Advent - The Realization Series

Advent - The Realization

Christmas is the happiest time of year, right? During the coming week, most of us will join with family and friends in celebration. We will have time off from school and work. But, experts tell us that December is when there is the highest incidence of depression. One survey of Americans found 45% dreaded the whole holiday season.

Is it just because days are short and skies are gray? My son, Sean, a confirmed Floridian, while visiting this week, wondered that anyone smiled here in the dismal NE winter with so little sunshine.

Is it the setup of false expectations? We live with a constant barrage of advertising making it seem that spending is the key to happiness, that all of our social gatherings will be perfect and filled with laughter, that conflict will magically disappear. But, we know those things are not the realities of living, are they?

And, of course, for millions, Christmas is a reminder that they have gone through losses - death, divorce, health, jobs. Then, too, during this season we allow our emotions to bubble up a little closer to the surface, feeling sentimental, remembering, dreaming of what we missed or think we missed.

If you are fighting with depression, if you feel like the Grinch, because you really just wish to skip to January 4 and be done with it all, please know this: you’re not alone, you’re not strange. But, there is this, too:

the REAL story of Christmas is not just for the whole, the happy, or whose lives are trouble-free.

I talked about EXPECTATION of God’s peace,

of PILGRIMAGE to a home in the Father’s love, and today -

I will talk about owning the PROMISE of Advent- the revelation of God’s purpose and love. I want to encourage each of us to realize, in our own lives, the peace of which angels sang to shepherds a long time ago.

TEXT - Luke 2: 25-32

"Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”" (Luke 2:25-32, NIV)

Simeon. I love that Luke includes this little story about a man who was waiting on God’s promises! There is such hope to be found in his story.

He was ‘righteous and devout,” words that indicate he knew and served God, living his life in a way that pleased the Lord! Of all the adjectives that people might use to describe me, “righteous and devout” are two that I would want near the top of the list, wouldn’t you?

And I also learn that in spite of his devotion he had a hunger for more of God. Luke tells us that “he was waiting.” Reading between the lines we come to the understanding that this old man was aware of Promises to the people of God that remained to be fulfilled. I wonder if he had long pondered Isaiah’s visions of the

‘shoot that would come up from the stump of Jesse... a Branch that would bear fruit... who would judge with righteousness... and raise a banner for the nations, gathering the exiles of Israel?’

Simeon had studied the text that says, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this."

(Isaiah 9:6-7, NIV)

The old man knew that he was reading about the Kingdom of God. He believed the promise, but every day as he walked to prayers in the Temple, he passed the Roman soldiers whose presence reminded him that Jerusalem was an occupied city. In the Temple, where he met God, he saw the corruption of religion. There in the house of prayer, there were the money changers and sellers of religious stuff who profited from their exploitation of those who came from far away to offer sacrifice and commune with God. And he knew the kingdom was yet to come!