Listening or watching the news today, we can easily be disappointed with our world and find ourselves depressed with our future. Whether it is with climate and global warming, an economy in which prices keep rising beyond the capacity of many in our population or political and social unrest which in areas around the globe results war, our world seems determined to destroy itself. It is easy to lose hope in humanity. It might appear that we have lost our way.
Getting lost is a common human experience. How often have we reached a turn in the road and had to make a choice on which turn to take. We might end up where we did not plan to go. That might not be good. On the other hand, it can be very good. It might offer us something new, a discovery. Life is full of such moments of discovery, times that are new beginnings.
Advent is always a new beginning, a move into a future yet unknown. Our Scripture stories start again, but in a new year. We go back to how our Christian story began but in the setting of a new personal story and a different community story. Again, we are called to anticipate our future with Christian hope. We hold to our faith in a God who loves us enough to come and share life with us.
The readings of this First Sunday of Advent reveal the difficulty of choices and changes. In the Old Testament reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (Jer.33:14-16), Israel is waiting for God’s action in their lives. God has promised never to desert them and to be with them even if they are in exile and bondage. The prophet utters words of encouragement. Though the future cannot be known, he calls on God’s people with words of hope. Like the dry branches in the desert or for us like the leafless trees as we enter winter, life will come again. What seems lifeless contains the seeds of new life and so we wait with hope.
This Sunday, in Luke’s Gospel, we hear Jesus issuing an exhortation to his disciples. He calls them to remain in hope for the growing of God’s reign among them. It may seem that all they had around them was ending and they may look “with fear and foreboding” at what is happening. As discouraging and threatening as an unknown future may be for us, we cannot stay where we are. We must decide to move forward in hope, for we are God’s People and our God is with us always, bringing the promise of new life.
As disciples of Jesus, our role in all of this is to live as a faith-filled community of hope. Especially in a world facing many challenges, we are to be the voice of hope to all. By both word and action, our call is to build the kingdom, marked by justice and peace, compassion and care, healing and love. This is the foundation for a new world – God’s Kingdom.
Are we a church, a community of hope-filled faith?
an we move forward into an unknown future with hope and trust?
Do our lives and actions reveal our trust in a loving God?
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