December 1, 2024, Advent 1
Jeremiah 33:14-16, Luke 21:25-28
Introduction
Do you ever feel like your life is out of kilter and you’re a hot mess? Do you ever feel like you’re out of sync with yourself, others, or even God? “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when ….”
When have the walls of your life been breached, your security violated, and your life overrun by circumstances bigger and more powerful than you? “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when ….”
When has your life been turned upside down? When have circumstances left you with no plan and no foreseeable way forward? “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when ….”
Do you ever feel like you’re a stranger in your own life? Do you ever feel as if you’re living in a foreign land where nothing fits or feels right? “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when ….”
Have you ever wished for the good old days and the way things used to be? Do you sometimes just want to go home? Are you waiting for something to come but not even sure what it is you’re waiting for? “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when ….”
If you answered yes to any of those questions, and you know what any of those situations are like, then you also know what it’s like to live in the tension between the reality of what is and the hope of what will be. It’s a time of waiting in the shadows of an in-between place of knowing what is, but not knowing what will be. And that is exactly what the Season of Advent is.
Advent is a season of in-between these days of not knowing and the days that are surely coming. Advent is the gap between what is and what will be. Advent is a place of anticipation and expectancy of what is surely coming. And yes, Advent is uncomfortable because it is an in-between place—and we don’t like being in in-between, uncomfortable, places, do we? So what do we do instead? (The preacher’s answer to this question generally get him or her in trouble so I am going to answer it by quoting another preacher so that I can deflect any anger toward him. Even though I wholeheartedly believe what he said.)
My friend and colleague, Rev. Christopher Stark posted recently, Pastoral PSA: Christmas is a 12-day liturgical season that begins December 25. While the exact dates are observed differently in different denominational traditions, no one begins celebrating November 1st. So if you’ve ever voiced complaint about the “War on Christmas,” boycotted Starbucks because of their cups, got offended because someone wished you Happy Holidays, or if you just want to slow the rush of the season and focus instead on Christ’s birth and reflect penitently on the mystery of the incarnation, then move through the season spending time in reflection and asceticism in Advent, and then trim the tree, toss the tinsel, and swill the wassail. Advent is a season of preparation and anticipation; therefore instant gratification should have no place in it. If Christ is the reason for the season, stop letting Coca-Cola, Amazon, and Macy’s dictate when we celebrate.
Yes, Advent is an uncomfortable, in-between place. But Advent, when we allow for it to do what Advent can do, then the season of Advent becomes the birthplace of hope from which God calls, and reminds us, “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when ….”
Move 1
In our text for today, Jeremiah is speaking to a community that is living in this uncomfortable, in-between tension of what is, and what they hope will be. The Babylonian army has devastated Jerusalem. Some of the Jews have been deported from their homeland while others are occupied citizens in their own land. And Jeremiah, their prophet and pipeline to God, is in prison. It’s not only an uncomfortable in-between time, but also a time of turmoil and chaos. And I am willing to guess we all know what such a time is like.
How are we to live in this uncomfortable gap between what is and what will be? How do we hold that tension when it feels like it’s tearing us apart? Or as the psalmist asks, “How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4)
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David Wolpe, author of the book The Healer of Shattered Hearts, gives us insight to how we live in this uncomfortable gap when he writes, saying, “Escape is not a response, neither is mourning for some illusory, imagined perfect age gone by. We have to recognize what can be changed, and not pine for worlds that once were. For to live in memory alone destroys our chance for the only sane attitude in life, which is to live in hope.”
Wolpe is telling us hope is our only way forward and hope is the only sane attitude in life. But long before Wolpe said this, Jeremiah was first saying it. “The days will surely come, says the Lord… When I will fulfill the promise I made; a righteous Branch will spring up; and justice and righteousness will be done in the land.”
Yes, these are big words from a man who is in prison, and they are big words for a people who have been overrun, deported or occupied—and yet they are exactly the words of hope needed by the people then, and they are exactly the words of hope we need today. However, we do have to be careful not to misunderstand what hope is. Hope is not passively waiting for God to show up and then do something. That’s just wishful thinking or wishful praying.
To live in hope means remaining open to the future and refusing to let the present moment close us in and define who we are. Hope is the belief that the future is always better, not because it necessarily will be, but because it can be. The future holds a potential, a possibility, for something more or better than the actual reality of the present moment. That is the hope we can find and embrace throughout the Season of Advent.
Move 2
Every time we live in hope, we are trusting that “there is nothing too hard for God” (Jeremiah 32:17), and that “for God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26) Hope, however, is not something we have. Hope comes to us as a call, asking for a response.
And that is exactly what Jesus is asking for in today’s Gospel when he says, “Stand up and raise your heads.” That is the response to hope’s call. When there are signs in the sun, moon, and stars; when there is distress among nations; when people are fainting from fear and foreboding of what is coming; when the powers of heaven are shaken; when it looks like our world is getting worse Jesus wants us to “stand up and raise your heads.”
“Stand up and raise your heads” when you want to run away. “Stand up and raise your heads” when you want to duck and hide. “Stand up and raise your heads” when you are tired and overwhelmed. “Stand up and raise your heads” when everything seems hopeless. It Jesus’ way of saying, “Don’t just sit there. Do something. Get a new perspective. Look from a higher vantage point. Recognize what can be changed and then make the change.”
That’s what it means to live in hope. Because more often than not, change is not the circumstances around us, change is about us. Change how you see the circumstances around you, change how you respond to the uncomfortable in-between place you are in—and to make that change happen, you need to… “Stand up and raise your heads.”
Move 3
Now I get it. In the midst of an uncomfortable, in-between place; in times of turmoil and chaos, standing up and raising our heads is not the easiest thing to do. So, let’s look again at the words of the prophet Jeremiah who says, “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up…”
What if you and I are the righteous Branch God is causing to spring up? What if you and I are the ones to execute justice and righteousness in this land? What if you and I, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves today, were to stand up and raise our heads? I wonder what we would see. I wonder what hope would call us to be or do.
If you’re curious about that—and I hope you are— then “stand up and raise your heads.” Take a look at your life today; take a look at what is happening in the world, and then finish this sentence, fill in the blank: “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when_______….” What is the “when” you are hoping for today and what is it asking of you? This is the question we need to focus on throughout this uncomfortable, in-between season of Advent. “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when_______….” fill in the blank.
Conclusion
Every year at Christmastime, the world looks back two thousand years to the birth of a baby. But for more than four thousand years, people living on the other side of that birth looked forward to the same event.
The birth of Jesus Christ was no accident. It was not the result of chance but of choice. And what that means is that long before we were born, God was guiding us to a future God envisioned, a future Jeremiah tells about in chapter 29, verse 11, saying, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”
God designates our identity, as God did with Jesus, so that we might fit into God’s plan for the world. In other words, you can know just by your birth and unique identity that God has a special plan for your life.
So the next time your world seems to be spinning out of control and you wondering when or if anything will change or get better, remember the prophet Jeremiah is reminding us that the days are surely coming when we can “stand up and raise your heads” with hope, because God is in fact guiding us to a future where the days will surely come when” we will be blessed and made able to fill in the blank. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, December 1, 2024, Advent 1
Holy God, your prophet tells us the days are surely coming when love and justice will be established peace on earth, but in today’s world it is hard to see how, let alone when. Instead, we see the atrocity of violence and wars, which are breaking the courage of the peoples of the world. There is human greed and inequality, which breeds hatred and strife at so many levels.
But here we are at Advent, which reminds us how you sent Jesus so that such would be overcome, and the days we all long for could and would surely come—and come through the love and justice of those who trust and follow Him.
Merciful God, we long for and need the presence of Christ in our lives. We long for a holy visitation, for divine connections, but confess we are too often distracted to notice when they arrive. We long for peace but confess we will not be still long enough to greet it. We long for the joy of shepherds and angelic choirs but confess we are too frantic to stop and look and listen.
Forgive us, Lord. Forgive our misplaced priorities that crowd you out of our lives and then renew in us a desire for you above all else. Strengthen the will of all those who fight for justice and renew in us all your hope, which the world so cruelly takes away.
Remind us again, the days are surely coming when your peace will prevail.
Remind us again, the days are surely coming that we may speak truth to power.
Remind us again, the days are surely coming that we may bring peace to those who live in fear.
Remind us again, the days are surely coming that we may share this hope with others in word and deed.
Through the Advent of Jesus, may you again show us how to confront the ways of the world with the hope we find in knowing you are at work, and you work is always for good.
We ask that you hear the prayers of our hearts as we offer them in this time of Holy Silence.
We pray all this in the name of Christ Jesus, who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”