“UnClutter the Heart: Praise to God” Psalm 148

The Sunday after Christmas. The presents have been unwrapped. The candles have been lit and blown out. The hymns have been sung. What is left to be said?

So very much!

Because the brith of Jesus was the beginning of something, dear friends. Not the end. With the incarnation of Christ we see the Good News with flesh on it. The one who came to reconcile us to God. The one who continues to reconciles us to God. And I don’t know about you, but I think that is worthy of our praise!

One of the podcasts I listen to, Heart Strangely Warmed, describes psalms like the one we read today as “PTL” - “Praise the Lord”. Every time they say it, it reminds me that there is surely much to praise God for. Things that make us say “wow!” Where God absolutely amazes us. Where God takes our breath away. 

Author Anne Lamott states, “Wow, is often offered with a gasp, a sharp intake of breath, when we can’t think of another way to capture the sight of shocking beauty”. Wow are prayers of amazement.

“Wow” moments are connected to wonder and lead us to worship. Wow moments can come from reading a piece of poetry, seeing a beautiful sight, coming alongside a child who is learning new things. They can shine forth in nature or ring true in our hearts through music. Wow moments cause us to realize something new about God’s love for us or capture our heart anew with an old truth that we have too quickly forgotten. The Psalmists this morning reminds us that God has done glorious things and is worthy of our praise - do we live like this? 

The prophets, the Psalmists, the gospel writers, and the apostles all tell us the same thing about God - God alone is to be praised. God alone has done great and wondrous things. In the words of today’s prayer - God alone deserves our amazement - but do we live this way? Do we first think of God when we are cuddling with a cooing newborn, or hugging a beloved friend, or reading a passage in a book that stirs something in our spirits? Do these powerful life moments lead us to praise God? Or do we too quickly take them for grantit. 

If there is any time of the year, friends, where should be “wow-ed” by God - it should be right now. We are celebrating Emmanuel - God with us - God who went to the length of coming as a child in a manager over 2,000 years ago. God who meets us where we are at, even now today, in the midst of our struggles, and heartache and joy. God who is the absolute presence of love with us. Who loved us enough to go this far to get our attention and draw our hearts close to him. God who just wants us to be in relationship with him. 

Friends, when we praise God, like the Psalmist, we are reminded how small we are and how big God is. The problem comes when we reverse those things. When we make Jesus too small. Paul wrote the following to the Church in Colossias: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;  for in[a] him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.  He himself is before all things, and in[b] him all things hold together. Christ is the All in All, we are not. Christ is the center, we are not. 

Some people who study language believe that “wow” is a contraction of “I vow”. I vow to remember. I vow to never forget. I vow to cherish this moment. Do we live like that? Do we proclaim prayers of amazement enough in our lives? Do we thank God for those moments that leave us almost speechless and transform something inside of us? Those moments that act like a mini-resurrection, bringing us closer to God and reminding us that God is ultimately in control? The sad truth is that sometimes we look past the great gifts that God is trying to offer us - those moments of amazement. We forget what Isaiah is trying to speak to the people about - that we are to exalt God, praising God’s name, because God is faithful in giving us more gifts than we can ever deserve. 

This sermon is shorter than usual because I want you to be part of it. You have heard the Psalmist and what he praised God for. But what do you praise God for this day. Let’s shout it out to God. Let us share it with this community of faith. Let us lift high our voices because our God is worthy of praise in all times and in all places. Let us join together in praise the Lord!

UnClutter the Heart: Presence

The day has finally arrived! For the last several weeks we have been talking about preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ, and today all of the waiting and preparing is over. We have arrived at the manger - some perhaps for the first time, some for many times, to gaze on the Christ child. 

But when we arrive at the manger, we are not alone. In the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, we find that the birth of Jesus is first announced to shepherds, who lived outside of the community in the fields. They were just doing their job - tending the flocks, when angels showed up with a life changing message for them. I have good news, that is going to be a source of joy to all people, the Messiah has been born. Now get up and go, because the sign for you that these things are true is a child, wrapped in bands of cloth, lying in a manger. 

Into the quiet of the evening, when the rest of the world was at rest, comes this glorious angel chorus leading the shepherds to go. To go and see. To go and meet the Lord. 

Friends, there is not many quiet spaces left in this world. Not many places where we can be still and rest. Yet, as we take time this day, perhaps in the middle of our celebration, perhaps at its beginning, we come. We come, just like the shepherds did so long ago to come and meet our Savior. To come and meet the presence of God with us. 

I don’t know what brought you here tonight. Maybe it was memories of Christmas Eves gone by. Maybe its a searching in your spirit that you just can’t let go of. Maybe it is something different all together. Whatever led you here, it is my hope and prayer that you meet Christ. That as you stare into the manger, like the shepherds, you find what your heart is longing for. That you feel the presence of God. 

Because Jesus is not just a babe born long ago. He is God’s love in the flesh. He is the message that no matter what brought us here today, and what we are carrying with us to the manger - God loves us. 

Christ is also the one who brings hope to this world. Often we read from Matthew and Luke this time of year, hearing the Christmas story. But there is another story as well. One that we find in the Gospel of John, Chapter 1. Hear now these words:In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being  in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Friends, that is the joy that the angels told the shepherds about. That Christ has come as the light to bring us life. 

Christ alone is life-giving. He breaths life and brings about light. When there is only darkness, physically or spiritually, there is chaos. We cannot see. We don’t know what to do. We don’t know who we are. And even though the forces of darkness and chaos are among us today, we have a hope in the Light of Christ. We celebrate tonight that the light of the world was born. 

But that’s also not a message that can just be contained to this evening. One of the hymns that we sing around this time of year goes something like this “O come let us adore him”. Evelyn Underhill is a spiritual writer and she describes adoration in this way, “awestruck delight in the splendor and beauty of God… not a difficult religious exercise, but an attitude of the soul.” 

Church, Christ didn’t come to make a religion. He came to change us down to our very spiritual core. Something that only he can do. And that’s why we gather. That’s why we adore him. That’s what this night is about.

We gather together and sing our familiar songs and light candles. But in doing we remember why Jesus came. We remember the gifts that first proclaimed to the shepherds of Good News and joy and that the Savior has been born. And we lean into the hope of it all. A hope that Christ will never be overcome by the darkness. A light that we live in the midst of each and every day. We are drawn to the light of Christ as we see the light of candles. With every dance of the flame we once again renew our yearning to find life and hope and strength in Christ, the Word became flesh. We invite Christ into the chaos of our lives and ask him to ignite our hearts for him. 

As we look around at flickering candles we remember that we did not create the light, we simply shine it for others. We simply wait together this evening, in hopeful expectation for the one who spoke light and life into being. The same one who came to dwell among us as the Light of the World. The same one who is with us this evening and every day who lights our path, drawing us closer to God.

Sitting on my desk at home is a Willow Tree figure. She is holding out a single, lit candle and bears the name “Angel of Hope”. How appropriate. For surely we find hope in the light of the Lord and are called to bear that light to others. The hope of God with us. The hope that we find this evening in the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Luke. That’s where our attention lies in the quiet of this moment. 

Because here’s the thing. What we value - that’s what deserves our attention. So I want to not let this moment go without drawing our attention to the only one who is worthy of our adoration and praise. I don’t know why you came brothers and sisters, but I’ve been praying for this moment right here, right now, this service, to be one where we connect deeply with the light of the world.

Whatever need you may have come into this place with - Christ can meet you there. Whatever deep longing in your heart you may have - Christ can be present with you there. Whatever your spirit is crying out for tonight - Christ can be with you there. Because the message of tonight is that our God is able and nothing, nothing can block out the light and love of this moment, at this cradle, where the savior was born. 

So may you meet him here again. As we light candles and sing songs, may the light of Christ get into your spirit. Let us come and worship, the Light of the World. Amen. 

“Unclutter the Heart: Love” Matthew 1: 18-21, 24-25

There is a tendency to try to speed through most of Advent, but I think that is especially true of the last week of Advent. But perhaps that is exactly why we need it the most.

I mentioned last week that there is a bit of discussion about what order the candles of joy and love should go in. Last week we celebrated joy and this week, the final week, we are going to reflect on love.

Love is something that I struggle with in our modern culture. Somewhere along the way, we have made love into a feeling. If I feel like I love you, then I must love you. But that isn’t the type of love that we are talking about this morning, friends. That isn’t the type of love that Jesus brings. Jesus doesn’t bring a feeling of love, something that can flee with time. No, Jesus didn’t bring the noun of love, Jesus brought the embodiment of the verb to love, an action. Something that keeps giving. 

In other words, while we often may think of love as something that we feel, Jesus came to show us to love, how to go about the task of loving.

Now, you may bulk at the idea of love being a task. It sounds like just another thing to add to our to-do list the hecticness of the season. But if we pause and truly consider what that means, I think we can see task as something that we choose to do. An action that we choose to share with the world.

A few years ago in this parish we did a bit of an experiment during Advent. I asked you to write down ways that you shared the love of Jesus during this season of preparation. Then you brought them in, we put them in a sparkly box with a big red bow, and then we opened them. We read them as a gift that we offered to Jesus. A gift of pure love. A gift of love in action. 

If anyone knew what it meant to show love through action, it was Joseph. Jospeh was engaged to be married to Mary. But somewhere between the engagement and the wedding ceremony you find out that Mary is expecting a child. You know that it isn’t yours. There’s no way. So the only rational conclusion is that Mary must have cheated on you, broke your covent of betrothal. 

Joseph had to be feeling heartbroken. 

Now you are faced with a choice. Do you call her out publicly? Or do you try to let it go quietly? The scriptures say that Mary should be stoned to death for having a child by another man while engaged to you. But you don’t want her to die. If you tell your family, tell your friends, word will get around Bethlehem – its not that big of a town with only 500 -1,000 people living in it – and she will be executed. But you can’t marry her either. Not when she broke your trust, broke the promise you made to each other through your engagement. 

Scripture doesn’t tell us how long Joseph wrestled with the decision of what to do about his engagement to Mary – only that the angel of the Lord came to him in a dream after he resolved to dismiss her and their engagement quietly. The only logical explanation to Mary’s predicament was that she had been unfaithful to him – but as much as that angered and saddened him, as much as that cut him to his very core, he could not justify killing her. Joseph knew that if he ended the engagement quietly, and then people found out that she was pregnant, that they would assume that he had been the one to impregnate her while she was visiting Elizabeth. The shame of the pregnancy would then be his – for sleeping with someone, whom he was engaged to, then dismissing her, and not being a father to his own child – instead of Mary’s. The consequences were not as life threatening for him, but in an honor-share society, it would bring much disgrace upon him and his family. He would still owe Mary’s family the additional dowry to be paid before their wedding. He would be required by law to provide for the needs of her child, and if Mary really insisted then the law would require him to take her as his wife. Though he doubted that she would do that. 

But in the midst of all of Joseph’s feeling about love and not feeling loved and wrestling with questions about actions that could have deadly consequences, God intervened . God came to Jospeh in a dream and told him not to be afraid (sound familiar?) Because the child was actually the Holy Spirits. She was carrying the Messiah. 

Now Jospeh could have ignored that message from God. But instead he decided to follow God’s leading, be obedient, and show love in action. To do the unthinkable. The thing that no one else would understand if they knew the entire situation. He took Mary to be his wife. He would go on to raise Jesus as his child. He showed love. 

If we are honest, most of us are not going to find ourselves in situations like this. And let me be very clear here - there are certain situations where this is absolutely not how you show love if you are feeling threatened or abused. That is not what the scripture is asking of us. It is not telling us to stay in dangerous situations. But what the story of Joseph does ask of us is to examine our hearts and figure out exactly how we are called to show love, not just during this season, but year round. 

Because this gift that is going to come to us in the person of Jesus Christ later this week, this gift that comes wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger - that is the gift of Divine Love. And Divine Love, my friends, changes everything.

Divine Love comes to remind us that God is with us - not just when we can feel it, but all the time. Divine Love comes to show us the way of Love, that often can lead us to sharing love in ways that we may have never considered before. Divine Love comes and asks us some hard questions like what blocks us from loving our neighbors in the world? How has mistrust came to take root in our hearts to the point where it is choking out love?

What could sharing that Divine Love look like - maybe its just saying thank you to a cashier and meaning it this holiday season? Or sharing a smile or a word of encouragement when someone seems down? Maybe its doing something special for someone for whom the holidays are hard. Maybe its telling someone the story of Divine Love itself.

Friends, moving from a place where we think that love is just a fleeting feeling to seeing love in action is hard. It requires us root around in our heats and examining both what love is and how the love of Jesus changed things for us. Because I am not exagruaing when I say that that love of Jesus changes everything. 

I don’t know where you are with Jesus this day friends. But if you are yearning for a time and place to know this love of Jesus for yourself, maybe today is your day. If you have already accepted Christ, but you have let the bitterness of the world seep into your heart, maybe today is your day to reclaim that love. Let us take time this day to be in prayer, asking that the love of Jesus change us from the inside out. Amen. 

“The UnCluttered Heart: Joy” Luke 1: 46-53

What comes to your mind when you think of joy? I think of one woman in this parish who has a smile that lights up the room whenever she sees you. I think of the excitement of a child when they get to do something that they enjoy or spend time with family and friends. 

I am currently working on a project that phrases the question a little bit differently, “what makes your heart sing?” For me it’s spending time with my nieces and nephews. Reading thick books. Exploring trails. Traveling. Having a cup of tea in the morning. 

The problem friends is that sometimes we lose our joy. Sometimes we get so caught up in what we think we ought to be doing that we don’t let that song sing out of our spirits about what brings us joy. What makes us feel alive and connected to God.

The third week of Advent has some debate around it. Some traditions say that this is the week of joy. Others say that it is the week of love. Either way, this is the week we light the pink candle. The candle that marks that we are half way through our time of preparation and waiting. 

Today, on this third Sunday of Advent we are going to focus on joy. The joy that Mary carried in her heart for Jesus’s impending birth. The word used for this particular Sunday is Gaudete - which literally means rejoice!

If anyone didn’t have a reason to rejoice it would have been Mary. This young woman, engaged to be wed to Joseph, only to be found with a child by the Holy Spirit. She knew what that meant, friend. She knew the risk to her own body, her own life that she was taking on when this happening to anyone else would bring a sentence of death. Yet, here is Mary, poor, living in a society where women did not have much worth or voice outside of their marriage and having children and she responded that she was willing to be obedient to the Lord. 

Mary then goes to spend time with Elizabeth and we are told that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting that the child in her womb, did what? Leaped for joy. The child that Elizabeth was carrying - the one whom was to prepare the way for the Messiah, responded before they were both even born. 

And after that moment the floodgates of Mary’s heart overflowed in this poem, this song, that we often call the Magnificant. Why? Because Mary starts out, before anything else, saying that her soul magnifies the Lord and she rejoices in God, her savior. For how he has looked at Mary and saw her with eyes that no one else in the world saw her with. For showing her favor. And simply because God is God and God is holy. 

Friends, is that the same type of joy that we are carrying around in our hearts this season? Because if I’m honest, sometimes it doesn’t seem like it. In the midst of all the busyness and the filled calendars with places to be and things to do - as we try to fit in as much holiday fun and cheer as we can, it is often at the cost of joy being pushed out. 

Because here’s the thing. Joy isn’t the same as being happy. Or being cheerful. Joy doesn’t come from circumstances. Joy comes from the hope and peace of God that we celebrated the last two Sundays. It is because of joy, my friends, that we can praise God. And not one more thing that you squeeze into your schedule this holiday is going to be the source of joy - for that is God alone. 

For the past few months, we have been studying the book of Hosea in Bible Study. And we got into an interesting conversation once about places of worship and especially about alters. The prophet Hosea was telling the people of Israel that they got the purpose of worship all confused and in doing so they have profaned the alter. They had even forgotten what the alter was for. 

See the people during the time of Hosea, were going about things all on their own. They were doing the things that they thought would bring them happiness and success, even if it meant going over here to worship the goddess of fertility and going over there to worship the god of the harvest. Then when they were so tangled up in the mess of their making they would come back to God and say, well God if I offer you a sacrifice, on this day, in this way, on this alter then you have to forgive me. 

But that wasn’t the point of worship. In fact, if you go back to Genesis, think about when alters were built. They were usually a pile of rocks put in a place where God showed up. Where people had this profound connection with God. A place they wanted to remember and be thankful for. 

We talk a lot this time of year, between Thanksgiving and Christmas in the wider world, which often overlaps with Advent within the church, talking about what we are thankful for. But I wonder if we actually live like it. Do we live like people who delight in God? Do we live like people who are overflowing with joy? Or do we say things we are thankful for, but not live as people marked and changed by the joy of our Lord?

Now, once again, that does not mean that we always need to be happy. In my last parish, I was blessed to serve alongside another clergywoman also named Michele (we called ourselves one ‘l’ and two ‘ll’). And for years we had a service for people for who this season may be hard. And folks who didn’t want to be tugged one way or another. Folks who just needed space to breathe during the midst of it all. And one of that things that came out of that service, which was originally meant for those who were grieving during the holidays, was this understanding that there can be springs of joy even when we feel broken, dry, and running on empty. Because joy is bigger than you and bigger than me. Joy comes from our Lord alone. There is joy even in the fact that I may not be able to feel it right now. There is joy that there is room for all. 

There is room for joy for the broken hearted. There is room for joy for those who are confused and overwhelmed. If there is room for the young girl who was told that her life was going to be forever changed by the Holy Spirit - then, church, there is room for joy for us all this season, no matter what we may be feeling. 

Friends, part of this season’s uncomfortableness can be tied up in misplaced expectations. Expectations for that gift that you really wanted but didn’t find under the tree. Expecting that one family member to come in for the holidays, that never shows. Expecting that we are going to be fulfilled by adding just one more thing to the calendar. 

But instead, Mary, and her song of joy and praise, reminds us that the only thing we can expect is the unexpected. Because God moves in the most unexpected of ways. But God also in that movement, leaves behind joy for our spirits that overflows from us into the world. Let us go forth as the people of joy. Amen. 

UnCluttering the Heart; Peace

I was at a training this past week for pastors around the conference. Generally when we have a meeting like this, we open up with a time of worship. This meeting was no different. Only this time the words of a particular song just caught in my heart, in a way that only the Holy Spirit can do. “Come and fill our hearts with your peace”. Why were we singing for peace? Because it doesn’t seem like we have it. In our world. In our nation. In our homes. In our relationships. Sometimes even in our churches, it seems like peace is missing. So that day during worship, our hearts cried out in song for it. 

We are now in the second week of our sermon series about how to create space in our hearts for Jesus to reign this Advent season by focusing on what Jesus brings to us when we open up our hearts, as represented by the Advent wreath. Last week we said that Jesus brings hope - even when we don’t expect there to be any hope at all. And this week, Jesus brings peace.

Friends, when we light the candle of peace we are not just saying that we are open to peace in our lives, but lighting this candle is a prayer rooted in the deep belief that we know, we know, God’s peace will come. But we also realize that its not here yet. Or at least not completely.

December is a funny time of year, because a lot of us think that if we only do more that we can make everything perfect. And with perfection brings the glossy promise of peace - if only for one day. So we exhaust ourselves trying to make everything perfect, all the while forgetting that isn’t what Jesus calls us to this season. 

This was captured so well by a commercial that I believe play around this time last year. The ad showed a dad and mom thinking of the ideal version of the day that they told other people about - everyone happily unwrapping their presents underneath the Christmas tree. Then it cuts to the actual version of the day, filled with many tears and much yelling. 

We cannot make peace come by doing more. We can only make peace come when we actually stop and meditate on what God’s peace means.

Enter the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah is writing to the people of Israel during a difficult time. The people of God are in exile. They are looking around the world isn’t how they thought it should be. They are on the verge of giving up, but God’s telling them to hold out hope. Something new is coming. Freedom. A return from exile. 

So Isaiah is sharing these powerful words of hope. Of God’s vision for the future. In Isaiah 11, the heading or descriptor of this particular vision is “The Peaceable Future”. And its this place where all of the animosity that you expect in nature, between animals that have hunted and have been preyed upon, it stops. They stop. And they live and lie down together. At rest. At peace. 

But who should lead them? A child.

Could this perhaps be the Christ who was spoken of just a few verses earlier? The one who is the shoot that comes off of the stump of Jesse. The one that the Spirit of God rests upon?

In our Christian tradition, we affirm Isaiah 11. When everything around us seems to be the opposite of peace we say this, this is what we are holding out hope for. This is what we will believe will come. And this is what we believe only Christ can bring. 

And in the midst of all of the chaos of this season, that is the peace that Jesus wants to whisper into our hearts, right here and right now. It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, you see all the ways people are trying to force peace by perfection? That’s not it. It’s not about having the perfect decorations, cards, cookies, or family celebration. True peace - that can only begin and end with me. 

Spiritual Author Beth Richardson puts it this way, “Peace is a vision, a hope, a promise made by the Holy One - that there will be a time when peace prevails.” It’s not about a specific season, Church, though we do affirm during Advent the birth of the Prince of Peace. Its about what Jesus calls us to, day in and day out, year round. 

Zechariah, the uncle of Jesus and father of John the Baptist, also knew what it was like to live in the absence of peace. During his day and time folks lived under the oppression of the Roman government. But perhaps even more noticeable than the lack of peace in his land was the lack of peace in his heart. He and his wife had prayed and prayed for a child, only never had one. Until now. An angel had promised him that Elizabeth would bear a son, even in her old age, and that he was going to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. 

After John’s birth, it is like a flood gate burst open in John’s heart as he prophecies over John’s life, that as he prepares the way for the Christ, the mercies of God are going to shine upon them and darkness will turn to light. And the people’s feet will be guided towards what? Towards peace.

I don’t know about you, but I want that to be the prayer of my heart this Advent season. That my feet are guided towards peace. Not the false sense of peace that comes from trying to achieve the perfect holiday season. But deep and abiding peace. The peace we sing about with the words, “Let peace begin with me.”

But in order to be a person of peace, I need to make room for it. Because in order to be a person of peace, Jesus’s peace, I need to be a person who surrenders it all to God. A person who asks what I’m supposed to do for God today and go and do it.

Often we can become so discouraged as we work towards peace. You may have heard people say, “well the world’s so messed up - what can I do?” Or “The problem’s so big, what difference can I make?”

I do not think its a coincidence in Isaiah 11 that the one leading is a child. Kids get that they can bring peace through the choices they make. In the sharing of their lunchbox, or giving of their allowance money or setting up a lemonade stand to raise money for children near and far. As adults we may scoff at that, but friends, our children are trying to lead us in the way of peace. And if that’s what they can do, what can we do?

Howard Thurman was a mentor to the Martin Luther King Jr at the chapel at Boston University. He put this call about what we are to do in the world this way, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive. For what the world needs is people to come alive.”

Friends, does peace make our spirits come alive? Then we will live like people of peace every chance we get, if only we create space for it. The Hebrew word for peace is shalom - which is this all encompassing word that means health, peace, wholeness, safety, and rest. We are called to be shalom-bearers. 

When we go forth from this place, let us leave space in our hearts for hope and peace to shine through. And may that light so brightly shine that it cannot help but set the world on fire with the peace of Jesus this Advent season. 

“Unclutter the Heart” Jeremiah 33: 14-16 Matthew 3: 1-3

If I said the word ‘hope’ what comes to your mind? The dictionary has a wide array of ways to describe hope including: the feeling that what is wanted can happen, to look forward to with reasonable confidence, and to believe and trust. 

So I ask you again, what comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘hope’?

Because as Christians we make this bold proclamation that we have a hope in Jesus. In fact, one of the songs that we used to sing in chapel goes something like this - we have a hope in Jesus. We have a hope in Jesus. We have a hope in Jesus. That all things will be well in the Lord. 

Whenever we sang that song, we weren’t saying that we thought everything was going smoothly or that we got everything we wanted. Instead, we were saying that we believe and trust in Jesus in the face of all circumstances. At all times. 

And it is with that belief, with that hope, that we start today the season of Advent. The season of preparing our hearts again for the coming of Jesus. During this time we look forward to the coming of the Christ child on Christmas Eve, but also the coming of Jesus again as the King. We set aside the four Sundays leading up to Christmas in order to unclutter our hearts and actually make space for Jesus to reign. I think if asked, many of us would say that we have accepted Jesus in our hearts, but friends, Advent is a time to also ask if he is Lord of our lives. Or if we have so crowded him out that he doesn’t have space to dwell, like the inn that was too crowded so long ago. Have we regulated Jesus to only on specific hours on Sunday mornings or do we truly dwell with him, day in and day out?

What are some of the ways that you prepare for the coming of Christmas? I know for me there is putting up the Christmas tree and decorations. The buying of gifts. The sending of cards. And all of those things are lovely. But Advent asks a different question - how would you prepare for the coming of Christ if you knew he would be at your home on Christmas Day? Would you still do the same things or would those fade away because Christ is coming!?!

The truth is our lives can become so cluttered, especially around the holidays, with things that we think are important. Because they are. Often they are rooted in a deep love for other and relationships. But Advent demands that those things not so clutter our hearts and lives that we miss the point. That we miss the coming of Christ.

In Matthew chapter 3 we find words about the call of John the Baptist. John, the only child of Zechariah and Elizabeth, has a purpose in his life to prepare the way for the Messiah, the Christ. He was long awaited for. Long hoped for. And then after his parents had settled and gave up hope, he was born. Now John, much older, finds himself calling the people of Israel to turn their lives around. They, too, had forgotten hope. They had forgotten their story and call and mission and as a result John comes to them and says that its time to repent. What they are doing isn’t working and its time to turn their lives to a whole new direction. Why? Because the time of the Kingdom of God is upon them. 

Then he reminds them that this call on his life and theirs is as ancient as it is new, harkening back to the words of the prophet Isaiah that there is a voice crying out in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord.

To prepare. That’s what we are doing here as well, friends. Because guess what, you can’t call other people to a time of preparation if you aren’t willing to go there yourself. You can’t tell people to have a hope in Jesus, if you don’t have that in your own life. You can’t encourage other people to declutter their hearts if you won’t slow down and do it in your own life.

The truth is - we know what is waiting at the end of the Advent season. It’s the birth of Jesus who came to change the world. But if that’s the ending, then how we live this season should be radically different. We shouldn’t be the people of distraction. We should be the people of singular focus - because Jesus is coming. 

Why is that so important? Jeremiah reminds us - this is the fulfillment of God’s promise. Our God who is always good and faithful. Our God who is always true to his Word. And Jesus is the righteous branch that is coming from the house of David. And he is bringing justice and righteousness with him. 

For the people of Israel during that time - the one we’ve hoped in is coming.

For us today - the one who is our hope has come. And he’s coming again. 

If that’s what our faith rests in, if that’s what we believe, then what is distracting us from living like it? 

Here’s the thing - hope is a spiritual practice. It’s like a muscle that needs to be worked. Many of you know that I teach exercise classes, and the program I teach is known for saying a few things one of which is “you never regret exercising in the end.” Sure there are times that you don’t feel like it. Sure there are times when there’s a long list of other things that you could be doing. But when you make this choice, you don’t regret it in the end.

So it is with hope. We don’t regret exercising or choosing hope in the end. Choosing hope even when we don’t feel like. Choosing hope even when it flies in the face of reason. Choosing hope no matter what. Choosing hope even when it’s hard. 

Because this season in particular reminds us that we are the people of hope. 

How do we choose hope? Especially in the midst of the hustle and bustle? I would encourage us to try a simple three step exercise this season. For those of you who ride in or drive a car - do you ever perchance find yourself at a red light or a stop sign? What are you supposed to do at those particular places - stop. Your foot hits the break. What if next time you are at those natural places that tell you to stop you whisper a simple prayer to help God put your hope in him more? What if after you whisper that prayer you decide to trust God until you get to the next place you stop again?

This season we need invitations and reminders to stop. To pray. To trust. 

Let’s try it friends. Just for one week. Just until we come together again. Let us pray that our hearts become fertile ground to hope again so we can be the people of hope this season in the world. Amen.