Advent 2022 - A Season of Hope

November 22, 2022

The LORD looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race. From his throne he observes all who live on the earth. He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do. The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior. Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory—for all its strength, it cannot save you.

But the LORD watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love.

He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine. We put our hope in the LORD. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, LORD, for our hope is in you alone.

Psalm 33:13-22

Gary Thomas, wrote an article in Christianity Today many years ago. In it he described an apparently true story that involved a world famous atheist.

Former Vice President George Bush was sent to Russia as the diplomatic representative of the United States Government for the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. While there, it seems that Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow.

When it was near the end of the service, she stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope; a profound gesture in the midst of everyone there - she reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest.

There, in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, where God was nowhere to be found, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life. She hoped Jesus was truly the Son of God and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband. (Gary Thomas, in Christianity Today, October 3, 1994, p. 26.)

She hoped.

Hope - it’s defined this way by the American Heritage Dictionary: a.) To wish for a particular event that one considers possible; b.) to have confidence or trust; c.) to desire and consider possible.

The great G.K. Chesterson put it this way: “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.”

If there was ever a time of the year we desperately need hope, it is betweenThanksgiving and Christmas. With all of the colors, lights, food, festive gatherings, traditional movies to watch, and carols to sing - we find out that it is also the time of the year when depression, loneliness and sorrow strengthen their grip on humanity. It is a time of utter hopelessness for many. Maybe even you.

And, it is true, tears often accompany hopelessness.

One of our favorite contemplative authors Eugene Peterson says this: “History is lubricated by tears. Prayer may be most prayer when it is accompanied by tears. All these tears are gathered up and absorbed in the tears of Jesus.”

Or as the Psalmist writes: “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book” (NLT - Psalms 56:8).

So, let the carols be raised. Let the lights twinkle. Let the kids get giddy. Let the coffee be stirred with a peppermint stick (the kind that melts in your mouth). Let the stockings be hung.

And, know this, it’s ok to cry. It’s ok to feel overwhelmed. It’s ok to miss your loved one. It’s ok to wish it was all done and over with and January 2, 2023 was tomorrow.

How do we know this?

Jesus wept.

And, that our friends should give us all hope. The One who will “wipe every tear from our eyes” himself wept. He knew loss. He knew pain. He knew abandonment. 

How comforting that is to those of us who struggle at times emotionally and mentally.

The Advent season is marked by “waiting; expectancy; hoping.” Jesus has indeed come. He is coming again. And the next time, he will not leave us to ourselves but will bring us with him and we will cry no more forever. That is a reason for hope.

And Advent is a not–so-gentle reminder that this is a season of hope. We wish you all a hope-filled holiday season.

Missy and Steve

"Is It Really the Most Wonderful Time of the Year?"

12-08-2021

    And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. Just then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord! And this will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
    Suddenly there appeared with the angel a great multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people on whom His favor rests!”
    When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
    So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the Baby, who was lying in the manger. After they had seen the Child, they spread the message they had received about Him. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, which was just as the angel had told them.   (Luke 2:8-20 New Living Translation)

Advent season is such a wonderful time of the year. For most of my (Steve) life I never really heard about Advent. There were no Advent candles, no Advent devotions, no Advent moments - that was for “high Church” folk and we were just good old down-home church people. I am certainly glad that God led me to Kentucky - Asbury Theological Seminary and “the prettiest little thing I had ever seen” (her name is Missy by the way…). And she led me to Camargo United Methodist Church - which has celebrated Advent for over two centuries. Thus, my introduction to Advent.

In a nutshell, Advent is simply the people of Jesus anticipating his appointed arrival to the earth. Strictly speaking, Jesus has already arrived, so we replay the nativity each year individually, as families and as a community of faith as a reminder of how amazing and supernatural Advent truly is.

It is a time of waiting. A time of anticipation. Just as when we were kids and couldn’t wait to unwrap our presents (or, like Missy, try and find them before they were wrapped so you could already know what you were getting) so it is that as adults we look back at the anticipation of Joseph and Mary as they, along with all of Israel, waited for the coming Messiah.

As a kid, we would hear the Christmas story and about how Mary was “expecting.” In the celebration of Advent we also hear people talk about living in “expectant waiting” and how all of this is seen as the “season of anticipation.

And what are we expecting? Anticipating? Hoping for?

The answer, of course, depends on who you ask. Our children and grandchildren are expecting something to tear into on Christmas Day. Some employees are expecting a day off. Retailers are expecting profits. Credit card companies are expecting interest. Us? We are expecting to gain a couple of pounds and play a lot of games.

Which brings me to a moment we had this week. Driving home from a doctor’s appointment we noticed an ambulance, police car and what looked like a social worker standing on the side of the road trying desperately to talk with a man who was obviously hurting mentally. He became quite demonstrative, yelled into the air - walking away from them and refused their help.

Cue the next day and there he was again. This time sitting down, yelling at cars as they drove by and drawing unrecognizable images on his large pad of paper. Aside from the obvious “What is going on with this person?” concern there is the nagging question of “What is this person expecting? What are they hoping for?”

The answer is, more than likely, something negative. For those who are homeless, unemployed, uninsured, struggling with a lack of food or clean water - Christmas is not something to have any positive expectations about. For people who have lost loved ones recently, who are experiencing relationship conflicts, who are looking at their empty bank account, who are amid a lengthy illness…their expectations are probably a whole lot different than most.

The question therefore is really this - is your hope, is your expectation positive or negative? Are you hoping or hopeless? Faithful or faithless? Joyful or joyless? Anticipating or apprehensive?

Everyone and everything is breathing with hope and anticipation. That’s what makes Advent so remarkable. Above all other times of the year - this is the time for positive hope and joyful anticipation.

We hope you are having a good day. We believe this holiday season will be filled with joy. We anticipate hearing good news from you when we next see you. We expect God to see you through.

Now, if we could just figure out how to clearly explain to elementary kids what Mary was “expecting.” Anybody have one of those old flannelgraph felt boards?

Missy and Steve