December 2, 2007

Facing Christmas

Facing Dead Hopes

Luke 1:5-20

Opening words: Advent is the beginning of the Church Year for most churches in the Western tradition. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve. It is a time of preparation. It is a time to prepare for the great day of Christmas and a time to prepare for the second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. It is a time to discover the person hiding in you from the very beginning.

This year we will be preparing for Jesus by looking a various characters in the stories surrounding the nativity. That sounds harmless on the surface but let me warn you. Within the faces of these Biblical characters you may find yourself. While technology has changed our world, the human condition remains the same. Jesus speaks to all generations.

Let us begin our journey today by looking at Zechariah and Elizabeth. To the Biblical scholar, their story reminds them of the Old Testament’s Abraham and Sarah. They too were godly people, who were advanced in years. They too conceived a child in miraculous way. In both cases a son is born. Both sons, Isaac and John, would be mighty through the eyes of God. We find ourselves this morning in the very first chapter of Luke.

Luke 1:5-20 ⁵In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. ⁷But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.

    ⁸Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

¹¹Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹²When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. ¹⁴He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.

Located in Somerset County, Maine is the unorganized township of Flagstaff. At one time it was quite the place. The citizens of Flagstaff were proud of their community. They cared for their community. They planned for the future and cherished a great past. The civic pride of Flagstaff, Maine was riding high, until the day everything changed. The community was informed that their community was going to be flooded once the Dead River Dam was constructed. The dam wouldn’t be completed for quite some time but the effect of that dam was sudden. The residents of that community stopped caring for their community. In the months before it was to be flooded, all improvements and repairs in the whole town were stopped. What was the use of painting a house if it were to be covered with water in six months? Why repair anything when the whole village was to be wiped out? So, week by week, the whole town became more and more bedraggled, more gone to seed, more woebegone. A newspaper reporter said it best when she said, "Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present." Have you ever lost faith in the future?

Maybe that is the story of our society? We have a surplus of people who have lost faith in their own futures. They are just living day to day. So to speak, they are facing dead hopes. Their lives are a mess. Sometimes it is due to poor discussion making. Sometimes they are just victims of life. Regardless, the end result is the same. They are stagnant! How many people do you know that haven’t made any progress with their lives in twenty years? Are you afraid to imagine where they will be in twenty years? How many people do you know who believe the answer to all their problems is winning the lottery or marrying a rich man. With every losing lottery ticket and birthday there is less hope. They don’t know it but they are living in Flagstaff, Maine. Where there is no real hope in the future.

I believe that is the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were living in Flagstaff, Maine. They had lost faith in the future. There dreams of a promising future had died years ago. They didn’t want to admit it but they had changed. If you have not noticed life has a way of changing you. Their lives began full of hope. They had been born into the priestly line of David, the division of Abijah. That means nothing to us but to their world it meant something. They were seen as spiritual leaders. They took their role seriously. They were godly people. They should have had a full life but their lives are empty. They have no children! In our world people choose not to have children but that is not their world. Not having children meant God had turned his back on you. Their world wondered why God had turned His back on them. What sin had they committed in private that could not be hidden from God? Even they wondered what they had done wrong. For years they had lived with this disappointment. It is no fun rocking an empty cradle. In many ways Zachariah and Elizabeth had lost faith in the future. Have you ever lost faith in your future? Have you ever been forced to look at your dead hopes?

Today, I want to use the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth and ask you three questions. I will be up front with you. They are not going to be easy questions. They are three difficult questions that will challenge your faith and make you wonder how far you really want to trust God. These questions are difficult because being a disciple of Jesus was never meant to be easy. There is nothing easy about living out the faith. Advent is a time of preparation. If you are ready for my three questions that revolve around the topic of faith say, “Amen!”

Where in your life are you facing dead hope?

For Zechariah and Elizabeth the dead hope they are facing is infertility. They had tried all the modern medical advances of their day and the cradle is still empty! If you want to know how many children are in the world then ask a couple who is unable to have one. They love to hear the sounds of children playing but with the sound comes the reminder of their disappointment. Verse 12 tells us they had been praying for a baby but they stopped believing years earlier. Not even Zechariah can believe the news that a baby is coming! Have you ever prayed for something and expected the request to fall on deaf ears? Zachariah and Elizabeth were facing dead hopes! Where in your life are you facing dead hopes?

Located out in the narthex is the Giving Tree. The Missions Committee puts up the Giving Tree annually during Advent. The idea is simple. A tag is placed on the tree with a gift idea. The gifts differ based on need. Your tag may read a bicycle from a eight year old girl or laundry detergent for an entire family. I have always been moved by your response to this project. I have been here when the gifts are picked up. They are moved by your generosity. You are not just giving a bicycle or a laundry detergent. You are giving hope to people who have no hope. We have more and more people in our society who are facing dead hopes.

Where in your life are you facing dead hopes? Maybe your story is the same as Zechariah and Elizabeth? Maybe you have given up on holding that little buddle of joy? Maybe you have given up on finding Mr. or Mrs. Right? Maybe you have discovered Mr. or Mrs. Right is wrong? Maybe you have discovered retirement will never come? Life is expensive. Maybe you have discovered your health will never return? All you can see is pills and tests. Maybe you have discovered that your adult children still can’t live without. Maybe you have surrendered to them in the name of love? Maybe your parents are making you old? This is question number one. Where in your life are you facing dead hopes? Clare Boothe Luce once wrote, “There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them.” If you find some truth in that quote say, “Amen!”

Are you really to experience God in unexpected ways?

In the scripture lesson for this morning Zechariah experienced God in an unexpected way. According to the text, the lot fell on Zechariah to burn incense at the temple. This was a great honor. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. By his time the number of men from his division in the line of Aaron was great. Zachariah knew it was going to be a special day but he had no club! For it was on that day he experienced the divine. An angel told him his years of praying had not fallen on deaf ears. He was going to be a father of a little boy not named Zachariah, but John. The name John means “The Lord is gracious.” Zachariah was surprised that he experienced the divine but he shouldn’t have been. God is not limited to a certain location or occasion. You should always be really to experience God.

If you don’t believe me look at the story of the nativity. God has always appeared in the most unusual places. Mary was just a young woman with her entire life in front of her. She did nothing wrong but she experienced the divine and everything changed. Joseph was a man who was just trying to play by the rules. He did nothing wrong but found his betrothed was pregnant. It is while he is sleeping he encounters the divine. The shepherds were at work like every other day. It was in the routine of their day that they received a message and heard the heavenly choir. Even the Magi couldn’t be spared. They arrived at the palace to see the new born king but the new born king was in the barn. I like to think your best chances of experiencing God are at church in the middle of a sermon but you may experience God anywhere. When was the last time you experienced God? Are you really to experience God in unexpected ways? And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

Do you believe you are part of the Divine plan?

B. E. Woodberry once said, “Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.” God must believe in that quote. How many times has God taken ordinary people and forced them into difficult situations? That is the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. In the past few thousand years we have promoted them to sainthood but they were just ordinary people. What they really wanted was a house full of happy children. What they really wanted was quiet respectful lives. They never received those blessings. This long awaited child would become the forerunner of the Christ. Through the eyes of God he was a great man but to the people in the neighborhood he was just strange. Do you here what I am trying to say? How often do our personal dreams not match up with God’s plan for our lives? Zechariah and Elizabeth were part of God’s great plan for the salvation of this world, like it or not.

Do you believe you are part of the divine plan? Don’t answer that question so quickly. Being part of the divine plan is a great thing in the big picture but it may mean you may never experience the dreams of your heart. For Elizabeth a late high risk pregnancy was not in the plan. For Mary an unwanted pregnancy was not in the plan. Raising another man’s child was not in Joseph’s plan. How far do you trust God with your life? Do you believe you are part of the divine plan? Do you want to be part of the divine plan? If that bothers you say, “Amen!”

My sister Janet does not live around here. She lives in Colorado Springs. On Wednesday afternoon my sister Janet moved for the first time in over twenty years. They didn’t have to move they wanted to move. I don’t understand why people move by their own choice. Moving is one of the worst things in the world. However, her children are grown and gone. It was time to downsize so they bought a bigger house. (I don’t understand that either.) However, if you were going to move I would encourage you not to move to Flagstaff, Maine. They have no hope. They tell me they have lost faith in their future. You would make a terrible resident of Flagstaff, Maine because that is not your story. You have a bright future. You are full of hope because you are a child of God. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”