A THRILL OF HOPE: THE WAY OF HOPE

Sermon Notes, December 9, 2018

Rev. Garry McGlinchy

Pastor Garry continued on the second Sunday of the Advent season with his sermon titled A Thrill of HOPE: The Way of HOPE.  The scripture basis was Luke 3:1-6, a quote from the prophet Isaiah, who talks about one who will come to prepare the way for the Lord, making straight paths for Him. 

Luke starts out with a list of rulers of the day, political and religious, furthering the original context the words of Isaiah spoken to the oppressed people of Israel who were in exile. They were words of hope, spoken that the people would know that one day the Messiah would come to free them from their oppressors.  The Jews of New Testament times were still an oppressed people.  Jesus comes as a servant, not as a political or religious leader.

John baptizing was preparing the hearts of the people for the Messiah.  John is declaring baptism and repentance, a re-ordering of what they have known.  It was a departure from the systems of the world. It urges them to think differently.  The systems of the world are often in opposition to the kingdom of God. The messiah wants to re-order these systems in our hearts and lives.  Today, we don’t have a Caesar who can throw us to the lions, but the “traps” we face are more insidious, because they seem to be good. 

Legalism can be easier than love and grace.  We are called to the messy work of love and grace.  The work of Christ is the pouring out of ourselves, and loving of others, turning away from the way things have always been done, and looking at the world through a new lens, a lens of love and grace and hope.  We, too, are called to repent and do things differently, to change the way we think in order for the Holy Spirit to truly come into us.  It is hard to reorient our mindset, our hearts.  We need to find those things, even good things, which are keeping us from seeing God at work in and around us, and remove them. 

We, too, must prepare our hearts for the coming of the Messiah.  We look for Christ to be present with us now, and we are hopeful for His return.  Sometimes we need to take a break; we don’t do so well when we are tired.

The way of hope is the way of holiness.  As we seek a new way of doing things, the landscape begins to change. Rough places are made smooth, mountains are laid low, and God works out in our hearts a way for holiness to become centeredness of our every day.  God’s salvation is for all people.  We help to bring wholeness and hope to those around us when we make straight the paths for the Lord to come in to us.  Sometimes the decisions we’ve made in our lives are like hurdles to clear in a footrace, making it harder for people to see Jesus in us.  We need the voices of others, like John, so they can see the salvation of Jesus.

Advent is a time when the road may be curvier, making it more difficult to see Jesus.  The lure of commercialism and the idolatry of prioritizing even good things, such as family, are ever present. It’s difficult to see Jesus in the light of it all.  Some people struggle to see any kind of hope.  They only see mountains in the way, all year long.  Christ came to show a new way, a way of hope and healing and of holiness.  He revealed a kingdom that is different from that of this world.  And we can repent and live in this kingdom right now.  We can make straight paths for Jesus so that others can see that salvation is for them too.

Be the PEACE in your community!