Hope.
Psalm 33 16-22
Song: One day when heaven
One day when heaven was filled with His praises - YouTube
Reading: Isaiah 42 1-9
Song: There’s a light upon the mountains
HOLYOKE-THERE'S A LIGHT UPON THE MOUNTAINS - YouTube
Reading: Luke 1 67 – 80
Song: Born in the night
Born in the night. Lyric Video (StF 193) - YouTube
Hope.
What is life without hope?
My mother always said “We can live in hope!” Being a Sheffielder she invariably followed this up by saying “Even if we die in Hathersage!!”
What is a symbol of hope for today?
For many, it would be lottery ticket. Dated for Saturday or Wednesday, it brings hope, but for how long?
Lottery tickets are sold on hope, but actually brings despair to many. People who can’t afford to do shopping, often still have lottery tickets.
It could be you! But actually it probably won’t be! In reality the National Lottery is selling 50p coins for £1-00!! For someone to win £14 000 000 it is necessary for 28 000 000 people to lose £2.00.
The lottery can only make anyone richer by making others poorer. It is a short lived hope.
There is story of a new convert to Christianity. His friend, was trying to mock him and asked whether he had seen any miracles? Had he seen water turned into into wine?
He responded “I Don’t know about water into wine, but I’ve seen beer turned into into food and betting slips into furniture!”
“If my father had lived three doors down the street, and had a different telephone number, if the dog had been two years older and you had been born five days later, we would have been millionaires this week!” How many conversations like that have you heard? The lottery is a short lived hope.
Zechariah lived in hope. He was going to see the redemption of Israel. It had kept him going.
Prophets lived in hope. They had visions of how God was going to redeem Israel.
How were they seen?
Were they seen as: Realists? Nuisances? Dreamers? People who could be safely ignored? Busybodies?
What do people hope for? Usually improvement!
When things are bad, there is more to hope for. In dark days, peop0le look for release. look for release.
A radio station presenter rang ambassadors, before Xmas. He enquired what they would like for a Christmas present.
The American ambassador said that he wanted freedom from war and oppression and tyranny. That people should be able to live full lives. That there would be the removal of any threat of communist domination.
The Soviet ambassador said that he wanted the end of imperialist aggression, that all could live in freedom from want and in solidarity with each other.
The UK ambassador said that he would like a box of chocolate liqueurs.!
The cynic in me knows which is more likely to be achieved!
What do you want for Christmas?
Aftershave? New socks? Pack of nuts? New train set? Bath bombs?
Or something grander, more befitting of the King of kings? Do you have a vision for your life, your city, your country or your church? Something worthy of the season?
If you have a vision, who else knows about it? How do you communicate it?
The prophets had hopes and visions. Which all come together to point to Jesus.
Nowhere are they very specific. Nowhere does it say at 2-15a.m. on December 25th in the reign of King Herod. The events happen in God’s time.
The first people knew was when it happened, but people had been sustained by hope for centuries.
A man ordered a recording of Handel’s Messiah. After waiting for a long time, he went to the shop and said to the assistant “I’ve been waiting for the messiah for months now!” A quiet voice behind him said “Some of us have been waiting for much longer than that!”
Would we know if our hope had been realised? Well if our hope is one of the more prosaic hope expressed above then yes, but what if we have a grander vision??
Just as we wonder how prophets are seen, how are we seen?
Are we seen as : Realists? Idealists? Nuisance? Dreamers? People who can be ignored? Busybodies? Should we be?
What hope can the church offer? What hope does the church offer?
Is what we say understandable?
The Prophets, were sure. Confident, in spite of opposition and indifference. Persistent. They spoke in terms familiar to their hearers.
We need to be sure of what we hope for. The coming of Jesus and his Kingdom.
We must be confident in the face of doubt and opposition and indifference.
We must be persistent.
We must speak in terms which are familiar to our hearers.
Song: Beauty for brokenness
Beauty for Brokenness (God of the Poor) - YouTube
Prayer:
God, hidden from our eyes
People have always been searching for you.
We probe the distances of space;
We plumb the depths of our own minds.
We find you, but never completely.
Left tom ourselves we should go on searching for ever.
Only you can bring the search to its goal.
But you have done that:
You have revealed yourself to us in Jesus.
As a baby he was born in a stable at Bethlehem;
As a man he died on a cross at Calvary.
In him our search has reached its goal.
God, hidden from our eyes,
Yet revealed in Jesus Christ,
We worship and adore you.
Amen.
Song: I cannot tell
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