.A Living, Breathing Hope.

Sermon :: Mt. Hollywood Congregational Church :: Advent 1 :: 11.27.11

(video coming soon!)

On this Sunday every year we hear the same sermon about keeping watch for a glimpse of hope because the Christ child is on his way. This year, I am a little hesitant to talk about hope in this way for the following reasons: 

·      Occupiers at Occupy Oakland were tear gassed, beaten, and shot with non-lethal weapons.

·      An earthquake, a 3.9 on the Richter scale shook the bay area.

·      An unrecognizable package was detonated by Berkeley police at the Mormon School for Ministry, housed across the street from Pacific School of Religion.

·      A man with a gun entered the UC Berkeley Haas School for Business and was shot on site.

·      Another earthquake, this time 4.0 on the Richter scale, hit the bay area.

·      Students at OccupyCal are beaten for their peaceful protest.

·      And in most recent news, students linked arm in arm at UC Davis are casually pepper sprayed by cops.

In my world for the last few weeks, it felt like nothing was going right.

With that in mind…Let us pray… (God may the words…)

In our first scripture this morning, we hear of Jesus telling the disciples to keep awake for they do not know when the master of the house will return. Now, we all know that Jesus is alluding to when he comes back to earth. And for 1^st century Christians to whom the book of Mark was written, this was an imminent return. Jesus was coming back tomorrow... next week. They thought Jesus was coming back really soon. You see, it was during this time that Christians were suffering under the persecution of the Roman Empire. And so this imminent return was even more significant because the sooner Jesus came back, the sooner they could escape their scary and dangerous reality. Jesus gave them hope because when he came back things would be made right.

So now it is now about 2000 years later. Jesus still hasn’t returned in the way early Christians were expecting. And with events like the ones I mentioned taking place, any sense of hope feels lost.

So lets explore this idea of hope. What is it that gives us hope? Is it the fact that Congress just kinda sorta made Pizza a vegetable? Does that restore hope for our children’s future? Or what about the 2012 Republican Debates? Or maybe it is the completion of those debates that bring hope? All kidding aside… will President Obama pulling out the troops by January 1 restore your hope in peace and justice? Will corporate change provoked by the Occupy Movement restore your hope in the power of nonviolence? Perhaps after the holidays wind down and the New Year begins… perhaps THEN we will be able to muster up the courage to be hopeful. But for now, at least for me, this hope feels lost.

You’re probably thinking, “Gosh... we send her to seminary and she gets all negative about the world. What are they teaching her?!” I know, I know, it sounds like the good news of the Gospel this morning isn’t exactly good news. But! It is. I promise, good news is yet to come. 

So here we are, progressive Christians living in a crazy chaotic world full of death and destruction, injustice and patriarchal systems, natural disasters and appalling national decisions. So what do we do? Pray to God and then sit back and relax trusting that God will do it all? Do we violently push our way to the root of the systems in an attempt to right the wrongs? Or perhaps we find ways to think creatively and use the skills we already have to create a better future?

Imagine that: imagine using the gifts and talents that we already have in our possession to further the Kin-dom of God. Using our skills and strengths to do what we can to bring hope to the world.

“From the fig tree, learn its lesson:” Jesus said, “as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth leaves, you know the summer is near.” Church, did you hear that? AS SOON AS its branch becomes tender and PUTS FORTH leaves, you know that SUMMER IS NEAR. As soon as we put forth our gifts, you know that hope is near. Verse 30 of our text says: “this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.“ We are here to carry out the Kin-dom of God even if all else feels like its gone to the dogs. We are here to use our skills in all their various ways because where someone else falls short, we may pick up the slack. You see, we are the hope we’ve been waiting for.

There is this theme of vigilance and accountability in the Mark passage that reminds us to remind each other that we have these gifts and skills, talents and abilities. And not only that we have them, but to encourage each other to USE them!

In verse 7 of our second reading today from First Corinthians, we are told that we have been enriched in Christ so that we are not lacking in any spiritual gifts as we wait for Jesus to come to earth.  You see, Paul was writing to Corinth because there were a variety of issues ranging from lawsuits to sexual immorality, divisions among people to idolatry… hm… they all sound related, don’t they? They also sound a lot like our world today.  He was reminding them of the need to work together to combat these issues in order to bring about the Kin-dom of God. It was this reminder that each person has been given gifts BY God to use FOR God. It is not that hope relies on us because God is constantly working through us. God is working through these talents and skills because it is God who bestowed them upon us.

Marianne Williamson, quoting JFK, said, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” This quote by Williamson often stops there. But what comes after this is just as important. She goes on to say, “We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.” Amen?! That sounds like a challenge to me. We are being called to claim our identity as fully-capable children of God whose gifts and skills and talents are beautiful and wonderful and we are called to use them to re-instill hope in the world and to manifest the glory of God within us.   

Perhaps if we give voice to them and acknowledge them in each other’s presence we can hold each other accountable to utilizing them in this world where so much of it is needed. So, church, tell me… and this is not a rhetorical question. What are some of your gifts? Don’t be afraid! Speak them out loud! ......... I know there are more, so as the day unfolds feel free to speak them out loud to each other. 

The day I started planning out this sermon I got a quote in my email from Wendell Berry, the insightful Catholic farmer, whose poetry is familiar to many.  He wrote reminding us that from this experience of life, we know that human failure is altogether possible because we have done it over and over and over again...And that if we were trying to look for optimism we would be kidding ourselves. Like I said earlier… all hope feels lost. But, then he says this… “On the other hand, we want to be hopeful, and hope is one of our duties. A part of our obligation to our own being and to our descendants is to study our life and our condition, searching always for the authentic underpinnings of hope. And if we look, these underpinnings can still be found.”

And if we look, these underpinnings can still be found…

I am convinced that this hope can be found within us.  It is in this season of advent that is now officially upon us that we are being called to hope. “From the fig tree, learn its lesson:” Jesus says, “as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth leaves, you know the summer is near.” Embrace your tenderness. Feel your spiritual gifts rise to every occasion. Bring them to the table. And BE HOPE. Don't just be hopeful. Don’t just say and look. But do and act. Make hope an action. As you wait for the Christ child to arrive in the coming weeks, know that you are a talented, fabulous child of God. And know that you are a living, breathing embodiment of hope. 

 Amen.