Calvary United Methodist Church

December 3, 2017

HOPE

Rev. Dr. S. Ronald Parks

Children’s Sermon: 1 Peter 1:3-9

The Kingdom, the power and the glory, given to us now and forever.

We welcome the children to the front of this worship space to celebrate

God’s gifts, both now and all through the year. Good crew!

So, here’s a greeting you probably didn’t expect to hear this morning:

Happy New Year! Now, why didn’t you expect to hear that?

Because the first Sunday of Advent happens to be the first Sunday of

the Christian liturgical year, which means that we start telling the story

of Jesus and his love for us and God’s gift right now and we take it all

the way through the last Sunday of Kingdomtide, which happened last

week.

Speaking of last, last year I gave you guys an Advent quiz and you did

really well on it so I thought what we would do is kind of up the diffi-

culty factor a little bit and see how you do this year. You guys score in

the pews and see how you do as well.

The first one is a give-me. I just talked about the fact that the first

Sunday of Advent is also the: last day for candy sales; b. first day of

winter; c. first Sunday of the Christian liturgical year; d. the last day to

wear flip flops. Which is the answer?

(C.) C. Exactly right, the first Sunday of the liturgical year. That’s

the give-me. Now they get tougher.

The Latin word adventus means Jesus is coming to: be born in a man-

ger; live in our hearts; bring God’s Kingdom or all of the above.

(All the above.) Exactly right, all the above. You are doing great: 2

for 2.

How many Sundays are there in Advent? Take a look at the Advent

wreath and count the number of colored colors.

(Four.) Four, exactly right. Somebody at the early service counted

five, but they counted which candle that isn’t colored? The one in the

middle, the big white candle, which is Jesus’ birthday candle.

Number 4. An angel told Joseph in a dream to: switch to Geico; take

Mary as his wife; eat more veggies or update his passport.

Go ahead. (B.) Take Mary has his wife. He probably should have up-

dated his passport too, although he didn’t know that at the time.

At the time of Jesus’ birth, blank ruled Judea? King Kong; Prince Har-

ry; King Herod; or Duke Ellington?

(C.) C, King Herod, that’s right. Anybody sick and tired about hear-

ing about Prince Harry already? Ok. It’s not just me.

The angel Gabriel told Mary: The Lord is with you; you will have a

son; you’ll name him Jesus; or all the above?

(All the above.) Exactly right. In fact, that was almost the first sen-

tence that the angel spoke: The Lord is with you. You will have a son

and you will call his name Jesus. Alright, you are doing very well.

Number 7: Isaiah looked forward to the coming of: Santa; The Prince

of Peace; the winter solstice or the high tide?

Which was it? (Prince of Peace.) The Prince of Peace, exactly right.

Just one of the many names for God’s anointed one, the person we call

Jesus.

The color used for Advent in church is? This one is a little tricky be-

cause there are choices: blue or purple; green or gold; black and white

or the colors of the rainbow?

(Blue or purple.) That’s exactly right. We have vestments back in

storage in the sacristy that are purple because in previous centuries the

color purple symbolized royalty, the coming of the king. But in more

contemporary times in the church, the color of blue has taken on a big-

ger place in Advent and it literally means “He’s coming; we’re waiting

for him to show up.”

Number 9. Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem for: spring break; a Ro-

man census; Christmas shopping or dinner and a show?

(B.) B, a Roman Census. They both went and they both had to meet

with the authorities there.

Here’s another relatively easy one, the last one. The first Advent can-

dle theme is: God; Grace; Faith or Hope?

(Hope.) Hope, exactly right. Now, while you know the word hope,

you’ve heard about it a lot. In fact, if you are making a Christmas list,

how many of you have made your Christmas list already? What you

are writing down are things that you hope you are going to get.

But here in this setting in the church, hope is a little bit bigger than the

stuff we have on our list. Hope is one of the blessings we seek from

God.

It’s a gift God gives us as we prepare for the birth of Jesus on Christ-

mas.

And Hope literally is the desire, not only what we want but it’s also a

trust, it’s faith, that good things are going to happen,

Because God is fulfilling his promises. Let me give you four promises

of God that are pretty easy to remember:

The first one is probably the easiest: God promises that “I will love

you.”

In fact, God loves us so much that he gave us the gift of His Son on

Christmas day.

The second one: I’ll not only love you. I’ll lift you up. And the lower

life pushes you, the stronger my power will be to lift you up.

Those who hope in God shall be lifted up on wings like eagles. They

will be strong in the power of the Lord. So say it with me, you guys

too: The first one is: I’ll love you. And the second one is: I’ll lift you

up.

The third one, also easy to remember: I’ll live in you, not above you,

not next to you; I will live in you, because:

If, Jesus says, you love like I do God’s Spirit lives with you and in

you. So, let’s go through those three promises: I’ll love you. I’ll lift

you. I will live in you.

Last one: I’ll lead through you.

Jesus tells his disciples, the very last thing he says before he ascends to

heaven: Go and make disciples, baptizing them and leading them in

the truth and I’ll be right beside you. So, the four promises are: I’ll

love you. I’ll lift you up. I’ll live in you. I’ll lead through you. Ok,

now without any help at all, just the adults in the room: (I’ll love you.

I’ll lift you up. I’ll live in you. I’ll lead through you.) That’s the qui-

etest you people have ever been.

Hope is the desire and trust that good things are going to happen,

As God fulfills His promises.

From 1 Peter these words remind us just how strong God’s promises

are:

Sing praise to God, he said.

Give thanks for the gift of His son Jesus.

He brings us the promise of a hopeful future.

What does that mean? Two things:

The first is important right now. It means that every day is a new be-

ginning. No matter what happened yesterday, no matter how badly

you did on that quiz on Friday, no matter how awful things are going,

no matter how crooked your tree is that you just cut down and put in

your living room, every day is a new beginning.

But the second thing is equally important: our last day of life here…

Is the beginning of a new life in Christ.

That hope, not only for today but for the future, it changes everything.

Because hope allows us to honor God with our worship and our work.

Hope helps us to overcome our fears with faith.

Hope equips us to participate in proclaiming…/

The gift born in Bethlehem’s manger.

And hope empowers us to give gifts of love to all.

Now, here’s something cool about what I just said: Hope Honors God.

Hope Overcomes fear.

Hope Participates in proclaiming the Good News.

And Hope Empowers through us through love. Got it?

Honor

Overcome

Participate

Empower

HOPE spells hope. Right. How I am going to show you how good a

cheerleader I was in high school by giving you the…no, I’m not going

to do that. Because I have a robe on and you can’t see my skills with

this robe on.

Hope is the desire and the trust that good things are going to happen…

As God is fulfills—bad grammar there—as God is fulfilling his prom-

ises…

To us and through us.

What I need is somebody who is not afraid to handle a flame. Young

man, why don’t you do that? While the rest of us sing the Advent can-

dle song, The Candle of Hope. Let’s rock.

Light the Advent candle, one: Fire for Hope for everyone.

We have started on our way, to the manger filled with hay.

Candle, candle, burning bright, sharing in the cold winter night;

Candle, candle, burning bright, fill our hearts with hope’s pure light.

Not too shabby singing, could use a little bit of a, you know, bump, but

I remember that it’s been 48 Sundays since you sang that hymn, so we

are going to let it go this time. We are not going to make you do it

over, right?

Now, I was thinking of all sorts of things that I could give you as a re-

minder of Hope and I came up with these really cool tree ornaments.

They look a lot like beach balls, but they’re not. They are Christmas

tree ornaments. You know how I know that? Because if you look at

the tree on the platform, see the ornaments on it? Oh, nice, right?

These are big ornaments and the cool thing about these ornaments is

they have the children’s sermon already written on them. Now, here’s

what we are going to do: if you take, everybody got one?

Ok. If you take a paperclip and you unfold it, you kind of unbend it,

you can hook it in the little spout where you blow the ball up.

You can hook it in there and you can use it to cover the big gaping hole

on the tree that you didn’t see when you bought it, that you often turn

to the outside, you know so the people driving by can see the big hole

in the tree.

If you’d rather not put it on your tree like we’ve done, then what you

can do is you can hang it anywhere or just rest it someplace so that you

can be reminded of all of the ways in which God’s hope lives in our

hearts and lives.

Thanks for sharing in our time this morning.

A Litany of Celebration for the Sacraments in the Season of Ad-

vent:

A SACRAMENT OF WELCOMING AND UNITY

To the Family of Faith Called Calvary

One: Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are the church. As members

of this called and commissioned body, we are sent forth to bring the

peace and power of God’s grace into the hearts and lives of all peo-

ple of every age and station.

In baptism, we acknowledge that each of us belongs to God, and that

we bear a responsibility to nurture and instruct one another in the

love of the Lord. In welcoming new members, we affirm our com-

mon call to embrace all people in the peace of Christ. These ques-

tions urge all of us to rejoice in the power of the Spirit & the hope,

peace, love and joy that creates this community of believers.

To the Parents of Those Who are to be Baptized:

Do you believe that God alone is perfect and that we are imperfect in

our obedience? (I do.)

Do you accept the challenge of choosing daily to follow Christ? (I

do.)

Do you confess that Jesus is Emmanuel, the Son of the Living God?

Do you trust in his sacrifice and God’s unfailing grace? (I do.)

Will you dedicate your life to teaching your child how to walk in the

footsteps of Jesus & allow us to share in this labor of love? (I will.)

The symbol of water is used to recall the baptism of Jesus and to

mark the beginning of the process by which children prepare to

become disciples.

To Those Who Are to be Received into Our Fellowship

Will you dedicate your life to sharing and celebrating the love of Jesus

as members of Calvary United Methodist Church? (I will.)

Will you joyously share your time, talents, and treasures as we work

to bring people to God and God to our community? (I will.)

To the Congregation

One: Do you, as the body of Christ called Calvary, reaffirm your com-

mitment to our Lord and one another? (We do.)

Will you include this child and her/his parents in your caring embrace?

Will you receive and respect them as brothers and sisters in Christ?

ALL: By the grace of God, we promise to care for this family. We

will pray for them, that their home may be a haven of hope,

peace, love and joy.

One: Will you receive these new members as disciples who join us in

the great work of the Kingdom? Will you value their gifts, affirm

their witness, and encourage them along the journey of faith?

ALL: With God’s help, we will be the Church for one another.

We will surround you with love and pray for you that God may

equip each of us to be faithful all our days.

A Blessing

One: May God grant us every good gift, that we may be faithful and

loving in our ministry to one another and passionate and generous

in our mission to bring people to God and God to our community.

Amen.

A SACRAMENT OF HOPE, PEACE,

LOVE, & JOY

One: Today is the first day of the Christian year and the first Sunday

of Advent. In churches around the world, the story of our salvation

begins anew this morning. Over the next four weeks, we will recall

the promises that announced the coming of the Messiah. For us,

these prophecies are fulfilled in the birth of the Christ child. To

mark the time of preparation for his arrival, we light candles to rep-

resent hope, peace, love and joy. Each is a different facet of the

grace God has revealed to us in the gift of his Son.

All: Loving God, as we enter this Advent season, we open all the

dark places in our lives to the healing light of Christ. Grant us

eyes to see the gifts he brings. Give us hearts in which to pre-

pare a place for him. May the days ahead be a time of grateful

expectation, that we may continue to walk in the light of Christ. One: The expectation of Advent is before us. For centuries, the faith-

ful both celebrate and anticipate the coming of Christ. Christ came

to us; his life poured out in service and sacrifice. Christ is here

with us. But we will also remember the words of our Savior: “Do

not let fear rule your hearts. I am going to my Father’s house to

prepare a place for you. I will come back to lead you home.” What

God has done in Christ is an invitation to new life. What Christ

will accomplish in the fullness of time is the source of our hope.

All: The good news of Advent is this: Christ has come. Christ is

here. Christ will come again. We welcome Christ into our

hearts. We follow in his footsteps, guided by his hand and nur-

tured by the Word. We receive this sacrament as a symbol of

our shared hope in what God has planned for his people.

One: The transformation of Advent occurs within us. As the King of

Kings makes his home in our hearts, we experience peace. If we

allow our will to be controlled by it, we become peacemakers; chil-

dren of our Heavenly Creator. Our voices join those of the angel

chorus, proclaiming, “Peace on earth. Good will to all!”

All: God of Creation, we seek the renewal of your Holy Spirit.

You are never absent from us. Your presence calms the chaos of

our souls. Teach us that perfect peace comes from caring for

others as you care for us. Transform our hearts and minds to

be one with the Prince of Peace. We receive this sacrament as a

sign that we are bound to you and each other by the gift of

peace he brings.

One: The proclamation of Advent is entrusted to each of us. “For be-

hold, I bring you tidings of great joy to be shared with all people.

For into every life is born a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” We are

those who not only hear the Good News; we are the body of Christ.

May the joy we know in Christ carry us through this holy season

and the challenges of a new year.

ALL: God of Promise and Fulfillment, there is nothing beyond

your power and no one outside your grace. You have made us

in your image and given us the opportunity to share in the great

work of redemption. Fill us with the kind of joy that cannot be

contained. Pour us out into the lives of those who are despond-

ent. We receive this sacrament as an expression of the joy you

have given to the world in the Word made flesh.

One: The affirmation of Advent is revealed in each of us. God’s love

for his children is so complete and constant that he could not aban-

don us. At the right time, he stepped from eternity and walked the

path of righteousness in the company of the fallen. His name was

Emmanuel: “God with us.” And of all the gifts and blessings he

shares with us, the greatest is love.

ALL: Lord of Life and Light, everything you ask and expect of us

is fulfilled in the relationship of love. With our heart, soul,

mind and strength, we give ourselves in loving devotion to you.

With passion, courage and vision, we offer ourselves in loving

service to one another. We receive this sacrament as an expres-

sion of your love for us in union with those who throughout his-

tory have heard these words of consecration:

One: On the final night of his earthly life, Christ gathered his disciples

together in a fellowship of hope, peace, joy and love. At the end of

the meal he took bread, blessed and broke it, then passed it to them

saying:

ALL: Take and eat. This bread is the body of Life, broken by the

world. Eat it in remembrance and in hope.

One: After that he took the cup, blessed it, and passed it to them say-

ing:

ALL: This cup is the sign of the New Covenant. Whenever you

share, it remember me. Hold firm to this promise and hope: I

will share this feast of love with you again when all things are

fulfilled at the banquet of the Kingdom.

One: Remembering the birth of the child in the stable, we remember

also his life, his sacrifice and his resurrection.

ALL: We remember how he poured his love out for each of us.

May this time called Advent be a season in which he comes

anew into every life. Amen.

(While the elements are being shared, you are invited to share in the

singing of the following hymns or use the time for quiet meditation.)

Benediction:

And the light that God has entrusted to us is the light of Hope, the de-

sire, the want and the faith, the trust that good things are going to hap-

pen…

As God fulfills His promises…

To us and through us.

Let us go forth with HOPE to Honor the Lord in worship; to Over-

come the fears that we bear; to Participate in a proclamation of joy;

and to Empower one another with gifts of the love of Christ. That’s

what we have to share. Thanks be to God. Amen.