Embracing Hope: The Advent Journey Through Time
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Have you ever noticed that with time, that we tend to measure God against that? The God who created time, sits outside of time, we like to put him into our box of time. God, I need you to answer my prayer like this by three o'clock. That would be fantastic. But we also use time in every other aspect of our lives. We use time to understand music. We use time to measure the value of our work. We use time to contemplate our existence. How many years do I have left? How long is it going to take before my life is optimal? Over the next month, we will use time to try to understand our past. [00:03:21] (70 seconds)
And this whole concept of Advent has really been taking shape since the fourth century. Originally started as kind of like a time of holiness preparation, much like Lent, but originally ending in Epiphany. And we have so many of these little pieces that we use in our homes now, and even the Advent wreath that we get to celebrate with here as a church. Again, let me point out, Pastor Charles made that. And I think it's just beautiful. He would love to come to your home and make you Christmas decorations for free. Because he ran out of yard space. Yeah. [00:05:00] (56 seconds)
There are three kind of modes or dispensations of time, if that's the language you like, where we talk about the arrival of Christ inside of the Advent journey. The first one we talk about is going to be this time of anticipation. Can you put up the slide with the three things? Yeah. So I have given him kind of out-of-order slides, so I'm going to ask him for things, but it's not because he's messing up, it's because I'm messing up. The first one is anticipation. The second, then the incarnation, and then the eschaton. [00:06:39] (45 seconds)
Anticipation really began with the first Christ, with Adam. The fall, the sin that, entered the world and immediately needing a savior. Anticipation began. And there's this progression of both God speaking and great sin, great war, and instability that kind of builds through the anticipation phases. And there's a word that I think best describes anticipation, and that's liminality, that time where you're waiting. You're constantly sitting in this piece of time where you're being told, in just a few moments, in just a few moments. [00:08:05] (58 seconds)
Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. He is often gloomy and grief-ridden. Now, in the 9th century, the Jewish nation was divided into two pieces. We have the north and we have the south. Judah was the south, and Israel was the north. 300 years later, Jeremiah comes with this prophecy that we just read, where he prophesies a restoration of the soul. A split that would center around Jerusalem. [00:12:08] (37 seconds)
There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth, distress among the nations. Confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves, people will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with the power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near. [00:16:16] (36 seconds)
Now in the book of Matthew, when the Olivet Discourse is being delivered, it's very specific on where Jesus is speaking. Jesus is at the temple. He speaks before this in Matthew about how the temple will be destroyed while sitting at the temple. And then goes into these speeches, these pieces of prophecy, saying, in just a few moments. In just a few moments. Forty years later, Jerusalem would be destroyed. Completely. The temple would be destroyed, just as Jesus said to his believers and to his followers here. [00:19:20] (56 seconds)
Please don't ignore the patterns in scripture. God's story is for all of us. No matter what the hopelessness is, there is an end to it. I know some of your stories and what people are walking through in this room right now. and if the rest of you knew you would be heartbroken but know with that hopelessness it will come to an end because hope is always just a few moments away we can embrace anticipation and waiting and letting hope properly grow inside of us instead of racing off to what comes next [00:25:53] (61 seconds)
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And this whole concept of Advent has really been taking shape since the fourth century. Originally started as kind of like a time of holiness preparation, much like Lent, but originally ending in Epiphany. And we have so many of these little pieces that we use in our homes now, and even the Advent wreath that we get to celebrate with here as a church. Again, let me point out, Pastor Charles made that. And I think it's just beautiful. He would love to come to your home and make you Christmas decorations for free. Because he ran out of yard space. Yeah. [00:05:00] (56 seconds)
There are three kind of modes or dispensations of time, if that's the language you like, where we talk about the arrival of Christ inside of the Advent journey. The first one we talk about is going to be this time of anticipation. Can you put up the slide with the three things? Yeah. So I have given him kind of out-of-order slides, so I'm going to ask him for things, but it's not because he's messing up, it's because I'm messing up. The first one is anticipation. The second, then the incarnation, and then the eschaton. [00:06:39] (45 seconds)
Anticipation really began with the first Christ, with Adam. The fall, the sin that, entered the world and immediately needing a savior. Anticipation began. And there's this progression of both God speaking and great sin, great war, and instability that kind of builds through the anticipation phases. And there's a word that I think best describes anticipation, and that's liminality, that time where you're waiting. You're constantly sitting in this piece of time where you're being told, in just a few moments, in just a few moments. [00:08:05] (58 seconds)
Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. He is often gloomy and grief-ridden. Now, in the 9th century, the Jewish nation was divided into two pieces. We have the north and we have the south. Judah was the south, and Israel was the north. 300 years later, Jeremiah comes with this prophecy that we just read, where he prophesies a restoration of the soul. A split that would center around Jerusalem. [00:12:08] (37 seconds)
There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth, distress among the nations. Confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves, people will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with the power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near. [00:16:16] (36 seconds)
Now in the book of Matthew, when the Olivet Discourse is being delivered, it's very specific on where Jesus is speaking. Jesus is at the temple. He speaks before this in Matthew about how the temple will be destroyed while sitting at the temple. And then goes into these speeches, these pieces of prophecy, saying, in just a few moments. In just a few moments. Forty years later, Jerusalem would be destroyed. Completely. The temple would be destroyed, just as Jesus said to his believers and to his followers here. [00:19:20] (56 seconds)
Please don't ignore the patterns in scripture. God's story is for all of us. No matter what the hopelessness is, there is an end to it. I know some of your stories and what people are walking through in this room right now. and if the rest of you knew you would be heartbroken but know with that hopelessness it will come to an end because hope is always just a few moments away we can embrace anticipation and waiting and letting hope properly grow inside of us instead of racing off to what comes next [00:25:53] (61 seconds)
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