A sermon preached in St. Peter's Carrigrohane and Church of the resurrection Blarney on Sunday 28th October 2018.
Readings
Psalm 34: 1–8, 19–22 or Psalm 126
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of
all our hearts be now and always acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength
and our redeemer. Amen
We’re now 5 Sundays away from Advent – and the
church calendar changes and tries to prepare us for the preparation for advent
Hope is my theme today - It’s one that has been
taken from our OT reading and Psalm
See, I am going to bring them from the land
of the north,
and gather them from the
farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
those with child and those
in labour, together;
a great company, they shall
return here.
and
May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
6 Those who go out
weeping,
bearing the seed for
sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.
As Christians … hope should be our bread and
butter - the things that sustain us when times are tough and when there seems
to be no way forward.
Time and again in Scripture we see dire
situations - being sustained by hope, by vision.
Psalm 42:5
Why are you cast
down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for
I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.
my help and my God.
Hope is one of
those words that roll off our tongue without too much thinking .. I hope its
going to be dry today, I hope things will go well with the examination …
Michael D Higgins in his speech yesterday mentioned
The people have made a choice as
to which version of Irishness they want reflected at home and abroad. It is the
making of hope they wish to share
I hope, you hope,
we hope but what do we hope for?
One definition of which I came across … Hope
is a vision for better days that changes us in the present.
This vision for better days that changes us
in the present is useful
so for example a student might say I hope for
an A in my exam (future vision) … but that student can change what they are
doing in the present in order to work towards their hope.
Of course not everything is within their
control but there is a vision of something better.
The hope we have in God is of course similar
to this but on a different scale
Our hope in God is that he will see us
through the tough times but also our ultimate hope that we will be with him
forever - where there will be no more pain, sickness or death.
This hope is peppered right throughout
scripture - The Israelites dared to have hope, there’s an audaciousness to the
hope we have in God- Its this hope that sustains through dry times, its this
hope that paints a picture of a better way when things are going tough
Its a hope that actually things can be turned
around, that different decisions can be made, that there is a way around an
obstacle, that grief can lift, that life is indeed worth living.
Perhaps sometimes we feel life is out of sync
somehow … perhaps things are getting us down - have you ever thought about
writing your hopes down … your hopes for the future … and also wondering what
you need to change in order for you to get closer to those hopes
Many of the things we hope for might be in
our grasp if we’re willing to work towards them.
Ultimately we’re called to hope in God … How
do we do that? … well we take time to cultivate that relationship with him, to
get close to the father, to take time out with him
Tears to joy
Going out Weeping, bearing seed for sowing
Returning home with shouts of Joy carring
their sheaves
Ultimately our hope is summed up in Hebrews 7
Jesus holds his
priesthood permanently, because he continues forever consequently he is able for
all time to save those who approach God through him.
The hope in this is clearly seen in the priesthood of Jesus … and we’re
included those who approach God through him.
The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews talks about confidence in the
Hope we have – they go to great lengths in outlining why we should have
confidence in Christ.
It doesn’t say that …he is able for all time to save those who approach
God through him.
This is not a might or maybe thing … it is full confidence.
This is challenging but it gets to the very heart of hope …
(Bible Study Story)
When we look back at Genesis … we see the snake in the garden
articulating something which happens time after time … did God really say …
That temptation can undermine our understanding of the most fundamental
relationship between youself, myself and God.
Did God really say … is it really that easy.
And the answer is yes it is
Trust in God
Allow the Holy Spirit to work stuff out in your life
But there’s also the confidence to say actually my Hope is in him alone
This is not always that easy in our culture … where there is the issue
of self-reliance, self confidence. Self
Of course all of these things are important but God reliance, God Confidence
Reliance upon his promises, his actions is something we need to talk
more about.
I just wonder as we prepare for Advent this year – are we prepared to
talk more about his plans, his purposes, his kingdom and see where it might take
us to in our faith.
This might mean a few things … for us as we think of the implications of
our hope – I would love to suggest 3 things for us to think about.
With our hope secure:
Trusting God for all things – deepening our trust … thinking about areas
in our lives where we aren’t that great in trust him – and placing that under
his regime
Treasuring the things of his kingdom – where our treasure is there our heart is -
Tending to our soul – How is your soul? –a strange question
maybe … but it is an important one - in this
time on the run up to Christmas where is your relationship with the Lord?, how
is your inner life? Your quiet times, your listening times? The time you need
to take with God?
There’s no better time than now
There’s a prayer that is stuck to my wall in my study
Yes we are still fools
Yes we are still dreamers
Who else would keep looking at desolation and
in the end only responded by imagining beauty?
Who else would stay in manure and wait for
sees because they remembered a rumor of fruit
Who else would reach right into the deepest
pain and fear and try to love there even continue to try when hope dies and
loves flame flickers in the cold wind of selfishness?
May we be saved all the more from the false
sanity of comfort and numbly knowing all the answers
May our questions old and new be transfigured
into the kernels of graced dreams and grow our deep rooted imagination of
creation healed and whole
And in our becoming begun again
May the ancient first fruit of inspired hope
nurture enough new foolish wisdom to go on living the love that makes no sense.
My prayer for all of us is that we would understand the inspired hope
that we have and discover how amazingly wide, high and deep the love of God is
and rest in that love and share the reason for the hope that is within us with others this day and forever more.
Amen.
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