December
1, 2013 A Promise of Hope Pastor Carol P. Taylor
Isaiah
2:1-5
2
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem.
2 It
shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
Romans
13:11-14
{Preceding
Verses 8-10}
8 Let
no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one
another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9
The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall
not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”and
whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one
command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”10 Love does no
harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to
wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first
believed. 12 The
night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the
works of darkness and put on the armor of light.13
Let us walk properly as in the
daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and
sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
---------
This is the first
Sunday of Advent. “Advent” means the arrival of something or
someone, or some event that is notable! In the church calendar,
Advent is a season of waiting for that arrival....the arrival, the
birth of the Savior!
The next few weeks we
will be looking at some of the prophecies in the Bible, specifically
in Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet roughly 700 years before the birth of
Christ. He was warning the Hebrew people of hard times to come,
indeed about 100 years later their holy city Jerusalem would be
conquered, wiped out and many of their people would be taken into
exile in Babylon. The exile was a devasting time for the Hebrew
people, nearly comparable to the centuries of slavery in Egypt, that
Moses led them out of. The Old Testament is a painting of people
loving and worshiping God, who blesses them. The people then
gradually fall away, turning their backs on God & get into
trouble, then consequences of their bad behavior. They repent, return
to God, and God forgives, and blesses. And the cycle repeats. This is
what is going on here in Isaiah, the people have had it pretty good
and they are complacent and falling away from God. And consequences
are coming. Not that God is mean or vindictive, but that our actions,
as individuals and as a society bring about things that may not be
desirable or what we expected.
Yet the writings of
Isaiah contain some of the most profound predictions of a Messiah-a
savior. And these writings, prophecies, are referred to by the Gospel
writers, especially Matthew. These writings point to Jesus. The
writings point to the coming of a savior who would live with
humanity, the suffering servant,
and to a 2nd
coming, the ushering in of the new heaven and earth, (that are
written about in the Revelation)
Our passages today show
some contrasts, light/dark, night/day, wake/sleep. Works of darkness,
putting on the armor of Light. I am intrigued by that phrase! The
Light of Christ can protect us! How do we put on the armor of light?
We can help others, share our faith, offer a prayer, give Hope to
someone who is struggling.
My
favorite of the Christmas programs on TV each year is “A Charlie
Brown Christmas.” Charlie Brown is dismayed by the commercialism
and greediness he sees in all the kids and even his dog, Snoopy! One
of the recurring themes all thru all the Peanuts strips over the
years is of course Linus carrying around his beloved blue security
blanket. At one point during this show, Lucy, as usual, is
threatening to slug little brother Linus if he has his blanket with
him during their Christmas play!
Lucy:
Linus, you’ve got to get rid of that stupid blanket! What’s a
Christmas shepherd going to look like holding a stupid blanket like
that?!
Linus: well this is one Christmas shepherd who is going to keep his trusty blanket with him (as Lucy is making a fist, he whips the blanket into a shepherd’s headdress) “See, you wouldn’t hit an innocent shepherd, would you?” Lucy walks away disgusted, and Linus smiles, relieved and I think just a bit smug.
Linus: well this is one Christmas shepherd who is going to keep his trusty blanket with him (as Lucy is making a fist, he whips the blanket into a shepherd’s headdress) “See, you wouldn’t hit an innocent shepherd, would you?” Lucy walks away disgusted, and Linus smiles, relieved and I think just a bit smug.
Later
on, Charlie Brown, in his frustration, cries out “Isn't there
anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” little Linus, with
security blanket in hand, walks to the center of the stage, says,
“lights, please,” and recites from the Gospel of Luke chapter
2:8-14
8And
there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night.......
As
Linus begins, he is still holding his blanket. But when he says, “the
angel said to them..Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of
great joy,” he lets the blanket fall onto the floor next to
him. The good news of great joy gives him SO much hope that he can
even let go of his beloved security blanket!
Granted,
he picks it up again and is hanging on to it as he says “That’s
what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” But for a moment, he
felt free to let go and hold only to the Good News that is for all
people. The Good News that brings up hope...hope so fantastic that we
can let go of our old ways. Now Linus is a cartoon character, he HAS
to hold onto his blanket or we won't know who he is! But we can let
go, we don't have to pick up and resume the old ways. We can share
the hope of the LOVE of Christ that is for this season and all year!
This
is what Apostle Paul is talking about here, putting on the armor of
light, putting on Christ, living in love...“Love does no harm to a
neighbor!”
someone
I know is having a rough time right now, and she said, 'with all that
God is piling on, I'm struggling.”
I
don't believe GOD is piling on bad stuff. God is LOVE. Life happens,
things happen. But God loves and is with us in the world, in
the stuff of life. That's what the birth of Jesus is all about. Jesus
came to earth to live and walk and love as a human being. To live in
a frail human body, to fully experience what it means to be human!
Jesus did this BECAUSE of love, to be with us, “emmanuel' --God with
us. After Jesus life and death He gave the Holy Spirit, which is how
we have God with us. It is an incredible story, but it gives HOPE,
hope that we are never alone in life, or death, and that death is not
the end, but the beginning of eternal life, with our Lord and with
our loved ones.
When making the Charlie
Brown Christmas Special, it was suggested to Charles Schultz, to not
use the Bible message, a blatently religious message. His response
was, “if we don't tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?”
once the show was made, CBS Execs, actually the producers all
thought it was not a good show, it would not be popular, had there
not been a contract and publicity, it would not have aired. As it
was, CBS said it would be aired once and shelved, one and done.
The night A Charlie
Brown Christmas aired, Dec. 9, 1965, 49% of tvs in the nation tuned
in. CBS executives were shocked. The producers were shocked too, and
even more so when they were nominated for, and won, an Emmy and a
Peabody award. The program has aired every year since, sold millions
of VHS tapes, DVDs and BluRay. The music soundtrack is a classic as
well, having just been remastered and reissued just last year.
If we don't tell the
true meaning of Christmas, who will? People will doubt and second
guess us for our faith. We will have days when we are challenged and
it might be hard to just keep on. Life happens. But- we can let go of
our fears and frustrations. Because we have HOPE. The Hope of Christ,
God within, coming once again!
