"Got Hope?" Advent Sermon 1

"Got Hope?" Advent Sermon 1 - November 27, 2011

Luke 1:5-25

One pastor tells the story of eating dinner with his family during Advent. He asked, “Who can tell me what the four candles in the Advent wreath represent?” His 7-year old son quickly piped up, ‘There’s love, joy, peace… and… and…” 

Eager to keep up with her brother, his six-year old daughter excitedly broke in, “I know! Peace and quiet!”

That unnamed candle is the candle of hope. Hope is incredibly important, isn't it? Yet hope is the Advent theme that can be easy to forget. Scripture promises us hope, yet sometimes that hope seems like it’s a million miles away.

Even in the midst of holiday cheer (and I love Advent and Christmas)—hopelessness threatens. After Thanksgiving dinner—it’s there. In moments of quiet—it’s there. Lying in bed at night—it’s there. Those among us who struggle with depression or who are grieving know this feeling intimately. Hopelessness claws at the door.

The musical ShowBoat takes place in the late 1800s on the Mississippi River. In the story an African American man named Joe has had a hard life eking out a living as a dockworker. He has had a life of incredible struggle. 

At one point in the musical, Joe sings a song called “Old Man River.” It’s a song about the timelessness of the river—that it just keeps rolling along no matter what happens.

The song includes the following words: “I get weary, and sick of trying. I’m tired of living but scared of dying.”

Can you relate to Joe’s words? Are you weary and sick of trying? Are you tired of living but scared of dying? Is hopelessness clawing at the door?

Advent is all about hope. But hope isn’t something we can manufacture. We can’t just try to be more hopeful. Hope doesn’t come with the power of positive thinking. Where, then, does it come from?

It comes from knowing and trusting God’s promises. Promises like—I will never leave you or forsake you. Promises like—blessed are the poor. Promises like—Jesus is coming back! In Hebrews, the author writes of this hope. From chapter six: “So God has given both his promise and his oath. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.”  

Hope comes from knowing and trusting God’s promises. It is a “strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls”!

During Advent, we wait for the fulfillment of God’s promise that Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is coming again. We hold to God’s promise that Jesus will come back, ushering in a new heaven and a new earth, where there will be no more tears or mourning or crying or pain.

What does it look like to hope in God’s promises? As I worked on this sermon, I was reminded of where I was a year ago. A year ago I was working as a hospice chaplain, and around this time of year I was on call for the entire hospice. 

At one point during the day, I was going back and forth between two families across the hall from one another. In one room was a dying child and a family utterly devoid of hope. The room was permeated by a sense of deep despair. No one wanted prayer - they didn't believe in that.

In the room across the hall, a young man was dying. His family was gathered at his bedside in tears, but the mood was decidedly different. They were sad, but they were not without hope.

"We know that he isn't going to make it," one family member told me, "but we know that we will see him again." 

The difference between hopelessness and hope was only the length of the hallway--and the difference between trusting in God's promises and having no God at all.

Today in Luke Chapter 1 we meet Zechariah. He is a faithful man, and his wife, Elizabeth, is a faithful woman. They have served God their whole lives. They have no children. Yet they kept coming back to the temple and worshiping even though their lives had been difficult. They persevered in serving God. They believed that God’s promises were true. And one day, an angel showed up.

8 One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week…While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying. While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him.

Zechariah is shocked and shaken and freaked out. Because how often do we actually expect a messenger of God to show up? In all our prayers and churchgoing and lip service, do we actually think God is there? Do we really believe God’s listening? What happens when one of his messengers actually shows up?

13 The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer.  

God has heard your prayer. Do you hear that promise?

Obviously Zechariah, for all his faithfulness, struggled to believe God heard him. But God did. Why? Because God has promises to hear our prayers.

God has heard your prayer. Do you trust that promise? What is it that you are praying for? What are you asking God for today, on the cusp of this new year? What is it that your pray for? A child, like Elizabeth? An end to suffering? A paycheck that stretches to the mortgage and the groceries? Peace in your heart? Peace on earth? God has heard your prayer.

For Zechariah, things were about to change. The angel continued: Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,  for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord…He will be filled with the Holy Spirit.  And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God....He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord.”

Zechariah and Elizabeth are given a new promise, and with it, new hope. And they are given hope not just for themselves but for all Israel and, later, the whole world. There will be a child. His name will be John. He will bring great joy and gladness. This is the beginning of the New Testament’s record of Jesus. Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son will be John the Baptist—the one who prepares the way for Jesus himself.

Do you know God’s promises to you? This is one of the most important reasons to study the Scriptures. By reading and memorizing and learning what they say we begin to know God’s promises to us. We begin to find hope.

Let us also rejoice that God can bring hope when it seems like hope is lost. It is often darkest before the dawn. Elizabeth was too old to bear a child, yet God answered her prayer. Zechariah believed his family line would end, yet God gave him a son.

Christian author Anne Lamott says that when things get really terrible, painful, and awful, it’s often because something amazing is getting ready to be born.

We see that in our world today, don’t we? There are wars and rumors of wars. Earthquakes and famines. Neighbor turning against neighbor. Violence and sickness and sadness. Death and despair. Financial ruin and marital strife. Hopelessness claws at the door.

Yet God brings hope out of hopelessness. Jesus brings the Good News that this is not all there is. That there is a heavenly kingdom, a new way of living, a reign of peace and truth to come. That the God of the universe loves us so much he will make things right again. That Jesus is coming again.

We look forward to Christmas, yes, but even more than that we look forward to the return of Jesus. This is what Advent is about. He is coming. He is Lord. He is our hope.

Hold fast to God’s promise that the best is yet to come. What an incredible promise!