Scripture Readings: Malachi 3:1–4 | Luke 1:68–79 | Philippians 1:3–11 | ​Luke 3:1–6

“By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” 
(Luke 1:78-79)

Peace is a precious thing… and it always comes with a price.

In the ancient world, the price of peace for one people or tribe was usually the use of violence against another rival group. This kind of ‘peace’ was won by the sword, and would only last as long as your tribe managed to stay on top… kind of like that old game called “king of the hill”, where kids try to push their way to the top of snowbanks, and then fend off all challengers to win. 

The Roman Empire was famous for this approach to peace. The Pax Romana, the “Peace of Rome” was praised as a great gift to the nations they conquered… there was stability within the boundaries… protection for those who went along with the Empire’s interests… that is until the occasional rebellion started, or a neighbour invaded, or a civil war broke out… then the legions were summoned to crush and to crucify anyone who stood in the way.

Looking around today, in many ways our world still seems stuck in that same mindset: only envisioning peace to be possible once all who get in our way are gone… brought low underneath the feet of our side in the conflicts we face. This week saw yet another wave of violence, as Syrian rebels rapidly advance towards the capital city of Damascus, hoping to overthrow the oppressive government they have been fighting against for more than a decade. We witnessed the attempt to institute martial law… military rule in South Korea, as a means of resolving the political conflicts among those in power. 

Over and over, and all over the world, we humans keep using force and the threat of violence try and establish stability and security… thinking that the sword or the gun… or the bomb… is the only way to bring about the peace we all really need. 

But the season of Advent invites us to reflect on… and to practice another kind of peace. A peace that’s not won through violent force, but which also comes with a price. 

In our Gospel reading today, for the second week of Advent, we hear about the ministry of St. John the Baptist… the son of Zechariah the priest, and Elizabeth, and the cousin of Jesus our Lord.

John’s whole life was set apart for a particular mission: to prepare the way for God’s coming Messiah… serving as a kind of prophetic herald, calling God’s people to get ready for their King. 

At his naming ceremony, St. Luke tells us that John’s father Zechariah prophesied over his child, and the role he would play in God’s great rescue mission: Luke 1:76-79,

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; 
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 
to give knowledge of salvation to his people 
by the forgiveness of their sins. 
By the tender mercy of our God, 
the dawn from on high will break upon us, 
to give light to those who sit in darkness 
and in the shadow of death, 
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

But this high calling also came with a high price. Like most of the prophets before him, John was not your typical religious leader. He was an outsider. Literally. He lived outside… in the desert on Israel’s border region… far from the cities and centres of power… dressed as one at home in the wilds… and seen as a bit radical and extreme. 

And John’s message was not exactly a comfortable one either. He was sent to call his people to get ready for God’s Chosen One! Calling them to repent… to turn around and leave behind the ways of life that had taken them down the road of sin… and calling them to start again as God’s people. To remember God’s faithfulness and gracious deliverance in the past… and to walk in His ways again… humbling themselves, admitting their brokenness, and seeking God’s forgiveness… not in the Temple in Jerusalem… but at the Jordan River, where Israel first stepped foot in the Promised Land… symbolically starting again from the very beginning, to get ready for God’s coming Messiah.

Of course, John’s message and ministry was not well received by many of those among the leadership of Israel at that time… the priests and scribes based at the Temple, and the strict Pharisees, who saw themselves and their practices as the best way to be faithful to God. And he was not popular with those who had aligned themselves with the Roman Empires’ way of doing things either… with people like Herod Antipas, and his followers, who profited greatly from close ties with Rome.

But far from playing it safe, and trying to appease those in power, John’s ministry completely rocked the boat… he was upsetting the status quo… shaking up a complacent and compromised community by calling them to change… to do something different… to repent, restart, and get ready for real.

And many flocked to his message, upsetting and radical as it was. Why? Because they believed… they believed that John was right, and they knew that they needed peace.

Real peace, not simply the absence of discomfort, or conflict… but peace in the deepest biblical sense:    Peace that comes from completeness… from wholeness… from holiness… from having their lives realigned and in sync with the good will of the One who had created them, and loved them, and longs for them to experience the fullness of life… a peace that the world around us promises us constantly… but which it can never deliver.

John’s listeners knew that their lives were off base, broken, and incomplete. They knew that their communities were needing to be realigned and set right again. They knew there were many proud mountains that needed to be brought low… as well as many lowly valleys that needed raising. And so, they responded to John’s call to repent by being baptized… submerged in the Jordan River, seeking the forgiveness and faithful love of the Lord, and trusting in His divine mercy to bring about His peace among them. 

And as John would remind them, this peace would not be painless, or easy. But it would be well worth it! Turning our lives around and walking in God’s holy ways takes work, and will involve real struggles, and ask us to say no to ourselves again and again. But the peace we need is only possible through God’s cleansing hand at work in our lives.
 AS we heard in our first reading today from the prophet Micah (3:2-4),

“But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.”

John was calling his people to get ready for God’s coming King by seeking God’s peace… God’s own gracious cleansing, purifying, sanctifying power, to set their lives back on track so they could fully participate in His coming Kingdom.   

And this invitation is not just meant for those who stood by the Jordan River in John’s day… but for us as well… for those of us who know we need God’s peace at work in our lives.

How might John’s call to repentance apply to us as a Church community? Here at St. Luke’s? As a Diocese? As the Anglican Church, and as a part of the whole body of Christ? Are there ways we as believers have gotten off track, and are in need of cleansing and new beginnings?

Perhaps John’s message is connecting with us in a more personal way this morning. For those of us who may still be exploring the Christian story… John’s calling might offer us an opportunity to respond to the invitation to be baptized… to offer our lives in faith to Christ Jesus, God’s Son, and to receive the gift of forgiveness and new life in His name.

And for those of us who have already been baptized, but who may have walked away from God for a time, and are now sensing the deep need for our lives to be set right again, John’s calling might offer us an opportunity to formally renew our baptismal vows… to reaffirm our faith in Jesus, and our need for Christ’s peace to rule in our lives.

If you’d like to explore either of these invitations to baptism, or to reaffirm your baptism, please let me know, and I would be happy to meet with you, to pray with you, and to walk with you through this process.

But even if that’s not where you are this morning, John’s message is truly for all of us. Wherever we are in our walk with God, we are to get ready for the Messiah… remembering that God’s true and lasting peace also came with a high price. 

This peace was not won through force or violence… or through unjust compromises, or by avoiding conflicts, or through anything else that our world has to offer… but through the work of Someone even more radical and world changing than John himself was prepared for… through Jesus Christ, God’s Chosen King… the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus disrupted the status quo… not only bringing low the proud mountains… challenging those who thought they were on the right track, but had in truth abandoned God’s good ways… He also lifted up the lowly valleys… reaching out to the hurting, and the desperate… and preaching God’s peace to sinners… to people whose choices and compromises had set them apart from their neighbours, marking them as outsiders in their communities… but not beyond the bounds of God’s love. 

And Jesus practiced peace among deeply divided communities… pulling together people of all walks of life, and making them one, united to one another by their devotion and connection to Him.

Jesus Christ practiced God’s peace… even when it would require the highest cost. He refused to play the world’s game… to rally armed forces to Himself, to bring about His Kingdom by force. No, in self-giving love Christ Jesus surrendered Himself to those who would crush, curse, and crucify Him… pleading for their forgiveness, even as they called for His death… and paying for the sins of the whole world through His blood shed at the cross.

But far from ending in utter defeat, we know that the cross became the sign of God’s great victory… breaking the power of guilt and shame by cleansing us of sin… disarming the threat of death, which all tyrants depend on… and assuring us that we no longer need to be estranged from the Living God, or from our neighbours created in His image. In rising again from the grave, Jesus has shown the world that His death for our sake has paid the price once and for all for our peace… and through His Spirit at work in us, we can now put this peace into practice. 

As Christians, our peace must be a Christ-shaped peace… a peace that is willing to stand out, and shake up the status quo… not by using force to get our own way, or by compromising with injustice and evil, but by trusting that no matter what others might do, they cannot shake or take away the new life that Jesus Christ has share with us, and longs for us to share with one another as we await His return to set our whole world right again.

Christ Jesus has paid the high price for God’s true peace to break into our broken world even now, and as His people today we are to practice His peace… to live God’s way here and now, no matter what it might cost us… which we can do with hopefulness and joy because we know that it will be well worth it!

In time, St. John too would experience the high price of seeking God’s peace. His ministry would set him at odds powerful people in the world, who would eventually call for his head.

We don’t know what it might cost us to devote our lives to the way of God’s peace today. We might risk losing friendships and relationships. We might experience great disappointments or pain. We might even end up losing our lives, as many of our sisters and brothers still do around the world.

But whatever the price may be, in Jesus Christ the Risen Lord, we know that the reward is well worth it all. Our Lord has already paid the ultimate price for our peace, not just for a short season of life… but to share the blessed life and love of the Living God with us forever.

So may the peace of Christ rule in our hearts this Advent season, and beyond. May we not simply seek to stay comfortable, but to be made complete and holy in Him. May we trust that what He did for us all at the cross is powerful enough to put an end to all that keeps us cut off from God, and from our neighbours. And with the Spirit’s help, may we seek ways to practice God’s peace in our daily lives, and with those all around us. Amen. 

Scripture Readings: Jeremiah 33:14–16 | Psalm 25:1–10 | 1 Thessalonians 3:9–13 | ​Luke 21:25–36

“Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28).

Are you ready?

I don’t often remember my dreams, but occasionally I will have one that stands out. Actually, it’s more of a recurring dream: in it, I find myself writing a math test… scrambling to finish what I know should be simple and straightforward, but still feeling completely lost… and worried that everything else in my life will now be somehow in jeopardy. I feel like I’m about to lose everything all because I didn’t prepare. 

But then I wake up and realize I haven’t taken a math class in over 20 years. That I’m not about to fail… and lose everything I care about. It’s all just a dream.

But even so, I’m left with the feeling that there’s things in my life that I’ve been neglecting… that something’s not in order… that there’s something I have been avoiding, and that I really should get on top of. Maybe I’ve been too distracted by other matters…or too discouraged by the fear of big challenges ahead… and so I’ve just been putting off something pretty important… a strategy which doesn’t tend to do me much good.

And so, even though it doesn’t leave me with a very pleasant feeling… these dreams can sometimes kind of serve as a wake-up call for me to stop putting things off. Reminding me to do what I can to be ready… to prepared for what I know is ahead of me… so that I can look forward, not simply with dread, but with some anticipation.

One thing I know many people around us are anticipating these days are the holidays. As all the stores and advertisements online remind us, Christmas is right around the corner… just over three weeks away. And if you’re like me, there’s still lots to do to get ready for it. Lots of details to straighten out. Lots of plans to finalize… and of course lots to look forward to. Like this afternoon, as we gather for our annual Parish All Ages Advent celebration… as well as the many other special traditions and events that this time of year has in store.

But of course, it’s important for us to remember not to rush too far ahead this time of year. There’s lots to do before Christmas to get ourselves ready, not only in practical ways… but in spiritual ways as well. 

As we know, today is the beginning of Advent, a season of preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ the Son of God… not just in the cradle in Bethlehem… but as the Crucified and Risen Saviour King, who is coming again to set God’s world right again, once and for all.

From the start, Advent is a season of anticipation… of looking forward… of preparation. Getting ready to take part not just in Christmas… but in the Kingdom of God.

But even though the Church has been in this state of anticipation and preparation for around two thousand years, Advent reminds us that what we are preparing for is not in our control, or bound by our own expectations. It requires us to pay attention… to remain engaged… to be willing to pivot, and adapt, and to be ready to do whatever needs doing… not sitting idle, or building our own little kingdoms. We’re called to always be ready.
But be ready for what? What are we waiting for? 

I can recall times when I heard the Christian hope talked about in ways that remind me a lot of that sinking feeling I’d get from my math-test dreams: a sense of deep urgency that I know I need to be ready, and even deeper sense of unease that I’m totally helpless and lost.

Sometimes we Christians can get so fixated on our own fears, and forget the Good News we’ve been entrusted with. We can talk about the need for ‘being ready’ as a way to scare ourselves, and each other, into ‘being good’… just making sure our own hands are clean, and becoming preoccupied with our own eternal security.

Now, you’re not going to hear me start advocating for getting your hands dirty… or to ignore the importance of having a clean conscience before God, or trying to live a life of true holiness. Quite the opposite. But I know that this kind of fear-focused approach to faith leads us only to spiritual self-centredness… and ends up encouraging us to start placing our hope in our own ability to ‘be good’. 

But as Christians, our hope always requires our active preparation, but our hope is never placed in our own preparations. Our hope is in the One we are preparing for! Our hope is in Jesus Christ, our Saviour King.

And our Scripture readings today call us to be ready… to be looking forward to Jesus’ return in ways that help us remain engaged in His Good Kingdom here and now.

In our first reading this morning from the book of the Prophet Jeremiah, we are reminded that despite how dark our circumstances may get, we really can place our hope in the Living God. 

Our reading takes place at a time when things weren’t looking all that great for God’s faithful prophet. Jeremiah was stuck in prison, unjustly persecuted for speaking out against Jerusalem’s unfaithful kings, priests, and leadership, and for prophesying that Babylon, who already had won a great victory against Jerusalem, and sent many into Exile, would indeed come back and utterly overthrow Judah, as the LORD God had commanded him to. 

And while other prophets were preaching peace, and Judah’s smooth recover and return to greatness, God had again assured Jeremiah that the Exile would not be ending anytime soon, but would in fact get worse. God’s people had turned their backs on the LORD and His ways, and so they would have to face the dark consequences of breaking faith with the Almighty One. 

Looking around him, and his bleak prospects, Jeremiah might have been tempted to give in… to give up taking his stand, and just try to get on with what was left of his life. When we face dark times, we too have to deal with these kinds of temptations. We can get discouraged by how things in our own lives and our world turn out in ways we had not anticipated. And we can be tempted to get too invested in things that don’t really matter… or get distracted by our own concerns, and forget about the gift of hope we have received. 

And God knows that about us. God knows we need something to hold onto. Something firm to stand on when our world is shaken. Something trustworthy and true to stay focused on when our troubles and cares demand all our attention.

And so God gives us what we need in times like these: He gives us His Word. He reminds us of His steadfast love… His complete faithfulness… and His promise to do what is right… and He calls us to trust Him. To put our faith and our hopes in Him to redeem and rescue us. 
 
And so, in that dark time, God also assures Jeremiah that this darkness will not be the end for God’s people. The LORD Himself will not abandon His promises: though in the days to come, it may seem to all like Jerusalem’s royal line and priesthood would fail, God would raise up His people again. Beyond all hope, He would raise them up.

Jeremiah 33:10-11, “Thus says the Lord: In this place of which you say, ‘It is a waste without human beings or animals,’ in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without inhabitants, human or animal, there shall once more be heard the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord: 
“Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, 
for the Lord is good, 
for his steadfast love endures forever!” 
For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord.”

And then as we heard this morning in Jeremiah 33:14-16, “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In 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. In 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.'”
 
The Lord is our righteousness.

At the right time, the Living God would raise up a righteous descendant of King David… One who would set things right once and for all, and bring God’s salvation to His people. 

Now Jeremiah Himself would not live to see these words fulfilled. But he would hold onto this hope in his darkest moments, and pass it on to others who trusted in it too. And one day, God did raise up One from David’s line who did bring God’s promised salvation to the world.  

Turning now to our reading from the Gospel of Luke, and the word of Jesus Christ our Lord, warning His disciples, back then and today, about the dark times that lay ahead of them.

As His own time of suffering drew close, Jesus saw serious challenges ahead for His disciples. He knew they would face lots of discouragement and reasons to doubt… And He warned them against becoming distracted from their mission by alarming events in the world… or tripped up by the many pressures and preoccupations of everyday life.

And so, Jesus calls them, and those of us who belong to Him today, to be ready… to not give in to the distractions, or to despair when things got dark… but instead, when everything seems to be falling apart, He says to us: “stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28). 

And Jesus did not just talk about this kind of hope. He lived it. He embodied it. He was fully prepared to face death for us… placing His hope in His Heavenly Father’s steadfast love, which is even stronger than death. 

Jesus faithfully endured the horrors of the cross for us all, laying down His sinless life to rescue us and our world from the powers of darkness, and to bring us the gift of His freedom and forgiveness, made possible through His blood shed for us. And His hope did not disappoint!

Christian hope is Christ-shaped hope: hope, not that we will somehow manage to avoid suffering and evil in this life, but that the life-giving love of God is able to save us from its power, and to raise us up with Jesus to share in God’s holy love forever.

And in our second reading this morning, St. Paul shows us what that kind of hope looks like in practice… what it means to get ready and be ready for the coming of our Saviour.

1 Thessalonians 11:13, “Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”

Our hope in Christ our Saviour is expressed… is practiced through sharing in His holy love together. Through Christians gathering for fellowship, and learning together, and worshipping together… Not as a distraction from, or as a denial of, the many difficulties around us, and indeed ahead of us… but as a way of sharing in the life of God’s Good Kingdom even now, through God’s Spirit at work in us… and of encouraging one another to stand firm in the Good News we have been entrusted with: the Good News that, no matter how dark the night might get, the glorious day of the Lord will dawn, and our Redeemer, Jesus, the Saviour King, will return to set this world right.

Being ready for Christ’s return is not a call to panic and obsess over the state of ourselves… but to actively put away all that might keep us from sharing God’s holy love with one another, and with those all around us. There is no cosmic pop quiz waiting for us, but there are His commands already made known: to love God, to love one another, and to let God’s holy love have its way in us today.

So today, as we enter into the season of Advent together: may we place our hope in the steadfast love of the Living God for our messed up world, and in Christ’s promise to return to set it right again once and for all. 

May this hope help us to keep our heads held high… not trying to deny the darkness around us, but empowering us to stand firm against it… focused on remaining faithful to our Saviour, and walking in His ways until He returns.

And may this hope help us to get ready, and stay ready for eternity… to do what we can to strengthen and encourage one another… in worship, fellowship, and mutual support. And through God’s Holy Spirit, may this hope help us to put God’s holy love into practice here and now… committed to keeping alive the light of the Gospel in our dark and despairing world… so that those all around us may also come to know the Good News of Jesus our Saviour King. Amen.

Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent: a season of anticipation and preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ, both in His birth at Christmas, and in His future return to reign forever over a renewed creation.

Each week in Advent, we reflect on an important aspect of the Christian life as we wait faithfully for our Saviour, and serve His kingdom even now. The first Sunday of Advent, we reflect on the theme of Hope.


Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon can be found here:

Scripture Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1–11, 16 | Luke 1:46–55 | Romans 16:25–27 | Luke 1:26–38

“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
 
This morning we celebrate both the beginning and end of the fourth week of Advent… what a short week! I know they say time flies when you’re having fun, but in my opinion, cramming a whole week into less than 24 hours is a bit much! But regardless of how long or short we may want Advent to be, this evening it all comes to an end as we celebrate Christmas Eve, when Mary gave birth to the Son of God, Jesus the Saviour of our world. And though it may just last this morning, the fourth week of Advent calls us to contemplate something central… something essential to the story of Christmas, and for that matter, to the whole story of God: theme of Love – connection… communion… binding hearts and lives together as one.
 
As we know, Love is often talked about in our society in a one-sided way… we say love to speak of our longing… our desires… our appreciation for something or someone. In this light, love looks like little more than a feeling or personal motivation.
 
But there are of course other ways of thinking about love… like seeing it as a mutual bond… a commitment to the communion between persons… a community… in which all involved share in the blessing… being built up together, trusting one another even as we face the unknown.
 
This is the kind of love that Advent invites us to reflect on… a love best expressed not by seeking out that which one person desires for themselves… but by offering themself to their beloved, trusting them to be faithful. This is the love that we encounter in Scripture… and which is at the heart of Advent, and Christmas… God’s self-giving love.
 
That said, our first reading this morning from second Samuel might seem a strange place to begin reflecting on self-giving love… with all its talk about temples. But in the imaginations of the ancient world, including Israel and their neighbours, temples were the places where heaven and earth could meet… where the divine and mortal spaces overlapped, so to speak, and communion between them could be achieved.
 
Temples were also the tangible places where one’s devotion were visibly put into practice. The focal points for communities to display their piety: It was where offerings were given to show gratitude. And sacrifices were made to seek forgiveness. Sacred places set apart to renew and restore the relationships between humans and the divine. And while temples were common place all over the Ancient Near East, before the days of King David, Israel did not have a temple of their own.
 
At Mt. Sinai, the Living God had promised to be with His people, and graciously made a covenant relationship with them, akin to a marriage… a sacred bond. He would be their God, and they would be His people… and God’s own faithfulness and love would be the foundation for their life together.
 
And as a tangible sign of God’s ongoing presence with them, wherever they would go, God had them construct the Tabernacle… a sacred movable tent… where the Ark of the Covenant would reside… where gifts and sacrifices could be offered, and where God could meet with His people… and where the people could come close to their LORD… experiencing up close His forgiveness, His mercy, His grace, and His faithful love.
 
And for centuries, God’s people in all of their wanderings had worshiped God in this mobile tent… as the One not bound to one place, but who dwelt in the midst of the community of His people. But after his rise to power, King David longed to establish a more permanent residence for the LORD of all. A grand house for his God… a Temple.
 
Was this intended as an act of love? An expression of gratitude for all God had done for him… raising him up from his lowly and humble beginnings as a shepherd, to be the king of Israel?
 
Whatever his intentions, as it turns out David’s desire to show his devotion to the Living God is completely outdone by God’s own devotion to him… promising to give him a great gift, not of a sacred building, but of a dynasty… a family destined to be drawn into God’s everlasting plan of salvation. 2 Samuel 7:11-16,
​
“Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.”
 
God would build from David a chosen King who would reign forever… and would be in true communion with the LORD always… as father and son they would be… and this chosen king would build a true house for God’s name… an everlasting place where heaven and earth truly meet… where all can encounter God’s steadfast and faithful love.
 
And though in time, David’s heir, Solomon, would indeed build a grand temple of stone in Jerusalem, where Israel would focus their worship of the Living God, that meeting place would not last forever… and would serve as a signpost pointing to the true place where heaven and earth would become one… the temple of the body of this promised offspring of David.
 
What a gift God gave David. But he would have to trust God and take Him at His word. David would never live to see the fulfillment of this promise, and so many questions would be left unanswered. When would this promised one come? What would he do when he finally arrived? How would God bring all of this about? Questions that would have to wait until that first Christmas.
 
And as we heard today, God’s promise would all come about through the body of Mary… a teenage bride to be, who to the world seemed like a lowly nobody… and who, like David before her, was graciously favoured by God and lifted up. And through Mary, the Living God, the Creator of the cosmos would take on flesh and be born among us. In Mary’s womb, the Son of God became the Son of Man, and Heaven and Earth became one… in Him.
 
The Anglican bishop and scholar, N.T. Wright puts it well when he says that: “Mary becomes the temporary dwelling-place of the living God: the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the ‘overshadowing’ of the Most High, both evoke the temple-idea. This passage struggles to say something for which words hardly exist: that in Mary’s womb temple and king came together once and for all, that the scriptures came true in ways never imagined, and that God found at last the house, neither tent nor temple but flesh and blood, that would most truly and fully express his royal, self-giving love.”[1]
 
What a gift God gave to Mary… but one that opens up all sorts of questions: How can this be? What will this promised child be like? What will He do? What am I supposed to do? But even with so many questions, and so much left unknown, we know Mary’s response: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). She believes, and opens her heart to the divine message of God’s gracious gift of love… to her, and through her, to the world. Mary chooses to trust God, and the world has never been the same since.

These stories of David and Mary, along with all of the Holy Scriptures, invite us to reflect on the great gift of God’s self-giving love… and how we can share in it. We see how from the start, He makes the first move… and out does all our outward shows of devotion… how He longs to reunite our broken world to Heaven’s glorious life. And in Jesus, King David’s descendant and the Virgin Mary’s son, this is exactly what God has done… not just in Bethlehem, but all throughout Jesus’ life… bringing back those who are scattered and lost… binding up broken bodies and hearts… setting loose those who are bound by their shame, and sin, and fear… and giving Himself away at the cross to bring God’s saving, self-giving love to the world once and for all.
 
Advent and Christmas remind us that at the heart of the story of God is God’s self-giving love… God’s commitment to His creation to do whatever it takes to renew the communion that Earth and Heaven were both created to share in forever.
 
And of course, nowhere is God’s self-giving love more clearly displayed than at the cross, where David’s royal descendant would wear a crown, not of gold but of thorns, and where He would be exalted… not on a throne but on the cruel tree of death. And where Mary would stand by in helpless agony as her miracle child’s life comes to a brutal end before her tear-filled eyes. How could this be? Why would God allow this all to happen? So many questions left unanswered… at least until Easter… when the full glory of God’s gift in Jesus would be revealed in the resurrection… as the self-giving love of God breaks down every barrier that keeps us apart from Him.
 
Here the words of St. Paul in His letter to the Romans, Chapter 5 verses 6-11:
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
 
In Jesus, God offers us all the gift of reconciliation… no matter who we are, or what we have done, He has done everything to reunite us in His love. In Jesus, God has made the perfect sacrifice to deal with all of our sins… and bring us the gift of forgiveness, and the freedom to share in His New Life forever.
 
Tonight we will celebrate the birth of this Jesus… God’s eternal Son who stepped into our messed up time and space to set us free… giving us nothing less than everything… His own life… His body and blood… to bring us back to true communion with our Heavenly Father, and to share His self-giving love with each other, and everyone.
 
And like David and Mary, we too are invited to allow God’s self-giving love to reshape our lives. To open our hearts to His mercy and grace, and to be drawn even deeper into His own divine communion.
 
There will always be many questions of our own about how God might bring all of this about in our own lives… but even so, we too can receive all that His love offers us… in faith. Trusting God, Father, Son, and Spirit, to be true to His word… and to open us up to His saving, self-giving love to work in and through you and I as well… giving ourselves wholeheartedly back to the One who gave Himself for us.
 
And so, this fourth week of Advent… this Christmas… and every day of our lives, may the LORD give us the grace to respond to His gift of love in Jesus Christ our Saviour with these faithful words of Mary: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Amen.


[1] N. T. Wright, Twelve Months of Sundays: Reflections on Bible) Readings, Year B (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2002), 9.

This morning we mark the fourth Sunday of Advent: a season of anticipation and preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ, both in His birth at Christmas (which we will celebrate this evening, and for which you can find more At-Home worship resources below), as well as in His future return to reign forever over a renewed creation.

Each week in Advent, we reflect on an important aspect of the Christian life as we wait faithfully for our Saviour, and serve His kingdom even now. The fourth Sunday of Advent, we reflect on the theme of Love.

Here is a great video from the Bible Project exploring how the Holy Scriptures help us to receive & share God's Love.

​Here are some links to the Carols listed in our service, found on Youtube:  ​

Here is a word to help us worship
the Word-of-God-Made-Flesh,
Jesus Christ, who is born this day.

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 61:1–4, 8–11 | Psalm 126 | Luke 1:46b–55 (Canticle) | 1 Thessalonians 5:16–24 | John 1:6–8, 19–28

​“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
 
Here we are at the third week of Advent already, with Christmas now just around the corner… awaiting the arrival of Christ Jesus our Lord, and reflecting with Christians around the world on what His coming means for us, and for our world.
 
And as we know, this week we’re invited to contemplate the theme of Joy… to join in the spirit of celebration that the Good News of Jesus Christ inspires.
 
 And yet, as we also know, sometimes it’s really hard to celebrate. And although this has been true all throughout human history, in recent times there definitely seems to be a heaviness at work weighing down our world. A burden of worry, uncertainty, and seriousness… with so much seeming to be at stake, and so little sense of peace and hope. For many today, it’s hard to be lighthearted… inside and outside the Church.
 
And so, the words from St. Paul which we heard today seem sort of strange and out of place… telling the Thessalonian Christians, and all of us believers through the centuries to “Rejoice always.” I mean, “pray without ceasing”? Sure. “Give thanks in every circumstance”? Well, that might be a challenge… but it still kind of makes sense. But “rejoice always”? Really? Why should we? And how can we rejoice always? Where can we find this kind of joy?
 
We know that our world offers us lots of ways to pursue joy… or at least happiness: just buy more things. Enjoy more exciting or comforting experiences. Adopt this or that ideology. Surround yourself with people you get along with. So much or what drives our society is the unending quest for happiness.
 
And sometimes, we Christians have got caught up in this game too. At times, we’ve tried to market our faith as this same kind of wellness activity… just another way for people to find fulfillment, and happiness. And as some critics of the Church have truthfully pointed out, there are plenty of people who twist the Christian faith and make it a tool to help those in power to stay strong, secure, and in charge… and to keep those who are vulnerable and weak longing for some relief, that never seems to come.
 
But the Good News of the Christian faith is so much better than another means to make us happy. And the writers of Scripture like St. Paul, are not at all interested in turning the Good News of Jesus into a product to make us feel better… and make life a little less dreary. Nor is he trying to get us to put on a phoney smile… to “keep sweet”, no matter how bitter our circumstances may be.
 
No, in tune with the whole story of Scripture, including our readings today, St. Paul is reminding us of the truly Good News of Jesus that we have come to believe… that in Him, the Living God is intent on lifting the crushing burdens off of His beloved creatures. In Him, the weights of injustice and oppression are being cast off from our shoulders… the wrongs will be righted… the broken-hearted will be embraced and their tears will be wiped away.
 
In short, in Jesus Christ, God Himself has come to lift us up to join in His divine, and unending joy.
 
Let’s take a moment to consider what we actually mean by Joy though. In general, ‘happiness’ can be understood as a positive experience of pleasure… of beholding beauty, having our needs and desires satisfied, and feeling connected to those closest to us. Understandably, we like feeling happy. We’re kind of hardwired to desire these kinds of things… to exist in and appreciate God’s good world. But as good as this kind of basic natural happiness can feel, it also can’t last. Our eyes are never satisfied by beauty. Our belly’s are never full of food, and so on. Eventually, the feelings of happiness we find in these things wane, and we’re left wanting more.
 
And this is where our desires for beauty, satisfaction, and connection can get us off track. When we start longing for them in ways that feed our self-centeredness, greed, and lust. And these are all great fuel for consumerism… promising us that if we just keep chasing things that make us feel good, at least for a time, we’ll be happy, re-orienting our lives around pursuing fulfilment… or at least avoiding pain… boredom… isolation… anything that makes us feel less than the impossible ideal that we’ve been promised.

But Joy is not the same as happiness… it’s not simply an experience of pleasure, but entails a lifting up of our whole selves… which certainly does feel good… but it also involves so much more than a momentary sense of satisfaction of desire, or alleviation of pain.
 
Think of a time when you suddenly had a great weight or concern unexpectedly taken away. Or when fears that were hounding you were proved to be unfounded. When you found yourself surrounded by loving arms, when only moments before you had felt all alone. That’s joy.  
 
Joy is the lifting of burdens. The release of captives. The experience, not just of pleasure, but of hope, and freedom, and love all wrapped up together in a beautiful blur. And while moments of happiness can give us a temporary glimpse of joy, it can’t really compare with it. Joy is, after all, a gift, a gracious encounter we can’t manufacture, buy or sell, just received.
 
So then, rejoicing is about being in tune with the truth of the universe… that is, that the Creator of all that is… seen and unseen… has not given up on us or on our world. That from the very start, the Living God has been reaching out in compassion and love to humanity… seeking our rescue and restoration… and inviting us to share together in His own unending joy.
 
In our Scripture reading today from the Prophet Isaiah we heard a clear vision of joy being given to the oppressed and broken people of Israel… the good news that despite the devastation that they had faced, much of it the result of their own disastrous choices, the Living God simply would not give up on them. Isaiah 61:1-4,
 
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
 
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.”
 
And trusting the good news of God’s enduring faithfulness and saving love caused the prophet to proclaim in verse 10:
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
 
And in Psalm 126, the poet attempts to wrap their head around God’s faithful love at work in their people’s story, rejoicing in His divine mercy, even as they pray for rescue in the midst of their ongoing struggles. Let’s hear Psalm 126 again:
 
“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
then were we like those who dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are glad indeed.
Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses of the Negev.
Those who sowed with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed,
will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.”
 
And then, we have one of the most well-known prayers in the New Testament, the Magnificat, or Mary’s song… an outburst of joy, praising God for what He was doing… drawing her, as simply and lowly as she was, into the truly wonderful story begun so long ago… the story of God’s great rescue mission, coming now to a climax through the child still in her womb. Luke 1:46-55,
 
“And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.’”
 
The prophet Isaiah, the Psalmist, and the Mother of our Lord… all living in tragic and uncertain times. All feeling the heavy weight of the world… and yet, all finding themselves lifted up. Caught off guard and elevated by the Good News of what the Living God was up to, in, and through, and all around them… and so, they rejoice… they receive the gift of joy that transforms everything.
 
And so, St. Paul also calls us born many centuries later, to rejoice always… because of the Good News of Jesus… the Good News that even when we feel burdened and weighed down by the brokenness, of ourselves and our world, our Saviour has come, and He will come again… and through His Holy Spirit, He is with us even now… bringing the freedom, the forgiveness, the joy of God into our lives in all sorts of surprising ways, and working through us to bring God’s joy to all those around us too.
 
And just like the Prophet Isaiah, and the Psalmist, and Mary, we too can receive and encounter God’s joy in the midst of our world’s messed up story… as we face our own serious struggles, and suffering… but even in these dark and doubt-filled moments, the Living God can touched our hearts too with the Good News of His saving love… and transform how we understand the story of our sad world, and what the Christ has done and is doing to raise it up.
 
As Christians today, as those who have heard and believed the story of God’s saving love in Jesus Christ, maybe we need to get a bit more serious about joy. Not just about trying to make others happy, but serious about trusting in, receiving, and sharing the Good News of great joy for all people that the angels announced all those years ago in Bethlehem: the Good News that to us, and to us all, a Saviour has been born… Jesus Christ the Lord.
 
And if this Good News can shine in our day to day lives, how might our perspectives and concerns start to change? How much less might we complain if instead of pleasure, we start seeking freedom, for ourselves and others, freedom from the burdens of guilt, and isolation, and despair?
 
How much more would we find ourselves lifted up if we stop and consider that the One who holds our world… our universe in His hands is the same One who gave His life at the cross to rescue it from the power of death, and who was raised to make all things new?
 
How much joy might we be filled with, regardless of our circumstances… even in moments of tragedy, uncertainty, and heartache, when we remember that our Redeemer is with us… that He has drawn near to bear all our burdens…
“to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
…to comfort all who mourn…” (Isaiah 61:1 & 2b).
 
What might it look like if we received with all seriousness the Living God’s gift of joy in Jesus?
 
So, may the Good News of God’s Son, the Saviour of our world, shine in and through each one of us today. And may His Spirit empower us to rejoice always in the truth that He really has us all in His nail-pierced, and world-saving hands. Amen.
 

​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 40:1–11 | Psalm 85 | 2 Peter 3:8–15a | Mark 1:1–8

“Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.” (2 Peter 3:14-15).
 
As we travel together through this season of Advent, awaiting the coming of Jesus Christ our Lord… not only in His birth at Christmas, but also awaiting His promised return to set God’s world aright once and for all… we find ourselves confronted with one of the greatest challenges of our time: that is, the elusiveness of peace. In the world around us, in our relationships, and even in ourselves… true peace can be hard to find, and many of us have no clue how to pursue it.
 
Some say that peace can only be secured at the edge of a sword. That the only way to ensure the end of conflict is to use power and violence to crush all those who oppose us. Others go out of their way to avoid any hint of conflict… just going along with the crowd, and ignoring serious and really destructive behaviours as a result… compromising what is right and good to keep from making waves, so to speak.  
 
And at a time with so many barriers to communion before us, and when unending divisions and conflicts seem ready to tear us apart, the need for true and lasting peace seems greater than ever.
 
And so today, the second Sunday of Advent, calls us to contemplate God’s peace together: to reflect on what it is, what it requires, and most of all, what Christ has done to bring it about.
 
So, what kind of peace are we talking about?
 
Not the ideas of peace that depends on the tranquility or stability of our surroundings… a way of describing an untroubled environment we find ourselves in. No, God’s peace refers to a condition that we can experience in any circumstance, because it refers to something other than the absence of conflict. As you may know, the Hebrew word for peace used by the authors of the Old Testament is the word shalom… which points to a state of wholeness, of completeness. Not simply an absence of conflict, but an integrity… in ourselves, and in our relationships… a wellbeing that can withstand the pressures and storms of life without crumbling to pieces.
 
And Scripture tells us we humans were created for this kind of completeness. Belonging together in God’s good world… at peace with our Creator, with one another, and within ourselves. But from early on, and throughout our history, we can see that this blessed peace has been shattered by our self-centeredness and sin… again and again… and so that complete communion we were created for has never quite come about. We might get glimpses of it, here and there… pockets of peace that last for a time. But the perfect peace of the Living God… the peace we all long for, remains elusive… seemingly out of our reach.  
 
And yet, this perfect peace is not just some idealistic dream. It is a reality that has been promised… and which we can actually begin to experience here and now.
 
But to experience… to receive this kind of perfect peace, and begin to put it into practice in our lives… something has to change. And it has to change in us.
 
We need a change in our direction. A turning around, inside and out… which is what repentance means. To practice peace we need to stop going down those same old dead-end roads that keep leading to destruction… not ignoring, but acknowledging the wrongs we have done, and how we all keep on missing the mark. Paradoxically, in order to become whole and complete… we need to confess our own brokenness. And that, try as we might, we can’t seem to put ourselves back together.
 
But turning around is only one part of the path to peace. Along with confession comes the need for absolution… for true forgiveness… for atonement. And as we know from Scripture… from the very beginning, this is precisely what the Living God has been seeking to give to the world. Atonement… repentance and forgiveness… reconciliation are all core themes of the biblical story… as the LORD seeks to bring His peace again and again to our shattered world.
 
In our reading today from the Prophet Isaiah, we hear words of comfort and hope from the LORD, reminding his wayward and unfaithful people that God’s intentions even in disciplining His people are not to destroy them, but to turn them wholeheartedly back to Himself, so they could finally find life! Isaiah 40:1-2,
“Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her
that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.”
 
And verses 10-11,
“See, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead the mother sheep.”
 
And carrying forward the prophetic tradition, in our Gospel reading this morning we hear the words of John the Baptist, preparing the way for the LORD by calling God’s people to turn around… to embrace repentance and receive forgiveness for their sins… and a new beginning, which could only come by acknowledging their incompleteness… their brokenness… their need for mercy.
 
We Christians profess to know that the only way to completeness… to peace in ourselves and our relationships… is to receive forgiveness. For peace to grow, their must be pardon. And so, each week, as we gather to worship the Living God, and draw near in faith to the table of Christ, we confess our sins, and place our hope in Jesus’ absolution… not wallowing in our guilt, or stirring up low self-esteem… but practicing and seeking the way of peace… with each other, and with our LORD.
 
And we can do this in confidence because Christ Jesus Himself is our peace. He is the reality that’s at the heart of the Scripture’s message of atonement… He is the One that all of the Old Testament Temple practices point us to… and He is the foundation for all the hopes of Israel’s prophets: He is Himself the complete reunion of Earth and Heaven… the Word of God in Human Flesh… and our forgiveness is assured through His own atoning death, and resurrection… taking on our world’s brokenness in His body broken for us on the cross… pardoning our sins through His precious blood poured out for us all… and piecing our shattered world back together in rising again  from the grave. Who Jesus is and what He has done for our world has opened the door once and for all for God’s perfect peace to overcome all of our divisions. And the cross, that symbol of death, oppression, and defeat, is where we now come into contact with the power of the Living God to bring His perfect peace to life in us.
 
We Christians are called to be people of God’s peace… to become true followers of the Prince of Peace… turning away from our old ways, placing ourselves in the service of His pardoning love… and becoming the place on earth where others in God’s war-shattered world can find peace as well.
 
The German Pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lost his life due to his active opposition to the Nazi regime that had seized control of Europe, had this to say about peace: “where God comes in love to human beings and unites with them, there peace is made between God and humankind and among people. Are you afraid of God’s wrath? Then go to the child in the manger and receive there the peace of God. Have you fallen into strife and hatred with your sister or brother? Come and see how God, out of pure love, has become our brother and wants to reconcile us with each other. In the world, power reigns. This child is the Prince of Peace. Where he is, peace reigns.”[1]
 
Regardless of what the world around us is waring over, and how much one side or the other may want us to join in the fight, or to be torn apart… the Risen Christ remains with us, and His peace alone will reign.
 
This is what the Apostle St. Peter reminds us in His letter, written to Christians facing all sorts of threats, and persecution for their allegiance to the Prince of Peace. Despite how dark and broken the world seemed, St. Peter sees God’s gracious patience at work, giving us time for His pardoning peace to take root, and turn around all who will receive it.
 
2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.”
 
And for St. Peter, this is all a call for us Christians to use our time on Earth wisely, and be serious about living out God’s peace here and now… living lives in line with the holy love and wholeness that we have been created and rescued to share in… anticipating the day when Christ our Prince of Peace will return to bring the whole of creation to complete communion.
 
In light of all this, he asks us: “what sort of persons ought [we] be in leading lives of holiness and godliness” (2 Peter 3:11)? What does it look like to be a people of God’s peace today?
 
It all starts with being at peace with the Living God… Father, Son, and Spirit. With receiving His forgiveness in and through Jesus, offered to us all at the cross… drawing near to Him in faith, and through His Spirit at work in us, becoming more and more like Him.

It starts with having our lives turned around, and filled with the fruit of God’s Spirit… love, generosity, self-control, kindness, faithfulness, patience, gentleness, joy, and peace… not just when it comes naturally, when life is going our way… but because our lives have now become a place where the Prince of Peace resides and reigns.
 
This then opens us up to being at peace with ourselves. Of no longer being driven by our fears… or guilt… or shame… or hurts… or anger, but in Christ, finding our shattered selves being put back together… bound up by His healing pardon and mercy. Finding His Spirit at work in us leveling all our mountains of pride and self-centeredness… raising up our valleys of doubt and despair… straightening our crooked ways, so we can finally be complete.
 
Alongside this Christ-centred peace in ourselves, we discover peace with our fellow believers. Learning to share our lives with our brothers and sisters who have also encountered God’s grace and forgiveness, and practicing how to become a community at peace with one another.
 
This leads us to strive for peace with our neighbours… and in our world. Stepping outside of the relatively safe community of faith to start to live out God’s peace with those who don’t yet know of His saving love, and proclaiming by our words and our actions the Good News of Jesus the Prince of Peace. To take on the many challenges that lay before our conflict-ridden world, and seek to bring the peace of God we have received wherever it is needed.
 
No matter what pressures or storms we may face, in Jesus Christ, we are complete… and through His Spirit at work in us, our world will encounter His complete peace as well.
 
Let’s close now by saying together the well known prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.


[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas, ed. Jana Riess, trans. O. C. Dean Jr., First edition. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), 74.

​Today we mark the second Sunday of Advent: a season of anticipation and preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ, both in His birth at Christmas, and in His future return to reign forever over a renewed creation.

Each week in Advent, we reflect on an important aspect of the Christian life as we wait faithfully for our Saviour, and serve His kingdom even now. The second Sunday of Advent, we reflect on the theme of Peace.

In addition to our Service of Morning Prayer and Sermon this week, here is a great video from the Bible Project exploring how the Holy Scriptures help us to strive for Peace.

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 64:1–9 | Psalm 80:1–7, 17–19 | 1 Corinthians 1:3–9 | Mark 13:24–37

“And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” (Mark 13:37).
 
When do you find it the most challenging to stay awake?
 
After a big holiday dinner? On a long drive home late at night? Sitting out in the sun on a lazy summer afternoon? Or here on a Sunday morning when the sermon seems to be dragging on and on. Sometimes it’s hard to stay awake… for all sorts of different reasons.
 
I’ve found that often when I am really stressed, I just want to sleep. In those moments, I get so tempted to just lie down and close my eyes… avoiding all the challenges and fears of what might lie ahead by slipping off into dreamland. It doesn’t work, of course… the challenges are always still there when I wake up… and sometimes they’re even worse. Though it takes effort, and courage… and sometimes an extra cup of coffee… it’s better by far in the end to keep my eyes open and face what needs dealing with, than to shut my eyes and try to shut out the world around me.
 
“And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” (Mark 13:37).

As we know, today we celebrate the start of a new Church Year, with the first Sunday of Advent. A season of anticipation and waiting for the arrival of Jesus Christ our Lord: not just as we seek to re-enter the story of Christmas, and the coming of the Son of God, born of Mary as the Son of Man here among us… but we also await His return… His second-coming, drawing to a close the story of God’s great rescuing love for His creation… a story that culminates in the restoration and reconciliation of heaven and earth forever.
 
The season of Advent calls us to keep our eyes open… eagerly looking forward in hope for the day when we shall finally see our Saviour Jesus face to face in His glory.
 
And yet, the world around us seems to be experiencing its own season… not of anticipation and hope, but of anxiety. Wars and violent conflicts that seem to have no end in sight. Add to that, the growing threats to the fate of our planet, and the increasingly unpredictable effects of a rapidly changing climate. Economic instability. Major shifts in societal norms. It’s all left many wondering if the end of everything is drawing near.
​
And this idea fills many people with dread… both outside and inside the Christian Church… maybe some of us here today… unsure of what might lie ahead, and what we are supposed to do about it… and of where we’re to actually look for hope.
 
Unfortunately, there has been a lot of fear-filled ideas and teaching over the years about what the Bible has to say about the end of our world’s story. And so, even many of us Christians are more frightened than hopeful about the prospect of our Lord’s return. And if that’s us today, I think we need to ask ourselves the question: what is it that we believe Christ Jesus actually wants for His world?  What has He shown us in all of Scripture that He wants for His world? And what is He going to do to bring that about?
 
Sometimes we forget that the One we are waiting for is the same One we meet at the cross… the same One who laid down His life in compassion and love for His enemies… to turn the world back to the Living God through His death. And the same One who was raised again from the dead to make all things new.
 
Whatever we may think about the end of our world’s story, as Christians we must remember that we are awaiting the very same Jesus who was sent by the Father to seek and to save the lost… to reconcile us sinners to our Creator… to offer His own perfect life in self-giving love to set us free, and bring us God’s divine forgiveness… and to rise again to bring about God’s New Creation which will never end.
 
This is the same Jesus who speaks to us in our Gospel reading today… who speaks to His followers of times of sufferings, and real uncertainty ahead. Who draws vivid imagery from the writings of Israel’s Prophets to warn of incredibly unsettling seasons to come… and who tells us flat out: “about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” (Mark 13:32-37).

Keep Awake. No matter how much we might want to fold our hands and close our eyes, and shut out the concerns of the world. No matter how long or short a time we may have until His return, our Lord Jesus has good work for us to do. Keep awake. That is, keep actively putting our faith into practice. Keep walking in the ways of our Master. Keep doing what Jesus has called us all to do… and trust that through His Spirit at work in us, He is with us even now, bringing about God’s great rescue mission… finishing what He has started long ago at the cross, saving this broken world that He loves to the end.
 
The truth is, our anxious world needs God’s people to keep awake. Our neighbours need to see signs of God’s New Creation at work in us… as broken and confused, and even frightened as we may be at times. They need to be brought into contact with people who have experienced the power of Jesus to forgive… to set free… to generously provide, and graciously embrace the outcast. They need to meet people who have already been given a glimpse of God’s New Creation, and can begin even now to share its blessings with them too.
 
And when we find ourselves in seasons of anxiety, unsure of what might lie ahead, what we are to do, or where to look for hope, we must remember the One we are waiting for, and what He has already shown us the Living God wants for His world… and for us all: to share in His holy love.
 
We won’t find hope by fixating on our fears. Or by closing our eyes to the challenges that surround us. But only by putting the holy love of God into practice. I think the theologian Donald Bloesch points us in the right direction when he says: “We find hope when we give ourselves in love – love to God and to our neighbour.”[1]
 
So today, as we begin this season of Advent together, may we all keep awake… actively sharing the love of God given to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. And as we share His love with one other, and with all our neighbours, may the hope we find in Him shine out and lighten our world. Amen.


[1] Donald G. Bloesch, The Last Things: Resurrection, Judgement, Glory (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 259.

Today we mark the start of a new year in the Christian calendar with the first Sunday of Advent: a season of anticipation and preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ, both in His birth at Christmas, and in His future return to reign forever over a renewed creation.

Each week in Advent, we reflect on an important aspect of the Christian life as we wait faithfully for our Saviour, and serve His kingdom even now. The first Sunday of Advent, we reflect on the theme of Hope.

​In addition to our Service of Morning Prayer and Sermon this week, here is a great video from the Bible Project exploring how the Holy Scriptures help us to have Hope.

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 7:10–16 | Psalm 80:1–7, 17–19 | Romans 1:1–7 | Matthew 1:18–25 

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” (Matthew 1:23).
 
Can you believe Advent is almost over?
Christmas day is only one week away. Are we ready yet?
 
Over the past three weeks, along with Christians around the world, we have been reflecting on what it means to get ready for the coming of Christ: first of all, remembering the story of His birth, but also looking forward to His return as our Saviour King, as the One who is coming again to set us free forever.
 
Each year during Advent, we explore four gifts of God that Christ shares with us: first we looked at the gift of Hope, followed by the gifts of Peace, and Joy. And this final Sunday of Advent we contemplate the gift of Love… a gift that is deeply connected to this time of year, both inside and outside the Church.
 
For lots of folks, Christmas is the season we’re meant to spend with those we love: gathering together with family and friends… to throw parties… and exchange presents… to sing old familiar songs… to practice and pass on long-cherished traditions, to share in all sorts of delicious food… and basically do all of those things that help us feel warm and fuzzy inside, so to speak.
 
Of course, the holidays aren’t easy for everyone. Lots of us have painful memories wrapped up in this season too.
Perhaps we’ve been wounded by those who were once close to us, leaving behind angry scars where once we had peace. Maybe we’ve lost someone we love, someone we shared our lives with, and though we still cherish the gift that their life has been to us, we also feel the sting of grief that makes it hard to celebrate. Maybe we’re dealing with other losses… or loneliness, or struggles that seem to somehow overshadow the festivities that everyone else around us seem to enjoy. Perhaps we are struggling just to get by, and need to lean on the kindness of others for help.
 
If this is you today, please know that you’re not alone. Please know that your brothers and sisters here at St. Luke’s are here for you… to share in each other’s joys and sorrows. To celebrate with, and come alongside to lend our support and strength when things get rough. Not only during Advent, and Christmas, but all throughout the year, we are here to love one another… not just with words, but with our lives.   
 
But this is exactly where the kind of love that Advent calls us to contemplate and share in comes into focus, challenging many of the ways our world understands and practices love. Perhaps “challenges” is not quite right… it’s more like Advent, and the whole Christian story for that matter, invites us to love in ways that go far beyond what comes naturally… to go beyond the kinds of love we feel for those those who are like us… or those who are close to us… our natural relations, and friends, and those we feel drawn towards.
 
The German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer says this about this natural kind of love:
 
“In loving those who love us, our kindred, our people, our friends, yes, even our own Christian community, we are no different than the Gentiles and the tax-collectors. That kind of love is self-evident, regular, natural, but not distinctly Christian… loving those who belong to me through blood, history, or friendship is the same for non-Christians and Christians. Jesus does not have a lot to say about that kind of love. People know all by themselves what it is. He does not need to light its flame, to emphasize it or exalt it. Natural circumstances alone force it to be recognized, for non-Christians and for Christians. Jesus does not need to say that people should love their sisters and brothers, their people, their friends. That goes without saying.”[1]
 
But God’s gift of love, the love that Advent and Christ Himself shares with us, goes far beyond this natural, reasonable kind of love… and it calls you and I to do the same.
 
In our Gospel reading this morning we were introduced to Joseph’s story, which starts out as a story of natural love: Joseph was engaged to a woman named Mary, getting ready for their new life together… but then he becomes aware that it seems that Mary has betrayed his love. She’s suddenly found to be pregnant, and he knows he’s not the father.
What else was he to believe?  And what was he supposed to do now?

It would have been well within his rights and ability in their culture to have her publicly disgraced, and possibly even put to death, depending on the lengths their community was willing to go to preserve their own purity.  After all, the Mosaic Laws given to Israel at Mount Sinai were pretty specific about adultery, which would have included infidelity after an engagement was established. Leviticus 20:10 dictates that “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.” But even if he didn’t want to go that far, Joseph could have easily ruined her life, publicly shaming her to re-establish his own reputation and honour.
 
This might seem cruel to us… but how often might we be inclined to do the same kind of thing? If not in our outward actions, then at least in our hearts? To insist on punishing those who brought us pain, or shaming those who have insulted us… of insisting that those who have wronged us get a taste of their own medicine… all without going against the reasonable, natural expectations of our communities?
 
Joseph could have easily went down this road, and no one would have faulted him. And yet… knowing full well what the obvious explanation for Mary’s pregnancy was… knowing he could vent his anger and heap shame on her, and still wash his hands in innocence… Joseph, though confused, and hurt, and with all of his hopes for the future dashed to the ground… deep inside, he still doesn’t want to see Mary brought to harm, even if she deserved it. Joseph looked at her with compassion, and made up his mind to end things quietly.
 
What about justice? What about everyone getting what they deserve? What about the Laws of God? Doesn’t this kind of compassion spit in the face of holiness? I mean, what kind of a world would we live in if we all acted like Joseph?
 
We can wrestle with all of these questions, and how they might relate to our own stories… but St. Matthew, who cares deeply about God’s holiness, and our obedience to the ways of our LORD, explains why it is that Joseph responds to Mary the way he does: Matthew tells us Joseph “was a righteous man”… someone whose life was in line with the heart of the Living God.

And far from demanding that everyone, especially those who wrong us, ‘get what they deserve’, St. Matthew wants us to see that true righteousness is inseparable from compassion.
 
And this has always been the case! It’s not just a New Testament development. From the very first pages of Genesis, and all throughout the story of Scripture, the Living God is constantly moved with compassion towards His people, despite their constant betrayals of their sacred relationship, and complete disregard for His holiness and love.
 
Our first reading today, from the book of Isaiah gives us a great example of this. We heard how the prophet Isaiah was sent by God to Jerusalem to offer King Ahaz a sign… something to encourage him and bring hope to God’s people at a time everything seemed about to collapse for good.
 
The Northern Kingdom of Israel, the ten tribes cut off from Judah in the South by civil war, and the Kingdom of Aram, had made an alliance against Ahaz and Judah, and had planned to wipe them out. Now Jerusalem was under siege… surrounded by these enemy armies… but God wanted them to know they could still put their trust in Him.
 
Isaiah 7:1-4, “In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an attack against it. When the house of David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim [that is, Israel], the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
 
Then the Lord said to Isaiah, ‘Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub… and say to him, ‘Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.”
 
These words of assurance and hope would have been a great gift for anyone, but what makes it amazing is that Ahaz had been a horrible king, just like his forefathers… leading God’s people into all sorts of evil and unfaithfulness… worshipping idols of other gods, a betrayal often spoken of as adultery by the prophets.
 
Time and again, God’s people had betrayed their LORD, but He still remained faithful to them… exasperated, outright angry even, but faithful nonetheless.
 
So now in verse 10, God sends Isaiah to offer Ahaz another sign of hope, anything Ahaz might request… but Ahaz refuses to go along… so God gives to unfaithful Ahaz and all of the people a sign they had not even asked for… one they would never have dreamed up on their own, and one that would ask them to trust Him, even amid all their troubles, and to wait for the promise to be fulfilled: the sign would be that a young woman (the same word for a virgin), would soon give birth to a son, and His name would be Immanuel, ‘God-with-us’… and before he had come of age, knowing right from wrong, their dreaded enemies, Aram and the Northern Kingdom of Israel, would themselves be wiped away.
 
They would still have to wait… to endure the difficulties that lay ahead, and even greater dangers would need to be faced further down the road… but now they could hold on to hope with the promise that God Himself would be with them, and that with His help, they did not need to live in fear… and they would be saved.
 
Of course, God could have left them to destruction… to being humiliated, and brought down by the neighbouring nations. They had already broken the Covenant time and again, but God was still moved by compassion for His people. So He gives them hope. He gives them a sign that He still longs to save them.
 
This sign of hope is picked up by St. Matthew many centuries later… pointing to God’s plan, not just to rescue Judah from rival kingdoms, but to rescue the whole world from the powers of darkness and sin that seek to wipe it out. To rescue from all that prevents us from sharing in the full and blessed life of the Living God… and again, this sign comes into focus in the story of Joseph.
 
As we already know, Joseph felt betrayed by his beloved fiancé, Mary. But rather than call for her blood, he sought to dissolve their relationship quietly. Like Ahaz before him, Joseph’s future hopes seemed likely to collapse. But God had other plans, and so He sends an angelic messenger to Joseph in a dream, with a sign of hope he would never have asked for or imagined: Matthew 1:19-23,
 
“‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,’
which means, ‘God is with us.’”
 
Just like in Isaiah’s day, God’s promise was an invitation to trust… an invitation for Joseph, and for you and I.
“Do not be afraid… God is with us.”
 
God reveals the truth to Joseph that Mary has not been unfaithful, and that the child she bore was to be the One promised long ago to save His people from their sins… rescuing them from all that they had done to betray God, their divine bridegroom. Despite all they had done, God still longed to have compassion on them… to bring them hope. To draw them near, and share His own blessed life with them forever. This child named Jesus would Himself be the sign of God’s love, not just for Judah, but for all the world, the sign that we do not need to live in fear… the sign that God is with us.
 
Joseph would have to believe in God’s message, despite the whispers of his neighbours, and doubts that would surely rise up in his own mind from time to time. But the promise remains: “Do not be afraid… God is with us.”
 
Joseph would look at this child and simply see a normal baby… no halo hung about His little head… and despite what the carols may say, this baby would cry, and fuss, and wake up at 2AM, like every other baby. All signs of His saving destiny would have to wait… and as it turns out, Joseph would not see it come to pass in his lifetime. But even so, Joseph was called to care for this child, to love Him… as God’s own great gift of love.
 
“Do not be afraid… God is with us.”
 
There sure seems to be a lot for us to be afraid of today… maybe not enemy armies, like some of our neighbours in Ukraine, and elsewhere around the world have to contend with. Maybe not the complete overturning of all of our hopes and plans, like Joseph… but we all have our own struggles. Our own reasons to fear.
 
So, what does it mean for us to trust that God is with us in our darkest moments? What does it mean for us to believe in His love for us… even when we don’t deserve it?
 
When we don’t have it all together? When we haven’t been everything we know we should be? To believe that even in our brokenness, and the deep brokenness of our world, the Living God has reached out in His holy and righteous compassion to set us free, to be with us forever through the gift of His Son?
 
This is after all the message, the sign that we have been given. As St. John puts it in his Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
 
“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17).
 
Jesus Himself is God’s gift of love, sent to rescue the world and bring us His eternal life, drawing us into His love, even when we were far beyond deserving it. In Christ, God gives us a love which longs for reconciliation, not retribution… which strives to save, not to strike down… a love which is fully in line with the holy compassion of God that Jesus displayed on the cross, as He died giving His life in order to save His enemies.
 
God’s gift of love is for us, to save us from our sins… but it also sends us out into God’s world to share this same saving love, not only with people we like, or who are like us, our family and friends… the people it’s easy to love. No, God’s love sends us out to share His compassion and love even with those we would see as enemies.
 
Later on in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus Himself will unpack what it means to love the way God loves: Matthew 5:43-48.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
 
God’s perfect love calls us to go far beyond our natural inclinations… loving those who are unlovely… those who have hurt and even betrayed us, seeking their good… because that is the kind of love He give to us in Jesus Christ His Son.
 
As Advent draws to a close, and the celebration of Christmas draws near, let us remember that the love that makes this season so sacred is the love that led Christ to the cross. The perfect love of God that goes far beyond our expectations, and natural capacities… a love that even dares to embrace those of us who don’t deserve it.
​
To share in this sacred love… to actually put it into practice in our daily lives, we too need to take to heart the message that God shared with Joseph all those years ago: “Do not be afraid… God-is-with-us.” We are not all on our own here. God’s saving love longs to be at work in us… setting us free to share His life-giving love, not just with each other, but with everyone.
 
So may the rescuing love of Jesus not only reach us in our brokenness and need today… but may God’s love reach out through us and embrace those in our lives we find the hardest to love. Amen.
 


[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, 143.

​​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 35:1–10 | Luke 1:46–55 | James 5:7–10 | Matthew 11:2–11

“Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” (Matthew 11:4-5).
 
Does anyone remember Big Mouth Billy Bass?
 
Back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s it was all the rage: a fake fish mounted to a plastic plaque, that would suddenly burst into song when a button was pressed, wagging it’s tail and mouthing along to the words of Bobby McFerrin’s hit song: ‘Don’t worry… be happy!”
 
Sometimes the places we’re tempted to look for happiness seem just as silly and out of place as listening to the sage advice of a fake fish on a plastic plaque. The truth is, as much as we all want to be happy… many of us today don’t know, or forget where to look for it… especially when we want it most. When it feels like we’re the ones plucked out of our comfortable waters and hung up on the wall for all to see.
 
As we know, today is the third Sunday of Advent: the season of anticipation and waiting for the coming of Christ, not only at His long anticipated birth in Bethlehem, but also when He will come again in glory to bring God’s blessed Kingdom to earth at last. When every tear will be wiped away. Every injustice set right. Every wound and schism healed, and every sorrow turned to joy.
 
And this is the theme that we contemplate this week: the gift of Joy, following our explorations of the gifts of Hope and Peace. And just like Hope and Peace, we all have ideas about Joy, and how it’s supposed to fit into our lives… and into the Christian life, for that matter.  
 
For some folks, Joy just seems like an extra… an add-on… something fleeting that doesn’t really factor into our day to day duties. ‘What matters is getting things done’, they might say, focusing on the many challenges and tasks laid out before them. Feeling happy for these folks seems like a luxury, not a need. Much better to invest our energies into things that really matter… into things that will last.  
 
On the other hand, there are those who see happiness as the most important part of our lives. The goal that guides their actions and choices. We hear this a lot in our culture… where happiness here and now is the test being used to figure out what we should do. Am I unhappy? Then I should do whatever it takes we’re told, to change that… no matter who else might get hurt along the way, or what damage I might end up doing to myself down the road.
 
And to confuse the matter even more, both of these inclinations have bled into the Christian faith as well. Some want to reduce religion to serious spiritual matters only. There’s no time to worry about how we feel, when there’s so much kingdom work to do.
 
But I think, more and more, we can see Christianity and faith in general being used simply as a source of emotional support… simply a way to find comfort, connection, and celebration as the end in itself… the goal… the point of it all, so to speak. We can see this spirit at work when we hear people say: “If things like reading the Bible, or prayer, or going to Church, don’t bring me joy, then I don’t need to do them.’ In that case, we’re treating God like a joy-machine… instead of our Lord.
 
These are two rather extreme examples, and most of us fall somewhere in the middle… or bounce back and forth between giving up on Joy, and giving up everything else to chase after it.
 
But as we seek to understand how Joy fits into our lives and our faith, our Gospel reading this morning invites us to reflect on Joy in a surprising way: through the story of John the Baptist as he is left waiting in jail. How does Joy fit into his story? And how might this help you and I know where to look to find and fit the gift of Joy into our stories as well?
 
Our passage starts off with John in prison, arrested for speaking out against King Herod, the puppet ruler set up by the Romans over the region of Galilee, calling out Herod’s clear breach of God’s Covenant Law regarding his unlawful marriage to Herodias, his brother Philip’s ex-wife, who had left him for a more desirable match.
 
Today we might wonder why John would be worrying about who King Herod married at all. I mean, after all who is John to get in the way of his ruler’s happiness?
 
But as N.T. Wright points out, John’s point is not simply about someone’s unorthodox family arrangements… it’s about what Herod’s willingness to flout God’s ways and commandments says about his status as a king over the Lord’s chosen people. As much as Herod wanted his Jewish subjects to think of him as their rightful, God-chosen ruler, John’s willingness to call even Herod to repent was a real kill-joy.
 
N.T. Wright puts it like this: “King Herod had taken exception to John’s fiery preaching, and particularly to his denunciation of him for marrying his brother’s ex-wife. This was all part of John’s announcement that God’s kingdom—and God’s true king—were on the way. Herod wasn’t the real king; God would replace him. No wonder Herod put him in prison.”[1]
 
So here we find John, the no-nonsense, inspired preacher from the wilderness, in prison for sticking his neck out and standing up to speak God’s truth. And as we see him in his cell, the words from a few Chapters back in Matthew’s Gospel, in the so called Sermon on the Mount, are probably meant to be ringing in our ears: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10).
 
Right now though, it doesn’t really seem like John is feeling all that blessed. In fact, this intense messenger for God’s coming kingdom seems now to be unsure of the plan. He had once confidently pointed to Jesus as the long awaited One who would baptize God’s people with the Holy Spirit and fire! Burning away all unrighteousness, until only what is holy remains. But now, staring at his own prison walls, John the Baptist begins to doubt.
 
I mean, how would any of us respond in his place?

When we are suddenly caught off guard by unexpected setbacks… when we’re sure we’ve been doing all the right things, but it all seems to unravel… when instead of our best efforts bearing fruit and flourishing, we find ourselves stuck… stifled… and isolated?
 
In our own times of struggle, when all we can see when we look around are prison walls, so to speak, it’s so easy to lose sight of the larger story we’re in. To either become completely downcast by all of our troubles… or dig in and desperately get to work trying to keep what’s left of our fragile world from collapsing. Or on the other hand, to seek some kind of escape by chasing after whatever we think will satisfy our desires… what we think will bring us joy.
 
But John doesn’t fully despair. He doesn’t give up completely, or give himself over to simply saving his own skin. No, he sends his friends to go and speak to Jesus for him. Confused, suffering, facing an uncertain future, John reaches out through those close to him towards the One he had hoped really was the Christ, God’s chosen Saviour, and the true coming King.
 
What a precious gift it can be to have friends we can lean on and trust in dark times, isn’t it? To have those who understand our situation… who see our struggles, and share in our burdens? To know there are those who can help us reach out towards hope, and remind us of the reasons we still have to rejoice?
 
This is the gift of the community of faith, the Church. Brothers and sisters, friends in God’s family, who can share in each other’s sorrows… and in our lowest moments help us to reach out and look to the One who brings true Joy… even when He shows up in ways none of us expect.
 
And Jesus was not turning out to be what John had expected at all. Far from the bringer of fire, and overthrower of unjust tyrants, Jesus was spending His time with His handful of stumbling students, and crowds of hurting and hungry misfits. Where John had been deeply dedicated to the serious work of God’s coming kingdom, and ended up in prison, Jesus was out there having feasts with tax collectors and sinners.
  
John’s discouraged because he can’t see how Jesus could be the One he had been waiting for, coming to bring God’s good reign once and for all, and end our sorrows for good. “Are you the one who is to come,” he asks, “or are we to wait for another?” (Matthew 11:3).
 
But then again, unlike you and I, John didn’t yet know how the story will end, or how God’s good Kingdom was already at work all around him.  
 
Matthew 11:4-6, “Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
 
Far from wasting precious time and energy, Jesus was hard at work embodying and bringing God’s good Kingdom to life in the lives of those around Him. He was already turning our pains and sorrows to joy… repairing broken bodies and broken hearts, and bringing together a new family, and setting free from both their despair and unruly desires, to share in the New Life of God here and now, and forever.
 
And not only that, John didn’t know what was coming… what would soon await the Christ.
 
John didn’t know that the One who was bringing sight to the blind, healing to the sick, and raising the dead would soon Himself face the rejection, humiliation, and the cruel death of the cross. That rather than bringing fire from heaven to burn up the wicked, Jesus would bear Himself all of the brutal consequences of our world’s unholiness and sin. John didn’t know that the Saviour had come to suffer Himself to set us sinners free.
 
John didn’t know the whole picture, but Jesus’ response opens up the way forward: “Go and tell John what you hear and see…” what can John see and hear in that moment? Just prison walls, and his own doubts in the darkness. But John is invited to trust, not in what he sees, but in the message, the Good News being shared with him… the news of the sick made well, broken bodies remade, the dead raised to life… the joys of God’s Kingdom, come to earth at last through Jesus the Christ.
 
In his moment of despair and doubt, Jesus offers to John an invitation to believe… to trust and take heart… to rejoice in faith, confident in what the Living God is doing through Him, even when John can’t yet see it for himself.
 
And we too are invited to look to Jesus… to trust Him… even when things don’t look at all the way we had imagined. When we are tempted to just focus on all that is wrong with our circumstances, or to give up on God’s way, and simply chase after our own ideas of happiness… we can look to Jesus and find in Him God’s gift of life-giving joy, reminding us of all that the Living God has done, all that God is doing right now, even when we cannot see it, and of all that God’s promised to do in our own lives, and in our world.
 
Looking to Jesus, we can find joy, not just when everything is easy and as they should be, but even in the middle of life’s lowest moments, His joy helps us to carry on.
 
As the writer of the book of Hebrews puts in in Chapter 12:1-3,
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.”
 
We don’t know every step of where our story is headed. We don’t know what challenges await us, or what temptations to give up on God’s way we will have to face. But whatever comes, God invites us to look to His Son, Jesus, and find in Him true joy.
 
To look to Jesus, and see God’s healing, life-giving power at work even now in His name.
 
To look to Jesus, and see God’s victory over the powers of despair and death once and for all, opening up the New Life God intends for His creation.

To look to Jesus, and know He is not far off somewhere… He is “God-with-us”. In the good times, and in the absolute worst times, to know He will never forsake us.
 
We are invited to look to Jesus, and to help each other continue to look to Jesus, and rejoice… trusting in the glorious future that lies before us in His Kingdom… so that we too can hold on to God’s way today and not lose heart.
 
I’ll end now with some words from Br. Roger, the founder of the Taizé monastic community:
 
“Don’t be afraid of sharing in others’ trials, do not be afraid of suffering, for it is often in the depth of the abyss that we discover the perfection of joy in communion with Jesus Christ.
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Perfect joy is self-giving… It is sheer wonder renewed by the sight of the generosity of the Giver of all gifts, material and spiritual. It is thankfulness. It is thanksgiving.”[2]
 
 


[1] Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15 (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 125.

[2] Br. Roger of Taize, Parable of Community (London, UK: Mowbray, 1980), 25-26.
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