INTRODUCTION:

I just read about two Senior Citizens who were out for their usual morning walk. They both had been complaining about the aches and pains of getting older. As they passed the local funeral home one of them turned to the other and said, "Look there's no hope of recovery, we're just getting older. Let's just go in and give ourselves up." (1)

I also read about a For Sale ad in the Roanoke, Illinois, Review which read: "Hope chest: Brand new, half price, long story." (2)

I'd like to know the story behind that one, wouldn't you?

This morning we begin a series of sermons on Hope. Something I think our world needs right now is Hope. Advent is a season of Hope. It reminds us not only of the birth of Christ and the hope we find in that event. But it also reminds us that we live between times, between the beginning and the end, between the first coming and the second coming. That's what our passage for today deals with.

Matthew 24:36-44 (NRSV)

[36] "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

[37] For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

[38] For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark,

[39] and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.

[40] Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.

[41] Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.

[42] Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

[43] But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

[44] Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

One Sunday after church, a mother was talking to her young daughter. She told her daughter that, according to the Bible, Jesus will return to earth some day.

"When is he coming back?" the daughter asked.

"I don't know," replied the mother.

"Can't you look it up on the Internet?" the little girl asked. (3)

It would be so nice if we could look it up on the Internet, wouldn't it? If we knew when, it would solve all kinds of problems. And we'd be ready. If we knew when Jesus was coming, we'd have everything cleaned up and ready. But we don't know when. So, all we can do is live ready. And that's the hard part.

It's hard because if life is like a half a glass of water, then some of us are the half empty people and some of us are the half full people. Half empty people only see doom and gloom. Half full people only see the glory. And the real truth is somewhere smack in the middle.

And in that truth lies the Hope. Because the underlying message of this passage is one of Hope. If you boil it all down it basically says three things. One: "Jesus is coming back." Two: "God's in charge of the timetable." And three: "Get ready."

That's a message we need to hear because there are so many messages being thrown at us. So many conflicting messages that confuse and interfere with our sense of well being and our understanding of the faith. We get confused and distracted. We forget who we are and where we gain our strength. And when that happens it builds up and pessimism turns into despair.

I. DESPAIR:

A. Remember George Bailey from "It's A Wonderful Life?" It's a parable about faithfulness. It's a parable about family and responsibility. But mostly it's a parable about hope and God's intervention in our lives. You know the story. George is one of those great guys that everybody loves, he's selfless and easy going and gives of himself over and over again. But a crisis comes up in his life. The bank examiner is coming and he suddenly finds out that there is a short fall because of Uncle Billy's blunder and old man Potter's greed and jealousy. But George s the one who will take the fall.

On top of that, his daughter, Zuzu, comes home from school with the sniffles. The despair builds and George takes it out on the teacher when she calls to find out how she is doing. He leaves her in tears with her husband swearing to knock his block off.

George craters. He goes for a drink. And sitting there, he offers up a prayer of despair. He admits he's not a praying man but he asks God to intervene and show him what to do. In his despair, two of his friends try talk him into going home. And they call him by name. It turns out that the guy sitting next to him is the teacher's husband, who hits George in the mouth for berating his wife.

George picks himself up off the floor, touches his bloody lip and says: "That's what I get for praying." He checks to see if his life insurance policy is still in his pocket and heads out to do the unthinkable. In his despair, George decides the only way out is to take his life.

Well, you know the rest of the story, George's guardian angel, intervenes and through showing George what life in the town would have been like without him, gives him renewed sense of hope. And with that hope comes a new lease on life.

B. I think one of the reasons this movie has become such classic is because we've all been there. Oh, we might not have stood on the edge of the bridge ready to jump like George. But we've all stood on the edge of despair. We've all felt the total uncertainty of life. We've all felt at the end of our rope. We've all felt like George Bailey.

How do we find Hope and keep that Hope alive in the midst of not only the uncertainty of when Christ will return. But in the uncertainties of life itself?

II. SIGNS:

A. One of the very first things we always ask for in the midst of uncertainty, disaster or trouble is: "Lord, show us a sign." In the movie Bruce Almighty, starring Jim Carrey, there's a scene where Bruce's life has fallen apart. He's gotten fired, beat up when he tried to help a homeless man holding a sign, and he's had a fight with his girlfriend whose name just happens to be Grace. He's driving along feeling sorry for himself, talking to and yelling at God.

"OK, God. You want me to talk to you? Then talk back. Tell me what's going on. What should I do? Give me a signal." Just then he passes a lighted traffic message sign which is blinking the words: "Caution Ahead."

He ignores it and continues his rant. "I need your guidance Lord, please. Send me a sign." About that time truck full of traffic signs pulls out in front of him. Very visible are the signs: "Dead End, Stop, Wrong Way, Yield, No Crossing and Do Not Enter." But Bruce ignores them, he doesn't see what he's asking for, complains about the truck and whips around it only to eventually run into a light pole. He gets out and yells at God. At the end of the scene he hollers: "Answer me." And just then his pager goes off with a telephone number. Bruce says: "Sorry, don't know you. Wouldn't call you if I did"

B.I think Jim Carrey nailed how we feel in the middle of a crisis, in the middle of despair. And he also captured exactly what happens. We ask for a sign and we're so blinded by what's going on in our lives that we can't see the signs for the fog of our emotions.

That's part of what Jesus was telling his disciples. He says the signs are there. The signs have always been there. We just have to look. We have to get ready and stay ready so we'll know them when we see them. So, where do we look? How do we see the signs.

I personally think it's really quite simple. And the hardest part of all is doing the simple things. For some strange reason, we think there has to be or we want there to be some long drawn out ritual, some rite of passage that makes everything OK. It's that whole works righteousness problem. We have trouble getting past that sometimes and accepting the whole "Ask and you shall receive" concept of Grace.

But the simple things are these: "Love God." "Love your neighbor." Pray every day. Worship at least weekly. Give, both of yourself and your income. Read the instruction manual, the Bible. Help others.

It can't get much simpler than that. When we do all of those things, when we practice our faith and put it into action every day, then we'll be able to not only see the signs but read them as well. And we'll stay ready.

It's not wrong to ask for signs. But it helps to stay ready so when the signs are given, we can see them for what they are, signs of the Hope God has for the world and for each of us.

III. HOPE:

Advent is the season of Hope. And Advent Hope is like someone baking Christmas sugar cookies who decides to add a bit of food coloring to the dough. They pour a few drops of red or green food coloring into the dough, kneed it in and pretty soon all the dough is colored has taken on that color. It doesn't take much, just a few drops but pretty soon all the dough has changed color. It's the same with Hope. It doesn't take much, just a touch.

It can be that one moment in prayer, a song or a hymn in Worship, a verse or passage of Scripture. It can come from an act as simple as the baptism of a baby or someone proposing marriage. It can come as you pass a plate filled with Thanksgiving food to a family you've never met before. It can be seen and heard and felt in a hundred different ways during all the seasons of the church and the Christian year. But it's especially present during Advent and Christmas.

You see there's a universal need for hope. Even amongst the Half Empty folks. And the truth is it's contagious. Sometimes all it takes is just a few drops and it colors the rest of a whole life.

One of the best movies of the 90's is "The Shawshank Redemption" based on a short story by Stephen King.

In the movie, Andy Dufresne is a quiet banker who is unjustly convicted of murder and sent to Shawshank State Prison in Maine where he is befriended by "Red" Redding, a lifer who knows all the ropes. The guy you go to when you need anything. It's Andy's spirit that attracts "Red" to him. Of all the prisoners, Andy is the only one who the place doesn't seem to get to.

Andy is full of surprises and through his life, gives hope to the rest of the prison. But even Andy can only take so much. One night, to everyone's surprise, Andy escapes. He's left hints for his friend "Red" about how to find him if he's ever paroled. "Red" finally gets paroled and follows those hints. Near the end of the movie he digs up a letter and traveling money that Andy has left him and Red boards a bus headed to Hancock, Texas.

Riding on the bus Red reflects: "I find I'm so excited, I can hardly sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it is in my dreams. I hope....."

There is a universal need for Hope. Hope in the midst of the ordinary everyday lives we live. Hope that can spring up in the midst of turmoil and even uncertainty. Hope that can lead us out of the fog of our selfishness and lead us into a state of readiness for anything the world or life throws our way.

Hope in God.

CONCLUSION:

William Barclay in commenting on Romans wrote: "The Christian hope is the hope which has seen everything and endured everything, and has still not despaired, because it believes in God. The Christian hope is not hope in the human spirit, in human goodness, in human endurance, in human achievement; the Christian hope is hope in the power of God." (5)

Advent is a season of preparation, of waiting and of hoping. It reminds us that we are not alone, that hope became flesh and blood and dwelt among us. Hope knows the uncertainties of life as well as the dark side of life and it overcame them.

Hope lives or wants to live within each of us so we can face those uncertainties with faith.

Advent is that season when, like those two Senior Citizens I mentioned earlier, we are all asked to "just go in and give ourselves up" to Christ and the Hope he offers.

1. Preaching Vol. 14, #1

2. Autoillustrator

3. Joyful Noiseletter, Jan. 2004, p. 2, "The Lord's Laughter, Jeff Totten.

4. Preaching, Vol. 12, No. 3

5. Christianity Today Vol., 43, #12

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Lectionary Homiletics, (Lectionary Homiletics, Inc. Midlothian, VA)

Dynamic Preaching, (Seven Worlds Publishing, Knoxville, TN)

The Clergy Journal, (Logos Productions, Inc., Inver Grove Heights, MN)

Preaching Magazine (Preaching Resources, Jackson, TN)

Circuit Rider, (The United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, TN)

The Interpreter's Bible, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1953)

The New Interpreter's Bible, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1995)

Lectionary Preaching Workbook, Cycle A, (CSS Publishing, Lima, OH, 2002) SermonPrep Version.

Preaching the Miracles, (CSS Publishing, Lima, OH, 1998) SermonPrep Version.

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