Sermon for the first Sunday in Advent - Hope when lamenting the hard truths of our time

The beginning of Advent is full of hope, but also offers us permission to see the world as it really is while still hoping for a future we can only sometimes glimpse.  

Earlier we heard the prophet Jeremiah being hopeful, looking forward to a righteous branch from David’s line delivering what is right, what is just and safety for Judah and Jerusalem. 

 

This passage is now commonly read to be predicting the coming of Jesus, and whether Jeremiah was being hopeful for that things may be better in the future, or truly knew of Jesus, we can’t be sure, but in the context of much of his writing, for Jeremiah, this was extremely optimistic.  

 

Jeremiah was a prophet who knew the harsh realities of the human experience. He is writing from prison (Jer 32:1-2), and living in the aftermath of Babylon’s destruction of Jerusalem around the year 587 (1:10). Jeremiah doesn’t offer any niceties or platitudes to smooth things over, just a dose of reality and lament.  

 

Biblical prophets are fascinating because they never shy away from hard truths.  

 

They speak plainly about the problems in the world. They weep and mourn for the brokenness, the pain, and the suffering that they witness, especially Jeremiah for he is often known as the weeping prophet.  

 

He saw the world as it was, not as it should be, his prophesies caused him to be imprisoned because King Zedekiah didn’t like his predictions of exile and destruction.   

 

He saw the world through tears. Yet he also saw something sacred shining through. 

 

Long before the birth of Jesus, Jeremiah predicted the coming of a messiah, and he told everyone: “The days are coming...they are coming” when someone will come whose very name means truth and justice and love and compassion and peace and safety and righteousness to make all things right. These verses are repeated from chapter 23, making the prediction that much more powerful.  

Fast forward over 500 years, people were now under Roman occupation and were looking for a messiah to lead them to freedom, and they knew the prophecy from Jeremiah which had yet to be fulfilled. 

 

The cultural landscape was ready and vibrant with expectant hope, which for those people, became a truth, a baby born to usher in a new creation, a new hope, a new truth, that the world would one day be restored.  

 

This is the very promise of God that began in creation, where the casting out of Adam and Eve could be restored in the person of Jesus.  

 

Of course, Jesus hasn’t arrived yet, Advent is a season of waiting and hope, but I think it’s also a season when we have to bear witness, like the prophets of old, for their messages of hope would also be preceded by honest truths, about the trials and suffering of the people around them. 

  

Which means that before we can enter into Christmas, we must acknowledge the whole truth about what we are experiencing in the here and now. Of course, this takes courage to wrap our minds around the inconvenient truths, the difficult truths, the complicated and seemingly contradictory truths.  

Yet, God has made us for truth-telling, to have eyes that glimpse through tears what is happening now, what has gone before, but also, through those same tears, we have eyes focussed on Jesus, who embodies the compassion, restoration, and justice we long for.  

 

What truths do we have to acknowledge? It’s clear that our world is not as it could be, from climate change, to wars, to political upheavals which seem threatening and scary and people at home and abroad living in poverty, or other people so wealthy they could end poverty tomorrow. 

 

There is fear around so many issues, and people with agendas will stoke up those fears, enticing us to make judgements and decisions which are contrary to what we claim are our core beliefs. 

 

Many people today would tell those of us in the church, with a capital C, to get our house in order before telling others how to live, and they would be right to tell us this.  

 

These are difficult times to be in the Church of England. Time and again, the church has failed vulnerable people while seeking to protect reputations. Our systems and processes need to radically change, and be seen to change, to restore trust, and faith in the church.  

 

We have to be open to seeing where messages or doctrines are harmful, and open to hearing from victims and survivors of abuse so that their experiences are not repeated,  

and that when people do come forward, their voices are heard and justice for everyone involved is fair, open, just and honest. The church with a capital C has a long way to go but there are things we can do today. 

 

1. 1. Lament for the suffering, the pain and abuse done in the name of so-called faith. 

2. 2. Ask questions, about safeguarding, about faith, about your or my beliefs, questions are good, I'd argue that doubt is helpful because it forces questions to be asked. If something feels wrong, then speak out. 

3. 3. Be open to change, by all means question change, but be open to it. 

4. 4. Most of all, lets keep doing well the things we do well, we are a welcoming church, we care deeply, we can do better, but good and faithful things are happening here. The confirmation service recently, our Life Groups, the cafe, our plans for Christmas, the plans to make the church more accessible, are all signs of God at work in this place. 

 

A modern day theologian (N.T. Wright) said, “Sometimes there is no answer but lament” - a truth which we would probably prefer to avoid in our culture that imagines “everything is figure-out-able” if we just have the right mindset or manifest things in the right way.  

Instead, Jeremiah and N.T. Wright remind us that sometimes, all we can do is to acknowledge how wrong and unfair things are and weep with one another before we can move our attention toward hope.  

 

Jeremiah1 envisions a future where the promises that God has made with God’s people come together, covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Jeremiah himself 2 

It is a future that holds the gift of life (Jer 33:11) and peace (33:15) through righteousness and justice (33:15b) and it will come through someone from the line of David (33:15).  

 

It is also the future that Mary sings about when the angel tells her about her son in Luke chapter 1 (Luke 1:46-55). This is why Jeremiah reminds God’s people “the days are coming” and to trust the creative and redemptive work of God (Jer 33:14). For the days are coming when we will see all of God’s promises fulfilled. And until then, we must hold onto hope for the future even while we live in the already-but-not-yet world. 

 

Hope is sometimes simple, for me, hope seems to get more complex as time goes by. 

It can be easy to be flippant about hope, until one day hope becomes something we barely comprehend, when the prognosis is not good, when a future we imagined, won’t be that future.  

 

Hope can become hurtful when someone is deep depression or if it promises things which you know just aren’t possible or when the future is so uncertain, you no longer know what to hope for. 

 

In those moments, it can be helpful to remember those times in the past when we were surprised by unexpected acts of kindness, of beauty we never thought existed until rounding a corner to an amazing view, a rainbow or a sunset.  

 

When we remember beautiful moments from the past, they are a reminder that hope can just pop up unexpectedly at any time, like the smile from a stranger or a flower breaking through the frost on a winter’s day. 

 

This isn’t meant to sound bleak, or that having hope is pointless, instead, perhaps we can hope in the little things, that good things are still be possible. That we may be surprised by something joyful around the next corner. Eventually, enough hopeful things come along and after a while, we realise life isn’t so bad after all, because there are always helpers, always kind people, people who love us, who are concerned about us. 

 

There are always surprising moments of joy, all of these things build and make something wonderful, like a newborn baby, not knowing what’s next. 

 

So this Advent, perhaps we may lament, but may we also have the eyes to look ahead, to stand up, raise our heads and be hopeful, faithful and bold and then watch, because this promise of truth is coming toward us once again.  

 

Let’s meet it with joy, together. 

 

Amen 

1 (In Jeremiah 33:14-16) 

2 (the Noahic Covenant in Genesis 9, the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12, the Mosaic Covenant in Exodus 19-24, the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7, and the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31).  

With thanks to Kate Bowler: https://katebowler.com/seasonal_devotional/the-weary-world-rejoices/#guides

Jeremiah 33.14–16 

14 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ 

Psalm 25.1–9 

1  To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; 
      O my God, in you I trust; ♦︎ 
   let me not be put to shame; 
      let not my enemies triumph over me. 
2  Let none who look to you be put to shame, ♦︎ 
   but let the treacherous be shamed and frustrated. 
3  Make me to know your ways, O Lord, ♦︎ 
   and teach me your paths. 
4  Lead me in your truth and teach me, ♦︎ 
   for you are the God of my salvation; 
      for you have I hoped all the day long. 
5  Remember, Lord, your compassion and love, ♦︎ 
   for they are from everlasting. 
6  Remember not the sins of my youth 
      or my transgressions, ♦︎ 
   but think on me in your goodness, O Lord, 
      according to your steadfast love. 
7  Gracious and upright is the Lord; ♦︎ 
   therefore shall he teach sinners in the way. 
8  He will guide the humble in doing right ♦︎ 
   and teach his way to the lowly. 
9  All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth ♦︎ 
   to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. 
 

Gospel: Luke 21.25–36 

  25 ‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. 28Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’ 

29 Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 

34 ‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36Be 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.’