Unleashed: As You Go – Pray

First Sunday of Advent – The Prophecy Candle – Hope

“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” Malachi 4:5-6

Four centuries these last words of Malachi echo across the land of Israel as they wait and look, while continuing to place their hope in God’s promise of the coming Messiah.  Even in the midst of silence the flicker of hope continues to burn. They wait for the promised Elijah to proclaim the Messiah.

G. K. Chesterton wrote that: “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all…As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.”

Such was the night that Gabriel, the angel of the LORD came to Zechariah, announcing that he and Elizabeth would give birth to a son who would be named John. Though they are long past their childbearing years they kept a flicker of hope burning that God could use to keep His promise. They would have a son in their old age but not just a son. He will be the one who would “make ready a people prepared for the LORD.” Finally, after four hundred years, the prophecy candle would be lit.

A few months later Gabriel makes his way to Nazareth with another birth announcement that would rock the world forever. In this small, politically insignificant village, he made his way to an unmarried young woman. Mary hears the words, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:31-33)

Hope is often found in the most unusual ways such as this illustration from a large city school system that had a special mentoring program for kids in the hospital to help them keep up with their school work. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took the child’s name and room number and talked briefly with the child’s regular class teacher. “We’re studying nouns and adverbs in his class now,” the regular teacher said, “and I’d be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn’t fall too far behind.”

The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, “I’ve been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs.” When she left she felt she hadn’t accomplished much. But the next day, a nurse asked her, “What did you do to that boy?” The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. “No, no,” said the nurse. “You don’t know what I mean. We’ve been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back, responding to treatment. It’s as though he’s decided to live.”

Two weeks later the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: “They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?”  (Bits and Pieces)

Yesterday, as we celebrated the first Sunday of Advent, the first candle on the Advent wreath was lit. However, in this challenging year, it is an important one: it is the Prophecy Candle – Hope.  It is important to reflect upon this candle of hope as we struggle with the impact of 2020 on our lives, our families and our world. In a dark world, one candle’s light is similar to a floodlight through the dark night. God wouldn’t send his son to offer hope if we were dying without hope, would he?

“There are no hopeless situations: there are only people who have grown hopeless about them.” -Clare Boothe Luce. To followers of Jesus, Christmas is the very essence of hope as we experience God coming into the world, “Emmanuel, God is with us.” (Matt 1:23)

This Advent season pray:

For attentiveness to what truly matters, without being distracted by trivial things.

For opportunities to encourage others who may be without hope.

For the grace to rest in the midst of the uncertainty and unrest in your life

For hope that comes anew each day through God’s love and grace.

 

God is great,

Pastor Lynn