Find Hope in Uncertainties! - Advent 2023, Week 1
No matter how bad things are, never give up hope. This is a season of expectation and preparation, an opportunity to align ourselves with God’s presence and rediscover Christmas.
Over the next four weeks, we’re going to explore the attributes of Christ. Looking at his birth and the whole Christmas season: hope, peace, joy, and love. Then, on Christmas Eve, we will celebrate the arrival of Jesus, the Christ. Today we begin with rediscovering the hope of Christmas, even when we are surrounded by uncertainty.
Hope that believes, inspires, and sees the possibilities.
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN….?
Every generation has its “where were you when” questions. These are usually questions about some big event that occurred such as:
Where were you when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon?
Where were you on 9/11?
Where you were when you first realized the coronavirus was real?
Moments like these change things. There’s no going back. Culture shifts. Our lives are never the same. Unfortunately, many of these tend to be negative events, catastrophes, or tragedies. They strike with no warning and introduce a sense of uncertainty into our lives.
Wow, what a year it has been. A year filled with uncertainty. Stress, worry anxiety have hit high levels. This is the reality we’ve all been living with for quite some time. It’s been a tough year. If there’s ever a year we need to rediscover and celebrate Christmas, this is the year. If there’s ever a year we need to hear and rediscover hope, it is now, today, this Christmas. If there’s ever a year the world needs to hear the hope of Christ, it is now!
Advent
This is a season of hope. Advent is all about hope. The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival,” and the season is traditionally a time of expectation, waiting, anticipation, and longing. Advent is not just an extension of Christmas—it is a season that links the past, present, and future. Advent offers us the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, to celebrate his birth, and to be alert for his second coming. Advent looks back in celebration at the hope fulfilled in Jesus’s coming, while at the same time looking forward in hopeful and eager anticipation to the coming of Christ’s kingdom when he returns for his people. During Advent we wait for both—it’s an active, assured, and hopeful waiting.
Too often, our Christmases become overwhelming and busy. We pack our schedules with so many seasonal celebrations. Have you noticed that the stores have started pushing Christmas décor and merchandise in October? The season of hope, peace, joy and love can quickly become a season of stress if we allow it.
Advent is more than all that.
Advent is an opportunity to set all that aside.
Advent is a time to prepare our hearts and help us place our focus on the story of God’s redeeming love for our world.
Advent is not a season of pretending to be happy or covering up pain or hardships that we experience.
Advent is a season of rejoicing in the reality that God sent his son into the world to be Immanuel, God with us.
It is a season of expectation and opportunity and for you to align yourselves with God’s presence more than just the season of shopping for presents. Today we begin with rediscovering the hope of Christmas, even when we are surrounded by uncertainty.
As we explore these themes of Advent over the next four weeks, we’ll see how they relate to and are exemplified in different characters of the biblical Christmas story. We start with Luke’s account including Simeon and Anna.
Simeon and Anna: Keeping Hope Alive
During the time Simeon and Anna were living, the Roman Empire ruled the day. These were harsh times to live in, a time of conquest and brutality. The Israelites have experienced years of being invaded and conquered by enemies like the Assyrians and Babylonians. Then the massive empires of the Greeks and Romans would take power. It has been generations since God’s covenant was established with the Israelites and the promise of a Messiah.
The fulfillment of God’s covenant and the coming of the Messiah was the hope the Israelites looked forward to for hundreds of years. It was the Israelite’s deepest hope that sustained and encouraged them through thousands of years of uncertain waiting. The Israelites and religious leaders of the day were looking for the promised Messiah and for a physical deliverance from being physically oppressed. “How long, O God?” was the cry of the Israelite people.
Were the embers of hope for the messiah still smoldering after so many years? The answer is yes.
“When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”
33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:22-38, NIV).
Simeon and Anna were sparks of hope in Israel. More than that, they were torches of hope, expecting God to fulfill what he had promised. They believed it and they were waiting for the promised child!
Both Simeon and Anna are elders in this story. They have both lived long lives. They have seen and experienced many things, both hardship for their people and pain in their own lives. We know during their times of waiting, both Simeon and Anna remained faithfully devoted to God.
They were ready to see God act and do great things. What about you?
Day after day, year after year, Simeon and Anna served God faithfully, inspired by hope that God was at work.
Even if they couldn’t see it, they believed and remained hopeful.
Even when surrounded by hardship.
Even as they grew older and older.
Simeon and Anna still held onto hope.
God didn’t need an angel to get the message to these two faith-giants. They were ready, waiting, watching, listening, expecting. Both Simeon and Anna were filled with hope, and that hope made them ready.
God fulfilled his word. He what he said he would do. “The Messiah is born!”
They rejoiced and celebrated and it brought new hope into the people around them, including Mary and Joseph who were still figuring out what it all meant to be the earthly parents of God’s Son, Jesus, the Messiah.
Simeon and Anna reveal several key things about hope and its power that we can all take away and apply in our lives.
1. Hope sees beyond the Present.
Hope is the fuel of faith, dreams and possibilities. It’s the spark that ignites a blazing fire. It’s the flicker of first light on a new morning. It’s the undying ember that speaks life into a heart that is ready to give up.
No matter how bad things have been, no matter the problems or struggles you are facing, no matter what kind of season of darkness and pain you are in, be encouraged—you are not alone. God is at work. There is hope. Allow hope to be alive even in your deepest pain and hopeless circumstances.
Hope chases away the darkness and uncertainty. Hope is alive because God is with us.
“For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Romans 8:24-27).
Let me say that again. “Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?” Friends, hope exists before reality comes to pass.
Hope precedes reality. Hope, by its very nature, exists in the uncertainty. Let hope exist even in your times of doubts. Let hope remain true and strong in the unclear sense of what is to come. Hope is the willingness and desire to believe beyond what your present circumstances are at that moment.
2. God is with us—here, now, and always.
Friends, with God there is no uncertainty about that truth. God knows our pain, challenges, and struggles.
There is no uncertainty in Christ. God knows all you are going through. He knows your pain, challenges and struggles. He was not taken by surprise by a virus going global. He was not surprised when the economy sunk or when businesses and restaurants closed. He was not surprised when you received that dreaded call in the middle of the night, or heard those words that broke your heart and shattered your world.
He sees you. And he is here. He is Immanuel, God With Us.
The hope He offers today is not a hope that is out of your reach. It is a real hope. Hope even in times of weakness. Hope even in your deepest pain, even when hope seems far away or impossible. Hold on to hope in Christ. When you feel too weak to carry on, when you feel your grasp slipping hold on to hope. Jesus, the hope of Glory. His Spirit is with us. The Holy Spirit helps us to restore hope by reminding us of God’s faithfulness and promises.
His Spirit leads us into God’s Word and it reminds us of all that God has done for us and all he has promised to do. God, Immanuel is with us. Just as he promised his people throughout history, and today, the messages of hope is found in scripture.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).
and
“But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (Isaiah 43:1-2).
Do you feel the hope in these words? We are not alone, even at our loneliest or darkest moments. Christ has come. Our God is with us every step of the way!
3. Hope inspires us to Keep Believing.
The apostle Paul described the cycle of hope in Romans 5:2-5:
“through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:2-5).
This hope we have in God will not let us down. It will not disappoint. Instead it gives us new strength to see beyond the pain and confusion in front of us.
Have you heard the story of Captain Tom? In all the doom and gloom of the pandemic, Captain Tom rose as an unlikely hero.
Tom Moore, now Captain Sir Tom Moore since being knighted by the Queen of England, is the 100-year-old man who singlehandedly raised $40 million for the British health care system by walking 100 laps around his garden. That’s right, 100 laps—one for each of his 100 years of living. What started as a challenge from his son-in-law to donate $1 per lap (technically a pound in England), went viral when his daughter posted the campaign on an online charity site. The news spread quickly, and suddenly this World War II veteran, gripping his walker, wearing a navy blue blazer decorated with his military medals, walked around his garden, and became a national hero. Captain Tom was an inspiration.
What an amazing story!
There’s a great lesson about hope in this story.
Captain Tom told reporters: “The first step was the hardest,” he said. “After that, I got into the swing of it and kept on going.”
The first step was the hardest. Isn’t that true of so many things for us? It’s certainly true of hope.
It can be hard to hope when we feel low. It’s hard to see hope when we feel surrounded by pain. It is difficult to reach beyond our troubles to grasp the Lord’s outstretched hand. It can feel so impossible to take that first step toward hope when we are weighed down by our problems.
But when we receive the promise of hope in God’s Word, we can find new strength. When we accept the power of hope granted to us in God’s Spirit, we can find new inspiration. When we focus on the power of hope in the birth, life, death, resurrection and the promise of Jesus return and eternity with him, we discover new strength to take that first step. And keep taking one step after another. Walking in hope and faith in Jesus. One step at a time. Hope inspires us. Hope emboldens us.
Keep hoping, keep believing. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. Allow the hope of Christ to motivate you to keep looking for Christ’s return. Hope inspires hope. Hope builds upon hope and it keeps us going, no matter what comes our way.
Is your next step a step of hope?
What is your next step of hope in this Advent season? This Advent season, look for hope in the birth of Jesus. We can draw hope from God’s faithfulness in his long-awaited promise of the Messiah.
Focus on the hope of God’s continued work in and all around you. In the midst of whatever life is throwing at you, you can experience the hope of God’s Spirit within you, carrying you, strengthening you to take the next step. Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Start today, take a step toward hope in this Advent season.
Hope is dawning. Christ is coming. Christ is returning soon. Let’s welcome him into our hearts and live every day in a season of expectation and hope. May the hope of God fill you with all joy and peace this Christmas season! (Romans 15:13). Allow hope to arise in your hearts as your faith in Christ grows.
Suggested Praise and Worship
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