The season of Advent is the beginning of a new church year. Seasonally it is a painful time as we have watched the death of summer in the colors of fall. The seemingly dead branches surround us and a blanket of snow shows promise in flurries of white. It is this destruction of life as we know it that is the focus of the reading for this first Sunday of Advent. The time of Jeremiah is a time when their world was being destroyed by invaders, the Babylonians. They were moving in to take control of Palestine. Saviors were destroying their world as Egypt, recognizing the dangerous situation of having a conquering army in Palestine, ripped apart the country to save it. Sound familiar, as we pray for our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and read of the strife in Israel and Palestine today.

A millennium later Jesus proclaims the end of the world, as they knew it. Half a century later the Roman’s finish their conquest squashing the final rebels and leaving no stone unturned in the great temple. The world of many came to an end. The temple, the center of that world was destroyed and many Jews today still mourn its loss.

Our world is coming to an end also. An end brought about by selfishness and deceit, by sinful choices that bring on devastatingly horrible consequences. These choices, some our own, some by others that have responsibility for our lives, have left many with feelings of desperation and despair. They see no future. All is black to them. They look for a way out, for a way to avoid the pain and the reality of the situation. Some even turn to drugs and alcohol only to increase the downward spiral into the black hole of despair.

The readings for the First Sunday of Advent do not just end in gloom and despair though. They bring promise and hope. There are many out there today who feel they have no future. They have lost the savings, their pension funds have evaporated, and their jobs have ended. Some are facing foreclosure and bankruptcy. Some are watching as their families are ripped apart by divorce and desertion caused by the stress.

The Psalmist David, Jeremiah, Paul and Jesus did not leave the message with despair. They gave a message of hope.

In Psalm 25, David tells us “All the paths of the LORD are love and faithfulness to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.” This is God’s promise to us to care for us, to see us through the tough times, the times of despair. He admonishes us to lift up our souls to God and to be open to His teaching and guidance. He ask God to teach us His ways, not the ways of the flesh or the world but the ways of God, the ways of love and faithfulness of the word. This is a message of hope, a message that show the way up out this end of the world and into the light of faith.

Jeremiah gives us the hope that: “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise”. It will be days of “justice and righteousness”. God’s people will be saved and live in safety. When we return to God and live as His people we will be free from the fear that the evil in this world has subjected us to. The hope given here is not just hoping, it is a statement of faith that God will be true to His promise. It is a faith in that promise of a new future solely based on God and His grace. People who believe they have no future, who believe that they are powerless, need to hear this message of grace. We need to hear the promise that God has made each and every one of us.

Jesus tells us to watch the signs to be ready for the end. He admonishes us to stand tall “and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." As the world is falling down around us we are to look to the future. He give us guidance in that we are to: “Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.“ There is an escape from all these thing if we cling to the Grace of God.

Paul says in Ephesians 1:3, and again in 1 Corinthians 2:9 that in Christ we have every spiritual blessing and that no one can conceive of what God had prepared for those who love Him. This is the message of hope. We have what it takes to survive these trying times. We have God’s promise that He will take care of us. We must turn our love to Him. We must put our faith in Him. We must trust in His love and righteousness to see us through to the end. It is this promise of God that proclaims to His people something about the nature of God. It proclaims His love of His children. He truly cares for what He has made.

That promise is like one of the presents we will receive on Christmas morning. It is all wrapped up in pretty paper and ribbons full of promise. It will remain just that, a pretty package, unless we take it and make it our own. We must open the package. We must accept the promise inside and make it our own. We must live out that promise being open to all the possibilities that God lays before us in that promise. We must pray, stand up and be ready for the coming of the Son of Man.

Advent begins in darkness and despair but as we move through the season lighting the candles we can put on the light of Christ that will illuminate our way home to the Father and His promise of life.

Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm 25:1-9
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Luke 21:25-36

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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