Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Long Dark Winter of the Soul

Sermon as Preached 12/2/12 at Lambs and Evington UMC


Scripture- Jeremiah 33:14-16


Last week, we talked a little about the liturgical calendar as we celebrated Christ the King Sunday; the last Sunday of the liturgical year. And so today we turn back to the beginning of the calendar, a time that many of us have loved ever since we were kids, and that is of course the time of Advent, a time where we eagerly anticipate and celebrate the arrival of Christ on Earth. It is a time in the calendar full of joy and hope, the sanctuaries are decorated in anticipation, we light the Advent candles and read the meaning behind each candle, all leading until the time in which we can light the Christ candle, signifying God’s arrival on Earth in the form of a small baby, born in a manger. It is a time of the year that Christians have come to love as the famous song says, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” While there is so much talk about the liturgical season of Advent,  it is rarely mentioned how fitting it is that Advent occurs during this season of the Earth. During Easter the link is almost always made between Spring and Easter, between the new life of plants and trees, and the resurrection. (This does show the Northern hemisphere bias of the liturgical calendar because for those south of the  Equator, Easter is during either fall or winter.) But for us here, there is a clear link between spring and Easter. We should also make a connection between our season now and Advent. Sure it isn’t technically winter yet, but the weather sure is starting to feel like it. The leaves have fallen and trees are now barren. Frost has begun killing our grass and our plants. The temperature has dropped and now with every wind, our bones are chilled and we find places to huddle for warmth. The days have grown shorter, there is more darkness, and even in times of daylight, there is often a hazy overcast that can at times be outright depressing. And this, this is the season in which we begin to anticipate Emmanuel, God with us.

            And yet it is so fitting. Our scripture from today is from Jeremiah, who like many of the prophets, has seen the sad and dark days of Israel. The Babylonians have conquered and destroyed Israel, and the people have been kept in captivity.  It is a time of darkness for the Israelites. It is a time of despair, a time of depression, it truly is a long dark winter of the soul. Even Jeremiah creates the imagery of the  death of vegetation, he paints a picture of a dark, cold, barren wasteland.

And yet he depicts this imagery while presenting an image of hope. Jeremiah says, “In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”  A righteous branch to spring up for David. God gives the Israelites a promise, a hope, that in the middle of all they are going through, in the midst of the despair, the darkness, the cold, a branch is going to up and to bring justice and righteousness to the land. God gives them hope that from the cold and darkness of winter, when everything else has died, there will be new life; life that will restore the land, life from the branch of David.  As Christians we know where and when this hope would come, as Christians we hear the story of the story of Christ’s arrival on a yearly basis, we know the story by heart, we love it and cherish it, but for the Israelites, they did not yet know this good news. All they had was a promise from God, that there would be a Messiah to come and save the people. The Israelites did not know when this would happen, they did not know who the Messiah would be, for the most part their lives were very much the same, they were still in exile, they had still lost their land, their homes, their Temple, and yet now the Israelites had something else; they had hope. Hope that one day, they would be saved, and not by just anyone, but the Messiah would come from the root of David.

            We cannot underestimate the power of this hope. In fact, Matthew even starts his gospel around this hope. The first chapter of Matthew traces the genealogy of Jesus. While many of us today find it to be one of the most boring parts of the Gospel, or it is the one that we pray that the pastor doesn’t ask us to read, (you know how it goes, so and so begat so and so, and difficult to pronounce name begat even stranger name and so on.) but for the Jews who read this genealogy, it was a passage of great hope. Because the gospel traces Jesus’ genealogy back to David, Jews could now see that this truly was the Messiah. This is the one that God has been promising us, and best of all, he is one of us, he knows our hurt and our pain. And he shall be called Emmanuel, God with us. Emmanuel, we use this word a lot around this time of year, but how often do we really stop to think about what it means. God is not only with us in spirit, God is not only with us through prayer, God, Emmanuel, was one of us. Someone who knows our pain, or fears, or hurt, God became human. Out of the darkness, out of the cold, out of our brokenness and despair, sprouted a new branch, a little baby child, who would forever change the world, God with us.

            This Sunday, as we begin Advent we are usually so quick, so eager to for the arrival of Christmas, we don’t want to wait to tell that Christmas story, we want it now, but let us stop and learn from our season. This time of year is a great reminder of the purpose of Advent. That from the cold, the frost, the darkness of the shorter days, that in the midst of a season that in all honesty would normally cause depression and despair, we have hope. We must take time to recognize the beauty of this hope.  We have become so accustomed to hearing the good news, that we tend to forget why we need to hear it in the first place. The Israelites did not know when Christ would come, they did not know where, or in what manner he would come, the Israelites did not know the same Gospel story that we know today. What the Israelites had was hope, a hope that God would save his people. This morning let us learn from Israelites, let us not take the good news for granted. Let’s us truly think about the areas in our lives that feel hopeless. If there there are no such areas in your lives, the let us thank the Lord, but then let us be reminded of those whose still today live life with very little hope. Even in our community there are those who feel hopeless. Those who do not see this season as a time of joy, but rather see it as a time of pain. There are those who have lost loved ones, there are those who struggle to even put food on the table let alone a Christmas feast. There are many who see the changing weather not as a sign of cheer, but an obstacle to overcome, of simply staying warm through the winter. And yet, this morning we have lit the first candle of the Advent wreath, the hope candle, a light that signifies that even through the cold and the dark, hope is coming. If you are one who is feeling hopeless today, know that there is hope. If you aren’t, then let this candle remind you to be a bearer of hope to those who are hopeless. Christ is coming to bring life to this dead world… .  there is hope.

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