THE SEASON OF ADVENT

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ADVENT IS ANITCIPATION

“Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God … A voice cries out: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God … Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together …” Isaiah 40:1, 3, 5

The priest waited patiently with her few items in a long line at the grocery store as each bulging cart ahead was emptied of its holiday foods. Finally making his way to the clerk at the checkout, she spied the clerical collar and was apologetic. “I am so sorry for the long wait today. It seems everyone waits until the last minute to get what they need.” The priest softly laughed in reply, “Not a problem, I know exactly how you feel. I am in the same business!” Although Advent seems oddly placed with its often gloomy messages of the prophets in the middle of our holly jolly Christmas, Advent is really God’s gift basket to the world filled with hopeful anticipation in the birth of our Lord Jesus.

This hopeful anticipation is echoed in the words of the prophet Isaiah from this past Sunday.Isaiah’s prophetic ministry panned the glory days and ultimate demise of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, over 200 years of history for God’s people. This ortion was written during the time of exile in Babylon at the hands of the Persian Empire in the 4th century BCE. All the best and brightest people carried away, their possessions seized, the Temple destroyed for the first time. Everything they believed in, worshiped, and hoped for were decimated and dispersed. They were WITHOUT HOPE – yet Isaiah points them to God’s eternal promise of redemption, restoration, and renewal again, and again, and again. As in our lives, just when we think nothing can help us, and no one will care for us, we hear Advent’s present promise “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God …”

Max Lucado, pastor of the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, and prolific author, reflects on the truth of our hope IN God in his book Traveling Light [Thomas Nelson, Nashville TN; 2001] Following a story of a person alone and lost in the dense ungle of the Amazon Forest river basin, he writes, “But most of all, what about hopelessness? No idea where to turn. No hunch what to do. Who could blame you for burying your face in your hands … And for some, even for many, hope is in short supply. opelessness is an odd bag. Unlike the others, it isn’t full. It is empty, and its emptiness creates the burden. Unzip the top and examine all the pockets. Turn it upside down and shake it hard. The bag of hopelessness is painfully empty … What would it take to restore your hope?"

"The first think would be a person. Not just any person … You need someone who knows the way out. Second you need some vision. You need someone to lift your spirits … to look you in the face and say, ‘This isn’t the end. Don’t give up. There is a better place than this, and I’ll lead you.’ … Most important, you need direction. If you have a person without vision, all you have is company. If you have a person with a vision but without direction, you have a dreamer. But if you have a person with direction, who can take you from THIS place to the RIGHT place … then you have one who can restore your hope. Or, to use David’s words, ‘He restores my soul.’ … [God and] Jesus do not give us hope by changing the jungle [of life]; he restores hope by GIVINGHIMSELF to us … We need that reminder. We ALL need that reminder. For all of us need hope.” [pp. 56-57, 59]

What are you HOPING for your life, the life of your family, the life of the world?

As we begin worship each Sunday in Advent, “O come, O come, Emmanuel…”

In peace always, your servant in Christ,

Paul+