HOPE FOR THE JOURNEY
·
Most of the
important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on
trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
·
"Our greatest glory consists not in never failing, but in
rising every time we fall."
Confucius (adapted)
HOPE FOR ADVENT
Today
is the first Sunday of Advent, 2006. Our scriptures focus on the hope that a
Messiah would come who would rescue the Jews from suffering at the hands of the
Romans. He would be a Messiah who would be a light to
That’s our
story. It’s a good story. Our task in the next four weeks is to reconnect with
our story and with the very beginning moments of the Christian faith. Retelling
our story brings it to the front of our minds once again. We connect ourselves
with where we came from, and invariably we discover something new about who we
are. Every year it seems there are people who have never really heard our story
told with clarity.
The Christmas story is our memory of peace, love, and joy; and the story of Advent begins with hope.
HOPE IS ESSENTIAL FOR
HAPPINESS AT ANY
TO
BE SPIRITUALLY HAPPY, WE NEED
SOMETHING MEANINGFUL TO DO,
SOMETHING TO LOVE,
(ALLAN CHALMERS)
Hope has nothing to do with geography, chronology, or social-economic status. The story of hope is one of the truths that we must discover again and again. Something meaningful to do, something to love, and something to hope for in the time and place where we live.
The basics of
life are quite simple, yet some times they seem endlessly complex. Our story of
Advent is universal, and it transcends time and culture. Advent begins with
hope.
Never deprive
someone of hope. Sometimes hope may be all they have.
Hope
separates us from most of the animal and plant world. Most of life can only see
its present condition. Memories, guilt, success and failure, these are ours
alone. And hope is the ability to lift ourselves out of the present and toward
the future. I can think of no other animal with this ability to project the
future beyond the immediate needs of the day.
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THE WORRIER
I recently met a
worrier. Worry is the adversary of hope. Maybe you know a worrier. My worrier
was nearly paralyzed by all the preparations that were necessary for a memorial
service for a family member. She had prepared long lists of worries that
included food, facilities, ushers, what to wear, a time for an appointment to
get her hair done, transportation, and more food. Each was a worthy worry.
Every part of that was important. None of us can be critical of a person who
wants the best memorial they can create.
But I ask, what
is wrong with this picture? If you were the pastor, what would you need to say
to her?
I hope you would
say, "Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its
strength." (Corrie Ten Boom)
We
need to keep the number one thing, as the number one thing.
We
merely need to do the best we can, and no one who gives their best ever needs
to regret it. Our best will be good enough because we are praising God for a
person we loved, and the rest of the world will just have to deal with it if
their favorite food is not on the table. The number one thing at a memorial
service is to thank God that we were lucky enough to have one of God’s saints
in our midst even if we could not keep hold forever.
We did the best we could, and it was just
right.
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WE BECOME CHILDREN OF GOD THROUGH CHRIST
Memories
of our background and our circumstances influence where we begin life, but the
message of advent is that we are responsible for who we can become. We can
become the children of God through Christ.
That lesson does not bind us to winning, but to being true and faithful.
We live by the light we have, and that is the light revealed in Jesus Christ.
Abraham Lincoln
put it better when he said: "I am not bound to win, but
I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the
light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him
while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong."
Hope frees us from the past. Advent begins with hope.
MILLENARIANISM
The
Pastor’s Class that I teach on Wednesdays is nearly finished with an
eye-opening account of the settling of the American west. Everyone in the class
has wondered what we might have done in the same circumstances. We have asked
where the church was when one civilization overcame another –sometimes
brutally. The settling of
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THE GHOST DANCE
One part of the story that I didn’t know
much about until we saw the
PBS series is called “The Ghost Dance.” I want to say
a few words about it to you this morning since you will see connections with
the world into which our own Messiah was born. You will need to look up the
details in an encyclopedia when you get home if you don’t remember The Ghost
Dance from your own studies of American History.
Many historical
accounts discuss the Ghost Dance of 1890. The Ghost Dance was a religious
movement incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. The
traditional ritual used in The Ghost Dance, the circle dance, has been used by
many Native Americans since pre-historic times, but was first performed in
accordance with Jack Wilson's teachings among the Nevada Paiute in 1889. The
practice swept throughout much of the American West, quickly reaching areas of
California. At the core of the movement was the prophet of peace Jack Wilson,
known as Wovoka among the Paiute, who prophesized a nonviolent end to American
expansion while preaching messages of clean living, an honest life, and
cross-cultural cooperation.
Perhaps the best known facet of The Ghost Dance movement is the role it
reportedly played in instigating the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890, which
resulted in the deaths of nearly 400 Lakota Sioux.
(The Sioux variation on The Ghost Dance tended towards millenarianism, an
innovation which distinguished the Sioux interpretation from Jack Wilson's
original teachings.)
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It is the connection with millenarianism
that links it to the world into which
Christ was born. The Birth of Jesus that transformed the world of the Roman
Empire
was part of a millenarian expectation,
just like The Ghost Dance represented
the hopes of the American Indians
to restore their native cultures.
Millenarianism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or
movement in a coming major transformation of society after which all things will
be changed in a positive (or sometimes negative or ambiguous) direction.
Millenarian groups typically claim that the current society and its rulers are
corrupt, unjust, or otherwise wrong. They therefore believe they will be
destroyed soon by a powerful force. The harmful nature of the status quo is
always considered intractable without the anticipated dramatic change. … Only
dramatic change will change the world and change will be brought about, or
survived, by a group of the devout and dedicated. In most millenarian scenarios,
the disaster or battle to come will be followed by a new, purified world in
which the true believers will be rewarded.
Millenarian beliefs can make people ignore conventional rules of behavior, which
can result in violence directed inwards (such as mass suicides) and/or outwards
(such as terrorist acts). It sometimes includes a belief in supernatural powers
or predetermined victory. In some cases, millenarians withdraw from society to
await the intervention of God or another metaphysical force.
Why is this important? I believe our world is in the midst of the same movement.
Everything we have said about the expectation of a Christ and the expectations
of the Indians to restore their culture, can be found in the pages of the
newspapers that are delivered to our homes.
Christianity was a way of focusing hope on the world to come. Millenarianism is
a theological term that describes the origins of our faith, and I would like you
to take home the definition supplied in the bulletin, and compare that with
stories of third world violence in many corners of the world right now.
ADVENT BEGINS WITH HOPE,
PEACE, JUSTICE, LOVE
CAN COME OUT OF THE STRIFE
THAT WE
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Reinhold Niebuhr
SAID,
Nothing worth doing is completed in our
lifetime;
Therefore, we are saved
by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes
complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved
by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be
accomplished alone;
Therefore, we are saved
by love.
No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the
standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
Therefore, we are saved
by the final form of love which is forgiveness.
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HOPE FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Our past is not
our potential. Hope says we can choose peace. We can choose love; we can choose
reconciliation and justice.
Never surrender
that choice, where ever you go.
So what can we say of hope in winter? I found no shortage of
advice. If you can remember just one of these, I think you will understand one
of the most important lessons that the Advent season has in store for you:
·
Hope starts to sing while it is still dark."
Author unknown
·
"When you reach the end of all the lightness that you know
and are about to step over into darkness…Faith is knowing that one of two
things will happen. Either there will be something solid there to step onto or
you will be taught to fly."
Author Unknown
·
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters
compared to what lies within us. " Ralph Waldo Emerson
·
"The hardest battle you're ever going to fight is the battle
to be just you." Leo Buscaglia
·
"Changing
directions in life is not tragic; losing passion in life is." Max Lucado
·
"Worry does
not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength."
Corrie Ten Boom
·
"To the world you might be one person, but to one person you
might be the world." Casey
Dr. John H.
Cushman
Presbyterian
Church of the Roses