Hope Enough for all of us

Rev. Harriette Cross First United Methodist Church of Wilmington December 7, 2025 Romans 15:4-23 2nd Sunday of Advent Hope Enough for all of Us Year A Prelude Greeting Lighting of the Advent Candle Call to Worship One: We’re waiting for One who is coming. Many: Why wait for someone when we don’t know how long to wait? One: We wait in anticipation, for the Coming One is filled with God’s Spirit. Many: A spirit of wisdom and understanding in a confusing world. One: A spirit of counsel and knowledge; Many: we stand on tip-toe, eager to welcome the One who is coming, ALL: for the whole earth will be brimming, knowing God as ALIVE with us. (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Opening Prayer God, your servant John the Baptist cries out to us: “Repent; turn and be restored”. Can we hear? Will we respond? Holy God, open the ears of our souls to hear your word of salvation. Holy and Peace-Inspiring God, on this second Sunday of Advent, Open wide our hearts and our minds To see, feel, hear, and know the salvation of our God. (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Amen. Song Come Thou Long Expected Jesus UMH 196 A Sermon for all Ages Children’s Sermon: “Overflowing With Hope” Supplies (optional but helpful): • A clear cup • A pitcher or bottle of water • One small LED candle or picture of a candle 1. Opening Question (Engage) Good morning, friends! Can you tell me—what season are we in at church right now? (Let them answer: Advent!) That’s right! Advent is the time when we get ready for Christmas—for the birth of Jesus! And during Advent, we talk about something very important called hope. Does anyone know what hope means? (Let a few children answer. Affirm all attempts.) Hope means trusting that something good is coming—even when we’re still waiting. 2. Candle of Hope (Hold up the candle or point to the Advent wreath.) This first Advent candle is called the Candle of Hope. It reminds us that God keeps promises, even when it takes a long time. The Bible tells us: “May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace.” That means God doesn’t just give us a little hope—God wants to fill us up with hope! 3. Object Lesson – The Overflowing Cup (Hold up the empty cup.) This cup is like our hearts sometimes. Sometimes our hearts feel: • Sad • Worried • Tired • Or even scared Now watch what happens when God gives us hope. (Slowly pour water into the cup until it overflows.) When God fills us with hope, love, joy, and peace—it doesn’t stop at the top! It overflows! And when hope overflows out of us, it helps: • Our friends • Our families • Our school • And even people we don’t know very well 4. Good News of Advent The best reason we have hope at Advent is this: Jesus is coming. God is keeping a big promise. A Savior is being born. The light is coming into the world! Responsive Reading Psalm 72 UMH 795 Prayer for Illumination “O come, thou Wisdom from on high, Who orderest all things mightily: To us the path of knowledge show; … Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.” (Presbyterian Outlook, Ginna Bairby) Scripture Romans 15:4-13 Sermon Hope Enough for all of Us Our Advent study this year is called for the common good. It is a study about spiritual gifts. Everyone is welcome to join our study. This week, we are all taking our test to see what our spiritual gifts are. Spiritual gifts are listed in Paul’s writings in Romans, Corinthians and Ephesians. We also had a chance to take a spiritual gifts test in the visioning session. When I took it, I scored the highest in healing, apostleship and teaching. Apostleship is the willingness to spread the gospel in different areas. But I was surprised because I also scored high in speaking in tongues and in interpreting tongues. Speaking in tongues is popular in some churches, not the united methodist church. The united methodist spiritual gifts study always emphasizes that if God sends a message in tongues that no one understands, that if it is from God that God will also send someone who clearly understands what is being said for the rest of the congregation. Some gifts go hand in hand. But when methodist use the term speaking in tongues, it is not talking about spiritual languages, but earthly languages. The ability to understand a diverse group of people, and to be able to speak in their listening. Another person who would have scored high in this gift, is Paul. Paul was clear that he was a Jew, but he was also clear that he was called to tell lands about the gift of Jesus. Paul’s mission was to go throughout different lands and to tell them about a savior who gave then love, peace, and acceptance. After many challenges, Paul was successful. Many people wanted to know more about this Jesus. They wanted to be a part of the Lord’s table. But he found that as more and more people came, there was no place at God’s table for them. Many Jewish communities were exclusive and not open to new people. So in Romans 15, Paul explains that Christ brings a hope, and a love and a peace which overcomes our boundaries. And unites our differences. It has the power to even bring together enemies in love. A Vietnam veteran recalls an experience he had on Christmas Eve in 1972. His squad was ambushed by the enemy, everyone was killed except him. Following a struggle and with great force he was captured. “I was thinking how much I did not want to spend Christmas, let alone the remaining six months of my tour of duty, in a POW camp,” he explains. They kept traveling through the night. When they finally stopped the Vietnamese lieutenant gave him food to eat. “Merry Christmas” he said in perfect English. His captor told him it would be an honor to celebrate Christmas with him. His name was Nugent. He explained that he had been educated in Canada and that his family had been killed. “Silent Night” was Nugent’s favorite Christmas Carol. The two men began singing it together. Early the next morning shots rang out. “Bullets were flying all around,” the American soldier recalls. Nugent was shot in the chest. He held him in his arms. “Thanking me for the Christmas songfest.” He started singing “Silent Night” knowing that it was Nugent’s favorite carol. “Nugent put his bloody hand to my lips, ‘the voice of angel, I go in peace.’ Thank you were his last words. At that moment I did not see an enemy, but a friend and a brother. Here was a man who started as an enemy, showed compassion, became a friend, died as a brother.”[2] God loves and cares for all people and we should do the same. The message of Advent is to continue to break down the barriers that divide people today. As modern-day disciples of Jesus we strive for harmony and unity. Instead of seeing only the obvious differences, Paul urged the believers to celebrate their unity in Christ. The Apostle Paul writes to the Romans in a time when their world feels divided, uncertain, and anxious—sound familiar? And into that tension, he offers not criticism, not panic, but a promise: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Advent is not just about preparing for Christmas. It is about learning how to live as people who overflow with hope in a world starving for it. 1. Hope Is Learned Through the Story of God Paul begins by saying: “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.” In other words, we learn hope by remembering what God has already done. Illustration – The Scrapbook of Faith Some families keep scrapbooks—birthdays, weddings, vacations, hard times, and good times. When someone feels discouraged, they flip through and remember: We survived that. We found joy here. We were loved then, and we are loved now. Scripture is the scrapbook of God’s faithfulness: • A slave people delivered from Egypt • A shepherd boy defeating a giant • A nation restored from exile • A Savior born in a barn Advent reminds us that hope is not wishful thinking—it is memory turned toward the future. If God has been faithful before, God will be faithful again. 3. Hope Is Meant to Be Shared in Unity Paul says: “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another… so that together you may with one voice glorify God.” Advent hope is not private. It is communal. Not “my hope,” but our hope. Paul speaks into a divided church of Jews and Gentiles and says, in essence: If Christ welcomed you, you must welcome one another. Illustration – The Choir Lesson A choir warming up sounds chaotic. Sopranos here, basses there, everyone finding their own note. But once the conductor lifts the hands and the song begins, something beautiful happens: Different voices form one sound. The church is God’s choir. • Different stories • Different struggles • Different personalities But one Savior. One hope. One mission. Advent invites us to sing together again. 4. Hope Reaches Beyond Our Boundaries Romans 15 reminds us again and again that God’s promise was always meant for the whole world: “The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.” Jesus did not come only for people who already knew how to be religious. He came for: • the outsider • the doubter • the overlooked • the weary • the sinner • the seeker Illustration – The Extra Chair Picture a family setting the table for a holiday meal. Plates are set, chairs are arranged—then someone notices one more place is added. “Who’s that for?” “Oh, just in case someone needs a seat.” That is the heart of Advent. God always sets out one more chair. 5. Hope Overflows When We Trust God’s Spirit Paul ends with this powerful blessing: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Notice the movement: 1. We believe 2. God fills 3. The Spirit makes it overflow Illustration – The Overflowing Cup You can fill a glass to the brim, but only when it overflows does it refresh the table around it. Advent hope is not just enough for you—it is meant to spill over into your workplace, your family, your friendships, your community. The world doesn’t need more opinions. It needs more people who overflow with steady, Spirit-born hope. We as Chrstians are called to Multiply The Welcome that we received from Christ. Paul tells us to welcome others the way Christ welcomes us In the Christmas story,There were shepherds seated on the hillside keeping watch over their flocks by night. And an angel of the Lord came to them and the Glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with fear. The angel said, "Be not afraid for today I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people. For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord." And there was with the angel a multiplication of voices singing Glory to God in the highest and peace among men with whom he is pleased. And the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go to the place and see this thing that the Lord has made known to us." And they saw there our welcoming Christ: a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And they saw all these things as it had been told them. Then the shepherds returned to their flocks praising God for the things they had heard and seen. When Christ comes, we offer to him our humble welcome, and we can welcome him because he first welcomes us. It is he who provides welcoming grace. It is he, by his lack of reserve in welcoming us who are undeserving, who sets celestial voices singing ... And it is he who welcomes us and those we would be slow to welcome. It is our welcoming Christ who comes, welcoming a child, a leper, a thief, a shepherd, a king, and welcoming you, welcoming me. For Paul, the ultimate wonder of Christ, the deepest marvel of the coming of Jesus, was not the virgin birth, or angels in the skies, but the gracious, inclusion even of Gentiles into the promises of God to Israel. The glory of God, he says in today's scripture, is that God has welcomed you! The father has welcomed home the younger prodigal. The door has been opened at midnight to the beseeching outsider. Those who have entered the vineyard at the close of the day are given How do you make strangers feel welcome, by giving them a place to feel God’s hope. This sermon is a little late – we lit the hope candle last week. This week our focus in on peace. We never know what the right order of the candles. Paul’s last words in this lesson say 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Hope, peace, love, joy they are all related. All the gifts that we are called to bring to a world lacking. Our actions of peace and love give the world hope Closing Prayer God of hope, fill us with joy and peace as we wait for your coming. Teach us patience. Unite us in love. Open our hearts to all your children. And by the power of your Spirit, make us people who overflow with hope— today, tomorrow, and until Christ comes again. Amen. Song Hail to the Lord’s Anointed UMH 203 Prayer Christ who is coming into the world, we give you thanks and praise for the goodness in our lives: For the beauty of your creation that sustains us — may we honor it. For the church that nourishes us and teaches discipleship — may we stay true to the gospel. For the leaders of the nations — may they govern with wisdom and compassion. For our own communities — may they be places of flourishing and delight, foretastes of the Peaceable Kingdom. Christ-beside-us, we pray for the places in your world where your children are suffering: For the sick in body, mind or spirit — may they know your healing hand. For those suffering under war, violence or unjust systems — may they know the comfort of your peace. For people experiencing hunger, poverty or homelessness — may they be nourished by human kindness. For those whose consciences are troubled — may they experience the transformation of repentance and taste the sweetness of grace. Christ, Love Incarnate, come to us again this Advent season, even as the pray the prayer you taught us, saying: “Our Father…”. (Presbyterian Outlook, Ginna Bairby) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Yes! Today is a day to prepare for the Coming One! Chapter 3 of Matthew’s Gospel leaps to the adult John the Baptist. When we hear this text, we may think, “What a strange duck!” (After all, he’s dressed in animal skin and forages for bugs to eat!) But John demands listeners repent (turn back!) because God’s Realm is coming near. John clearly declares we have work to do before Jesus comes, practicing ways to bear fruitworthy of repentance. This is one time for us to show with our actions what our hearts and minds have claimed. If we seek to be followers of Jesus, we help feed the hungry, care for the widow, visit the imprisoned… Our offering today provides each of us with one way to let our wallets help proclaim Good News. Have you spent money this week to prepare for gift-giving for your family and friends? Can you…will you spend an equal amount to (name one or two ways your congregation responds to hunger, imprisonment, or the needs of the poor)? How does that help YOU prepare to welcome Jesus once more? (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Prayer of Thanksgiving Holy God, we so often get sidetracked from our intention to be faith-filled followers of Jesus. This time of the year makes that even more likely to happen. Please accept the gifts we’ve offered. Help us repent from our selfish ways and turn back to you. Push us to use these funds in ways that truly honor you. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Beyond these walls, the world needs peace. Go out taking with you the exquisite peace of Christ. Carry it boldly and spread it to all those you meet, knowing that God is within you, strengthening the light of the world. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Maria Mankin) Communion This is the time for Decembered mercies – a baby born (instead of the boots of the tramping warrior); a new light of peace (when all was thought to be forsaken); fresh furrows (for any who had quit their cultivation). This is the season for Decembered mercies – forgiveness for what was seen as unredeemed; the taste of fresh bread and new wine; a sprig of hope on a stump left for dead. (“December Mercies,” written by Dr. Robert Lee Hill to be published in All the Time in the World,forthcoming in February 2026. Published by Caroline Street Press.) All are welcome to share in this communion feast. May it be for ALL of us a Decembered mercy helping us become sprigs of hope on a stump left for dead. (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Community Time – Joys and Concerns Benediction As God has welcomed us in these moments, let us go to embrace each person we meet. As Jesus has been our servant of hope and grace, let us go to serve the most vulnerable around us. As the Spirit of hope has filled us, let us go to empty ourselves of joy and peace for all. © Thom M. Shuman

Prophecy of the Messiah

December 4, 2022 2nd Sunday of Advent Year A Isaiah 11:1-10 Prophecy of the Messiah Opening Song Welcome Advent Song Comfort O Comfort by Sally Ahner Lighting of the Advent Candles Call to Worship (Say together in one voice) Beloved people of God, welcome to worship at First United Methodist Church. On this second Sunday in Advent (the season of preparation for the birth of Jesus), we focus on God’s desire for all people to live in deep and abiding peace. The prophet Isaiah describes it this way: “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid… and a little child shall lead them. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Song Hail to the Lord’s Anointed UMH 203 Children’s Sermon Has anyone ever made a promise to you? (Show a wedding ring.) Does anyone know what this is? It’s a wedding ring. Why do you think a man and a woman give each other wedding rings when they get married? The wedding ring shows that they are promising to love each other forever and ever. Do you see how the wedding ring goes around forever and ever? So, they’re promising to love each other forever and ever. In the church, when it’s almost Christmas time, we use something that looks like a big ring. Can anyone think of what it is? (Show students the Advent wreath.) This is our Advent wreath. It looks like a big wedding ring, and it goes around forever and forever just like a wedding ring because the Advent wreath reminds us that God has made promises to us, just like a man and a woman make promises to each other when they get married. Can anyone think of some promises God has made to us? During Advent, the time before Christmas, we remember that God promised in the Bible to send Jesus to die for our sins on the cross and to save us. God fulfilled that promise when Jesus was born, lived His life, and then died on the cross. During Advent, we also remember that God promised to send Jesus again one day. Jesus will come down from Heaven and bring everyone who believes in Him back to life. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” We’ll also get our new bodies so that we’ll never die but live with Jesus forever. That’s what God promised us. And we know that God will keep that promise because God is perfect and keeps all of His promises. Closing Prayer Father God, we thank You for sending Jesus to save us, and we thank You for promising to send Jesus back to earth one day so that we can come back to life just like He did. We know that You will keep Your promise because You are a good and perfect God. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. (Ministry to Children, Stephen Wilson) Call to confession (From Hebrews 4:14-16) In Matthew 3:2, John the Baptist cries, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Let us confess our sins this Advent to prepare for the coming of Christ. Prayer of confession God of the prophets, we confess our lack of preparedness and our tendency to wander away from you and your path. You call us to venture outside our comfortable spaces, yet we hunker down and excuse ourselves from faithful action. Forgive us, God. Call us again. Help us to respond this Advent in faith. Amen. Assurance of pardon (you don’t have to print the words if you don’t have space) Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old life has gone; a new life has begun. Know that you are forgiven and be at peace. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Terri McDowell Ott) Responsive Reading Psalm 72 UMH 795 Scripture Isaiah 11:1-10 Sermon Prophecy of the Messiah During the advent season, our underlying themes for the season are always hope, peace, joy and love. The fun part is that we never know which week is which. And everyone has such a different opinion about which week is which. That is because the gospel message has elements of all 4 – not just for advent, but for all of the weeks. Every scripture that we read has a little hope, a little peace, a little joy and a little love. I didn’t even bother to define which week is which – but there seems to be a natural progression. Last week as we talked about the beginning of the book of Isaiah we talked about peace. But I also told you that the major theme of the book of Isaiah was hope. Isaiah was trying to give hope to a people who were afraid. Even today in our world – it is hard to be willing to move forward in life, you need a little hope. Once you have hope, then you can begin the search for peace. Last week in chapter 2, Isaiah encouraged us to turn swords into plowshares and find peace in God. This week we look at chapter 11 – where Isaiah gives this image of a peacable world – where the lamb and the wolf lie down together and the snake does not bite a child. We have all seen that image of these animals living in peace. In real life we all know that animals will never behave like that, it is in the nature of some animals to attack others. It is also not human nature for us to get along. The workforce magazine “Personnel Journal” put together this incredible statistic: since the beginning of recorded history, the entire world has been at peace less than eight percent of the time! In its study, the periodical discovered that of 3540 years of recorded history, only 286 years saw peace. In that time more than 8000 peace treaties were made--and broken. In all of my years of reading this scripture, it never occurred to me that Isaiah was probably not talking about animal nature at all – but was talking about human nature. There is a tiger within you and me that wants to snarl at people on the other side of the political or ideological fence. There is a wolf within us that re-opens old wounds and past failures even within our own households, just to make sure that even those nearest to us know we haven’t forgotten their failures; maybe forgiven, but not forgotten. There is a cobra within us that lies in wait for people who are different from us, so that we can catch them fulfilling our prejudices about them. There is a bear within us that gives other people only one chance to disappoint us; and if they do, we reject them forever. There is even a little lamb when we become the victim of other peoples violence. And there is even inside of each of us – an inner child that holds onto the innocence of who we really are. There are a lot of different sides of ourselves, there is a lot going on inside of our souls. And sometimes it takes a lot of faith in order to hold it all together. In his book, Christmas Gifts That Always Fit, James W. Moore tells about a man who lived in Athens, Georgia. While waiting for a bus he saw a machine which, for 25 cents, would tell him his name, age, hometown, and other information. He decided to try it. He put in the quarter and the machine said, "You're Bill Jones. You are 35. You live in Athens. You are waiting for the bus to Greenville, South Carolina. It is delayed." He thought that was incredible and decided to try it again, and got the same answer. But the machine told him the bus was delayed a little longer. Then he decided to fool the machine. He went across the street to a store and bought some of those glasses with the mustache and eyebrows. He came back and put in another quarter. The machine said, "Well, it's you again. You are still Bill Jones. You live in Athens. You are 35 years old. You want to go to Greenville, South Carolina. But while you were horsing around, you missed your bus!"3 Sometimes we miss the peace of God. We miss it because we look for it in the wrong way in the wrong place for the wrong kind of peace. We find this peace of God in unexpected ways and in unexpected places for unexpected uses. It is the result of responding to life in Godlike ways. The stories of Isaiah, and the stories of the bible, the stories of advent are intended to help us to remember to find hope, peace joy and love in our own lives. And to pass then on to those who need them. King Duncan, Damon Runyon once wrote a charming story about a man he called Doc Brackett. Doc Brackett was a beloved old physician whose office was open to the poor and needy. He would get up in the middle of the coldest night and ride twenty miles to doctor a sick woman or child or to patch up some fellow who got hurt. Everybody in town knew Doc Brackett’s office over Rice’s clothing store. It was up a narrow flight of stairs. A sign at the foot of the stairs said: DR. BRACKETT, OFFICE UPSTAIRS. Doc Brackett never married. The day he was supposed to marry he got a call to go out into the country and doctor a Mexican child. His bride-to-be was so angry that she cancelled the wedding, but the parents of the Mexican child were very grateful when the child recovered. For forty years, the lame, the halt, and the blind of that town had climbed up and down the stairs to Doc Brackett’s office. He never turned anyone away. Doc Brackett lived to be seventy years of age, and then one day he keeled over on the sofa in his office and died. He had one of the largest funerals ever in those parts. Everyone turned out. The town’s people wanted to erect a nice tombstone for his grave but could not agree what should be engraved on the stone. The matter dragged along and nothing was done. Then one day someone noticed that there was already a proper epitaph over Dr. Brackett’s grave. The parent of the Mexican child that Doc Brackett had saved many years back had worried about him having no tombstone. They had no money to buy a marker, so they simply took the sign from the foot of the stairs at Doc Brackett’s office and stuck it over his grave. Now he had a fitting epitaph. It read simply, DR. BRACKETT, OFFICE UPSTAIRS. During this season of the year we pay homage to the Doc Bracketts of this world and we declare that not only is the world a better place for their efforts but now they reside in a better place as well--Dr. Brackett, Office Upstairs. (4) The God of Hope. You and I are free to choose the attitude with which we confront life. We can believe that there is a five per cent chance of today and tomorrow or we can believe the Good News of Christmas that God is alive and well and at work in our world bringing in a kingdom of love and justice and freedom. We can face the future with fear and foreboding, or we can trust in the God who has sustained us through the years and has promised us that He will never forget us nor forsake us regardless of our situation. We can choose to live in continued darkness, or we can step out into the light of hope and triumph and eternal victory. We can live for ourselves alone, or we can make the world a better place to live for all persons. Doesn’t the Good News of Advent and Christmas change your attitude about life? Doesn’t it make you anticipate that sometime--somewhere--somehow--something good, not evil, is out there waiting to happen in your life? That is the kind of change that takes place when the Christ Child is born anew in our hearts. Hope, Peace, Joy and Love – what needs to happen to live these everyday? Song Come Thou Long Expected Jesus UMH 196 Prayer God of Advent waiting and watching, we have come to you this day with hearts heavy, with concerns for family and friends; for world situations; for struggles in home, community, state, and nation. We feel powerless to affect any changes. So we withdraw into ourselves, quick to criticize and slow to change our own behavior. Today you have called us to prepare ourselves to receive this “shoot” which shall arise from the stump of Jesse. You remind us that this is the one who will bring messages of peace. He will help us to become faithful disciples and servants. But we have much work to do. Our preparation needs to focus on our own attitudes and actions. We need to clean our spiritual houses of the cobwebs of hate, greed, apathy, suspicion. We need to focus more on your absolute love and forgiveness. As we turn our lives to you, offering names and situations in prayers for your healing mercies, help us to remember that our own healing is vital. Enable us to be strong and confident workers for you in this world. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment (Print just the Prayer of Thankgiving) For anyone who believes Jesus is a mild-mannered, soft-spoken, gentle-spirited man, John the Baptist will open your eyes! John describes Jesus as one who will cut down every tree which does not bear good fruit, to throw it into the fire. Or picture this: Jesus with a winnowing fork, clearing out the mounds of what has been harvested in order to separate the wheat from the chaff. How can we show ourselves to be WHEAT, not chaff? How are we to prepare the way of the Lord? Our actions speak more clearly than whatever words we might offer. As we come to this time of offering, let’s make our gifts speak out loud: we want to follow Jesus, so let our giving declare our desire to be gathered into the granary, not thrown into the fire. Prayer of Thanksgiving Gracious God, Receive these gifts, and put each of us into your service, as we seek to prepare the Way of the Lord in this Advent season. Open our eyes to see, our minds to acknowledge, and our hearts to respond in love to the Powerful One, In whose name we pray, AMEN (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Communion UMH 13 Invitation to Communion (Don’t Print) The Lord’s Table provides so many facets: training table, birthing bed, feast… Today, I invite you to focus on this Table as the granary where precious grain is stored. It is here we who are hungry can come to be filled. Here what is valuable may be secured. Here, when we’re afraid or feeling alone, we are assured of the presence of the Savior, who will not leave us comfortless. Look around. No chaff here. Only what (and who) the Lord has claimed as valuable. Breathe in the peace that passes understanding, and come with assurance to share in this abundant feast, for which we give thanks to God. Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Prepare the way of the Lord with your repentance with your forgiveness of others with your ministries of compassion and grace. May God’s grace, Christ’s peace, and the Spirit’s guidance be with you today and always. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Terri McDowell Ott) Community Time Benediction Prepare for the coming of the Lord! Make way in your hearts for love! Get rid of all anger and fear, for God is about to bring incredible light to the world! Go in peace and confidence as witnesses to God’s love. AMEN (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Additional Illustrations Isaiah didn't wait around for evidence of hope in order to hope (cf. Romans 8:24-25; Hebrews 11:1). His hope came from a deep and abiding trust in God. And he knew that God would send leaders who would carry on God's message. You and I have the advantage over Isaiah of knowing the ultimate leader, the ultimate shoot off the stump of Jesse: Jesus Christ. And that branch connects us forever with an undying hope, which is foolishness to the wise and life itself to those who give their life to Him. Saint Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Rome these words: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13) Only through the power of the Holy Spirit are we able to hope in these days. And to that hope I bear witness to you this morning, and to that hope the Church at its best has always borne witness. You see, it is a sure thing, because we can dare to trust our roots that go deep in the heart of God, roots to which Isaiah pointed, and roots which came to full flower in the face and in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Thanks be to God! CSS Publishing, Hope Beneath the Surface, by Paul E. Robinson Some time ago I read a story in a church newsletter written by a pastor in Tennessee. He told about his congregation's being in a new sanctuary for their first Christmas there. It was going to be a great Advent Sunday. The choir had put in extra time working on their music. He had prepared a sermon on "The Unexpected God." The church was full that Sunday, and the service began with the singing of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." Just as the affirmation of faith ended, a boy announced from the back of the church, "Mr. Bob Buford's house is burning down!" Mrs. Buford, who was in the choir, fainted and fell. They revived her, and she and some firemen rushed to the fire. The congregation tried to settle down and continue the service. But suddenly a woman came in and said, "The whole town is burning up!" The preacher pronounced the benediction, and everyone ran out the door. Only one house burned after all. That afternoon the preacher thought about all this, and knew the effort to help a person was more important that the music and the sermon. He remembered too how the first Christmas took place in the midst of human suffering, and how, "When no one was looking, our unexpected God slipped in among us and changed the world forevermore."1 In ages past the prophet Isaiah wrote about the coming of the Messiah. He told how he would grow out of the family tree of David, Israel's greatest king. He would not judge by what he saw, but with righteousness he would judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek. And because of him a new time would be ushered in when "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. Each of us could offer similar testimony. But you say, “Wait a minute, Preacher. Look at all the beautiful capabilities of human beings. We rebuilt Europe with the Marshall Plan. We have a United Nations, a Church throughout the world, and the Red Cross.” That’s right. Man is more than a beast, but he is not an angel. Both the wolf and the lamb are within us. What a bundle of contrasts we are! Edward Sanford Martin has described all of us with these words: “Within my earthly temple there’s a crowd; There’s one of us that’s humble, one that’s proud, There’s one that’s broken-hearted for his sins, There’s one that unrepentant sits and grins.” What are we to do with ourselves, with this bundle of contradictions, with this combination of wolf and lamb? Only through yielding oneself to Jesus Christ can we be fundamentally changed. When we repent of sin and claim Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, his Holy Spirit begins to restrain the beast within us and to unleash the angel. Try to imagine a world in which the wolf and the lamb will share the same stall. The leopard and the baby goat will sleep together. A little child will put halters on a lion and a calf and lead them around. The lion will eat straw like the oxen. A little child will reach down into a cobra's den and not be harmed. That's what the world will be like one day, according to Isaiah the prophet. At some future time the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the oceans are with water; then no creature shall harm any other creature if all of God's earth. How often today we speak of a person as a wolf or a lion or a snake or a lamb. And when we dream, we are presented with these very same images today. They are not archaic and old fashioned. On the contrary, they are still with us. They represent the various aspects of the spiritual world with which we must deal. One of the reasons for the conflict and anxiety and misery in us is that we have not learned how to make these warring parts of us get along together. We are part wolf, part snake, part lion, part lamb. Confusion and chaos arise when we are possessed by one and then another part. The Little Child The prophet proclaimed that only as the little child within us is allowed to live, only then can these warring tendencies or archetypes come to harmony, only so. Strange as it may seem, it is not the reasonable adult or the powerful sword-wielding warrior or the judging parent who brings these various parts of us into harmony and cooperation, but rather the child, the little child. This child has the creative power to make us whole and one ... to make the most amazing things happen in what had been an insignificant life before. The whole of creation goes along with that man. This is the mystery and power, a real Christianity. Remember those often repeated and seldom heeded words of Jesus: "Trust me when I tell you that whoever does not accept the kingdom of God as a child will not enter into it" (Luke 18:17 NAB). When the disciples asked him who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, he placed a little child in their midst and said the same thing (Matthew 18:1-3). Jesus also insisted we must be born again. (John 3:2) He kept repeating the same truth. He was emphasizing that unless you have the courage to find and face the little child within you, the part of you which has been rejected and ignored and despised, unless you face it and let it direct your life, you shall not come to the kingdom of heaven or wholeness. Unless the little child in you is allowed to live, there is no hope that the lion and the lamb, the kid and the bear, the cow and the wolf within each of us can come into harmony. Only so can the snake in each of us be controlled and directed. Eric Berne has gained fame by writing simple and profound books on psychiatry. He maintains that there is within each of us the adult, the parent, and the child. Unless we are able to face all three and deal with them all, we get sick. He goes on to say that it is the child who contains the creative life and power and yet is most often forgotten among modern men. Until we can reach the playful, creative, imaginative child within us, we are dull and unwhole, fragmented and anxious, seeing no meaning or value in life. The Christ Child Another cynic remarked that peace is a moment when nations take time to reload. The stakes are certainly higher than ever. Someone asked Albert Einstein one day what kind of weapons would be used in the third world war. "Well," he answered, "I don’t know . . . but I can tell you what they’ll use in the fourth world war. They’ll use rocks." We would rather not even think about it at Christmas time, but we need to acknowledge the horror of war. Santa is sitting in front of his computer typing the following sentiments: Twas the morning of Christmas, and all through his house . . . . Not a creature was stirring, Except Santa’s mouse. For there at his screen, The old fat man designed The ultimate gift for a tattered mankind. He squirmed and he puzzled as all through the night, He polished the concept to get it just right. The formula worked!! The old guy was wired!! At last, PEACE ON EARTH . . . ! (Then, a message comes on the screen:) Step One. Some assembly required. Father William J. Bausch tells of the man who always has a special feeling each year when he receives his first Christmas card. It reminds him of the lady who lived next door when he was growing up. She was 95 years old. Often he would deliver to her the groceries his mother would buy for her. One day during Christmas he went over to take the groceries and she gave him the usual tip. But he decided not to accept it this time. She insisted that he take it. He sat there for a long time and talked with her. She told him about her early life, their country church, and Christmas. Finally, when he left her house he went across the street to the store. He could buy a lot of candy with the tip she gave him. But then he thought of her and how alone she was. He decided to buy her a Christmas card, and he searched through the cards looking for just the right one. Then he saw it. It had on the front a country church just like the one she had told him about. He bought the card, signed his name to it, and took it back over to her house. When she came to the door, he held it out and said, "Hello, Mrs. Hildebrand. Merry Christmas." She began to cry, thanked him, and wished a Merry Christmas to him. A few weeks later she died in her sleep. Her night-table light was on. On the table there stood the Christmas card he had given her. It had brought some joy into her life.4 We are given the peace of God which comes from living in Godlike ways, sharing the peace of Christ. This unexpected baby brought unexpected peace. I still chuckle over the old golfer who could not imagine what life would be like without his daily round. One day he consulted a spiritualist, asking her if she thought there would be golf courses in heaven. She meditated for a few moments and then said to the old golfer, "I have some good news and some bad news for you. The good news is that heaven is filled with lush, green golf courses with lavish club houses. The bad news is that you are scheduled to tee off on one of those heavenly golf courses tomorrow morning at 9:30!" But Isaiah's vision of justice and peace is much more than some human effort to reorder the society. It is based not only on changing the structures of the society but on changing human hearts so that they will be "full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."