Last Sunday's
Sermon Synopsis
Advent: Hope
Isaiah 2:1-5
Matthew 24:36-44
Sunday, we focused on the theme of the first Sunday in Advent - Hope. The prophet Isaiah speaks to the people of Israel at a time when peace and prosperity were a dim memory. Swords and spears are the tools in their reality of violence and division.
It seems like that could apply to us as well. We are experiencing a time of violence and division in our own land right now. People – then and now – hoping for an end to perilous times. Nations facing an uncertain future.
We certainly identify with this message as a people and a nation. As a church we can also feel the need for hope – not an end to violence – as our church is not wielding swords and spears – but hope for the future. We too face an uncertain future. What might Isaiah be saying to us as a faith community?
Isaiah gives us hope. He says that there will be a time when our priority will not be the tools of violence, but the tools of growth and harvest.
This was good news for Israel – and is good news for us – as we live in this time of mass shootings, murders, and growing political and social division. For a future without God’s promise as the ground of hope, will surely be a repetition of the past.
Advent gives us four weeks of exploring that promise, thinking about the future, and reliving the anticipation and waiting that Israel experienced. Isaiah gives a picture of a hopeful future – but notice what verse 5 says: “let us walk in the light of the Lord.”
As we journey into Advent, we look where we walk – we consider the route we are taking – the path we are on. As Israel anticipates the coming of a bright future, Isaiah stresses that that future is illuminated by the light of God.
But we start in the gloom – a gloom that yearns for transformation. We began worship by lighting the candle of hope. Hope in a new beginning, a new way, a new world, and for us at BUCC, hope for our church.
There was a yearning during the prophet’s time. There was a yearning in the first Century. And there is a yearning now. We pray for deliverance from our swords and spears. We cry out for an end to hate and division. We cry out for more light in the gloom.
On this first day of Advent, we cast the light of hope on a world in need of that hope. A world in which hope can still be alive, because of the promise we have from God.
Although it may still be dim right now with only one candle glowing in our midst – it is the candle of hope. It is that hope that anticipated then, and anticipates anew, the reign of the anointed one – one who will bring peace and justice and righteousness into the world.
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