Hope

Happy Sunday. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. It's been almost 30 years. Michigan State and Wisconsin were playing football in Badger Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Something odd happened that day.

The crowd would cheer at the strangest times. Even when Michigan State had the ball, the Wisconsin fans would break out cheering. How could they cheer when the other team was doing well? It turns out that 70 miles away, the Milwaukee Brewers were beating the St. Louis Cardinals in game four of the 1982 World Series.

Many of the fans in the stands at the football game had portable radios. This is the days before cell phones. The cheers were not for the football game at all. The cheers for what was going on in another game, in another sport, in another place.

I love that story. No, I don't cheer for any of those teams, football or baseball, but I love the lesson here. There are great benefits in having our attention focused elsewhere. Today we begin our celebration of Advent, the coming of Christ.

Our focus will be hope, the hope that Christ brings to this world. Hope comes when we focus elsewhere. Hope comes when we keep a biblical perspective. Hope disappears when we focus on this world. We must stay plugged in to God.

Today I want us to look at part of the story of Jacob. He was in a tough situation. You could say hopeless. If you know his story, you know that he lied to his father Isaac. He stole his brother Esau's birthright. He was running for his life because his brother wanted to kill him.

We'll pick up the story after he ran away. Genesis 28, verses 10 to 16 tell us: "Jacob left Beersheba, and he went towards Haron. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed. He dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth. The top was reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

"And the Lord stood beside him and said, 'I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring, and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.'

"Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.'"

After this moment, everything changed for Jacob. It's interesting. Instead of getting blessed out, God bless Jacob. Such as grace. Jacob went from one running away from everything to being chosen by God. He went from no hope to endless hope.

Jacob's dream of a way to heaven became a reality for us because of Christmas. God did climb the ladder. Jesus did come to us, and so we celebrate. In Matthew chapter 1, we are told of another dream. I begin at verse 18.

"Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and the angel said, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.'

"And all this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet Isaiah: 'Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,' which means 'God is with us.'"

God is with us. Two thousand years later, we know the whole story. We know that Jesus came for us and gave his life. We do not have to dream. Our hope is real. If we follow Christ, we will have hope even in the darkest of times.

I'm told of a painting of an old burned-down mountain shack. In the picture, all there remained was the chimney and the charred ruins of the family home. In the foreground of the painting stood an old man dressed only in his underclothes, and a small boy, perhaps his grandson, crying.

Beneath the painting were the words which the artist felt the old man was speaking to the boy. They were simple words, yet they present a profound theology for all who would consider them. The words: "Hush, child. God ain't dead."

Have you lost hope? House child, God ain't dead. He has come. He is here. It is not a dream. God is with us.

Let's pray together. Lord, whatever is going on in the lives of those watching this, I pray that they have the greatest of hope because you are with them. Let us celebrate your coming. Let us always have hope, because you can do anything, and we are your people, and you are alive and well. Let us remember that always. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. God bless.