What are you waiting for?
The prophets speaks of a messenger who will prepare for the
coming of the Christ, a prophet who will deliver the people, make the way
straight.
Like the rest of the church throughout the world we are
waiting, because that is what Advent means-waiting/coming. It is a time of
preparation, of waiting for Christ's coming. The preparation is a spiritual
one. It’s a good time to be in
church.
The story of the angel
Gabriel coming to Zechariah speaks of preparation for such a deliverance
through the birth of a baby, who will be a prophet. Someone who will begin to
build the upside down kingdom and restore values to society. John the Baptist
was someone who would be set aside to speak truth into a society that had lost
its way. He would turn people back to God and restore families. Hope to the
Hopeless! We desperately need such people.
How many of us have
given up hope. Good news. We have stopped praying for miracles, for healing
both physical and emotional, for healing of broken painful relationships, for
change. How many of us face seemingly difficult and hopeless situations at this
Advent time? Situations that perhaps only you know of, and yet the message of
God to us is one of hope whatever our situation.
Hope comes to us in unexpected ways, when we least expect
it, in a dream, or in a moment of inspiration, through a friend, or even
someone we dislike. God uses surprising people as a vehicle of hope. We may
feel the presence of God suddenly, feel peace and strength and realize that God
is with us in all things and especially in the crisis we face.
There can be nothing better than to hear words of hope. An
infertility broken. A diagnosis wrong. A wrong forgiven. A brokenness mended.
New possibilities imagined. Hope of a better world, hope of peace between
Muslim and Christian, in Syria, in Afghanistan, in Nigeria. Hope born of years
in prison, or of a death for a dream. Of such things others maybe have much to
teach us.
This Christmas there will be no hope in the noisy shopping
rituals and the exchange of presents if there is not also a humbling, a
waiting, a vulnerability, to Christ’s coming again, the perspective of God with
us-Immanuel, can change us, forever, completely. For many of us we need to feel
the brush of angels wings and the whisper of hope this Advent, this waiting
time. Today this message challenges us to live lives according to gospel values
rather than those of the consumer capitalism that surrounds us. God given hope
is not optimism, or sentimentality, based on ignorance or naivite. It is based
quite simply in a trust in God. The God who brings light into darkness. and
speaks to us. Prepare the Way! For Christ is coming again. Will we hear him,
will we see him, will we receive him this Christmastime?
The Christmas festival is symbolized by light, a light
shining in darkness and the coming of hope. The story of the coming of Christ
is a vehicle, a carrier of hope for us all to feed our spirits and our
imaginations. We like the church throughout the world, are waiting for the
coming Christ. The message of hope runs like a golden thread through the story
of Gods people focused on the hope of the Messiah, the one who will come to
deliver the people. We need to spiritually and then in word and deeds Prepare
the Way.
