Fourth Sunday in Advent – HOPE!
I love Advent/Christmas! I love the fact that we are anticipating the anniversary of Jesus’ birth: the incarnation, God becoming human. I love Christmas lights…I LOVE the music (Most), the excitement of people in the stores, in the coffee shops…wearing those floppy Santa hats or scarfs, and coats and boots. I love to get up early in the morning or even in the middle of the night , while its still dark, and the only lights in a perfectly silent and otherwise dark house…are the Christmas lights: the Christmas tree, or the candles in the windows. What a perfect time to sit with God in anticipation. Our daughter Megan, (she and her husband Erik have two of our grandchildren: Jack and Mabel) got this love of Christmas from me. Megan loves Christmas! She, even more than me, starts listening to Christmas music…I think about the middle of August.
But, as I have gotten older, and developed such a strong passion for scripture, I realize things that I never before realized about Advent and Christmas. This holiday…this “holy day” we celebrate with pretty lights and Christmas music was predicted from before time began. There are all these signs of hope for the Messiah in scripture: As John says in the beginning of his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”. Today’s first reading, from the Prophet Micah, written between 500 and 700 years before Jesus’ birth. And in that reading we heard: ‘there is to be a ruler over Israel “whose origin is from of old, from ancient times”’. This is someone writing on parchment…and talking about “from of old, from ancient times”. And it goes on to describe the birth of the one who would be the Messiah.
In our Gospel reading today, Mary goes to see Elizabeth, and the two of them are joyful for one another, filled with hope because they both realized this Messiah that had been foretold for over 2,000 years – from of old – from ancient times – was coming to bear within them. The Herald (John)…and the Messiah he heralded.
Their whole lives they had been taught of this Messiah, and now…it was coming to bear with them. Can you imagine the excitement they had? The hope they had? Their savior was coming! Their savior/our savior is coming!
For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son!
So, what are we supposed do about our savior coming?
Scripture tells us exactly what to do: The Prophet Isaiah told us 500 years before Jesus’ birth. And Mark, in his Gospel repeated it for us: “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight His paths. Every valley shall be lifted up, every mountain and hill made low. Then, the glory of the LORD shall be revealed.
God gives us the ultimate hope in the incarnation: the birth of his son in the world. And as we celebrate the excitement…of Advent and Christmas: with lights and music…as adults, our anticipation need not be only for the arrival of a fat man with a white beard; but for a baby. A young woman is with child, and shall bear a son, and she shall name him Emmanuel: God with us.
That excitement and hope…we all need…in life, and should have/can have in preparation for this celebration. Make straight his His path: No matter what’s going on in our lives. God gave us the ultimate hope in the birth of his son.
Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Prize winning author, who survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps during WWII, was the Keynote speaker at a conference some years before his death. There, he told the story of how horrific the conditions and treatment of the Jews was in the concentration camps. He said those who survived did not survive because they had more food than the others, nor because they had another blanket in the cold/frozen nights, nor because they had fewer horrific experiences with the guards. He said those who survived did so because they had one thing…hope.
This…hope is fundamental to life. Not coincidentally, the excitement and hope described in today’s reading with Elizabeth and Mary is the same hope we experience today, if we allow ourselves…in anticipation of the celebration of Jesus’ birth. It is how we…prepare the way for the Lord – getting ourselves/our minds ready: for the hope He brings. It supersedes…if we allow it…all of the worries and anxiety the world can offer. And boy can the world offer anxiety!
Do you struggle with anxiety, with fear, and a need for self-reliance, refusing to let go and pay attention to God’s signs of hope? Advent and Christmas are the greatest signs of hope in the history of time. Are you fearful, or do you have anxiety about the future? Are you gripping the proverbial steering wheel of life, trying to control everything, only to find out that the other end of that steering wheel is not connected to anything?
How might we respond to God’s invitation to trust during this season of hope? How is God speaking to you…now? What signs of God’s presence, no matter how small, can you discern in your daily life? Signs of hope.
Perhaps, try to reflect on where God is active in your life, even when you are uncertain. Or maybe, especially…when you’re uncertain.
Consider how, as we prepare for Christmas, we are invited to deeper trust. Letting go of the false steering wheel of self-reliance, and welcoming God’s peace, God’s love, God’s hope. Take time to read or listen to scripture within your heart, God reminding you to hold on to hope, to trust in his promise of His presence, and to prepare for the coming of Christ who is truly Emmanuel: God with us.
This year of 2025, which started with Advent, Mother Church calls us to be Pilgrims of Hope! Two thousand years ago, God sent us the ultimate hope.
It’s more than pretty lights and Christmas music…although those are good reminders. It is an eternity of hope: Emmanuel: God with us…
Come, Lord Jesus. Bring us hope!