December 3rd

How Will We Respond

How Will We Respond? 

A small group in my church created our Advent series called “From Fear to Peace: The Christmas Journey”. In the series outline, they state that things in our world are difficult: “Financial instability. Food insecurity. Polarization. Disconnection. Strikes. Aging. Health concerns. Grief. Pressure. Uncertainty. Anxiousness.” People in our communities face very real dangers, especially the vulnerable among us: those who are Queer, Transgender, struggling financially, disabled, deeply grieving, and aging/ailing in a medical system that is being changed for the worse.

The planners said that each Advent story we will hear also contains an element of danger, yet each time, God sends a message; to the fearful and weary people of The Covenant (Is 40), a righteous but worried man (Mat 1), an alarmed young woman (Luke 1), and terrified shepherds in their fields (Luke 2), God says, “Do not be afraid.”

With two thousand years of hindsight and the gift of scripture, we know that God keeps promises and that God came to live with humanity, to love, teach, and guide us in right-living. We read the words of comfort that God has offered to the vulnerable and the afraid, and we know that the same God that uttered those words is the same God that loves us now. We know, through our relationship with the Holy Spirit, that God is with us and is for us, and we do not need to fear the future.

And to all of that I say “Yes, and.” YES, what a gift this is! The Christmas story and all of the scriptures that teach us about our loving God are gifts. AND, those stories alone don’t solve our conflicts, put food on our tables, fix our estrangement from our families, keep our houses warm, ease the pain and sorrow of cancer, or take away our harsh loneliness or feelings of being left behind in a rapidly changing world. YES, the Christmas story and the goodness of God that it proves gives us the hope we need for the future of humanity and for creation. AND, in the meantime, it is up to us to bring hope for the here-and-now, for the grief and pain and hunger that is present for us.

The hope our communities need comes when we respond faithfully to God and to the needs around us. We know how Jesus called us to live: to love each other wholeheartedly and unconditionally, being devoted to letting God’s ἀγάπη/agape shine through us to touch the lives of others. We know that Jesus said the way we treat the vulnerable is the way we treat him, and we sing “Christ has no body here but ours; ours are the voices through which he speaks” when we gather for worship.

As FMC’s Advent guide says, “The good news of Advent is that God is bigger than our world’s problems.” And I will add: God has equipped us to be the answer to many of those problems.

How will we respond?