Hope of Advent #1

Intro/Facing Reality

Small things have a tendency to make us look at the world around us and feel defeated.

Big things beat us down even harder. And there are a lot of big bad things:

Political tension

Natural disaster

War

Genecide

We just finished the Story of God and the bad things that we covered:

Fickle people through Judges

Dominant Kings

Exile

Persecution

Too much power

Crusades

Spanish Inquisition

Personal big things

Divorce

Substance abuse

Sexual abuse

Family estrangment

Loss of loved ones

Loss of valuable resources

Lost a job

Lots of debt

Now, imagine you go through these things in society and where you used to hear God clearly and see Him move, now there is silence.

Setup

People can’t keep from breaking God’s heart

God is silent for 400 years after promising a savior

Then...

Mary

Luke 1:26–38 NIV

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Barrenness repeatedly threatens the promise of fertility in Israel’s story, and God’s intervention repeatedly preserves the lineage.

The decent of the Spirit of God in this text is similar to the Acts passage and pentecost.

the spirit of God, hovered figuratively over the waters. Thus, Mary’s visitation by the Spirit is described so as to suggest that the Spirit of God hovers over Mary in a new act of creation (see Brown 1979, 290).

Overshadowed!!!!

Arrival

Oxford English Dictionary:

Luke 2:13–20 NIV

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Luke 2:

1 tower above and cast a shadow over.

2 cast gloom over.

Implications

3 appear more prominent or important than.

be more impressive or successful than.

What this means for us...

With all of the brokenness around us and in us, we have a God who promises to overshadow us.

Christ Overshadows

There is hope that whatever we come across, because of what God did through Advent, we have hope that He is the one who is greater than. He is doing a work. He will overshadow.

He could have left us alone in our brokenness

God wants to do something with our brokenness, we are not left to our own devices.

What looms large in your life this Holiday season?

Marriage trouble?

Have you ever felt abandoned? Alone in your fight? Christ among us should give you hope that you are not alone.

Inadequacy?

Loss?

Limited resources?

Emptiness?

Come to the alter today and let God overshadow you.

May that be the first step toward more hopeful living this Advent Season