Sunday
12/24/17 (4:00 PM/7:00 PM)
Freeville/Homer
Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “What is hope for you?”
(“The Hope of Christmas” Series – Part 5 of 5)
Old Testament
Scripture: Isaiah 9:2-7
New Testament
Scripture: Titus 2:11-14
Gospel Lesson:
Luke 2:1-20
Friends, sisters and brothers in Christ, once again Merry
Christmas to all! Well actually Christmas Eve, but at Midnight we can
officially say Merry Christmas!
This holiday of Christmas is one that millions and even
billions of people have celebrated for nearly 2,000 years. This holiday is one
massive, awesome, and epic birthday party. This holiday celebrates the birth of
the one named Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the savior of the world.
What
started as a humble holiday celebrating our Lord and Savior, who was born poor
and humble in a manger, has turned into a massive commercial enterprise. We
rush, we buy, we send, we wrap, we prepare, we buy decorations, we decorate, oh
and did I forget the tree?
I don’t know about you, but I love the decorations, the
tree, and the lights of the seasons of Advent and Christmas. Yet, I know so
many that see the season of Advent, and as of midnight tonight Christmas, as
one big marathon. They have told me, “You know Pastor Paul, Christmas was fun
when I was a kid, but now it’s just a flat out sprint”. Some people have told
me that need a Christmas just to get over the stress and exhaustion of the
actual Christmas.
In addition to this, we are closing in on the end of the
2017. While there have been many joy this year, such as the opening of a new
ALDI, there have also been a lot of hardships. We have seen devastating
hurricanes, wild fires, shootings, political corruption, and so on and so
forth. Within all of this though, for nearly 2,000 years the people called
Christians, or followers of Christ have drawn “Hope” from Christ, from this
birth narrative, and from who he was and still is.
Let’s be honest though for just a minute, how many of us right
now are feeling tired out tonight? Anyone here feel like that they have been on
a treadmill? Oh and by the way the way you still have gifts to wrap, things to
do, and ahhhh! I would invite you in this time and in this place to just take a
deep breath. Breath in and hold it for a few seconds, and then breathe out the
“Hope” that is in Jesus Christ and his gospel.
So we all are gathered here on this Christmas Eve, as many
of us have done many times before. Some of us like to come to the Christmas Eve
service, because it’s pretty, we light candles, and it’s Jesus birthday. Everyone
loves a baby, right?
We gather for different reasons, we are different ages, we
have different wants and needs, our health might not be the same as the person
sitting next to us, and our burdens might be varied. Yet, we are all gathered here
on this Christmas Eve, 2017.
Amidst
all that the season of Advent and Christmas are, as well as all that has
happened in 2017, I have a question for us all. The question is this, “What is “Hope”
for you?” Meaning as you sit here tonight, what are you “Hoping” for? What in
your life brings you a sense of “Hope”?
Since I am a nerd, I am going to read to you the definition
of “Hope” from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary. According to this online
dictionary, “Hope” can defined as:
1. “to cherish a desire with anticipation: to want something to happen or be
true”.
2: “to desire with expectation of
obtainment or fulfillment”.
3: “to expect with confidence” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hope).
“Hope” then, can
be a desire, something that we anticipate, or something that we want to happen
or to be true. “Hope” can be something that we expect to be obtained and or to
be fulfilled. “Hope” can also be something that we can expect with confidence.
So again my
friends, on this our Christmas Eve, 2017 “What is Hope for you”? Is your “Hope”
contained in your bank account? Is your “Hope” your children and or
grandchildren? Is your “Hope” that the world can be a better place? Is your
“Hope” world peace? Is you “Hope” for reconciliation with a family member,
friend, and or a spouse? Is your “Hope” something else?
What I do know my friends, my sisters
and brothers in Christ, especially in being very young and not knowing a lot,
is without “Hope,” life is bleak. If we have no “Hope,” if we have no sense of
expectation in anything, then life seems dreary and bland. Some people have
asked me before, “Pastor Paul, what do you know about hope anyway?” To which I
replied many times: “I know what hope is, I am a Chicago Cubs fan”!
Where then can we find and draw “Hope”
from? For me my main source of “Hope” is from God through Jesus Christ, and the
power of the Holy Spirit. You see, I believe in an eternal and an everlasting
God that created the universe, the heavens, this earth, and all of us. I also believe
that same God so loved us, that he sent his only son to be born and to be among
us. Many of us know the story that Jesus died on a cross for our sins. Some of
us see it as a sort bank transaction that occurred. We see that Jesus did
something for us, we then either accept it or reject it. From there, maybe we
move on with our lives.
For nearly the last 2,000 years however,
Christians from all over the world, in variety of languages, climates,
cultures, men, women, and children, have gathered on Christmas Eve. We have gathered
in part because it is our tradition, because mom told us that we have to, but
many have and continue to gather with “Hope”. Many have and continue to gather
to grow their sense of “Hope”.
How can a baby, named Jesus or Immanuel,
which is “God with us” inspire any “Hope” in us at all? Jesus Christ, the
savior of the world, the Lord of life, was born of a teenage mother, who was
poor. He was born in stable or perhaps a cave depending on what was actually
available. He wasn’t exceptional in society, yet his life, his teachings, his
love, his mercy, his justice, and his “Hope” continues to change this world
every day through us.
Jesus Christ is the one who is coming to
us, God wrapped in flesh, who will change this world forever. He is the one who
will teach us a new way of life, love, and light. He is the sovereign Lord over
all of creation that has and will continue to change the world.
The desire and the need for “Hope” I
believe is great right now in our world. How can we draw “Hope” from Jesus
Christ? How can we draw hope from who Jesus Christ was on the this earth, from
the Christ that will return to earth one day in glory, and the Christ that we
can call upon to come into our lives in us daily.
The world that Jesus was born into, was
in some ways a brutal and an unforgiving world. The people of Israel/Palestine
were living under the occupation of the Roman Empire. They desired, they
expected a Messiah, a Christ, to deliver them from the hardship and suffering
of their lives.
About 700 years before the birth of
Jesus Christ that we celebrate tonight, the prophet Isaiah wrote with “Hope”
and expectation about the coming of the Messiah, of Jesus Christ. The prophet
wrote:
“The
people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of
deep darkness—on them light has shined” (Isa. 9:2, NRSV).
Light is coming says the Prophet Isaiah. He then goes on to
say of this coming Messiah, this Christ that:
“he is named, Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his
kingdom. He will
establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this” (Isa. 9:6b-7, NRSV).
Do
you feel a sense of “Hope” when you hear these words? I know that I do.
Yet our world
still has so much suffering, pain, and hardship. Are we to have “Hope” merely
from the Prophet Isaiah’s words alone? No, we have a part to play in the story
of “Hope”. We have to live “Hope”.
Tonight in our
reading from the Apostle Paul’s epistle or letter to Titus, he tells us:
“For
the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training
us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live
lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the
blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior,
Jesus Christ” (Ti. 2:11-13,
NRSV).
In the reading for tonight from the
Apostle Paul’s letter to Titus, I am not hearing that were are to just have
faith. I am also hearing about how are supposed to live.
I have great “Hope” in the birth, life,
death, resurrection, and return of Christ, but I also have “Hope” in what
Christ has called me and you to do in the world each and every day. To know
Jesus Christ then, to believe in him, his power, his grace, his authority, and
his love, is to know “Hope” like never before. It’s the idea that in the end of
everything, Jesus and his gospel win. Evil losses and love wins. How can we
better love our neighbors, and what can we do each and every day to live
“Hope”?
Many of us know the gospel of Luke
narrative on the birth of Christ for tonight. Many of know that the decree from
Emperor Augustus went out to have a population count or census (Lk. 2:1, NRSV).
Many of us know that Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem, as Joseph was returning
to his place of birth to be counted in the census (Lk. 2:4, NRSV). Many of us
know that Joseph was a decedent of King David.
I would guess that we all know that when
Joseph and Mary got to Bethlehem that there was no room at the inn or the hotel
for Mary to give birth. All of us, I am sure, know looking at any manger scene
that we have in our home or have seen, that Jesus was born in a manger, and was
wrapped in swaddling clothes (Lk. 2:6-7, NRSV). Then the shepherds or tenders
of the flocks of sheep in nearby fields were told of the birth of this
Christ-child, the savior of the world (Lk. 2:8-12, NRSV). The gospel reading
says:
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the
heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory
to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (Lk. 2:13-14, NRSV).
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (Lk. 2:13-14, NRSV).
The Shepherds then came and saw the
Christ-child, and in Luke’s gospel, the Wise Men came with Gold, Frankincense,
and Myrrh (Lk. 2:15-20, NRSV).
So
many of us then know this story. We see it acted out in church Christmas Pageants,
many of us have Nativity sets or scenes of our own in our own homes. This is
the narrative, the story of a savior that has, is, and continues to come among
us. A savior just like us, just like you, just like me, who understand us,
experienced hardship like us, and loves us so much. This savior not only wants
to be in relationship with us, but this savior also calls us to go out into the
world every single day and live as he lived. He has called us to love as he
loved, to serve as he served, and to be “Hope” to all the world in his name.
When we do this, I believe we can find “Hope” like never before.
I pray that this night, tomorrow on
Christmas Day, and every day for you after, is a day of “Hope”. I pray that you
can find a congregation like this if you don’t have one that lives out that
“Hope”, love, truth, grace, and mercy, each and every day. I pray that grow
closer to Jesus Christ, his gospel, his love, his mercy, and yes his abundant
“Hope”. May we share that “Hope” and love now and forever. Amen.
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