First Sunday in Advent 2023
I love how Eugene Patterson paraphrases the beginning of John in The Message: The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God, in readiness for God from day one. Everything was created through him; nothing - not one thing! - came into being without him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Light-Life blazed out of the darkness; the darkness could not put it out. ... The Light-Life was the real thing: Every person entering Life he brings into Light. He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn't even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn't want him. But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their True Selves, their Child-of-God Selves; These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten. The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, True from start to finish.
Isn't that mysterious? God becoming flesh and blood? God moving into the neighbourhood? Isn't that amazing? Incredible? Unbelievable!
We live in a day where nothing is constant, where everything is in a state of change - borders, opinions, beliefs, science, ideology, who is right, who is wrong. What is today can be different tomorrow. What I think today can change tomorrow. Yes, that might be 'growth', but more likely, it also leads to instability. Uncertainty. Confusion. If there is nothing solid on which to tightly hold, I fear I might float away and be lost. Isn't that a part of mental disorders? a sign of mental instability? Absence of certainty leading to confusion and disease? No wonder there are so many problems in the world today! So we think do we also become!
Where can I build a home of stability? If the ground and sands under are ever-shifting? When everything is uncertain from one day to the next, where is the rock on which I can stand? A place I know will be unchanging and never ceasing? Or is there such a place?
Don't get me wrong; life is beautiful - full of mystery and worthy of celebration and love. But, there are days when I don't know who I am from one day to the next. One day I am angry, another day I am confused, and yet another depressed. One day I am strong, another weak. Last week, I was confident and emotional and anxious, I felt feminine, I felt masculine, I felt lost like a child. Who am I? If I change so much, if my inner feelings are in such flux, if I don't know who I am, how do I know what is that constant thread that runs through me?
Life can throw us curveballs and derail us. Ending of jobs, health crises, unexpected accidents, loss of relationships, pain of self. If we set a course, a direction, at one point, and get thrown off course into another, what then? Was I wrong? Did I change my mind? Maybe what was is no longer what is? Is this my course of action, my goals, my purpose? do I know who I am? or am I answering to something beyond me? Is it from my ego or my submission?
See, that's where today comes in. Hope. If I turn to myself and do what I think is best, I am not living a life grounded in that Rock. I am grasping at a rope that is tied to nothing, to me ... and things can change. I can change. I am living through ego and not through faith.
Hope - true hope - is not a 'wish' or a desire. It is not the lottery or something with no foundation or a chance. Yes, it is those, but it is more. Dare I say this? I believe hope is something where its true essence is understood by Christians alone because it is found in Christ alone. Any other context is of man, of ego, of self. 'Wish' is a definition, and a very nice definition for many but it is not what is for today. In the context of His Word, in faith in Christ, this is based completely on the promises and nature of God. And if that is not where one's identity is found, if I create my identity myself, and not identify as a Child of God, submitting to Him as His beloved creation, then the understanding of this word, hope, is merely a wish, found in the self, and not in the character of God at all. Many do this, and that's ok ... but that is not for me. And that's not the hope for a Child of God.
However, those who have centered their identity in Christ, know for sure where our hope comes from. And, no matter what storms may come, we will never lose. No matter what happens, we are anchored to a Rock. Even if He goes dormant for a time, we stay faithful and continue to practice the traditions of our faith. Even if we don't 'hear' from Him for a while, we have confidence that we are not abandoned. Stay true. Stay on the Rock. Sometimes, we get so consumed with all that is going on around us or so obsessed with what is going on within us that we completely miss God in front of us. Identity in self does not occur with identity in Christ. Panic for self cannot co-exist with death to self. We are called to the latter, not the former. Luke 9: 23 states, "If you want to follow Him, you will have to die to self daily, and by dying, you actually live." That is submission to God. This isn't a bad thing or a horrible thing .. for me, it's a liberating thing. It's how I endeavour to live in Christ, with Christ's characteristics of faith, hope, and love ... the greatest is love.
And then, who knows when, God shows up. He moves into the neighbourhood. After a day, a week, a year, a century, suddenly something shifts. A phone call, an incident, an experience, a babe. In a moment, 'hope' is re-ignited. It is awakened within us. We have assurance that God has not abandoned us. We are human, but He is God, and we are not. Sure, we can slip into the 'what ifs' ... what if it turns back? what if the news changes or is wrong? what if this is a mistake? ... but no. God has moved in ... God has shown up and hope has awakened. Everything I believe about God and His purposes for my life is ignited. I experience His fingerprint on and in my life.
Remember the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth? They were faithful to their belief in God, to their practices and traditions, even though God had been silent. Silent for 400 years. What do you think they struggled with? The last time God spoke through His prophets and the last prophet of God that spoke was 400 years before this. Can you imagine? 400 YEARS!! Wouldn't you give up? What would you think? Does God care? Is there even a God? What's the point? But, their faith was built on a Rock of faithfulness in who God is. Who they believed God to be - this immutable, constant, unchanging faith. Not something that changes with the day or wind. And then ... and then ... God shows up! Elizabeth gets pregnant! Hope is ignited in this little child she gives birth to! The new prophet! But, note - faithfulness is not the same as hope. Faithfulness is perseverance; hope is the igniting of assurance; we see the Hand of God, we experience His fingerprint on this moment. Hope shows up and everything changes.
We are always one God-moment away from hope being ignited. (And, to note, I believe that for all, not just Christians. It's just that /I hope/ Christians are a bit more aware of His ruach in their lives ... but not always.) In a culture and time that accuses and doubts, that is ego-driven and things change like a plastic bag tossed about in the wind, it is important to stay on the Rock, to be open to God showing up. Move your eyes away from your navel, away from all the chaos around you, and breathe in God's peace. God's strength. God's assurance. God's presence. God's promise of hope. Notice what is there, right in front of you - the God-moment is there, waiting to be seen outside of you, not in the havoc and pandemonium of the world or in the inner turmoil and confusion, trauma and pain, but right in front of you. Because when God shows up, in the small, still, moments, we receive this hope. This 'God-hope', the hope of Advent, that His promises are true and constant and will not fail. Ever. And in this, perception changes, the whole trajectory of a life changes. You feel alive again, it's worth the trouble again, your faithfulness has not be forgotten, hope 'wakes up' and you are flooded with something not of you. God shows up and gives us hope.
At this time, this day of hope, the first Sunday of Advent ... remember, Christian beliefs are not found in the world's philosophies or ideologies or esoteric theories. They are found in a moment in time, just over 2000 years ago - something really happened. His coming was predicted. The Expectation in the Old Testament, the Fulfillment in the New Testament. For Christians, this is the turning point of history. Others may think it was the Age of Enlightenment or the Industrial Era or maybe now, our Postmodern Existance. But to a Christian, the trajectory shifted just over 2000 years ago, when a real baby was born; and that grew up as we all do, and that man died on a Roman cross. A new order of things; something happened and it matters. To die to us is to live through Him, to live for Him, to live in Him. A liberation, a purpose.
And became available to us because God moved into the neighbourhood. Something happened. God showed up. Hope was reborn. This is not the hope of the world, but the Hope in Christ.
My father, as he neared his death, refused to pass until he was certain that the promises he believed were true. I was told, there came a moment - when God showed up - and hope in him was ignited. And then, he could go and pass into glory.
Oh God, Ignite in me Your hope. I look for You, close to me. Help me die to self daily to truly live in You. Your love, your hope, your peace, your joy. Let me live for others through you.
I turn to You for my strength and hope. So that I can be for others, your love and your peace.
Oh come, Oh come, Emmanuel. / Oh Wisdom from on high, / Who ordered all things mightily; / to us the path of knowledge show / and teach us in Thy ways to go.
Come, Lord Jesus.
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