Sunday
12/24/17 (9:00 AM)
Freeville/Homer
Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “The power when Hopes comes”
(“The Hope of Christmas” Series – Part 4 of 5)
Old Testament
Scripture: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
New Testament
Scripture: Romans 16:25-27
Gospel Lesson:
Luke 1:26-38
Welcome again, my friends, my sisters and brothers in
Christ, on this our Christmas Eve morning. I have never led a worship service
on Christmas Eve morning before, so this is an exciting experience for me!
Over the last year of our lives, many of us have witnessed
and or have seen on television or in the newspapers many disasters and
tragedies. This year has seen some of the most severe hurricanes in many years.
We have had wild fires that were and are continuing to be record breaking. We
have had small and mass shootings. We have had political corruption, scandals,
and so forth. This has been a year that I bet many of you wish was already
over. We did have a new I-Phone come out though, and a new ALDI in Cortland
open.
As Christians though, we find ourselves in another Advent
seasons, and as of mid-night, we will find ourselves in the twelve-day season
of Christmas. Traditionally, the season of Advent was seen as a time of spiritual
preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. This was a
season of joy, wonder, love, cheer, peace, and “Hope”. How can we find anew
then the “Hope of Christmas” on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, which within
hours of right now will become Christmas Eve? This question is what I have been
endeavoring into in my sermon series this Advent, on “The Hope of Christmas”.
Where do we find “Hope,” especially if we are feeling like there isn’t much
hope?
So far in this sermon series, I have discussed “The Hope of
the promised Messiah,” “Preparing the way for Hope,” and last Sunday,
“Expecting Hope”. This Sunday, I want to talk about “The Power when hope
comes”.
As Christians we have the promised birth of
Christ, the promised power of Christ that can enter our hearts daily, and the
promised return or “Second Coming” of Christ. We can draw “Hope” from this.
From this we can be forgiven, we can receive salvation, and therefore can have eternal
“Hope”. We also can go out into this world and share our “Hope” with others.
This means teaching, healing loving, feeding, forgiving, clothing,
transforming, and making the world into all that Jesus Christ called us to make
it into.
This morning as I said, my sermon is called “The power when
Hope comes”. So I have a question for us all to start: How many of us have ever
ordered something or have waited to receive a birthday and or Christmas gift?
Not just any old thing or gift, but something that we really wanted and hoped
for. We hoped it would come, we just knew it would come! Has anyone ever had an
experience like this before?
In 1983, one of my now favorite Christmas movies named “A Christmas Story” came out. In this
movie, the young character “Ralphie” desperately wants for Christmas a “Red
Rider BB Gun”. The character “Ralphie” day dreams about his hopeful new “Red
Rider BB Gun”. He asks Santa for one, he writes an essay about it, and he
leaves hints over and over for his parents. Yet, young “Ralphie” is constantly
told about getting his “Red Ryder BB Gun,” “You’ll shoot your eye out kid”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story)!
For those of you that have seen this movie, young “Ralphie”
does indeed get his “Red Rider BB Gun”. He then promptly goes into the back
yard, shoots the gun, and the BB bounces off something and hits him near the
eye. He almost quite literally “shot his eye out”!
This time of the year, for many children at least, is a
time of great hope. I remember the excitement of Christmas Eve, and waiting for
Santa. We used to put milk and cookies out for Santa, and Carrots out for the reindeer.
When I awoke the next morning, some of the cookies were eaten, the milk was
gone, and some of the carrots were eaten. I was excited on every Christmas
morning that what I had “Hoped” for so long finally came.
What happens when that thing that we “Hope” for actually
arrives? What do we do when we get our “Red Rider BB Gun,” or whatever else we
have been pining for? Further, how we can take those feelings of hope and
excitement that have now or have had in the past, and then transfer them to the
birth of Christ and his gospel of “Hope”?
Well number one, I believe that we need to truly believe
that Jesus Christ, is the savior of the world who was born among us. Tonight
and tomorrow we will celebrate not an actual birth, but the memory of one. Do
we truly believe that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, born of a virgin, who
entered into this world? Do we believe further, that this Jesus Christ loved,
healed, forgave, and died for us? Do we believe even further, that he rose from
the dead, ascended to heaven, and will return again in glory? This is a great
sense of “Hope” and joy. With this “Hope” we can be “recharged” and “renewed”
to then go out into the world and live like we truly have “Hope”. We can feed
the hungry, clothe the naked, love others, and transform the world. For without
“Hope” what do we have?
This morning in our gospel of Luke reading we know for
certain that Hope is on the way. This morning we know “The power when Hope
comes”. This morning we have a narrative of young Mary being told that she is
carrying the Messiah, the Christ-child. Mary is a peasant girl, who may have
only been 14-years old, yet she is going to be Mary, the mother of God. Let’s
look again at this gospel reading that shows us, “The power when Hope comes”.
This reading from the gospel of Luke begins with:
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was
sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man
whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And
he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But
she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this
might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found
favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you
will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most
High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He
will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no
end.”
(Lk. 1:26-33,
NRSV).
First off, you will notice that this
gospel reading begins with telling us the words, “In the sixth month”. Before
this reading, in the previous verses of the gospel of Luke, we hear about
Elizabeth giving birth to John the Baptist. It says in the gospel of Luke that
Elizabeth stayed in seclusion after the birth of John the Baptist for 5-months.
The angel Gabriel then appeared to young Mary 6-months after the birth of John
the Baptist. So when in the year, as far as the season, was this angelic vision
or annunciation seen and made to Mary?
Well, what we know from scripture is
this, the angel Gabriel appeared to Elizabeth’s husband Zacharias 15-months
prior to Mary having her vision from the Angel Gabriel. From dates and facts
from the Talmud and other sources, some scholars think that John the Baptist’s
father Zacharias received his vision from the angel Gabriel in June. When you
add these fifteen months up, and a likely nine-month pregnancy, most scholars
would think that Christ was born in the late summer or the early fall. So while
we admit to not having the exact date of Christ’s birth correct, it happened,
and so we have “Hope”.
As far as the rest of this gospel
reading, does this visit from the Angel Gabriel give Mary “Hope”? Let’s find
out. The gospel goes on to say:
“Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I
am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon
you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to
be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative
Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month
for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then
Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to
your word.” Then the angel departed from her”
(Lk. 1:34-38,
NRSV).
So Mary, while clearly frightened and
overwhelmed, had faith, and the news seems to have given her “Hope”. On this
morning we know that “Hope” is now coming and is here. What does that “Hope” do
for us? How does the power of “Hope” change us? Does it change us?
Lastly, what does the gospels not have in them that I would
love to read? I would love to hear Mary telling her parents about this story of
the Angel Gabriel visiting her. I wonder if they believed her right away. I can
see her father looking very stressed and angry at his teenaged daughter and
saying “you mean to tell me tell me that God did this?” I can only imagine her
conversation about this with Joseph. I can only imagine how people in Nazareth
began to treat her, as an unwed pregnant teenager? Yet the gospels say that
Mary had great “Hope”. You see, Mary knew that “Hope” itself was in her belly,
and this gave her abundant “Hope”.
My brothers and sisters “Hope” is coming, “Hope” is here.
Don’t let this world and all that it is drag you down. Live the “Hope” of Jesus
Christ and his gospel, and be the Christmas miracle for others that you were
called to be. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment