Lighting of the Advent Candles

One: Hope, peace, joy, and love. Four candles, four promises continually offered to us by God, and all of them manifest in this one we light tonight: the Christ candle. In Christ we find the hope of transformation, the peace that follows justice, the joy of self-fulfillment in community, and the love that encompasses us in all our diversity, empowering us to make our own unique contribution to this world. In Christ we find light and life, and the courage to be like him, answering his call and following in his footsteps.

Isaiah 9:2-7

2The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness? on them light has shined. 3You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. 4For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. 6For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

It is Christmas Eve and thank for you taking time away from your busy days and weekend to pause and worship. For Christ is born, he is the newborn king, Jesus is the one we call Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Over the course of Advent, we have been on a journey of waiting and preparing; and tonight our waiting is done?for now. We started with a pending invitation to walk towards the light of God.? Then we were given a tangible hope with a promise that life and new creation will emerge from a dead stump. We were reminded that a desert can bloom and the journey with God involves God moving towards us and us moving toward God. And last week, that somewhere between heaven and hell, God is here, God is with us, Emmanuel. Tonight, we look at a feast of light, where although we still walk in places of darkness, the Christ light shines. This Advent season and journey has helped us to prepare for the birth of Jesus Christ through being filled with places-holy places, hard places, and the pathways in between. Together, these places present ?a geography of salvation??a map of the heights and depths our good God will go to bring us home. Along the way we have learned that we can meet God us on the mountaintop, in the valley, and in the desert?but that God also draws near to wherever it is we find ourselves, and today we find ourselves here. Our journey to Bethlehem filled with these landmarks from the book of Isaiah, leads us to tonight, to the story many of us know. As we seek to see the feast of light where Christ shines, I invite you to pray with me.

Christmastime is a time of rejoicing-of enjoying time with family and friends, of delicious food of the season?and feeling stuffed from eating too much! A time of creating memories and making new traditions. To giving and receiving gifts with those you love. And a time of remembering the year and hoping for what is to come. I don?t? know about you, but I always find myself reflecting on the year and dreaming about how much more relaxing and less busy the following year will be. I am always so hopeful that the next year will be different from the current year with how time works, routines, and rhythms work in our family?s lives. When thinking about the words and meaning of hope, peace, joy, and love, it is always my prayer that I can experience these feelings and emotions and they continue into 2017 for all those I love.? It is in these moments of reflection-reflecting on the times of darkness and the time of light and joy throughout the year, when I am aware of the true spirit and meaning of Christmas.

As I have thought through our journey through Isaiah, I have realized how much the people desired a savior in their lives. They were living in a time of so much darkness-in a time without hope, in a time of fear of what was to come, in a time of wondering who would protect them, in a time of confusion, and in a time of questioning their faith. The people would have been dreaming and hoping for a time when God would send a savior to intervene in their lives, to destroy those who had persecuted them, heal the land, restore them to power, and begin the new kingdom. Life was not the way the people thought it would be?but they forgot that it was their own personal desires that took them away from God. They forgot that it was their actions and selfishness and individualism that caused for them to not feel that God was present in their lives. This was the darkness that the people walked in. This was the darkness that they experienced. This was the darkness that they lived in. But the people wanted to know if God was still real, if God was still present, and if God would fully return to be present on earth to be with us. And then Isaiah reminds us that for ?those who have walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who have lived in a land of deep darkness?on them the light has shined.?

If you could relate to any of the fears that the Israelites would have experienced all those years ago, I know I can. I believe all of us have experienced dark times, darkness in our lives, many have survived those times. They have gained a little more experience, a little tired, a little beaten up, yet a little stronger, maybe with a new perspective and outlook on life?once you have walked in darkness, you are then able to see the light. Then this message about the light is for all of us now. When I started to think about what it means to see the light, an acrynon for light came to mind. It is LIGHT- Living as If God is Here Today and Tomorrow. For me, LIGHT is a reminder of the importance to live as God is with us?but we have to believe we all need a greater power in our lives, and that we cannot do it on our own. God is all about relationships. God needs people, God needs you and me, to be in relationship with one another and God. It?s the story of creation-we are to care for all of creation, to love one another, and to love ourselves. And in doing so, we are sharing God?s message of joy, hope, peace, and love with everyone we meet. But it all starts with believing we have a need for God.

So God choose a time over 2,000 to change everyone?s perspective on God and what it meant to be in relationship together.

So I got pretty excited about this reminder that Emmanuel means ?God with us.? God sent his son, to be with the people over 2,000 years ago. God wanted to walk the earth again, experience the feelings and emotions of humanity, experience life-the good, the hard, the bad, the ugly, God wanted people to learn to depend on God again, just as a baby depends on his/her parents. God came to be with us, and choose Mary and Joseph to be the parents to help in this journey. Then Jesus died about 35 years later, left us with many great teachings, lessons, and asked us to go out into the world to share the message with everyone we met, promising to come again. And people have continued to wonder when God will come to be with us again. It is the reason so many people wait for the second coming of Jesus, for why we seem to live for what will happen when we die and get to heaven, instead of living our lives as if God is with us now. We want to experience what it feels like again to have God with us, just as the first followers were able to experience that with Jesus. Is that a good summary for some of us about waiting for what is to come? So it causes me to think ?Do we still need God here on earth or are we just living life the best we can until we meet our savior in heaven??

It dawned on me last night while driving, that Emmanuel, God with us, is here. Especially if we believe that we still need a savior. Somewhere between heaven and hell, between Sheol and heaven, God is here. Now. God is here with us on earth, now. And I got really excited about what it means to have God with us, to be living as if Emmanuel is here now. Could you imagine what our lives would look like if we believed that God is with us? What about our relationships? How would our relationships be different if we truly believed that God is with us? And think about what our congregation would look like if we lived lives that embodied God with us?WOW! Imagine interactions with those we meet each and every day! Imagine living each and every moment as if God is here, now, with us?or within each of us. Because isn?t that what it means to be a Christian and believe in a living savior? Living our lives as if Jesus lives within us-as the light, sharing our hearts, our message, our lives, our acts of service, our hopes, our dreams, our vision for what the world could be like if we truly believed and trusted that our savior is the living God within us and is calling us to share him with the world?

So our family and our friends continue to wait. We wait still with frustration, but recognize that we still need God and God is walking in this with us. Because God is here with all of us. Remember, somewhere between heaven and hell is ?here?. God could have gone anywhere to be present with the people?but God chose to come to earth, to live with us, and walk with us. And God hasn?t left. God is still here with us, challenging us to live as if we believe that Emmanuel is real, present, and here. When you think about it this way, preparing and waiting looks a lot different. Instead of waiting to see IF God will appear in our lives, it is fully trusting and engaging with one another to show one another that God is already here, and you are sharing God with everyone that you meet. WE are the ones who live lives that proclaim that God is here, God is with us, Emmanuel has come and will come again and again, and we are reminded of that during this season of Advent. My hope is that we truly start living as if we believe that God is with us?here and now. Not just waiting until we meet him in heaven. Living as if we believe that God is with us, is truly living a life of hope, peace, joy, and love?it is a life of faith. That is living a life full of trust and belief, just as Isaiah and Joseph did. Amen.