Advent

December 6, 2019

Scripture Reading:
Romans 15:4-13

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
‘Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles,
   and sing praises to your name’;
and again he says,
‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’;
and again,
‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
   and let all the peoples praise him’;
and again Isaiah says,
‘The root of Jesse shall come,
   the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;
in him the Gentiles shall hope.’
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. –Romans 15:7-13

I must confess I see the world around me more the way the ancient prophets described Israel as it tumbled into exile. While this is the week in Advent when we celebrate hope, I find little in which to abound. Even the Christmas ads do not try to hide their greed. One shows a child blackmailing Santa to get a fancy car. Another shows a family’s greatest challenge is finding a way to hide a big gift so it will be a surprise on Christmas day. Its final solution is to stack the wrapped presents ceiling high in front of a picture window.

Our government has become a house divide where quest for power and control at any cost is more important than its mandate of forming a more perfect union. I remember the days when we as a nation at least could all pull together in crises. We cannot even do that anymore.

Faith groups are playing the same tug-of-war with God as we proclaim “our god is better than your god” with no recognition that there is only one God. We do not seem able to recognize the image of God in each of us and all of us. God surely had a reason for creating a diversity of people with a variety of skills and that we were endowed with the ability to work together for the Common Good.

Yet in my despair, I know the root of Jesse has come and hope in and through Jesus Christ does not lie dormant. The Spirit is moving among us keeping the fires of hope alive awaiting the moment when we see our opportunities to answer God’s call to do our part, small or great, toward actualizing God’s rule throughout the world.

Prayer: May the God of hope fill [us] with all joy and peace in believing, so that [we] may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.