Reclaim Hope 2

Snow, lights, egg nog, I eat and do those things looking for that Hopeful Christmas feeling

Trying to RECLAIM that something taht I have lost at some point down the line.

The movies call it “christmas spirit.”

FOSTER

We are all longing for those things, but I think especially HOPE this time of year.

I think we find hope in all kinds of places

We think about hope in all kinds of ways

But what is hope really

Some of are like me We try to do, eat, experience, by things that spark that FEELING of hope in us, that hopefully optimistic feeling. And when we don't have it we feel hope-less. Some of us look for hope as a mental state.

Some of us in our feelings. We try to do, eat, experience, by things that spark that FEELING of hope in us, that hopefully optimistic feeling. And when we don't have it we feel hope-less. Some of us look for hope as a mental state.

“I’m feeling hopefull”

Others try to find hope in optimism. Finding the good in bad situations.

“Look at the bright side...” I know I missed the bus, but I got a nice ride in anyway. My mom...

Some of us are put our hope in good plans. The ability to see how a tragedy might be resolved and fixed. We imagine a solution to our problems, and that become HOPE. “I hope I have this figured out now”

Other times we look for hope in basically denial of the problem. We minimise the issue, the worry or the tragedy and say, “This is fine.” It reminds me of my favorite cartoon.

We think we can just deny the problem

Or we are just optimistic. We say to ourselves “Everything happens for a reason” or “Im sure things will work out eventually.”

But i dont know about you. In my life these ways of finding hope of hope so often come up empty. The hopefull feeling i get from the lights doesnt last, the plan falls through, the problem becomes too big to minimize, the denial leads to more problems, and even the optimism gets old after a while.

And we find ourslves again longing, looking to RELCAIM some kind of hope we imagine we once had...

Trans: The bible, the gospel, and the chrismtas story in particular offer a different kind of hope than that. The story of Zechariah in luke is about that Kind of hope.

But before we look at this we have to understand a little background. Because the New Testament is a sequel it makes way more sense if you understand a little bit of the story that came before the old testament.

World made Perfect - God Chooses - Human Beings to Rule

They Reject God and abuse there power - Utter brokenness results - The Earth fills with Violence

God Chooses a family and he promises that Through them - The same sickness that destroied paradise and has been destroying lives every since will be cured -

That family becomes a tribe, becomes a people, and settles in the land of isreal and their they become a nation.A nation where God’s chosen King David, rules for a time with Justice, Love, and Peace.

A nation where God’s people, are ruled By God’s chosen king, in his chosen land, while offering sacrifices to that God when they sin.

A nation where, for a time, God’s People seem to be fulfilling his purpose, ruling on God’s behalf, and curing that great sickness. It’s to that king DAVID that GOd promises one day his descendent will rule the whole world forever in peace and justices and love just like God wanted.

They reject God - and it all falls apart

But it doesn't last.The King falls victim to the sickness, and his descendents, more so, and their descendents more so

They reject God for their own profit.

They abuse the poor, the widow, and the immigrant, they ignore God, The kill and steal and grasp with all their strength at more power and more wealth all while crushing and ignoring others.

Before long the kingdom falls into a civil war, is conqured by many foriegn powers who abuse the people, scatter them all over the world.

But all throughout this time there are people called prophets. warning against their evil actions, foretelling the trouble that is coming. But also proclaiming a messages of HOPE, repeating the promises that God made to their ancestors. Clinging to the hope that God really would one day through is people cure this.

Years and years go by, but people still tell the story. And every time things look Good for gods people they get exicted they get on tiptoes and they hope. They HOPE

NIV

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

So they hope. They hope that the cut off stump can sprout a branch. That the God that saved them will save them again. That this sickness this evil that has grasped the whole world since the beginning just might be cured by God’s partnership with his people.

Luke begins by introducing the time, the place, and some people.

The New International Version Chapter 1

5 In 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. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

By setting the story up this way Luke already has us thinking about hope, or perhaps the need for it.

By setting the story up this way

Starts by mentioning Herod. Herod was a puppet king that the Roman Empire put in charge of Judea. He was Jewish but he was not a good man. He was a constant reminder that God’s people did not control their own destiny, that they were subjects of Rome and not an independent nation.

On to Zechariah the priest and Elizabeth, a righteous couple are childless

The story starts out pretty grim. God’s people are not being used to bless the world. Instead they are subjegated by the largest and strongest empire the world had ever known. An empire defined by the same kind of sin of the Garden of Eden and the Kings of Isreal, an empire that seemed utterly unshakable and empire that grew its power by crushing its neighbors and subjects.

Its Grim for Zechariah and Elizabeth too. Even though they are faithful, even though they are good, even though they are doing everything right they still have no child. Crushing. They are old, so it seems pretty impossible that that would ever change. I imagine them having given up long ago on that dream and instead trying to make the best of a sad situation, being judged by their peers whispering about what kind of sin they must have committed to be punished in this way.

Z and E long for a child.

Isreal freedom and a king.

All creation rescue from the same evil that has plagued us since the beginning.

Their story sits in that question mark. Will God’s promise come true, will God work or will he forget us forever.

Well, Zechariah gets chosen by chance to burn incense in the temple.

IF this was a movie the scene opens with him kissing Elizabeth goodbye and walking to the temple in the center of town probably carrying his lunch in a brown paper bag. Thinking about his people, his duty, Z walks quielty to the temple.

SLIDE

As he approaches the temple you see worshippers gathered around the outer wall praying, Z hears them and sees them crying out to God in hope for RESCUE. God keep your promises!

As Z goes into the temple you keep passing through thresholds going deeper and deeper into the structure until Z is standing just outside the last doorway. That door is covered by a curtain, could have looked like this.

On the other side of that curtain Jews believed that the very presence of God dwelled. Only one person the high priest ever entered and only once a year after months of special preparation.

Z burns his incense just outside God’s door and prays on behalf of those outside the temple, on behalf of the nation, on behalf of the world, and on behalf of him and his wife.

standing right there

In that moment

something amazing happens, one event that will make way for an answer to ALL of those prayers.

A messenger from God appears. Gabriel. He says

The New International Version Chapter 1

Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,

The New International Version Chapter 1

He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Gabrial says. The cut off stump will sprout a shoot, the son of your barren wife will prepare the crushed nation and the world to receive an everlasting king.

“Wolf will live with the lamb.... and all the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea”

In one promise, in one appearance. the Hopes of the Zechariah, Elizabeth, the people outside the temple, and anyone who has ever looked at the hurt, violence, tragedy, sin, and utter brokenness of the world and prayed for a savior, are beginning to be answered. IN the birth of a child actually 2 children.

But unlike Mary the mother of Jesus the savior who Gabriel will visit in 6 months, who believes immediately.

Zechariah cant imagine how this is possible. As he stands just outside God’s door speaking to an angel, he wants to make sure.

The New International Version Chapter 1

“How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

After he returns home silent Elizabeth becomes pregnant and immediatly she knows who to thank.

The New International Version Chapter 1

25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

And so Z + E’s hope. The hope of their whole people and the hope of the whole world are tied up together in their Son John, who will clear the way for Jesus (the shoot out of the stump of Jessie) the everlasting king promised to David, and the answer to the age old problem of evil introduced in genesis. Born not to an honored Priest in Jerusalem, but to a teenage girl from a town in the middle of nowhere called Nazareth.

And so Z + E’s hope. The hope of their whole people and the hope of the whole world are tied up together in their Son John, who will clear the way for Jesus (the shoot out of the stump of Jessie) the everlasting king promised to David, and the answer to the age old problem of evil introduced in genesis.

Born not to an honored Priest in Jerusalem, but to a teenage girl from a town in the middle of nowhere called Nazareth.

Jesus will grow up to bring Hope to every hopeless person he encounters. Healing he sick, feeding the hungry, comforting the weary, and proclaiming himself as the answer to that Question mark.

The comfortable gatekeepers will Kill him for it on the cross. But the same God who grows green shoots out of dead stumps, brings new life to closed wombs, will again turn death to life in the Resurrection. That same God promises that same healing, that same transformation, but most importantly (especially in times of tragedy) that same RESURRECTION to us those who put our HOPE in him.

And now we can, “Reclaim hope by trusting in the one who opens the womb, grows the shoot, and raises the dead.”

We tend to think about Hope as

a feeling to capture

a Positivie Disposition in life

The abililty to imagine things working out

finding the good in bad situations

or even outright DENIAL of bad things.

Hope in the bible, hope in God.

Is really hoping in a person.

That kind of hope is different. Its much closer to what Mary had way out in the sticks.

for Mary and I think for us.

Reclaiming Hope is not about saying, “This is fine” when it’s not.

its not about felling like everthing will work out.

Its not finding the good in bad situations.

its not just good problem solving.

When we Reclaim HOPE we say, “No its not fine, I cant see a solution, I dont know what to do, I’m not feeling it....

BUT

God is coming.

Its not grim despair or squinting your eyes to convince your self it will be ok.

Let us “Reclaim hope by trusting in the one who opens the womb, grows the shoot, and raises the dead.”

Instead,

Hope is about putting your trust in the person who opens barren and virgin wombs, grows shoots out of chopped stumps, raises the DEAD to LIFE, and keeps his promises

anything other than that is no real hope at all

So how do we claim and reclaim that hope.

Be honest about the sorrow and listen to those who are struggling.

Remember and tell stories of Hope.

stump to branch

barren to pregnant

dead to alive

When did God come through for you

Gather with the community of hope and hope together.

I dont know where you have placed your hope in the past

In christmasy feelings?

in a glass half full?

a good plan and hard work?

An optimistic outlook

Denial perhaps?

I dont know the last time you have really felt hopefull or PRACTICED hope. I dont know if you are felling it.

Perhaps you find yourself searching for hope that used to come so easily.

BUt today remember that HOPE is not up to you, its a choice to trust in God to bring about a new impossible future

a barren woman pregnant, a shoot from a stump, a virgin birrth a LIFE from DEATH.

So as we come to the table to remember. To remember a death and a Resurrection, to participate in one. Remember the HOPE we are choosing is not dependent on plans, good events, warm feelings, or denying trouble.

But instead on the one who opens the womb, grows the shoot and raises the dead.

Lets pray,

trans:IF we are going to reclaim a biblical hope TODAY we have to understand what it meant for THEM to have hope, and what kind of hope we area talking about. Luke gives us a picture of what HOPE looks like for individuals and the whole world and what role hope plays in not jsut they story of people who lived a really long time ago, but the story of our whole world, the story of our communities and the people we run into, and ultimately the story of each of our individual lives

They tell you what is coming next and in milliseconds you know what kind of story you are about to watch.

One of the most important things I am learning about the bible right now is that it is CONSTANTLY doing this same exact thing, but we miss it because we didn’t grow up 2,000 years ago reading hebrew and greek.

For early christians and Jewish people in Jesus day. The bible WAS their popular culture. It was their star wars and the avengers, and toy story. It was the stories they knew and talked about and shared with each other. Not just out of religious duty but probably for some of the same reasons we watch movies today. To feel something, to be carried away by a story, to learn something about themselves, their God, and their world.

And the bible is written by and too people like that and when we start to realize that, and start trying to see the bible through their eyes it just opens up in amazing new ways.

So for the next four weeks we are going to read the Christmas story looking for the hope peace, joy, and love in its pages by understanding part one what we call the Old testament

The Ot in 5 mins - The Wikipedia Summery of Part One

Explain Part One - HOPE FOR WHAT?

World made Perfect - God Chooses - Human Beings to Rule

They Reject God and abuse there power - Utter brokenness results - The Earth fills with Violence

God Chooses a family and he promises that Through them - The same sickness that destroied paradise and has been destroying lives every since will be cured -

That family becomes a tribe, becomes a people, and settles in the land of isreal and their they become a nation.A nation where God’s chosen King David, rules for a time with Justice, Love, and Peace.

A nation where God’s people, are ruled By God’s chosen king, in his chosen land, while offering sacrifices to that God when they sin.

A nation where, for a time, God’s People seem to be fulfilling his purpose, ruling on God’s behalf, and curing that great sickness. It’s to that king DAVID that GOd promises one day his descendent will rule the whole world forever in peace and justices and love just like God wanted.

They reject God - and it all falls apart

But it doesn't last.The King falls victim to the sickness, and his descendents, more so, and their descendents more so

They reject God for their own profit.

They abuse the poor, the widow, and the immigrant, they ignore God, The kill and steal and grasp with all their strength at more power and more wealth all while crushing and ignoring others.

Before long the kingdom falls into a civil war, is conqured by many foriegn powers who abuse the people, scatter them all over the world.

But all throughout this time there are people called prophets. warning against their evil actions, foretelling the trouble that is coming. But also proclaiming a messages of HOPE, repeating the promises that God made to their ancestors. Clinging to the hope that God really would one day through is people cure this.

Years and years go by, but people still tell the story. And every time things look Good for gods people they get exicted they get on tiptoes and they hope. They HOPE

NIV

SHATTERED - By sin. Choose to Rule on MY behalf @ the expense of others

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

CHOSEN - to cure this great sickness

Abe - Bless you to bless the World

Moses- One day God will change the Human Heart

So they hope. They hope that the cut off stump can sprout a branch. That the God that saved them will save them again. That this sickness this evil that has grasped the whole world since the begining just might be cured by God’s partnership with his people.

David - Your descendent will rule the world in peace for ever.

Isaiah - Out of the Stump of Jessie will come a king for the whole world.

SHATTERED - by sin. God’s people Choose to Rule on their behalf @ the expense of others

Temple Destroyed

Land conquered

People scattered

? - Will the promises be fulfilled?

2 Encounters with An Angel

This is the story, the promise, and the hope in the minds of People when Luke takes place. So hold this story and this hope in your head.

Because the main Point of the whole new Testament. The main point of the Christian faith. The main claim that Jesus and the disciples made.

Is that that question mark, that HOPE is fulfilled in the early First century. And it is fulfilled by the person of Jesus Christ.

This part of luke tells two stories that belong side by side they are brought together by this strange figure, Gabriel an Angel begins the story by making an announcment about this HOPE to two very different people.

Part 2 starts fade in, words on the screen.

“In the time of Herod, king of Judea”

Compare the Encounters

Differences

Sum it up

And so, the teen virgin from the sticks understands hope better than the Righteous Priest in Jerusalem.

Zechariah wanted to place his hope

We tend to think about Hope as

a feeling to capture

a Positivie Disposition in life

The abililty to imagine things working out

finding the good in bad situations

or even outright DENIAL of bad things.

Hope in the bible, hope in God.

Is really hoping in a person.

That kind of hope is different. Its much closer to what Mary had way out in the sticks.

for Mary and I think for us.

Reclaiming Hope is not about saying, “This is fine” when it’s not.

“Hope is about hoping in a person

its not about felling like everthing will work out.

Its not finding the good in bad situations.

its not just good problem solving.

When we Reclaim HOPE we say, “No its not fine, I cant see a solution, I dont know what to do, I’m not feeling it....

BUT

God is coming.

Its not grim despair or squinting your eyes to convince your self it will be ok.

Instead,

Hope is about putting your trust in the person who opens barren and virgin wombs, grows shoots out of chopped stumps, raises the DEAD to LIFE, and keeps his promises

anything other than that is no real hope at all

So how do we claim and reclaim that hope.

Be honest about the sorrow and listen to those who are struggling.

Gather with people of hope and hope together.

Remember and tell stories of Hope.

stump to branch

barren to pregnant

dead to alive

When did God come through for you

Remember God

Gather with the community of hope and hope together.

Cast your cares on him and remember he has you.

I dont know where you have placed your hope in the past

In christmasy feelings?

in a glass half full?

a good plan and hard work?

An optimistic outlook

Denial perhaps?

I dont know the last time you have really felt hopefull or PRACTICED hope. I dont know if you are felling it.

Perhaps you find yourself searching for hope that used to come so easily.

BUt today remember that HOPE is not up to you, its a choice to trust in God to bring about a new impossible future

a barren woman pregnant, a shoot from a stump, a virgin birrth a LIFE from DEATH.

So as we come to the table to remember. To remember a death and a ressurection, to participate in one. Remember the HOPE we are choosing.

Reclaim Hope 2

I - Am always looking for that hopefull christmas“ Feeling.”

Y

G - Put your hope in the one who opens the womb, grows the shoot, and raises the dead.

Y -

Y

W - I dont know...

G

Y

W - I dont know...