Advent 1: Hope...Pastor Phil Strong
11-28-10
● So, we enter today the season identified in the Christian calendar as
“Advent”--- from the Latin
word meaning
‘coming’ or
‘arrival’.
It celebrates something about God: his desire for presence, his
commitment to justice and his willingness to move toward us in ways that
are lovingly-restorative. We call it
“grace”.
Advent challenges us to enter the story and relive the longings of
people whose history has included extended bouts with oppression and
domination- people in hopeful anticipation of a better future, one which
would include a divine, yet mysterious ‘rescuer’. They called him
“Messiah”.
● Even the colors we use indicate something about the atmosphere:
purple- color used to represent not only
royalty, but
repentance. It’s a way of
recognizing and welcoming the arrival of a new King, but also a means of
coming to terms with our present brokenness and all of the ways that we
have contributed to the disorder.
The mood of advent is best described as
‘expectation’.
“Have you ever noticed that people who need to be rescued spend a great
deal of time waiting?”
If there were something you could do to facilitate the rescue,
you would do it… but you can’t. So, it’s as if you shift into another
mode:
“What do I do now?” Your
focus is not only on the hope of eventual rescue, but on how you are to
respond right now while you wait.
This was the mood of the prophets.
While we wait, we notice that the hopeful-expectation can quickly become
cynical frustration.
We tend to lose our inhibitions with God, don’t we? Especially when it
becomes apparent that God is not in any big hurry to come to our rescue.
We’re not as fearful of offending him as we were in the preliminary
stages of the crisis. Our conversations take on a different tone.
Anyone ever just “lost it” on God?
How we understand the stories of Jesus’ birth really does matter
[context].
What if I were to say,
“We are going to consider the
life and influence of Abraham Lincoln, but we’re going to skip all that
slavery, Confederacy stuff because it’s not really necessary for
understanding him.” You would know that the presentation was
incomplete.
You would know that context is vital to his story.
● Keep in mind that the stories of Jesus’ birth are more than childlike
sentiment. They are
powerful and passionate visions
of a different way of seeing our lives; a new way to live our lives.
They are not only theological or historical, but political. They are
about a “new world”… “Peace
on earth”.
● The vision of Isaiah was delivered to a people who were not yet
convinced that things were really so desperate (Assyria already had
taken Israel into captivity). People either filled with ethnic pride
(chosen ones), confident in their own strategies for making life work
or people who had
simply resigned themselves to the less than favorable conditions.
● As you are attempting to make sense of the stories,
would it be helpful to know that
there was already someone who
claimed the title “King of the Jews”? (Herod) Would it be helpful to
know that the first century
Caesar (a title for the emperor/King) Augustus was given the title
“Lord, son of God, bringer of peace, and Savior of the world”?
[titles given to Jesus: Luke 1:32, 35, 2:11, 14] Might it be of interest
to know that
the title Augustus means, ‘one
who is divine’, or ‘one who is to be worshipped’? [Augustus was
considered god-incarnate]
Or, might it assist our understanding
if we knew that the Kingdom of
Rome and the Kingdom of God were both offered as the fifth and final
climactic earthly Kingdom? [Rome believed that world history was
divided into 5 great ages/Kingdoms with the 5th being the
last kingdom of the entire world].
We call to mind Daniel’s vision (chapter 7):
“The four great beasts are four
kingdoms that will rise from the earth. But, the saints of the Most High
will receive the Kingdom and will possess it forever--- yes, forever and
ever” (17-18).
● Each of the previous four empires were seen as
“coming out of the sea”
(chaos/evil) and were identified as
“beastly” (characterizing
their inhumane rule). The fifth and final Kingdom would be symbolized by
a human being come from the heavenlies (“one like the son of man”---
like a human being), stripping all the other authorities of their power
and ruling humanely.
Listen to this ancient inscription for honoring
Augustus:
“It is a question whether
the birthday of the most divine Caesar is more pleasant or more
advantageous, the day which we might justly set on a par with the
beginning of everything, in practical terms at least, in that he
restored order when everything was disintegrating and falling into chaos
and gave a new look to the whole world, a world which would have met
destruction with the utmost pleasure if Caesar had not been born as a
common blessing to all. For that reason one might justly take this to be
the beginning of life and living, the end of regret at one’s birth… It
is my view that all the communities should have one and the same New
Year’s Day, the birthday of the most divine Caesar…”
● In practical terms, they believed that Augustus’ birthday was a
“new creation”… “the beginning of
life”; it has saved the whole world and established peace on
earth.
“I bring you good news of
great joy that will be for all the people. Today, in the town of David a
Savior has been born to you; he is Christ, the Lord” (Luke 2:10).
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his
favor rests”
(Luke 2:14).
Peace on earth and glory to God in the highest always seem to be
inextricably linked.
Peace is the result of glory to God on the earth… it’s what happens when
God takes over the day-to-day operations of the world. And, God being
rightly honored as King will be reflected in lives of shalom.
What will ‘make for peace’?
A
hopeful, biblical
approach to life says that what the world needs is neither abandonment
nor evolution, but restoration and renewal.
►We
are called upon to think globally and act locally; to realize that, for
many, we live in a time of unprecedented prosperity, but also, for many,
a time of devastating poverty.
►Even as we are losing
jobs, forfeiting homes, watching our retirement portfolios collapse, we
are called to embrace the challenge of looking not only to our own
needs, but to the needs of others, ensuring that everyone has enough.
►We
are called to live in a world of conflicting visions and strive for more
peaceable ways to co-exist; not only to
“pray for peace”, but to
be “peace-makers”--- to
offer glimpses of things to come--- the way that things will one day be!
Our vision will always be comparable with our sense of longing and
desperation: the deeper our pain and frustration, the larger our vision
of restoration.
I’m not sure that we have really worked hard enough at making that dream
of peace a reality for today.
Did you notice in Isaiah’s vision, it’s
“we” who turn our weapons
into instruments of productivity?
“We” will no longer train
for war [facts: global military expenditures were $1.5 trillion, up 50%
since 2000, with the U.S. accounting for ½ of the world’s total]
“The
hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight”
(O, Little Town of Bethlehem).
What are you hoping for? What are you afraid of?
The answer seems to be found where our hopes and our fears intersect.
The hopes of experiencing a different kind of life and the fear of never
realizing it collide in Jesus.
Most often the challenge is that our hopes are not attached to anything
substantial or promising.
● Despair is what you experience when you discover that you are
“longing”, but you have nothing to attach your hope to.
If there is really no legitimate reason to hope, hope eventually becomes
gullibility.
● I suppose that if you already have all that your heart is longing for,
you have no need for hope [and, I might be so bold as if to say, “If you
already have all that your heart is longing for, you might want to see
what you have attached it to”).
But, if you find that you are still longing, your options are to either
wait-expectantly (hope) or
live with despair.
Each declaration of the song being met with the refrain…
“Rejoice, rejoice,
Emmanuel shall come to thee…”