Hope

Text: Jeremiah 33:14-16

Focus: Hope

Function: To prepare for Advent

Form: Study

Intro: Many of us,especially those who were raised in the home of a preacher began to cut our theological teeth on the writings of C.S. Lewis.

One of my Niece's is the wife of an Eastern Orthodox Church. Her husband made a funny to me at the dinner after my cousin's funeral as the current topic was the fact that there is no war on Christmas. My Nephew said: “The problem with the Star-bucks cup is not that it doesn't have any holiday words, but that the color is red instead of purple... ...every one knows that Christmas celebrates the Royalty of Jesus and the proper color is Purple!”

But my Niece's favorite line, when she speaks of God's mercy is this: “Remember, Aslan is not a tame lion.” Aslan is a metaphor for Jesus in Lewis' heptalogy, The Chronicles of Narnia.

But, C.S. Lewis was a great writer for the Church during the age of Modernity.

I think one of my favorite principles from him comes from The Screwtape Letters where Wormwood, a character from the Dark Side, says that one of the best ways to distract Christians from their Christian Duty is to rile up patriotic fervor so much that all their passion is devoted to the Kingdoms of men instead of the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven.

And the go-to book, especially for the educated person who was new to the faith, was his book: Mere Christianity.

But we are now in a Post-Modern era and although the good news has not changed, the way that it is understood in our culture is much different than it was in the heyday of the Church, the 1950's.

Mega-Churches spring up, and run their cycle and close down. But the Church will never stop to exist. Jesus promises that to us in Matthew 28:20.

There is a sort of replacement for C.S. Lewis in the age of Post-Modernity. And instead Mere Christianity as a way to help introduce people to Christ, I use the book by N.T. Wright: Simply Christian.

There are are 4 themes for the 4 Sunday's before Christmas, and in this book, there are 4 great longings inside the Human Heart that Jesus addresses.

The 4 Advent Themes are Hope, Love, Joy and Peace.

Wright states that in humanity, there are 4 longings, or hungers. They are a longing for Justice (1) and our hunger for Spirituality (2), Relationship (3), and Beauty. (4).

I wish there was a very direct correlation between the 4 themes in both so that I could do one a Sunday, but I can't, but I want to stay with his theme as we go through the themes of Advent.

People long for Justice. I love Matthew 5:6: God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. (NLT)

Don't we long for justice? When we see, or hear of injustices, especially those done in the name of God, any God, our hearts breaks with sorrow and we refuse to ignore the pain because we now share our hearts with the Divine, God the Holy Spirit and She longs for Her children and every one of those who children who might consider us to be their enemies are children that She, the Holy Spirit, The Spirit of Christ Jesus, The Spirit of God longs for also.

(Lift up eyes in prayer) O God. Grant us hearts with the care and compassion that you have for all of the world. Amen.

The age of Modernity, the age of Science and Reason alone, had no place for God, or the idea of Divine love, or the idea of Divine Wisdom, everything is what nature has made of it.

And for us, 9/11 happened and all of a sudden humanity came to realize that there needs to be some sort of Spiritual connection, or something beyond pure chance to help give us a sense of a moral framework.

It works better for me to believe that there is a perfectly loving Supreme judge who in His/Her love can heal the entire planet.

Humanity started looking toward faith or spirituality again and Post-Modernity became the way that people experience and discover God.

A longing for Spirituality re-awakened. To me, it is an exciting time for the Church.

Relationship/community is something that everyone hungers for also. I know that when Kathy and I are apart, my heart aches for her. There is something about her smile that gives my life more meaning. (thank you)

The Church is community. I think I noticed the change from Modernity to Post-Modernity in my preaching when all of a sudden, when I was preaching my own Grandmother's funeral, instead of inviting people to get ready for heaven themselves, I invited people into the world's biggest family.

And beauty. When I think of the candle we light for peace, I also think of beauty. Beauty is peace, joy, love and hope wrapped into some sort of mystical image that calls from the spirit of the artist into the spirit of the admirer. Whether that is the beauty that God creates in nature, or the artwork in prose, poetry, music, painting, photography, dance, sculpture, drama, comedy, or any thing that inspires us inside here (point to heart).

And none of these things happen without hope.

Keep hope alive is a phrase that I remind myself of often. And when my hope feels weak, I get into some sort of beauty, whether it is nature, a babbling brook, the surf, the sun, rain, whatever, music even puzzles, all of these longings, these legitimate, healthy longings that inspire us and keep us praying and praising our God come from Hope.