Nov 26

Advent Hope

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen.”

Hope is one of those words we use for a wide range of our emotions and affections.  “I hope I find a parking space close to the entrance;” or “I hope the Browns win this Sunday;” or “I hope my mother’s illness will go away.  Sometimes the way we use hope is for a wish.  But what about “Advent Hope?”  Is that just wishful thinking?

Hebrews 11:1 joins assurance with hope.  We usually don’t associate hope with certainty.  So, Advent Hope is not just hoping that everything will work out, or a hope that good things will happen.  Advent Hope, biblical hope, is rooted in God.  Advent brings our attention to the God of the Bible that works in time and history.  It is a transcending assurance that God has more gifts to give, God has more promises to keep.  The world order (or empire) is stuck in maintaining the present tense, and therefore has no future.  The world order will eventually fail.  Or as Paul says “For the present form of this world is passing away.”

If we see nothing beyond the present tense, we do not have hope.  If we see the possibilities that God has promised us, then we have hope. 

The sermon this week is the familiar of the “Three Hebrew Children in the Firey Furnace.”  Hebrews 11 uses Daniel’s experiences as examples of faith, “stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness.”  Advent Hope accompanied the three men into the fire, allowed them to proclaim “even if God does not deliver us we will not bow down to the golden image”, and hope brought them out.

How does Advent Hope help us to have the expectation that carries us in the face of the opposition to God? 

Pastor Greg

Nov 18

I Know the Plans I Have For You

Jeremiah 29:1-14

For I know the plans I have for you,
declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil,
to give you a future and a hope. (Jer 29:11)

This verse imprinted on coffee mugs, posters, t-shirts, key chains, and many other memento items is given regularly to mark a new time in a person’s life.  Graduation, a new move, a new job—all these get the encouragement from Jeremiah 29:11.

Would Jeremiah have made it onto as many coffee mugs, posters, and shirts if people read chapter 29 carefully?  Sellers of merchandise pluck verse 11 out of context and offer a seemingly appealing affirmation.  Buyers of the merchandise clutch on to the assertion that God has a plan for their welfare and for hope.  Perhaps those who display verse 11 hope that God’s plan includes improving the outward circumstances of their lives.  As the old saying goes, most people carry burdens and fight battles very few others know of.  The promise of welfare designed by God sounds good.

No one, however, slurps coffee from a mug bearing verse 10, about the long wait before the welfare happens. This chapter does offer important instruction about divine activity in our lives, even if we ought to exercise caution about expecting welfare on our own terms. Even if this passage does not support warm fuzzy feelings about how God will make things turn out our way, it teaches something most Christians need to learn.

God assures those in captivity in Babylon, that they have a long time ahead of them, but no matter where they are, God has a plan for them.  The presence of God is not signified by everything going well and our lives finding comfort.  No, even when the news is hard to hear, “you will be there for 70 years,” we are assured that God is present and God is in control.

Pastor Greg

Nov 04

What Changes our Society?

Seek good and not evil,
    that you may live,
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
    just as you have said.
Amos 5:14

One of the greatest distinctions between the Bible and other religious texts is that the Bible calls the followers of God to seek life.  Deuteronomy 30:15-20 encapsulates this idea for us to build upon.  “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity…”  This passage is a dramatic covenantal choice: obedience leads to life and blessing, disobedience to death and curse. Verse 19 urges, “Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.”

Amos reaffirms this principle and expands it.  Whereas Deuteronomy could be seen as calling just to personal piety, Amos 5 takes it into the public sphere.  Amos 5:14 is not a vague moralism but a public summons.  It challenges Israel’s elite to abandon exploitative systems and pursue justice in concrete ways. The prophet’s call is not about personal virtue alone—it’s about structural transformation.

Too often the church is satisfied with our personal piety, even pious views about what should happen in society.  We retreat to our rituals and the security of our traditions thinking that this alone will bring God’s favor to us.

Amos proclaims that ritual and conformity alone is not the reason God promises life.  It is an ordered society with the principles of God’s law as the societal norm.  When we have that then—” But let justice roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Pastor Greg

Oct 30

Have You Ever Seen a Prophet in this Bad of a Shape?

I Kings 19:1-18

Many commentators and preachers are amazed when they see the great Prophet Elijah in the condition he is in here in this chapter.  He had just vanquished the worshipers of Baal, ended a 3-year drought, and started a revival in the nation of Israel.  But he is discouraged, even to the place that he wishes he would just die.  What catches the attention of so many as we study this part of the Bible, is that it happens to us also.  This is where we see human vulnerability in its most honest times. 

Where have you felt like Elijah—alone, exhausted, ready to give up?  It happens to each of us.  It is part of our human experience.  What surprises me is the way God deals with Elijah.  He is not condemned or judged for feeling this way.  He is not chastised for not keeping his faith strong.  God cares for the prophet, be giving him rest, refreshment, and restoration.  Elijah finds himself away from the threats and dangers, and alone with God.  In his depression, God gives him a revelation of who God is.  Not a wildfire, not a raging wind, not even an earthquake, but a sound of shear silence, or a “still, small voice.” 

When we come to the end of ourselves, we want God to do something miraculous, earthshaking so that our problems disappear.  Though that is rarely how God works.  God works through his presence in the quiet places, his voice in the silence, and his assurance that he is with us.  Maybe when we come to the end of ourselves it is for us to just be quiet and listen for the assurances of God. 

When you are tempted to say, “Woe is me!”  Rest, refresh, and let God restore you with the encouragement you need to finish the tasks that God has for you.

Pastor Greg