Looking Ahead to December 1, 2024 -- 1st Sunday of Advent, Hope

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Jeremiah 33:14-16
• Luke 21:25-36

The Sermon title is Jesus Is Coming, Seek Hope in Chaos

Early Thoughts: The world is a chaotic place -- and getting more so. In the midst of that chaos is a lot of fear and despair. In the midst of that chaos are wars and rumours of wars, or economic instability, or social unrest. All of that brings worry, or foreboding, about the future.  Will things get worse? Will everything fall apart?

In the middle of all this comes Advent. In the middle of all this unrest and chaos comes the promise of God breaking into the world -- either as a baby in a manger or as the returning Christ, come to change the world.

That is where our hope lies. Our hope is in the God who promises to be with us and promises to b an active force in the world. The days are surely coming....

To a large degree we see what we want to see. Or we see what we expect to see. Or we see what we are looking for. Which does not mean that what we see is not actually there. It does mean that we may not be seeing the whole picture. In the Gospel reading this week Jesus tells his friends to be alert and watchful so they would be ready and prepared. He acknowledges the hard things but still look for the signs of something else happening. Look out and recognize the signs that the kingdom of God is near.

Traditionally the first week of Advent we light the candle of Hope. Hope, I think is a vital commodity for human well-being. Hope is what keeps us moving forward. Hope is what keeps us from self-destructing.

The world is a chaotic place. There are lots of stories about what is going wrong. If we choose we may only see the problems and the chaos. Or we can choose to look for the hope. This Advent (and on into the next year) let us commit to seek signs of hope. Speaking through the centuries Jeremiah still tells us that the time is surely coming when the world will be changed. What new leaves are sprouting? Will we miss the hope and not be ready for the transformation?
--Gord