECC priests, that captures this idea: “Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future. Faith is having the courage to dance to it today.” When we are connected to the Spirit of Life, we can hear the music of a future where all people, and the whole of creation, can cooperate in harmony with one another. Let us have the faith to enter into this dance today, to live the promises of tomorrow. And so as we prepare to welcome Christ into the world anew, let us continue to nurture this active hope in one another to make the kin-dom of God that is already present and promised but not yet fully realized, a reality for all.
I don’t know about you, but I am feeling particularly grateful for this season of Advent this year. In what has been a year filled with divisive and hateful rhetoric, acts of violence, and now much fear and uncertainty, I am grateful for the rich images and symbols that Advent surrounds me with. The light of a candle flame conquering the darkness. A voice of reason crying out in the wilderness. A green shoot coming out of a dead tree stump. A reconciled creation. Gifts of hope surround us in our celebration tonight.
Fitting that we too are in a literal time of darkness as the days grow shorter, until the celebration of Christ, the incarnation entering the world, and then the light comes back a little more each day. We all have times of darkness and despair in our life. Advent reminds us that even in the deepest darkness, we can kindle the flame of hope, because in the words of my friend Claire Hitchens, “our darkness is not darkness, in your sight Lord in your sight, our deepest, deepest night Lord, is clear as day light.” (listen here)
The prophet Isaiah and the community of Judah in our first reading tonight knew about living in dark times. They knew about despair and fear, living under an oppressive empire. Isaiah's audience for our first reading tonight has had their rulers cut down like the stump left after a felled tree. There seems to be little reason to hope or rejoice, and yet it is out of this context that Isaiah reminds them of the power and promise of their God, who is greater than any earthly ruler or structure. Out of what seems to be dead and barren, new life will spring forth. And not just any new life, but a new leader who clothed in the gifts of the Spirit who will bring justice and righteousness, filling the earth with the knowledge of the Lord and bringing peace.
Now the people of Israel and Judah came from an oral tradition; they were great storytellers. And during their darkest moments, they would often look back, to look forward, remembering and praising God for the ways that God fulfilled her promise to their ancestors. Living under an unjust empire, they would recall how God led them out of Egypt and into the promised land. While being slaughtered and persecuted they would remember how God made a great nation from Abraham and Sarah with descendants to outnumber the stars. These stories reminded them of God’s promise that God is not only with them, but in the words of another great prophet, Jeremiah, has plans for them to prosper and not be harmed, will give them a future and a hope. Paul recognized this in his letter to the Romans we heard today, that all that was written in former days was to give us hope.
This tool of remembering our stories and looking back to cultivate hope is useful for all of us, and perhaps you have experienced it as well. When we are in our own moments of darkness and despair, when it feels hardest to find the hope of how things could possibly work out or get better, we are blessed to have those around us remind us of all we have already overcome, remind us of who we are and whose we are, remind us of God’s power, promise, and unfailing love.
Just recently I had two such experiences to draw me out of my own darkness and despair: one through the Call To Action Conference in Albuquerque and another at a special commitment ritual for a dear friend following her spiritual path. Surrounded by communities grounded in faith and hope, I was called out of myself and into the deeper reality of the Spirit of Life who is still just as present with us now as she was at the beginning of time. We shared stories of connection, life, reconciliation, and love. Being able to shift my consciousness from myself and my own worries, to the Spirit’s work in the world and reconnect to this larger web of light, life, and love that infuses all of creation, I was able to see and experience the hope that can only come from a deep connection to God and the infinite river of love that is always present for us to tap into.
Looking back at the stories of our ancestors in the bible, at the promises that they believed in even though they did not see them come to fruition, we have the benefit of knowing that a shoot did spring forth from the stump of Jesse, that people of all different backgrounds have been united through Christ, and that we have been gifted with the power of the Holy Spirit to bring about the kin-dom of heaven on earth. Who am I, of little faith, to doubt the power and promise of God in the world today? When I know that in just a couple weeks we will celebrate and remember how God’s infinite love did become incarnate in the person of Jesus, who through his life and message tuned us in to the reality of the kin-dom already present but not fully realized, and tasked us with continuing his holy work.
Advent provides us with a time to remember and prepare anew, to nurture hope so that we can act in faith as co-creators of God’s promise and plan for the world. And the hope we nurture this Advent season is not a passive or lazy hope. It is not a hope that allows us to sit back and wait for things to get better. No, the hope of Advent is an active, energizing hope, fueling a faith that calls us to act for justice here and now in order to bring about the shalom we are promised by our God. It is a hope that connects us to our ancestors and through their stories reminds us that with God, all things are possible. It is a hope fueled by knowledge, the lived experience, of a God who’s love is so big, and infinite, and mysterious that it took on flesh to fully enter into our human experience and free us from all that binds us and separates us.
I want to end with a beautiful quote I saw this week shared by one of our fellow ECC priests, that captures this idea: “Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future. Faith is having the courage to dance to it today.” When we are connected to the Spirit of Life, we can hear the music of a future where all people, and the whole of creation, can cooperate in harmony with one another. Let us have the faith to enter into this dance today, to live the promises of tomorrow. And so as we prepare to welcome Christ into the world anew, let us continue to nurture this active hope in one another to make the kin-dom of God that is already present and promised but not yet fully realized, a reality for all.
Amen
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