Advent Message

This Advent we’ve been focusing on Hope…

We’ve been looking at hope in its various guises, what it may look or feel like, etc.

In the first Sunday of Advent, here in church we read that Paul was telling people to remain faithful – because god is faithful! Those are baptismal words! God is faithful! Paul was preparing for Christ’s imminent return. He believed Jesus would return any day… any day. He knew God would break into our world as God had in the birth of Jesus so many years prior. In our Sunday’s Gospel reading that morning, Jesus says, “This generation will not pass away before all these things take place.” He talked about the destruction of the temple and the return of the Son of Man. So, Paul said… “Listen, you have all you need! You already have every spiritual gift you could ever need. All that remains is for us to stand strong and hold on! God hasn’t abandoned us. Trust that God will get you where you need to go!”

But sometimes it’s hard for us to believe that, isn’t it. Sometimes we don’t believe the promise… it’s hard to see. Sometimes, when it’s hard for us to believe in those promises, when hope is hard to come by, when it doesn’t come from within… it comes from outside of us.

When I was in High School- in 10^th grade, in Geometry class- proving all those theorems was pretty difficult at first. We were given a geometric start-point- like a few line segments, and told to use our theorems, the knowledge we’d accumulated thus far, to build to proof of some kind. Basically we were given a start-point and an end-point, and using our growing skills in geometry, we were to show how to get from the beginning to the end using logical, mathematical, sequential steps.

I remember seeing some problems, thinking… “How am I going to get from here to there?” I could see that it could be done, but I didn’t think I knew enough to prove each step of the way. I could see it was possible, it made sense, but how could I prove it? My teacher knew I could do it, and she would say so- you CAN do it… you have all you need to know! You already know it! Just use it.

I’ve told some of you this story already, but I’ll say it again. When I was a little guy, around aged 3 or four, I remember walking with my father to a ball field. Sports were always a big part of his life in one way or another. On the way to this ball field we had to cross over a very long ditch that seemed to span what to my little eyes seemed a huge distance. That same ditch today I would probably be able to step over with ease, but at that age, that particular expanse seemed very wide! Scary wide! But, as my father straddled the expanse, he encouraged me, “Jump, you can do it!” “I can’t”, I said. “Yes you can.” He knew I had the ability to do it, and I did- only I didn’t believe I had it.

In the Civil War, as it is today, officers and sergeants were tasked with training the young soldiers under their care. Through all the time they spent together, they learned their soldier’s strengths and weaknesses, they knew what their soldiers could and couldn’t do. They knew what they had to train on, and how much they had to train.

In those days battles were often fought on open ground, in lines facing each other. The leaders would form the battle lines as the enemy advanced. The young soldiers, being inexperienced in warfare, were nervous, fearful, anxious, with adrenaline running through their veins as they saw the enemy get closer and closer. Their central nervous systems were telling them then the same thing that soldiers today are told by their most primitive of brains… shoot now!!! Charge!!! Or… Run while you still can!

“Steady… Steady!” would be the command from their leaders. The voice they’d heard in training, telling hem what to do and when to do it. This was the voice they’d learned to trust. “Steady!”

“Shoot NOW!!!” “RUN!” said their primal selves! “Hold, men! Hold!” Hold… Steady… words that seemed to contradict the young soldier’s most basic instincts.

It seemed their leaders knew something about these young men that they themselves probably either weren’t aware of or couldn’t believe at that moment… In that one word- in the steady voice, “Hold”, they heard a message of trust… “You don’t trust you can do this. I know you… I know you can do it… trust me!”

Sometimes our hope… our belief, comes from outside of us.

Sometimes it’s hard for us to see the baptismal promises of God… sometimes it’s hard for us to believe what God has told us. Sometimes it’s too hard to see down the road. But often there’s people around us who can… who can see down the road, who do see more in us that we can see in ourselves. Sometimes God speaks and leads through those around us

- who can trust when we can’t

- who can pray when we can’t

- who can hope when it’s hard for us to do that

Sometimes hope comes in that way- when all the gifts are there even if we can’t perceive them ourselves… and we are enriched and strengthened by hope, in spite of ourselves. May this Advent be a time of learning about hope, in whatever guise it comes to us- from within or without. May it always bring a word of peace from our God. Amen.