Malachi 3:1-4; Heb. 2:10-11, 3:13-18; Luke 2:22-40; Psalm 24

February 2, 2020

Larry Campbell

 

Hope

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing to You, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.

On New Year’s Eve, Noelle and I spent the evening with a couple friends. As the midnight hour approached, we were surprised to find that there was already a particular plan in place. Usually there’s the cheering, and wishing “Happy New Year”, and raising a glass as a farewell to the past year, and a toast to the new...along with some hugging and kissing. Well, there was some hugging and kissing, and we did raise our glasses of fine wine, and well aged, single malt whisky.

But then, to my surprise, we all sat down and listened while, one by one, each person there declared the word they chose to sustain them as they enter into the new year. Noelle and I weren’t prepared for this. Our friends shared the word or phrase that was going to guide them into, and through, 2020. I pretended to listen closely but, in the back of my mind, I was scurrying around searching for something significant to say.

It was good. It forced me to put some thoughts together that had been swirling around in my brain for a few months. The word that came to mind was, “Hope”.

While we watch the political wangling going on in the States, and witness the resultant divisiveness and hate, it’s hard to be hopeful.

• When we see people struggling with homelessness and poverty, it’s hard to be hopeful.
• When we wrestle with dysfunction in the workplace or at home, or experience broken relationships, it’s hard to be hopeful.
• When we see in others, or recognize in ourselves, the pain and dis-integration caused by our addictions, it’s hard to be hopeful.

*          *          *

One of the things I have been working on in my retirement is music, particularly my bass playing. Many years ago, when I was a professional musician, I always felt like an imposter. I knew that I wasn’t the best bass player around...not compared to my many friends who were bass players. I always feared that I would be discovered as a fraud and someone would say, “Eeew! He’s not that good.” So when retirement was approaching, I decided that I was going to do the work needed to become the best bass player I could be. Much to my disappointment, all the tutorials on YouTube said the same thing… “if you want to progress on your chosen instrument, you need to go back to the basics.” (no pun intended, I’m sure).

Well, I didn’t want to go back to the basics! I wanted to wail on the bass. “Spank the plank” as they say. “We know,” said my YouTube instructors, “We know you want to play fast, and be funky. So, let’s start with the C major scale, in the first position, and play   v e r y,  v e r y   s l o w l y”   They all insisted that I “go back to the basics”

A couple weeks ago we sang a song called, “It’s Time To Believe; You Are Loved.”

It came from a realization that

- we talk a lot about deconstructing and reconstructing our faith,

- we talk about what faith means in a post-Christian, post-modern world,

- we talk about how many theories of atonement can be balanced on the head of a pin.

Around that time, I was watching a movie. Nothing spectacular or special. Actually, I don’t remember if it was a movie or a series. I don’t even remember the name of the movie, or the names of the actors. But as the young woman protagonist was ranting about all the things in her life that would make a relationship difficult, the boy in the movie just said, “I love you.”

The realization that she was simply loved made it possible for her to imagine that maybe they could do this relationship thing.

I think, in this context, going back to the basics could mean thinking about the fact that God loves us, unconditionally, and became a human being to relate to us, and teach us how to be fully human. This put things in perspective for me. With all the other things we try to learn and understand about God, being loved was what moved me. It allowed me to imagine that there is hope. Not “wishful thinking”. But hope.

*          *          *

So, what does that mean? Where does our hope lie?

Let’s read the epistle for today, Hebrews 2:10-18.

 

“For it was proper for Him, Jesus,

 

•  
  • for whom    are   all things,
  • and through whom    are   all things,
  • in bringing many daughters and sons to the right place,

it was proper that the work of the One through whom their rescue comes,

might be accomplished through sufferings.

“For both the One who purifies their souls

and those whose souls have been purified

are all from one Parent;

“This is why He is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

“This is why He says

"I will proclaim Your name to my sisters and brothers;

In front of everyone, I will sing Your praise.”

“And about these same sisters and brothers He says,

“I will put my trust in God;

“I will put my trust in God;

both for Me and for the children whom God has given me.”

"Therefore, since those children share in their own humanity,

 

•  
  • He Himself also became human and shared their flesh and blood,
  • that through death he might render ineffectual, the power of death
    • In so doing, He freed those who through fear of death,
    • had been slaves to that fear all their lives.”

Does this not sound like our world? Especially in North America; we are obsessed with sex and avoiding death. Sometimes we don’t mourn the death of loved ones well. We are preoccupied with youth and the beauty of youth. What is that but fear of Death?

Later on in Hebrews we read;

"Therefore,

•  
  • He had to become human in all things,
  • just like His brothers and sisters,
    • so that He might show that He is a merciful and faithful high priest
      • in things pertaining to God.
      • He has made up for the sins of the people,"

by the word “sin” we mean “the things we just can't manage to get right”;

it can also be used to describe our hearts that have a tendency to miss the point.

*          *          *

I would like to say something about our so called “sinfulness”, and what it does to our relationship with God. Primitive cultures throughout history and beyond have tried to come up with ways to appease an angry God. There was always a sense of terror where any Supreme Being was concerned. I believe the whole purpose of “sacrifices” as we have them in the old testament, was to slowly bring humanity from

 

• the idea of a god to dread, whom they worship out of fear,
• to the idea of a God to love, whom they can worship freely.

Our God, as revealed in Jesus Christ, is loving, and kind, gentle and with compassion. It is out of this compassion for us, i believe, that God allowed this system of sacrifices...so that our sense of alienation from God could be dealt with and we could freely move towards 1) the worship of God, and 2) loving relationships with those around us.

I think this is what God has done for us Homo Sapiens. From the beginning of time, we have feared retaliation from what we perceive to be an angry, powerful, capricious God. But God is not like that. We know that because Jesus Christ is our picture of what God is like. So, in the long journey of revealing God’s self as loving, kind, and faithful, God has had to deal with a somewhat significant learning curve for the human race. In God’s story arc, we were taught that the sacrifice of a perfect lamb takes care of everything. Later in that same story, as we have it in the Hebrew scriptures, God declares that these so-called sacrifices and holy days mean nothing to God. And finally, with the revelation of God in Christ Jesus, God has said, “Enough! We’re done with this sacrifice stuff.

Jesus was it. No more sacrifices are necessary.”

I believe that, as far as God is concerned, our relationship has never been broken.

• We are the ones that hide in the garden.
• We are the ones who cover our shame with flimsy fig leaves.

I believe God always loves us, and always wants our relationship reconciled. God has always wanted us to learn how to be fully human, the way we were created and intended to be. So that’s what Jesus did.

He taught us love, and he defeated Death.

*          *          *

So let’s go back to the last part of the reading from Hebrews.

“Jesus,

•  
  • the One who proclaims us as His sisters and brothers,
  • the One who says He will trust in God, not just for Himself, but for and on behalf of us all, His brothers and sisters,
  • the One who took on flesh and blood in order to defeat Death so that we could be set free from slavery to the fear of death,
  • the One who has brought us redemption through His suffering,

this Jesus

did all these things to prove that He qualified, in a sense,

to be our merciful and faithful high priest.

 

•  
  • He’s the One who took care to reconcile us to the God who is faithful.

 

 

So where is our hope? Where is my hope? Where is my hope when I see power hungry and greedy politicians and corporations wreak havoc around the world? Where is my hope when I see the effects of poverty that looks like it will never end, or the frustrations of those living with mental health issues? Where is my hope when my relationships are damaged or torn apart because of my behaviours, or the behaviours of those around me?

• My hope is in the One who loves me.
• My hope is in the One who has mercy.
• My hope is in the One who is faithful.
• My hope is in the One who defeated Death and set me free.

And if we can’t seem to find HOPE;

if we can’t manage to maintain HOPE,

maybe it’s time to go back to the basics…

 

Who is the ground of our being?

Who is “the author and finisher of our faith”?  (Hebrews 12:2)

 

And if we can’t find the reason for HOPE, remember that Jesus said,

 

“I will trust in God both for Me,

and for the children whom God has given me.”