Message: What do we Hope?
Our lives are filled with four-letter words.
Words we say, and words we don’t (or don’t like to admit we say). Four-letter words that mean a lot more than their four letters and one syllable. Words that hold weight and meaning tinged with the past, present and future.
Some of our words are weighty while others fly out of our mouths and flit in the air into nothingness. Some of our words are flung off our tongues and before we know it they bury themselves into the hearts of others; we would rather they disappear or could be taken back. Some words we speak and think bury into our lives so deeply they grow and become part of us, for good or for ill.
When I say four-letter words, what words come to mind that have spoken into your lives. Words spoken over you, about you, within you that have shaped and influenced your life? What words have you embodied and lived into?
Today, we begin this December 1st our Advent journey toward Christmas. We begin this 1st of December, World Aids Day and the start of meteorological winter in the northern hemisphere. We begin with our first candle on the Advent wreath of candles with the candle of Hope. In the hymnbook there is a 20th-century hymn by Richard Leach called ‘Hope is candle’. The first verse is ‘Hope is candle, once lit by the prophets, never consumed though it burns through the years; dim in the daylight of power and privilege – when they are gone, hope will shine on.’ While not the easiest to sing, the words speak to the challenge of Hope, this four-letter word for our first step toward Bethlehem and Christ’s birth.
The hope of the prophets who lived centuries before Jesus’s birth was one where the wrongs would be righted, the people would realign their relationship with the Lord, the ways of the earth would retune to God’s way, and holiness would return. The prophets of Isaiah and Jeremiah are read often during the Advent season and speak of God’s coming chosen Messiah that we who follow Jesus see as pointing and speaking to Jesus’s coming and his saving work. We must remember as well that our neighbours of Jewish faith are still awaiting the messiah’s coming as they hold to their faith which has these texts as sacred scriptures, too. The hope of the prophets speak to God at work in the world being corrected and aligned with God while humanity is called not just to notice but also to play a part in God at work in the world.
So, in the world we live today, thousands of years removed from those ancient words of the prophet Isaiah and 2000 years removed from Jesus’s own prophetic words, what do we hope?
What hopes are we embodying as God’s people? Do we hope for the visions of Christ coming again like the Messiah hoped for before his birth, who would come with might and power? Do we hope for a do over, to start again, to clear the decks?
Do we hope?
That might be the better question today.
Do we even hope? Can we bring ourselves to hope in God’s promises, truly hope, truly come with faith, hope and love to the coming Christ child?
Have our hopes dried up, gotten tucked away or even gathered dust?
Do we as those gathered on 1st December 2024, starting Advent have HOPE? To use the words of the carol we will sing together, ‘our hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.’ What are we bringing with us along this journey and what are we carrying into Advent?
Hope is one of those four-letter words that sometimes we struggle to hold onto amid life happening. Hope in God’s ways being realised takes a knock when disappointment comes or we are devastated. Hope meets our fears and too often we sometimes forget to let them meet in Christ so that God can redeem the challenges of life and rekindle our hope in the face of life in our day-to-day.
Hope like so many four-letter words can be weighty but also fleeting. The words we speak when we hope matter. The word God speaks when we hope matter.
The word of God becomes a body, flesh and blood, and lives among people. God’s love sets up house with us. God with us. God’s love embodied for us is a hope shining even in the gloomiest of places and times. The flickering candle flame of hope shines in a way that if all the lights went out, a tiny light would continue to shine to guide the way. Guide our way to God.
What do we hope? We watch, wait and work for the Lord to come again. We keep alert, and hope in God’s love alive in us and the world, to shine a light amid the dangers and fears.
We hold to the hope in God’s light in the world and God’s love for the world. The world and all that is evil cannot destroy or take away the hope God gives. In the world, our hope is in God at work through us and with us.
May the word, hope, love and life burn bright in your advent days as you seek to walk and work in God’s ways.
May you hope in God’s love in Jesus, God with us, Emannuel.
May you live and walk with hope and light shining into the world for others to seek to know whom you follow.
Hope is a four-letter word to write in your life, over and over again, like love. May Hope be renewed and rekindled like a candle flame tended and cared for as we seek to follow Christ and journey toward Bethlehem together.
May we embody Hope in the Lord together as we walk in God’s way of love in these days.
Prayers from Roots on the Web:
A prayer of approach
God of hope,
as we take our first steps on the Advent journey
we take them with you, and for you;
with one another, and for one another;
and with Christians around the world.
We follow the path of those who have gone before us,
refreshing it for those who will come after us,
and trusting you every step of the way, hopefully and joyfully.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.