Advent Hope - Cyndi Hampton

Thanks guys.

Good morning.

Let me get situated here.

I didn't set my stuff up early.

And I think, thank you for water.

Greg always, I tease myself too.

I have baby, tiny child ears.

I should have just used the handheld.

These things won't even hang on to my little elf ears.

I tell you what, it's always a thing.

Okay, yes, it's because I'm a mythical magical creature.

Okay.

I am honored to be preaching this morning

as we begin the season of Advent.

To have this sacred calendar kind of schedule is helpful.

Sometimes we might find ourselves saying,

especially these days, right?

Because holidays are busy.

There's extra gatherings, extra commitments.

There's pressure of making everything just right.

You want that family photo or the perfect gift

or the holiday meal.

And we look at it all and we might think,

oh, modern us, we've complicated things

and we're so stretched and we're so busy nowadays.

So thank goodness for Advent.

But Advent has been around pre-elementary school,

Christmas pageants, pre-office job, work parties,

pre-Pinterest perfect holiday menus and tablescapes

because being obligated and stretched

isn't a modern concept.

It's been around always.

And I actually wondered like how long has Advent,

how long have we been kind of keeping this calendar?

So maybe you'd like to know too.

According to St. Gregory of Tours,

the celebration of Advent began in the fifth century

when it was directed that starting with St. Martin's Day

on November 11th, Advent would begin

and it would go through Christmas.

Thank you, Google.

So the fifth century, that was 1,500 years ago.

For 1,500 years, Christians have designated this time

leading up to Christmas as Advent, a time of expectation,

a time to focus on hope, peace, joy, love

and the light of the world come to us

because it's always been important

as humans stretched with obligations to set aside time

and remember the truth and the promises of the one who was,

who is and who is yet to come.

So let us begin with hope.

One of the traditional readings on the first Sunday

of Advent for hope is Isaiah nine, two through seven.

The chapter is actually entitled Hope in the Messiah.

Here at the house, we aim to give the reading of scripture

our full attention and one way you can do that

is kind of through a posture of attention and focus.

So for some that might be standing,

for others it might be sitting with your eyes closed

or opening your hands, whatever is meaningful.

I invite you to join with me now

in focusing on these words from Isaiah nine, two through seven.

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light,

a light that will shine on all who live in the land

where death casts its shadow.

Israel again will be great and its people will rejoice

as people rejoice at harvest time.

They'll shout with joy like warriors dividing the plunder

for God will break the chains that bind his people

and the whip that scourges them just as he did

when he destroyed the army of Midian

with Gideon's little band.

In that day of peace, battle gear will no longer be issued.

Never again will uniforms be bloodstained by war.

All such equipment will be burned.

These will be his royal titles.

For a child is born to us, a son is given

and the government will rest on his shoulders.

These will be his royal titles.

Wonderful counselor, mighty God,

everlasting father, Prince of peace,

his ever expanding peaceful government will never end.

He'll rule forever with fairness and justice

from the throne of his ancestor David.

The passionate commitment of the Lord Almighty

will guarantee this.

Let us pray.

God of every tribe, every tongue, every color and nation,

our heavenly father, thank you for your living word,

which is the fuel and foundation for hope.

Thank you for your truth.

Thank you for your promises.

Be with us today as we take time to pause

and reflect on the importance

of your true words and promises.

I pray you'll bless our time together.

Open our hearts and minds to the revelations of love,

peace, joy and most especially hope

that your word and this time of year communicate

and represent.

I love you.

Amen.

You can be seated if you're standing.

So our two minutes for one question was about nativities.

Do you put one up?

What's its story?

I love nativities.

The little people one, right?

The fancy breakable ones, whatever it is.

I love nativities.

Some of my favorite Christmas time memories

are carefully, sneakily playing with my mom's nativity

that was always set up in the bay window.

And we also had these like very 70s style,

really small stained glass type angels

that were hung by string as a whole heavenly host

in all of the like diagonal paint windows.

And there was a bull or maybe like an ox that had horns

and they were springs.

And I just have these memories of like sitting

in the bay window and playing with that

and being really intrigued by that.

Or my dad's nativity, which typically went

at the other end of the house in the living room.

It had a cardboard manger with printed artwork details

and a lot of sheep, like more sheep

than I've ever seen any nativity have.

And lots of shepherds and like there were a lot

of like extras things.

And I remember when my mom told me that was because my dad

would save up money.

And when he was little, like Wally's age

and he would go to the store and he would buy a piece

at a time and add to it.

And it was like a point of pride for him.

He loved that nativity his whole life.

It was so special and important and dear to him.

And then it became special and important and dear to us.

It was like a treasure.

Well, we have a nativity at our house

and a special tradition with our nativity that I really love.

I originally got this idea of it when Brennan and Liam

were still toddler age and I still read mom blogs.

I don't do that anymore.

I just, I don't.

But yeah, I was reading this mom blog

and she did this cute thing each year

where when they set up their nativity,

they took the three wise men out from the traditional

crusher manger scene and she'd place them

in the farthest, farthest most eastern part of their home.

And as the advent season progressed,

she would slowly begin moving their location

from far off in the east to slowly closer and closer

to arriving at the Christ child

and the gathering of the manger scene.

And I loved that it brought this visual kind of

interactive alive depiction into this mama's home

and that they got to experience and remember

that the story of Jesus coming to earth involved a journey.

And it was one that took a long time for everyone.

Because just to read the story,

we get Luke one, Luke two, and that's it.

It all begins with a Jewish priest

and a few minutes later, the savior of the world is born.

It usually takes up maybe three pages in your Bible.

So this mom's idea grabbed a hold of me

and it put things into like a new perspective

and probably that's because I don't like to wait at all.

I don't like to just sit.

But the truth is Mary had to wait.

She had to sit with it.

And so I got the idea of how I wanted to integrate

this new nativity time marker tradition

into our family's home at Christmas time.

There's this, the originating like willow tree artist,

Susan Lordy, she created this sculpture in 2003

entitled Cherish.

And two years after that, I received it as a gift

when I was pregnant with Brennan.

And so this is the Mary figurine that occupies

our nativity scene until Christmas morning.

So that's how we set it up.

And on Christmas morning, we get Mary that's kneeling

with baby Jesus.

And usually I'll read a little bit of the story.

I think last year Adley got to put Mary out.

Because Mary had to wait.

Mary had to sit with it.

She didn't get to skip ahead two pages

and just understand how it all worked out.

And she wasn't the only one.

We kind of laughed earlier when I said,

it all begins with a Jewish priest,

but those are the real words.

Which I'm gonna have a moment of like author story

writing dork because I just wanna say,

that's good writing on Luke's part, right?

Welcome to my book of the Bible.

It all begins with a Jewish priest.

That's so good.

Like you wanna keep reading that.

So I actually do wanna dive into that story

that we see in Luke and Matthew.

I know we already did our scripture reading,

but I just wanna read the Christmas story to you,

dare I say real quick, because it's weird,

but it's true that it really only takes

about two and a half minutes.

So in Luke one, we begin.

It all begins with a Jewish priest.

Zechariah who lived when Herod was the king of Judea.

Zechariah was a member of the priestly order.

His wife Elizabeth was also from the priestly line of Aaron.

One day Zechariah was serving God in the temple

for his order was on duty that week.

He was in the sanctuary when an angel of the Lord appeared

standing to the right of the altar.

Zechariah was overwhelmed with fear,

but the angel said, don't be afraid Zechariah.

God's heard your prayer and your wife Elizabeth

will bear a son, you are to name him John.

You'll have great joy and gladness

and many will rejoice with you at his birth.

He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah,

the power of old.

He will proceed the coming of the Lord

preparing the people for his arrival.

Zechariah said to the angel,

how can I know this will happen?

I'm an old man now and my wife is also well along in years.

Then the angel said, I am Gabriel.

I stand in the very presence of God.

It's he who sent me to bring you this good news.

And then further on, in the six month of Elizabeth pregnancy,

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth,

a village in Galilee to a virgin named Mary.

She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph,

a descendant of King David.

Gabriel appeared to her and said,

greetings favored woman, the Lord is with you.

Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think

what the angel could mean.

Don't be frightened, Mary the angel told her,

for God has decided to bless you.

You will become pregnant and have a son

and you are to name him Jesus.

He will be very great and will be called

the son of the most high and the Lord God

will give him the throne of his ancestor David

and he will reign over Israel forever.

His kingdom will never end.

Mary asked the angel, but how can I have a baby?

I'm a virgin.

And the angel replied, the Holy Spirit will come upon you

and the power of the most high will overshadow you.

So the baby will be born and will be holy

for nothing is impossible with God.

Thank you.

Joseph also, Joseph, her fiance, was a just man

and in finding out that she was pregnant,

decided to break the engagement quietly

so as not to disgrace her publicly.

As he considered this, he fell asleep

and the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.

Joseph, son of David, said the angel,

do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary

for the child within her has been conceived

of the Holy Spirit and she will have a son

and you are to name him Jesus.

All of this happens to fulfill the Lord's message

through the prophet.

Look, the virgin will conceive a child,

she'll give birth to a son and he will be called Emmanuel.

There it is.

At that time, the Roman Emperor Augustus

decreed that a census should be taken.

All returned to their towns to register for the census.

Joseph traveled to Nazareth and Galilee.

He took with him Mary, his fiance,

who is obviously pregnant by this time,

while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.

She gave birth to her first child, a son,

and wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth.

That night, some shepherds were in the fields

outside the village guarding their flocks of sheep.

Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them

and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them.

Don't be afraid.

I bring you good news, a great joy for everyone.

The Savior, the Messiah, the Lord has been born tonight

and this is how you will recognize him.

You will find a baby lying in a manger

wrapped snugly in strips of cloth.

And the angel was joined by a host of others.

Glory to God in the highest heaven

and peace on earth to all whom God favors.

Praising God, they said.

And last, last of the story we get to hear about

the wise men who I love people are now beginning

to call the astronomers.

It's another dark moment for me, sorry.

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem.

About that time, some wise men from the eastern lands

arrived in Jerusalem asking,

where is the newborn King of the Jews?

We've seen his star as it arose

and we've come to worship him.

Herod was deeply disturbed.

Where did the prophets say the Messiah would be born?

He asked.

In Bethlehem, they said, for this is what the prophet wrote.

Bethlehem of Judah, you are not just a lowly village in Judah

for a ruler will come from you

who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.

And then it all ends nicely

and Mary treasures it all in her heart.

The end.

So Mary wasn't the only one.

Zechariah and Elizabeth also didn't know

how it was gonna end up.

When Gabriel came to Zechariah, Luke shares with us,

he was overwhelmed with fear

and to the message of God's archangel, his response was,

but how can I know it will happen?

And Mary, Luke shares with us

that she was confused and disturbed.

And she said to the angel Gabriel,

but how can I have a baby?

Joseph too at first decided,

okay, I'm not gonna make a big deal.

We'll break it off quietly.

It's fine.

But the angel addressed his real feelings and said,

do not be afraid.

Go ahead with your marriage to Mary.

Even the shepherds were terribly frightened.

And then there's the astronomers, the wise men.

They weren't filled with feelings of unsureness

or disbelief or fear or confusion,

but they were filled with big emotions of joy

and expectation when they saw the star.

But they still had a question in need of answering.

Hey, where is the savior?

Every one of these characters,

they seem to have a few key things in common.

For one, they all had big emotions regarding big questions.

And for two, they all had to just wait

and hope it would work out.

So, Cynthia, your scripture reading was Isaiah nine.

It was about seeing lights where there's darkness

and the passionate commitment of the father

seeing that all things indeed guarantee a hope in the Messiah.

But now you just read a lot of Luke and a lot of Matthew.

I know, thanks for paying attention.

But stay with me.

Because here it is, the most beautiful, important,

third thing that all those people had in common

was that when they were presented with their trial

or their difficulty or quest even or command,

how can I even do that thing or hope?

They all had God's previously committed promise

and words to stand on.

Isaiah nine said it,

the passionate commitment of the Lord Almighty

will guarantee this.

To Zechariah, the angel said,

my words will certainly come true at the proper time.

To Mary, the angel said,

God has decided to bless you,

for nothing is impossible with God.

To Joseph, the angel said,

all of this happens to fulfill the Lord's message.

The shepherds heard them say,

you will find him.

And the wise men, a star will rise.

O Bethlehem, a ruler will come from you.

All they could see was the star.

They couldn't see the Savior.

All Mary could see was her belly growing

and she and Joseph couldn't see the Savior.

The shepherds heard words, you will find him.

But they hadn't yet ever seen or found the Savior.

Until they all did,

because they all kept reminding themselves

of the promises from their creator.

That was how they held hope.

I think that's important.

It's important to remember.

And sometimes I wonder if there's a vision

that you've forgotten in the darkness.

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light,

a light that will shine on all who live in the land

where death casts its shadow.

Is there a vision that you've forgotten

because it's so dark?

Liam, go ahead and show that first picture

of the moon above the cottage.

This is a picture that I took at my friend's house.

It's just a picture of her cottage

and it was quaint and cute.

I was there a couple of weeks ago.

It looked cute when I was looking at it.

I was like the crescent moon above the thing

and it was just really sweet.

I love to go there.

I have writing retreats there.

It's a very special place to me.

And so I was like, I just wanna capture this moment.

So I took a picture of it.

It wasn't, it was, and I took the picture

and I was like, oh, it doesn't look like that though.

And I thought, well, what if I put my camera on night mode?

Because you can do that.

That's so cool.

So I put my camera on night mode.

Liam, the next one.

And so now, I don't know if you can see it.

I was amazed.

You can actually see,

like there's a tiny little constellation

to the bottom left corner of the moon

and one in the like right side there.

I mean, my eyeballs could not see that.

But my phone could in night mode.

And astrophotography is that way as well.

You can take a picture, time lapse it,

and you get to see what the sky actually looks like.

Our human eyeballs don't see that.

But my phone helped me see that.

And so then I had this idea,

oh my gosh, if that's what that looks like,

what does the sky look like?

And so it was cold and it had been raining,

but I laid down on the ground and I put my phone up

and I had it on night mode and I just took a picture.

And what I was looking at with my eyes was not that.

But that's what my phone could see.

And it was so beautiful to be laying there

and looking up with my eyes and just seeing some stars

that I could identify and I knew what they were.

But then to look at that image and know,

wait, but that's what's there.

That's what's there all the time.

I just can't see it, but I can know that it's there.

I know that it's there and that's what it looks like.

And I laid there and I just started crying

and I actually said out loud, I didn't know.

I didn't know that that was there.

And so I just wonder if we're relying

on our human eyes too much sometimes.

Don't forget, just because you can't see it

doesn't mean it's not there, right?

I think that's an important thing

that we can walk away with today for hope, right?

And or maybe even moving forward

in that Isaiah scripture that starts with

walking in the darkness and seeing a great light,

even though you can't see it, remembering it's there.

But then also remembering the passionate commitment

of the Lord Almighty will guarantee this.

God's words are there for us.

And so I wonder if you could use that reminder of his words

or if you might be meant to be someone's reminder.

What's the truth that has been communicated

that's making your hope possible?

Don't forget it.

Don't forget God's promise and truth.

Keep your heart and your eyes and spirit open

for opportunities to remind others of what is true

so that their hope can have a footing too.

How can I know what will happen?

Zechariah wanted to know his words will certainly come true

at the proper time.

That's what he could remember.

You know, it's like a mantra.

You can have a word from God that you can remember.

Mary, how can I have a baby?

Nothing is impossible with God.

And because God's word, because of God's word,

we all have those truths and those reassurances

and promises.

Don't forget, remind yourself this season

why you can have hope.

But also don't forget that you can bring those words

to the ones who are having a hard time remembering.

We've all been there.

Hope can be hard, especially when you have big questions

and big emotions about it.

I couldn't believe that this actually happened yesterday.

But yesterday, as Greg said, I had a really busy week.

I was in Cedar Rapids and I dropped Adley off

for the afternoon Nutcracker performance

and I went to Starbucks to finish this sermon.

And so I was sitting there writing a sermon about hope

and I got up and I went to the bathroom.

And I was in the bathroom and I started, I heard,

and sometimes like, there's sniff.

Sometimes people sniff.

They do that, right?

In the bathroom when it's all quiet

and you hear other people, and so they're sniffing a lot.

But then I realized there was like a rhythm to it,

some trembling breaths in between.

And they were crying.

And so I prayed really quick, God give me wisdom.

Be here in this moment.

I said, can I help you in any way?

She said, I don't know, probably not.

And I wanted to make sure she was like physically okay.

I said, are you feeling sick right now?

No.

And then I heard myself saying,

how are you feeling right now?

And she said, I feel depressed and hungry and hopeless.

And I said, I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry you're feeling that right now.

If you think you'd like to or could come out right now,

if you're okay with it, like I could give you a hug

or I'm here for you.

I just want you to know it's gonna be okay.

And she said, it's not gonna be okay.

And so I told her, I've cried in the bathroom

feeling depressed and hopeless before.

You're not alone.

I wasn't gonna leave.

I just knew I couldn't.

I said, you said you felt hungry.

I have a snack and a little bit of cash I could give you.

Do you need a little money for food?

And she said, yeah.

She finally came out.

And I told her, I said, I'm sorry

that it's feeling so hard right now.

I'm sorry you feel hopeless and depressed.

I know those feelings.

And then I heard myself saying, but listen,

you're not forgotten.

You matter.

You're not alone.

You're loved.

Even when you feel alone and forgotten, you're not.

Not really.

You're loved and you were created with a purpose

and you matter.

What's your name?

Heather.

I said, Heather, you're not forgotten.

You're loved and you matter.

And she started to get more emotional.

I heard myself saying, I'm proud of you

for managing as far as you have.

I'm proud of you that you're here today,

even though it's hard and you're feeling so sad.

Here you are.

That's something that sometimes is the win for the day.

But it won't always be like this.

There's always good people looking out

and it's gonna be okay.

It's gonna be okay, Heather.

Don't forget, you're loved and you matter

and you're not alone or forgotten.

I heard myself saying those words to her

and I knew that those, that was truth for her.

Those were my words that I was saying to her,

but they weren't my words.

They weren't just my words, my truth, my promise.

That was God reminding her of the truth, the promise.

What's real, right?

And so hope, waiting with expectation and anticipation

can be difficult and uncomfortable, but don't forget,

we can keep hoping.

God has words for us and we might have words for others.

So Mary and Joseph couldn't see Jesus yet.

The wise men hadn't seen Jesus yet.

The shepherds hadn't seen Jesus,

but they received a message, a promise,

a truth to cherish in their hearts

and that's how God does it.

That's how hope happens.

That's how you can have hope

and offer hope this Advent season and always.

Amen.