John 1:1-5 (Good News Translation)
1 In the beginning the Word already existed;
the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 From the very beginning the Word was with God.
3 Through him God made all things;
not one thing in all creation was made without him.
4 The Word was the source of life,
and this life brought light to people.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.
Isaiah 43:1-4 (NIV)
But now, this is what the Lord says--
I who created you, Jacob,
I who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
4 you are precious and honoured in my sight,
and because I love you,
1 In the beginning the Word already existed;
the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 From the very beginning the Word was with God.
3 Through him God made all things;
not one thing in all creation was made without him.
4 The Word was the source of life,
and this life brought light to people.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.
Isaiah 43:1-4 (NIV)
But now, this is what the Lord says--
I who created you, Jacob,
I who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
4 you are precious and honoured in my sight,
and because I love you,
Hope
Today is a Sunday all about hope. That’s good isn’t it, because if there is something we can use more of this Advent, it is hope. Flooding, the Omicron variant of COVID, the politicians tell us the economy is precarious, we still can’t see our families: we could use a huge dollop of hope. The whole world could use a lot of hope right now.
I watch the news of people returning to their homes in the flooded areas, and it is just gut wrenching to see their faces, and know their lives are being torn apart. They are starting over again and it is hard work. What are their hopes as they survey the damage and destruction? What are their hopes as they begin to sort through their lives?
We celebrate really big ideas during Advent: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. They are like
apple pie – most people really like it. Who would even think “wait a minute it’s not that easy!”. We want to just dive into all that Hope, all that Peace, all that Love, and I have to say my favourite is Joy.
In the Bible there are all these stories of people going through really hard times. Slavery in Egypt, exile in Babylon, famines, floods, fighting siblings, unfaithful husbands and wives, friends and family dying, and then you have Job who loses everything, before he gets it all back, sort of.
In the Bible hope is tied up with faith. Hebrews 11:1-2; states “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.” You might recognize it better in the King James version: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”.
And then it goes on to list some the faithful after creation beginning with Abel, through Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, David, Samuel and the prophets, and at the end of the litany; Jesus. These faithful we really don’t know what they hoped for, we only know that they are counted among the faithful.
But I would have liked to ask them: “What do you hope for?” Are these promises that God is making with you enough for you to follow where your faith leads?”
After all; Able might have been favoured by God with his offering but he died, Noah and his family and all the animals may have survived but everyone else died, Abraham and Sarah did have Isaac but Abraham was willing to sacrifice him in the name of faith. It’s not so easy to read these stories and say: “OK what does faith mean in my life, what is this faith – this substance of things we- I hope for”
By the way: I am calling this series in Advent:
small hope, deep peace, wide love and real joy!
You might as well know, Ryk doesn’t like small hope, he thinks hope should be big, you might too.
So now I have a story, it’s my story or a small piece of my story. When Ryk and I moved to Texada, six years ago we were tired, burned out, and Ryk was sick: he had just had his thyroid removed a few months before but he had been exhausted for months.
We were so happy to be here. And Ryk just kept getting sicker. It didn’t seem to matter how many times his medications were adjusted over the next two years he just kept getting sicker.
Now, I am not the best of caregivers in the best of times and this was not the best of times but we struggled along.
It was a really dark time for me, but we had had other hard times in our life together and had always managed just fine but this was not one of those times.
What do you hope for in hard times: when there is no horizon that says “This way to better times”
How did those Israelites feel when they were wandering in the desert eating manna and quail for thirty-nine years and no end in sight?
What did Mary and Martha hope for when their brother Lazarus was dead and buried in a cave for two days before Jesus even showed up?
What do you hope for? In the Bible there are miracles and I suppose in real life too. In year forty the Israelites crossed into the land of milk and honey. Lazarus was raised from the dead.
And me, well I prayed, and when I prayed I realized ipso facto that I believed in God and that was my glimmer of light. That was the small flame of hope.
We lit one candle this morning on the Advent wreath- hardly any light at all, but it is a beginning. And hope needs a beginning, it might be sustained by faith or other things like people or events or a change in circumstances but it needs a beginning.
The Israelites being led out of Egypt was one beginning, the hope of liberation from slavery must have been quite an experience; what with the red sea parting and all, but it was Moses and Aaron and the elders who held those people together when the temptation of life back in Egypt was strong, Their faith in God and God’s promises and their hope for a homeland for their people kept the leaders strong and the Israelites wandering.
What sustained me was coming to church here, and singing with Maggie Timms and her group at the yurt. The people here, and there, helped me heal.
By the way, Ryk is much better than he was in those dark days and so am I but I remember them and I am grateful they are in the past.
I think there is a reason that hope is included in Advent and it is not because it’s easy; but because it seems these are always dark days and hard times for someone, somewhere.
Someone is you know is going through a hard time. Too often we tend to minimize what others reveal as difficult in their lives, too often we tend to think those hard things we go through, are feelings and things that are somehow shameful and to be kept to ourselves. When everyone feels alone to carry the burden of their lives everyone loses.
That tiny flame of hope for me was faith. The faith we heard about in Isaiah this morning that says:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
t he flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
4 you are precious and honoured in my sight,
and because I love you,
The same faith that is reignited every Sunday when we read together Our Creed: We are not alone, we live in God’s world. That is God’s promise to us.
For in God’s world, we are known and we are loved.
In the church and communities of God’s faithful people, we are known and we are loved.
In this Advent season, as we look forward to the coming of the Christmas child, I hope our hearts will be softened and opened to small hopes, deep peace, wide love and real joy.
May it be so. Amen
Today is a Sunday all about hope. That’s good isn’t it, because if there is something we can use more of this Advent, it is hope. Flooding, the Omicron variant of COVID, the politicians tell us the economy is precarious, we still can’t see our families: we could use a huge dollop of hope. The whole world could use a lot of hope right now.
I watch the news of people returning to their homes in the flooded areas, and it is just gut wrenching to see their faces, and know their lives are being torn apart. They are starting over again and it is hard work. What are their hopes as they survey the damage and destruction? What are their hopes as they begin to sort through their lives?
We celebrate really big ideas during Advent: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. They are like
apple pie – most people really like it. Who would even think “wait a minute it’s not that easy!”. We want to just dive into all that Hope, all that Peace, all that Love, and I have to say my favourite is Joy.
In the Bible there are all these stories of people going through really hard times. Slavery in Egypt, exile in Babylon, famines, floods, fighting siblings, unfaithful husbands and wives, friends and family dying, and then you have Job who loses everything, before he gets it all back, sort of.
In the Bible hope is tied up with faith. Hebrews 11:1-2; states “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.” You might recognize it better in the King James version: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”.
And then it goes on to list some the faithful after creation beginning with Abel, through Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, David, Samuel and the prophets, and at the end of the litany; Jesus. These faithful we really don’t know what they hoped for, we only know that they are counted among the faithful.
But I would have liked to ask them: “What do you hope for?” Are these promises that God is making with you enough for you to follow where your faith leads?”
After all; Able might have been favoured by God with his offering but he died, Noah and his family and all the animals may have survived but everyone else died, Abraham and Sarah did have Isaac but Abraham was willing to sacrifice him in the name of faith. It’s not so easy to read these stories and say: “OK what does faith mean in my life, what is this faith – this substance of things we- I hope for”
By the way: I am calling this series in Advent:
small hope, deep peace, wide love and real joy!
You might as well know, Ryk doesn’t like small hope, he thinks hope should be big, you might too.
So now I have a story, it’s my story or a small piece of my story. When Ryk and I moved to Texada, six years ago we were tired, burned out, and Ryk was sick: he had just had his thyroid removed a few months before but he had been exhausted for months.
We were so happy to be here. And Ryk just kept getting sicker. It didn’t seem to matter how many times his medications were adjusted over the next two years he just kept getting sicker.
Now, I am not the best of caregivers in the best of times and this was not the best of times but we struggled along.
It was a really dark time for me, but we had had other hard times in our life together and had always managed just fine but this was not one of those times.
What do you hope for in hard times: when there is no horizon that says “This way to better times”
How did those Israelites feel when they were wandering in the desert eating manna and quail for thirty-nine years and no end in sight?
What did Mary and Martha hope for when their brother Lazarus was dead and buried in a cave for two days before Jesus even showed up?
What do you hope for? In the Bible there are miracles and I suppose in real life too. In year forty the Israelites crossed into the land of milk and honey. Lazarus was raised from the dead.
And me, well I prayed, and when I prayed I realized ipso facto that I believed in God and that was my glimmer of light. That was the small flame of hope.
We lit one candle this morning on the Advent wreath- hardly any light at all, but it is a beginning. And hope needs a beginning, it might be sustained by faith or other things like people or events or a change in circumstances but it needs a beginning.
The Israelites being led out of Egypt was one beginning, the hope of liberation from slavery must have been quite an experience; what with the red sea parting and all, but it was Moses and Aaron and the elders who held those people together when the temptation of life back in Egypt was strong, Their faith in God and God’s promises and their hope for a homeland for their people kept the leaders strong and the Israelites wandering.
What sustained me was coming to church here, and singing with Maggie Timms and her group at the yurt. The people here, and there, helped me heal.
By the way, Ryk is much better than he was in those dark days and so am I but I remember them and I am grateful they are in the past.
I think there is a reason that hope is included in Advent and it is not because it’s easy; but because it seems these are always dark days and hard times for someone, somewhere.
Someone is you know is going through a hard time. Too often we tend to minimize what others reveal as difficult in their lives, too often we tend to think those hard things we go through, are feelings and things that are somehow shameful and to be kept to ourselves. When everyone feels alone to carry the burden of their lives everyone loses.
That tiny flame of hope for me was faith. The faith we heard about in Isaiah this morning that says:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
t he flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
4 you are precious and honoured in my sight,
and because I love you,
The same faith that is reignited every Sunday when we read together Our Creed: We are not alone, we live in God’s world. That is God’s promise to us.
For in God’s world, we are known and we are loved.
In the church and communities of God’s faithful people, we are known and we are loved.
In this Advent season, as we look forward to the coming of the Christmas child, I hope our hearts will be softened and opened to small hopes, deep peace, wide love and real joy.
May it be so. Amen
