Hello Friends -
This past weekend I had the opportunity to make some new friends at Sebastopol Christian Church and share a sermon meditating on the Christmas story. Advent of Hope is a reflection of the depth of the Christmas story in three movements...The Wait. The Hope. The Call.
The Wait.
Christmas is about waiting. It is about the people of God clinging to the promise of God that one day he would send a Savior. At the time of the Jesus' birth, the Jewish people were being marginalized by the strongest empire the world has ever seen, Rome. From England to India, Rome ruled by sheer terror, killing or enslaving anyone who opposed Rome's rule. It is here the people of God find themselves crushed by the weight of oppression. We all feel The Wait. We feel it in the brokenness of relationships, the loss of loved ones, or the death of our dreams. We feel it when we hear news of another shooting or act of terror. All of us sense that the world is not as it should be. This is the pain of the wait.
The Hope.
But the story doesn't end there. God isn't removed and distant. John writes, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." or as Eugene Peterson writes in The Message, "The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood." Christmas is the reminder that the story is going somewhere. That God entered the story and is starting a new thing. It is the reminder that Rome doesn't always win, that darkness gives way to light. Christmas reminds us that one day "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'" (Revelation 21:4-5)
The Call.
But we too have a role in Christmas. As Jesus embodied hope and entered the story, so we are to embody hope and enter the story. Jesus in John 20:21 says, "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." As Jesus entered the waiting of a weary world, we enter the waiting embodying the hope of Christmas. We become present in the brokenness of the world. We sacrifice in the way Jesus sacrificed, and we love as Jesus loves.
Christmas is about our hope in the waiting, calling us forward to love as Christ loved. May we this Christmas experience the hope of God "moving into the neighborhood." May we embody Christmas for our neighbors, classmates, co-workers, and families.
Merry Christmas friends!