"Living with Hope in Advent" - December 7, 2014

“Living with Hope in Advent"

December 7, 2014

Rev. Katelyn B. Macrae

Richmond Congregational Church UCC http://www.rccucc.org 

Texts: Isaiah 40:1-11; Mark 1: 1-8

Prayer: Dear God, may the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight. O God our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Amen.

On this second Sunday of Advent our theme is Hope.

There is a great Chinese proverb, “Plant trees under whose shade you will not sit.” This proverb is one way of talking about what it is to live with hope.

Sometimes hope is joyful. When we plant a tree, teach a child how to read, or begin a project for the benefit of someone else, we experience the joy and potential present in that distinct moment, all the while knowing that we may not see the true fruits of our labors.

Living with hope is often  joyful, but it can also be frustrating at times.  For those who were impacted by construction and paving on Route 2 this summer, we know what it is to hope for a project to come to completion even when we still cannot fully see its results.

Hope – is such a fabulous, wonderful, weighty, even complicated concept. So in an effort to better understand Hope, today let think about what each letter might represent to us as we live with Hope in this Advent Season. 

H, the first letter in Hope, is for humble and honest. As we begin the second week of Advent, our texts from Isaiah and Mark remind us that Advent is a penitential season and it requires preparation. Nacham, the Hebrew word used for "comfort" in the opening words of Isaiah 40 is also translated as "repent.” It’s like the prophet Isaiah is saying, “Repent, but also take comfort, console yourself.” Nacham reminds us that we cannot automatically leap to the comfort and joy we hope to feel on Christmas Day without first getting ourselves ready.

We get honest in this season, honest with God, honest with ourselves, and even honest with our shopping budgets. When we humble ourselves in Advent, we get to the spiritual bottom line – are we ready for the Christ-child to come into the world again?

O, the second letter of Hope, could stand for overloaded, overworked, over consumed, overtired, overcommitted, and overburdened. These are some of the feelings we may also experience in this season where everything glimmers and sparkles and calls out for our attention.

But there are also other elements of this season more in line with HOPE –

O also stands for open, opportunity, and ongoing.

There’s a certain spirit present in this season (if we pay attention to it). People are more generous, more in tune, open to the possibility that things could indeed be different. I saw it yesterday at the Holiday Market standing outside ringing the bell for the Salvation Army bucket. With the snow falling down outside and people walking around joyfully, it felt really good to be a part of this community that seeks to support and encourage each other.

Because people seem to be more open and receptive this time of year, we have an opportunity as people of faith to proclaim, over the voices that say I’m overloaded, overworked, over consumed, overtired, overcommitted, overburdened and just plain out-of breathe, out of luck, out of hope, and over it - that Christ, Emmanuel, God-with-us, is coming into the world again.

In Advent, we also remember God’s ongoing endeavor to bring about peace and justice. This is what the Hebrew Prophets like Isaiah taught, and this is how Jesus taught us to live. For the past two weeks I’ve been following and praying for seminary friends and church colleagues on facebook who’ve been involved in peaceful demonstrations in Ferguson, MO and New York City. My heart breaks over and over again at the racism and violence which still plagues our nation. Their testimonies teach me that we still have a long way to go. But I also believe God hears the protesters’ cries for justice, and responds when people say, “We can’t breathe.” God wants us all to be able to breathe AND to have life and life abundantly. Martin Luther King said, “The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” King’s words are not an excuse for our present condition, but a powerful and necessary reminder that God’s work in the world is ongoing and God’s call to join in this work is also ongoing, not just in Advent, but every day.

The third letter of Hope, P, is for potential and persistence.

In the financial world, you hope for growth, and you invest in the potential of stocks and bonds – but you spread out your investments to minimize your risk. Depending on how close you are to retirement depends on how much risk you take – do you go with the volatility of putting your stocks in a technology start up, or do you go with more stable bonds?

But when it comes to our spiritual portfolios the advice is different. Instead of spreading things out to minimize risk and maximize potential returns we are urged to consolidate and put our hope into one thing – and that one thing is God! In Advent, we are reminded that Hope is a verb. We imagine the potential of what could be, but, as I noted above, sometimes realize we are a long way away from where we’d like to be, which is why our hope must be persistent.  

In the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul gives a great explanation of Hope ²⁴For in^* hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes^* for what is seen? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8: 24-25)

When we live with our Hope in God, we take the long view, we must be patient. We imagine the potential and invest in the possibility God is about to do a new thing in our midst, even though we can’t see it yet. Which leads to the last letter, E.

E is for Expectation.

Still in the beginning stages of this Advent season, there’s a whole lot of expectation going around. Many children write letters to Santa and put together Christmas Wish Lists with the hope (and the expectation) that on Christmas morning, Santa will have visited the house and there will be some presents that they asked for under the tree. There are also the adult expectations that come with this season – expectations about providing a Christmas experience for our families, expectations of what to cook, what songs to sing, lots and lots and lots of expectation.

Expectations can sometimes weigh us down – I can already hear my mental to-do list going as I talk to you – but there’s also something about hopeful expectation, like Mary, being pregnant with expectation.

Expectation is an essential and exciting part of Advent. What are we expecting this year when Christ comes? Can we open our minds up to new possibilities?

The gospel of Mark that we heard this morning begins with expectation – verse one says, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ.” And to us as we hear these words again two thousand years later, this is still good news. Mark realized that he didn’t and couldn’t capture all of the Good News of Jesus in his gospel. In the UCC we say that God is still speaking. The Holy Spirit is still moving and acting and thinking in the world. God has not done all of God’s work yet. God equips, inspires and empowers us to be God’s hands and God’s feet in the world.

In this Advent season, may we with humility and honesty, be Open to the Potential God has for us and for the world.

May we use this time to prepare ourselves for incredible possibilities, despite the things we see that make us want to protest.

And may we live with hopeful Expectation and eagerly embrace the Spirit who is coming to us, the Christ Child, who promises that this is just the beginning of the Good News.

Make ye straight what long was crooked,
make the rougher places plain:
let your hearts be true and humble,
as befits his holy reign,
For the glory of the Lord
now o'er the earth is shed abroad,
and all flesh shall see the token
that his word is never broken.

Amen.