S8 E1:Advent One: Hope

What if the holiday season was more than just a blur of shopping and gatherings? As a long-time member of St Andrew with deep roots in Texas, I invite you to join me on a journey through the rich narratives of nativity stories and scripture. Together, we'll explore the enchanting rhythms of Advent and Lent, periods that offer a chance to pause amid life's chaos and embrace spiritual renewal. We'll travel across cultures, examining the diverse nativity scenes that reflect a chaotic yet hopeful narrative, placing a spotlight on the biblical accounts of Jesus' birth, particularly those in Luke's gospel. With resources like The Bible Project, we aim to breathe life into these ancient stories, helping you engage with scripture in a meaningful, transformative way.

Our discussion takes a deeper turn as we unravel the concept of hope and faith within scripture's historical context. Zechariah's prophetic voice in the early chapters of Luke serves as a testament to divine promises, even during the oppressive Roman rule. By connecting these biblical events to their spiritual roots, we find a timeless assurance in God's unwavering faithfulness, encouraging us to see beyond our present circumstances. This perspective not only offers hope to early believers but also to us today, reminding us that divine promises transcend time and challenge.

Practicality becomes the heart of our conversation as we explore how Advent can reignite our hope in Christ, encouraging us to spread this hope in tangible ways. The Advent season is an invitation to reflect on God's enduring promises, urging us to be a beacon of light in the world, transforming spaces and lives much like turning on a light in a dark room. Our episode wraps up with a heartfelt prayer, seeking strength to recognize and carry the light of hope into our daily interactions, thereby becoming vessels of Christ's transformative power in the world.

If you have any questions, give Kim a shout at kmeyers@standrewmethodist.org. Want Kim to speak at an event? Go to kimmeyers.org to see availability.

Chapters

• 0:00 Exploring Nativity Stories and Scripture
• 15:37 Exploring Hope and Faith in Scripture
• 35:04 Practical Steps to Bring Hope
• 40:00 Transforming Hope Into God's Light

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Just a little bit about me. If I don't know you. I recognize most of y'all in this room, but not everybody. January will be my 13th year here at St Andrew, which is crazy those of you who know me. I have giant man children. We have a 21-year-old at A&M and he's just sad this week, so we'll just leave him alone in his little sadness. And we have a freshman at Stephen F Austin State University in Nacogdoches, texas, which is actually where Dan and I met. So Texans are like super excited to have an Aggie and we're thrilled to have a Lumberjack.

Speaker 1: 0:38

So I love liturgical seasons and you're going to find this out about me during this class but I love the ability to do something different than the rhythm of the rest of the world, which is what Advent and Lent give us that gift. To do With that, I'm a little obsessed with nativities. I have more than two less'm a little obsessed with nativities. I have more than two, less than 100. So I brought two nativity gifts for this class and I'll figure out how I'm going to do this. Maybe we'll do. The newest member of St Andrew and the longtime member of St Andrew these are ornaments for your Christmas tree that tell the nativity story and I got them in Prague this past year when we went on a mission trip to Prague. So international Christmas tree ornament gifts today. So if you have been attending, attending St Andrew for more than 20 years, raise your hand. 25, 30, 32. I think it was in the school, school, school, school. Oh yeah, school, you were born here. Oh yeah, school, you were born here. Okay, I might have to make you all fight for it, so we'll figure out the longest member in a second. If you've been attending St Andrew for a month, raise your hand. Two months, okay, we got a month, more than a month, september, september, anybody shorter than September? All right, you get an ornament and then I'll let y'all I have more in my office. Maybe I'll just bring more instead of making y'all fight for it.

Speaker 1: 2:39

Let me tell you why I love nativities, especially nativities around the world. I love nativities, especially nativities around the world, is this story is depicted and told so many different ways through so many different cultures, and I think we all have this beautiful iconic scene of the Charlie Brown nativity where it's just peaceful and people are singing and really, if you think about life, it's in a stable which, in biblical times was really probably like it was a cave. That was usually an attachment to a home where the animals lived, okay, and so in a cave with animals already no longer peaceful, right, it smells horrid. It's either really too hot or too cold. Mary and Joseph had just traveled to a place that was not their home, and then she gave birth in said place, right? So really nothing about this story is very calm and peaceful and hopeful, except for the story, the wholeness of the story, and so that's what we're going to talk about today. The point of this study is we're going to go just a little bit deeper than Sunday morning, so we'll have this week, next week, the following week. I am not planning on teaching a class on December 25th. Everybody cool with that? Okay? Okay, so you're on your own for that one.

Speaker 1: 4:26

I do want to start one of the resources that I really like in my little arsenal of Bible information. It's called the Bible Project. It's a website. It's a non-profit website. It is full of phenomenal resources website. It is full of phenomenal resources. Not only do they have little videos this is going to be about a four-minute video that I'm going to play to set the scene of what Luke is right, but they have devotions for Advent. They've divided the scripture into historical scripture, into historical scripture, different type of literary genres of scripture. They really just dive into scripture and you typically learn something you didn't know from them, but they go deep and high at the same time.

Speaker 1: 5:20

Okay, so today we're going to look back in Daniel and look forward to Luke, but I wanted to give this overview of chapters one and two of Luke before we get started. Okay, how about I pray? That's a good idea, right? Dear gracious and loving God, as we come together in the midst of the busyness, we have employees of St Andrew here who have taken out their time. We have church members who have stopped what they're doing to come and learn more. All of this is to connect to you, to connect to the hope that you bring into a world that is so noisy and loud. Let us learn more about what hope can mean for us. Today, we say this in your holy and precious name, amen. All right, so I'll talk to you about Luke here. It is Google it if you want, though.

Speaker 1: 6:15

The Bible Project the birth of Jesus, luke 1 and 2. Okay, I just I love how they do things and, honestly, just spend some time on this website. It's a non-profit website. It's here to make the Bible practical and applicable to our lives today, so it's just a phenomenal resource. So we don't always spend tons of time in Luke, which is kind of odd to me, because it really is this very practical story about who Jesus is, what he did and where he came from.

Speaker 1: 7:01

Okay, so we're going to start, really we're going to focus at the end, but I wanted y'all to know what happened before the end of Luke 1, okay, so if we start at the very beginning, we have the birth of John the Baptist foretold, so we have lots of angels appearing in Luke. Okay, I also want you to think that if an angel appeared to you in your home, would it be peaceful? No, it would scare the daylights out of you, it would be shocking. Until it then became peaceful, right. What's the first thing out of an angel's mouth? Do not be afraid. Okay, and there's a reason for that.

Speaker 1: 7:50

So we have the foretelling, the telling of John the Baptist, right. And then we have the birth of Jesus foretold through Mary, and, honestly, this passage of how Mary responds to the angel is just how I always hope I can respond in faith, right, like her beautiful story that she sings after the angel comes to her, and the faithfulness that she has is just after the angel comes to her, and the faithfulness that she has is just. I mean, it's all inspiring. And then so we have Mary's song of praise, then we have the birth of John the Baptist. Sometimes this gets Prepare the way for people to see, to understand, to recognize who Jesus is, okay, and so we get to the end of chapter 1, where we're going to dive in here in a little bit, but I wanted you to know what happened right before that. Okay, so we have all these foretelling fortune of what's to come.

Speaker 1: 9:17

Yet what I don't want us to forget when it comes to Scripture is the fullness of this book, because really this isn't a book. This is lots of books, right, this is a library of poetry, of history, of letters, of songs, and it's all connected, okay, so that's why I wanted to really talk about we'll start with Daniel but what is Advent? It is a time of waiting, of watching, but not passively. It's of mirroring. That's what we're supposed to do in our whole life. Right, to mirror who Jesus is. We are not Jesus, we will never be Jesus. But we can mirror, we can. What does scripture say? Take the heart, adopt the heart of Christ into our life, into the hope for Christ's return. And so if we start in Daniel, somebody want to read that. For me it's Daniel 7, 9 through 14. Daniel 7, 9 through 14.

Speaker 1: 10:37

So in that passage, so much is going on. Right, but it's a vision of the Lord, god who is over all things and never ends. Right, and I want you to pair this with all these angels who are coming to foretell what is coming next. Right, we have the birth of John the Baptist. We have the birth of Jesus. Birth of John the Baptist, we have the birth of Jesus. These are all interconnected into the greater story.

Speaker 1: 11:17

I love how NT Wright says it. This is a quote, and it says the answer is the same for us as it was for the Jerusalem Christians nearly a generation after Jesus. So you have to realize the people in Jesus's time this was one generation later when they're still waiting for Jesus. Right, they thought it'd be quick. Guess what? We still waiting for Jesus. All right, this is what you were told to expect. Patience is the key. Pray for strength to keep on your feet. There are times when your eyes will be shutting with tiredness and the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical you will have to prop them open. This is what it's about. It is not about an exciting battle with adrenaline flowing and banners flying, but the steady tread of prayer and hope in scripture and sacrament and witness, day by day, week by week.

Speaker 1: 12:22

I met with a family this morning that's very new to church in general and their basic question was how do I do this? And I was like you just keep doing it Every single day. You just keep doing it. Some days you're going to do it better than others, and so, before we move on, I want to take a minute and talk about the word hope. We can talk about Daniel's vision of Jesus, we can talk about waiting, but I really want to focus on the word hope at your tables for a second, because typically things I hope for are that they're things I hope I get a new promotion. I actually don't want a promotion in this place. I'm very happy where I'm at, but, right, you see, I hope I get that. Oh, I hope I can get the next model of the newest car. I hope my son or daughter gets into said institution. Right, christian hope looks different. It helps us re-center who we are and what we are hoping for. Christian hope is there if you get the job or not, if you get into the college or not, if you get the promotion or not.

Speaker 1: 13:57

Where situational hope, either you get it or you don't, okay, and so this biblical hope is something that Daniel talks about, that it is always constant, always sovereign and always true. Listen, there's not really anything in my life that is always. I have a great marriage, not perfect, but we're hitting 25 years. I'm hoping for 25 more. I still like him, so I think it's a win, and he likes me most days. I would say like five days of the week. I'm a lot to live with, but even the beautifulness of having a strong marriage is not always right. I have amazing children that most days are really great Not always. I have a job that I love Not always. The only always in my life is my faith, and really the only reason it's always is because of Christ. Always go back to God, okay, and so with that, I really wanted to dive into the end of Luke.

Speaker 1: 15:37

I want you to spend some time, since I couldn't show you the really cool video of reading the beginning of Luke. Okay, because I do think in scripture we spend time picking out a certain point of scripture my theology professor used to call it needlepoint theology and we just put it on a pillow, we put it on our couch. But we need to know what came before, we need to know what's coming after so we can understand the fullness of what it is written for. So here we are in Luke 1, 68 through 69. And this is right after. So do you know who Zachariah is? Anyone, it's okay if you don't, but he's somebody's dad, john's dad.

Speaker 1: 16:32

So he was silenced after the angel came to talk to his wife which I always find like that's something God's going to do to me one day Like, just try to be quiet for a minute. Oh no, here Silence. And at the end of this time he has this. It's really we're going to focus on the very beginning, but it goes through 80. And he says then his father, zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy Blessed be the Lord, god of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty Savior for us in the house of his servant, david, for us in the house of his servant, david, is officially where it stops. So it's just this simple prayer that is really echoed in a lot of Jewish and Hebrew prayers. But it starts with what? What does it start with? Praise, be to who? To God? Right, it's a very simple praising of God, and this is right. After what had happened to him, he had been silenced by God. The first things out of his mouth were praises and preparation. In this time of silence, he was able to prepare his heart and prepare him for who it is.

Speaker 1: 18:20

So here is some just some biblical history, one-on-one, okay. So this song is deeply rooted in Jewish history, which again, is what I love about scripture. You really can't do needlepoint theology. It doesn't work. What Bible did Jesus read? The Torah, which is what the first five books of the Old Testament, and so this song is deeply rooted in Jewish history, drawing these covenantal promises that we read in Daniel and from Abraham into current day. So I want you to understand the importance of that.

Speaker 1: 19:04

For people who were reading this or listening to this at the time, it was connecting what they knew to what is today. They knew these stories from Genesis, they knew these stories from Daniel. They knew them in their core. But what was happening today didn't make sense unless you what Connected it back to something that you knew and you understood. That's what I feel like. I am no prophet, I am, I'm a preacher, I'm a pastor actually, that's how I define myself best preacher, I'm a pastor actually that's how I define myself best. To help connect what we have to today.

Speaker 1: 19:57

Okay, the horn of salvation was also something that was really an easy connection point to the coming of a Messiah. People understood that horn of Messiah. If I said you know the horn of Messiah, you'd look at me and be like I'm sorry, what? Right? But if I said to you, angels came and said you know that story, right? If I said to you, when we sing and the organ plays, those sounds mean something to you, okay, the horn of the Messiah was a very common biblical thing that they could connect to.

Speaker 1: 20:39

I also want you to know what was happening to the people of the time, those of you who like to go around and say the world today, oh, the world today. I need Jesus to come back, because the world today they weren't living the dream. They were under the Jews at this time were under Roman rule. They were longing for a deliverance. They were longing for a savior Hmm, similarities maybe? And this song gave people what they needed the most hope Hope into what is to come. Okay, through all the political messiness, he went higher and he brought the hope of the Messiah. Now, what we'll come to learn in the coming weeks. It wasn't exactly what they wanted. They wanted a king, not a baby, but it worked out well for all of us, I think, in the end. So here we are again. Oops, this is his prophecy. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this Again.

Speaker 1: 22:01

When people say, how do you pray? Here's another example. You start with what Praising God. Blessed be the Lord, god of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed him. I need you to understand. This sentence makes no sense to the people he's saying it to. They're looking around, thinking we're under Roman rule, like what are you talking about? Where is this goodness? Where is this redemption? But he has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, savior for us in the house of his servant, david. So here we are.

Speaker 1: 22:52

This message of hope I wanted to give you like four key points, and I'm going to give you some time to talk about those at your table. For a second, god is faithful. Again, not much I can control in my life except for the goodness and faithfulness of God. I can't even control that. I just know that that's a part of my life, it just is Doesn't always feel as good, doesn't always feel as faithful, but it always is. And so this song reflects on God's unwavering commitment to his promises, reminding the people the promises that he gave Abraham, that he gave Sarah right, that he gave Elizabeth. It is not rooted in circumstances or things, but in God's unchanging character. Have you ever heard that expression? God is good. Come on, be Christian. God is good all the time. You have to be able to say that on the day you were diagnosed with cancer. You have to be able to say that on the day you got the job promotion, because the one unwavering thing about God is God is steady, truthful, hopeful and good Circumstances around it may not always be that way as we move into the light and the darkness.

Speaker 1: 24:29

This is one of the other reasons I love the Christmas season. In Easter we got a week. I mean really, you have Lent, you have 40 days. But in the worship world. We got a week to tell you this story. We got a month right now and it's so much fun for me. But also my house tells the story, not only through my obsession with nativities but with the lights.

Speaker 1: 24:58

I love Christmas lights. I have lights on the garland, you know, above our fireplace. I have lights up our stairs. I have lights on our house, I have lights in the Christmas tree and I love the symbol of the light in the darkness. Because I don't know about y'all, but around 6.30 at night right now, because of the time change, I'm like is it midnight? Because I kind of feel like I should go to bed. The lights in the darkness shine bright Christmas Eve I get unless you're in the choir, I get the coolest view ever and it's watching the light of Christ travel throughout our sanctuary. It is.

Speaker 1: 25:50

I get chills just talking about it, because then I think about each one of you are individual lights of hope. Because then I think about each one of you are individual lights of hope. You leave that room to then spread that light to somebody else, to then spread the light. It's who we're called to be, and so this light in the darkness is Jesus being the light of the world. And so, in that, the age-old question if Jesus knocked on your door, are you ready? I mean, no, got some cleaning to do, but in my heart, come on in, right, right. And so, in these things that we get to do counterproductive of what the world is doing to prepare our hearts for Jesus, it isn't a one and done thing. I love Jesus, jesus loves me, we're good. Don't have to think about it again. It is a constant cycle of getting better in this world. So that's what we're doing here today, right?

Speaker 1: 27:05

This Advent season invites us to pause. How many of you have signed up for the prayer pause? I'm loving it. So if you haven't, I'll tell you how at the end of class. But sign up for that. It's just a beep and it reminds you of God's story. But this is the same hope of Zachariah, this is the same hope of Mary, this is the same hope of Elizabeth. Thanks, pride. Oh, it's just security, making sure we're secure, and that's what I love about our Christian story. This just isn't your hope, because really that's not enough. This is the hope of thousands and thousands and thousands of years and millions of people who are hopeful in one thing, and it's Jesus.

Speaker 1: 28:09

So I'm going to have you dive a little deeper with your table. Right now you are not going to get to all of these questions, so, as a table, pick one or two. Here they are. I've got just some scripture questions if you're more comfortable with those. I've got a little bit deeper heart questions if you want to go there.

Speaker 1: 28:29

But if you want to talk about scripture, talk about the song and in these, just in these short two, or you can go all the way to 80, how does he describe God's past, present and future in this scripture and how does it connect to the promises of Abraham and David? I've totally given you all of those answers already. Abraham and David. I've totally given you all of those answers already. So if you want to use that, do that. Understanding of hope this is where it transforms my life. What does hope look like in your life? How do you think he had hope in this time of Israel, right? How does light help you understand hope? And maybe this Advent season, this redemption, might give you something to hold on to. Okay, so you can either talk about the scripture, you can talk about hope, and if you haven't met somebody at your table. Make sure you do that. I'm going to give you about seven minutes, maybe ten if you're good biblical scholars. All right, go. Okay. So I hope you learned a little bit about scripture.

Speaker 1: 30:04

I do want to read the fullness of this Luke passage, just in case you haven't. And then I want to get to some practical applications before we go back to our real lives. So, zechariah's prophecy. I'm going to start Luke 1, 67, and I'm going to end in 80. I want you, as I'm reading, to note the different examples that are given. Okay, because it starts with what we already know, that answer Praise. Okay, so let's Then.

Speaker 1: 30:36

His father, zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy Blessed be the Lord, god of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty Savior for us in the house of his servant, david. As he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from old you see the nod to Old Testament there that we would be saved from our enemies, from the hand of all who hate us. Remember the political state that they're in as he's speaking. Thus he has shown mercy promised to our ancestors and remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor of Abraham to grant us that we, being rescued from hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

Speaker 1: 31:32

And you, child, imagine looking into your newborn child as you're saying all this. 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 the darkness, in the shadow of death, to guide our feet to the way of peace. And the quote ends there. And then there's a little conclusion sentence that says the child grew and became strong in spirit. He was in the wilderness, and the day he appeared publicly to Israel the one thing.

Speaker 1: 32:30

As somebody who loves parenting, I sure do wish there was a little bit more synopsis of raising these men. There was a little bit more synopsis of raising these men. But here he is as a new father who has had time to prepare his heart for this, not because he really wanted it, but because God muted him for a season and, in that time, recognizing the goodness of what his son was bringing to the world the peace, the redemption and the hope, because without John we might not have seen Jesus. Without John preparing the way, john preparing the way, it doesn't work. So let's make this practical. How can we reflect on hope described in this passage in our personal lives during Advent?

Speaker 1: 33:30

Another way to say that question is what would your December look like without church? Well, mine would be filled with lists of things that make me broke. I say that Advent's the opposite of Amazon. All right, I love me some Amazon. In fact, my neighbor used to think I worked there. I don't, I just get everything from there. But Advent's the difference, the opposite of a 24-hour delivery. It's purposeful preparation. Advent is 1982, when my mom got up at 4 am and went to Toys R Us and stood in line and got me what A Cabbage Patch doll? Yeah, she did. And I said to her hey, but you got my sister one. How did you do that? She was like I think we had to go to like five stores and do the same thing again and again. Actually, that's not Christian at all. But do you see the difference in how I provide for Christmas gifts for my family. I sit at my, I write a list and I click. Pretty much there's not much preparation that goes into it.

Speaker 1: 35:04

The whole point of Advent is to read these scriptures again with the hope of Christ, the hope of what's to come of Christ, the hope of what's to come Again. If you have signed up for the daily prayer pause I want you to notice throughout this month you're going to get Old Testament, new Testament, gospel. It's going to tell the overarching story of scripture. Okay, because the hope is what Constant? The hope is constant and you talk about faithfulness to his promises. Here he is speaking to a people who have no hope and, frankly, the man is probably looking real cray-cray because he's talking about this little baby who's going to prepare the way for a savior. And the people are like and they're fulfill the promises of god that was given to our ancestors and they're like come on. Yet that's the joy of where we stand as christ. We do get to see the fullness of this story. This is where I want you to really dive in this week. We'll get back together in a week. Bring a friend.

Speaker 1: 36:38

What practical steps can we take to bring hope? Maybe it's to you, maybe it's to a family member, maybe it's to a co-worker. Because here's the deal with light If this light in the world is so bright that it transforms the darkness right. Even this morning, I got up real early and all the lights were off in my house and I had my phone in my hand, so I turned on my app to turn on my lights on the stairs and all of a sudden I could see and make coffee and I wasn't disturbing my husband, who was fully asleep. Light just transforms spaces. It transforms people hope, love. What is something practically that you can do? I don't need you to go and change the world. I need each one of you to change the world.

Speaker 1: 37:47

So I want you to think about at your table, some practical things that you can do to bring hope. Maybe it's to your family, maybe it's to a coworker. There's probably somebody in your head that you're thinking ah, they need that and here's how not to do it. Jesus said that I am to be your light and Jesus loves you, and then you walk away. Jesus had meals with people. That's how Jesus transformed lives. Jesus looked people in the eyes and probably gave them some practical advice.

Speaker 1: 38:37

As I say are you ready for Jesus to knock on your front door? I think Jesus might have a list and be like Kim come on, sit down, we have a few things to discuss. I don't think Jesus is just like I. Take you as you are, might have a list and be like Kim. Come on, sit down, we have a few things to discuss. I don't think Jesus is just like I. Take you as you are. I do, but you got to get a little bit better.

Speaker 1: 39:14

You got to be actively, purposefully working towards, towards that hope, that redemption, which is what makes faith so difficult. It's not something, it's not a pill you can swallow. It's not one book that you can read and be done. How many times have you read this and you're still learning? How many times have you read this and you're still learning? It's constant, steadfast and true. So you have. Oh no, we're just going to end. I really want you to focus on this today, though. What can you do this week to be practical with hope? Because I'll say I have three minutes, so I'm just going to get on my high horse.

Speaker 1: 40:00

Faith is not tangible sometimes. Until it's so tangible it's insane. Hope is the same way. Think about a time in your life that you got through it because you had hope that it would get better. Maybe your hope was insane, but that's the hope that comes from Christ. And as we get to leave this room, there's 54 of you in here. You're all going to different places. You all get to transform that hope into another space that then can transform that hope. That's why this light is so important, because the light supersedes the darkness, and that's what we're called. That's ultimately what we're called to be is God's light of hope.

Speaker 1: 41:00

So, as you reflect on this story in scripture that started before Jesus and we're reminded of this hope in a time that made no sense to the people he was telling it to, it still sometimes doesn't make sense. Yet it is there and I think the best way to think about it is what would your December look like without the hope of Christ, without your faith? That is going to show you where you need to go. Will you pray with me, dear gracious and loving God? Sometimes having hope in such a crazy world is hard. Yet when we reflect upon the stories that you've given us, we see not only is there hope, but it is constant, it is true, and it is steadfast. Each time we look at a Christmas light, each time we see a smile on a friend's face. Time we see a smile on a friend's face, each time we are reminded to see the stranger. Let us see the hope in each one of those circumstances. We say this in your precious and holy name Amen. Go in peace, friends.