Walking in the Light
Sunday, December 2nd, 2007
Advent 1
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Isaiah 2:1-5
Meditation on Hope (at conclusion of the Hanging of the Green service)
I mentioned to you last Sunday that it was the last Sunday of the church year – the liturgical year. Today being the first Sunday of Advent is then the first Sunday of the incoming church year. So … Happy New Year!
I know it sounds a little odd to be talking about New Year when we’ve been conditioned to think of January 1 as the “REAL” New Year’s Day. By that count, we still have 29 days to go. Don’t worry, when January 1 rolls around I’ll still be wishing everyone I meet ‘Happy New Year’. I’m not saying we should break away QUITE that completely – into a mindset that flaunts its differences in the less meaningful aspects of life. After all, it’s just a DAY, for crying out loud. What MATTERS … what SHOULD matter MORE to us is how we LIVE that day … or ANY day, for that matter, whether we observe the liturgical calendar or not.
The thing that kept the people of Israel going, when they were defeated, when they were deported, when they were enslaved, when they were decimated and ridiculed, what drove them to overcome, what pushed them to maintain their sense of identity, what compelled them to observe the traditions and instructions that were handed down generation after generation was the HOPE they had in the coming of the Messiah.
It is that same Messiah who brings us HOPE today.
As we’ve noted, today is the first Sunday of Advent. The one that is farthest in time from the celebration of the coming of that Messiah. And just like the people who longed for a long-awaited Messiah from a distant and strange land, our day today would seem to echo that distance, that strangeness, and that longing for a time of peace and plenty.
We read about wars and famine, terrible acts of inhumanity between people and countries, we observe it each day on television or listening on the radio, or reading in magazines and newspapers or the internet. It would seem that the news of the world was almost designed to engender hopelessness in us, by its very nature. There may be a glimmer of good that shines through occasionally, but only very briefly at best, it seems.
But we are called by the Spirit of God to inject hope into the world. To present to the world the possibility that there really IS reason to hope – there really IS reason to believe that there IS A BETTER WAY.
And we are the vessels whereby that hope is injected. We’re the … spores … we’re the virus that is set to eat away at the hopelessness that would like to envelope the world! :-)
So we pay heed to the words of Isaiah:
Sunday, December 2nd, 2007
Advent 1
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Isaiah 2:1-5
Meditation on Hope (at conclusion of the Hanging of the Green service)
1 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. 3Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I mentioned to you last Sunday that it was the last Sunday of the church year – the liturgical year. Today being the first Sunday of Advent is then the first Sunday of the incoming church year. So … Happy New Year!
I know it sounds a little odd to be talking about New Year when we’ve been conditioned to think of January 1 as the “REAL” New Year’s Day. By that count, we still have 29 days to go. Don’t worry, when January 1 rolls around I’ll still be wishing everyone I meet ‘Happy New Year’. I’m not saying we should break away QUITE that completely – into a mindset that flaunts its differences in the less meaningful aspects of life. After all, it’s just a DAY, for crying out loud. What MATTERS … what SHOULD matter MORE to us is how we LIVE that day … or ANY day, for that matter, whether we observe the liturgical calendar or not.
The thing that kept the people of Israel going, when they were defeated, when they were deported, when they were enslaved, when they were decimated and ridiculed, what drove them to overcome, what pushed them to maintain their sense of identity, what compelled them to observe the traditions and instructions that were handed down generation after generation was the HOPE they had in the coming of the Messiah.
It is that same Messiah who brings us HOPE today.
As we’ve noted, today is the first Sunday of Advent. The one that is farthest in time from the celebration of the coming of that Messiah. And just like the people who longed for a long-awaited Messiah from a distant and strange land, our day today would seem to echo that distance, that strangeness, and that longing for a time of peace and plenty.
We read about wars and famine, terrible acts of inhumanity between people and countries, we observe it each day on television or listening on the radio, or reading in magazines and newspapers or the internet. It would seem that the news of the world was almost designed to engender hopelessness in us, by its very nature. There may be a glimmer of good that shines through occasionally, but only very briefly at best, it seems.
But we are called by the Spirit of God to inject hope into the world. To present to the world the possibility that there really IS reason to hope – there really IS reason to believe that there IS A BETTER WAY.
And we are the vessels whereby that hope is injected. We’re the … spores … we’re the virus that is set to eat away at the hopelessness that would like to envelope the world! :-)
So we pay heed to the words of Isaiah:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”
To walk in the paths of God is to walk in the spirit of infinite creativity, of redemptive love and of unending mercy. It means that in accepting Jesus into our lives AS our Savior, Redeemer, and Messiah, we carry within these Jars of Clay that treasure that is available to all who call on Him. And in THAT CALL, there is unending HOPE.
O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
Let’s pray.
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