Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

As the Christmas lights come up this season, and Christmas with The Kranks is on repeat, Advent’s first week is in full effect. Adventus is the season where we prepare for the coming Christ. But as we indulge in festivities, I can’t help but think about the people of Israel who lived in a time of darkness and ambiguity. Advent is a multifaceted jewel of different perspectives and emotions that resonate with everyone who looks towards the season. Call me a Deborah Downer, but I usually posture myself with the hopelessness that the people of God must have felt before the arrival of Jesus Christ.

The people of Israel lived in a time where the promise of hope in a Messiah was only a hope in a far-off future. Surely not to be seen within their lifetime… So what’s the use of empty hope? Still, God's people cry, “Hear us, my Shepherd! Bring us wholeness, O God! How long, Lord God Almighty?” The hopelessness in me would say, “This will be just another prayer lost in time.” However, these are all prayers heard and understood by a God who never turned His face away from us.

There have been moments in my life of deep despair where I didn’t know what the following day would bring. Each day following brought even worse news. What brought me through those difficult times was the remembrance of the goodness of God and recalling His faithfulness to walk with me in moments of brokenness. But there was a time when the people of God lived off of a promise. A promise that a Davidic King would come and wipe their face from the despair that caked it.

And me?

I have read about the miracles of Jesus. I have seen His hand in situations that I have declared hopeless. I have seen how He has turned hopeless situations into testimonies of Jesus always being at my side.

But the people of Israel are holding on to a promise.

They are living on a promise while we are living in that promise fulfilled.

Our text describes the people of God calling out to Him in what seems to them to be His absence in their lives. Although it may seem like I have spoken about a lot of hopelessness for week one of Advent which should be about hope—stick with me, friends.

Verses 3-4 say,

“Stir up your might,

And come to save us!

Restore us, O God;

Let your face shine, so that we may be saved.” (NRSVUE, 2021)

This text does not depict a people calling upon the gentle and calm attributes of a shepherd (The One who leads us beside still waters). I take it that the people of Israel are calling upon a God who can (despite being gentle) also take up the attributes of a shepherd who rescues His sheep in moments of danger and affliction.[1]

But up until now, their prayers were met with silence. Still, the people of God repented for their sins and the generational sins of their ancestors. The faithful, though anxious, I’m sure, held on to the promise of a coming King that would bring hope and light to the darkness.

Do you need hope today?

Have you ever felt surrounded?

Have you ever felt buried?

Broken?

Lost?

Do you feel that now?

If you have, then you’re in good company.

You, nor anybody in your congregation, is alone.

There’s a lot of repetition of hopelessness. It seems the anxious people of today aren’t so different from those who worried then. But as we lean into the season of advent with hopelessness, we, creatures of the light, know that there is hope complete. A God who takes on human flesh, looks us in the eyes and asks, “Do you want to be healed, beloved?” Or to people who have been missing the part of them that they could never fill on their own, He wants to know, “Do you wish to become whole?” (John 5:6, LSV 2020)

The holiday season is not always the happiest season for everyone. Some people need to feel restored again, while others need to feel like they are not alone. This is a very real feeling, and one that is shared collectively. This may make it seem like everybody is hopeless…

But what if instead of seeing hopelessness, we see a community connected by their feelings who know they are not alone?

May we all sing the words of O Come O Come Emmanuel together as we celebrate that God is with us and His promise that He will never leave us!

“O come, O come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel.

That mourns in lonely exile here,

Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel"

May I offer up this prayer for all who read this today as we choose to walk in wholeness and hope this season.

God of hope who shatters the yoke of despair,

Revive Your people.

We have nowhere else to turn but to You.

Lord, rescue us from the lack of hope that surrounds us,

And remind us that our hope is found in You.

The light of Your face is our source of salvation,

And within Your lovingkindness, we find our refuge.

Bring Your hope into our brokenness so that we may see a way forward today and forevermore.

Amen.

[1] Timothy S. Laniak and David Ormesher, essay, in While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks: Rediscovering Biblical Leadership (Matthews, NC: ShepherdLeader Publications, 2007), 2.