Sermon preached at First Christian Church, Hammond, Louisiana, on the First Sunday of Advent 2022

Like many Americans, I have tried to have a good thanksgiving this year. My daughter and her new husband, along with my son, have been visiting all week. We spent Wednesday and Thursday cooking and watching a lot of football. And then on Friday, we got the Christmas decorations out, put on some Christmas music, put up the tree and started decorating the house. After lunch, my daughter says, “You know what will really get me into some Christmas spirit?” 

“I don’t know. What Sara?”

“Going Starbucks and then to a shopping mall!”

“On Black Friday! Do you know how many people are going to be at the mall? 

That’s what makes it Christmas!”

So, over the causeway we went to Lakeside Mall. As we looked for a parking space amid gazillion cars, Sara started singing, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” 

When we got inside, we had to make an effort not to lose one another in the sea of shoppers. And we commented that we were glad we got the flu vaccine and the most recent Covid booster shot. As we stopped to take pictures in front of a giant Christmas tree outside of Macy’s, we were all startled by a loud noise. It sounded like someone dropped something on the floor, but we all looked at each other and said the same thing: “I thought that was someone shooting!”

In the wake of a pair of deadly shootings where an attacker opened fire in an LGBTQ nightclub killing five people; a Wal-Mart employee gunned down six coworkers before turning the gun on himself, and an eight year old boy fatally shot in New Orleans, celebrating Thanksgiving was difficult this year.

Twenty years ago, upon reflecting on the hatred, racism and violence of the world, the popular band known as “The Black-eyed Peas” had a number one hit in which they asked the question, “Where’s the Love, Ya’ll?”

Today, with the rise of antisemitism, political disparaging of LGBTQ people, and gun violence, I believe we are not only still asking “where’s the love, ya’ll?” but in despair, we are now asking, “Where’s the hope, ya’ll?”For we have endured so much. We have waited so long.

The good news is that it is the first Sunday of Advent and there’s an angel among us. An angel named Gabriel who has some good news for us in our despair. 

Today, we are reminded that there was an aging Jewish couple whose despair paralleled not only Israel’s waiting in despair, but also ours.

In an occupied land ruled by a puppet king, there was an old priest named Zachariah who was married to a woman named Elizabeth. Together, they lived honorably before God. But [and for a Jewish couple it was big but] but they were childless.

The despair of the couple is put in perspective as we remember that the bearing of children was considered to be a great blessing, and it was essential for carrying on the family name, perpetuating God’s covenant with Israel, and providing oneself with care in old age. Barrenness was regarded as a tragedy, a disgrace, and even a sign of God’s punishment. Their despair is heightened when we are told that they are now “getting on in years.” 

Rev. Zachariah is busy doing normal, traditional church stuff when the angel shows up, and he is terrified, and fear overwhelms him. Could it be that is because when we are doing traditional church stuff, the last thing we expect is for God to actually show up? 

It is then the angel assures Zechariah with familiar angelic words: “Do not be afraid.” It is then the angel says: “for your prayer has been heard.”

 I wonder what went through the old priest’s mind when he heard an angel from heaven speak those words: “For your prayer has been heard?”

“Finally, God is going to send down a legion of angelic beings from heaven to liberate Israel from King Herod and the Roman Empire!” “Finally, heaven has come down to earth and all of the wrongs in the world are going to be made right!” “Finally, God’s kingdom has finally come and God’s will is finally going to be done on earth as it is in heaven!” “The cosmic calvary is here and antisemitism, racism, hate and violence will be no more!” 

Whatever he was thinking, he certainly wasn’t prepared for the words the angel spoke next:

“Your wife Elizabeth is going to have a baby and you are going to name him John. Many will rejoice with you when he is born, because he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must avoid wine and hard liquor because, even while he is still in the womb, he will be intoxicated with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics—he’ll get the people ready for God.”

There is a big word for this type of experience. We call it an “annunciation.”  It’s the word to describe the call of God on a person’s life. It is when ordinary lives are caught up in the extraordinary purposes of God. We learn throughout the Bible, that this is the main way God chooses to work in the world.  God has always been in the annunciation business. 

When God’s people lament, “Where’s the love?” or “Where’s the hope, ya’ll?” God doesn’t send down a heavenly army. No, God sends one, maybe two angels, to call human beings to share the love, be the light, and offer the hope. Zachariah was praying for hope and an angel showed up and said, “Zachariah, you and Elizabeth are the hope. Your child will be the hope!”

It is then that Zachariah responds the way most of us respond when we are called by God—with a lot of doubt. Zachariah says to the angel, “Do you expect me to believe this?” For there is something about human nature that always doubts that God can use us to make any real difference in the world.

That’s the way it is with most all annunciations.  Like Mary, we ask: “How can this be?” or like Moses, “Why would you choose me? You know I am not a good speaker!” Do you remember the annunciation of Abraham?  When God called Abraham in the middle of the night, he was too dumbfounded to speak. Do you remember the annunciation of his wife Sarah?  When she was called, she laughed out loud! Like Zachariah and Elizabeth, Abraham and Sarah thought they were too old for an annunciation. 

A little girl was having trouble going to sleep during a thunderstorm one night.  Her father went into her room where she lay frightened in her bed.  She said, “I’m scared daddy, I don’t want to sleep by myself. Can I sleep with you and Mommy?”

He said, “Darling, you are not by yourself, God is here with you. So you don’t need to be scared. Just know that God is here watching over you and go to sleep.”  She said, “I know that Daddy, but tonight, I think I need to sleep with someone who has a skin face!”

This is why God is in the annunciation business, and this is what Christmas is all about! This is why the Word became flesh. This is why God came to earth…with a skin face! The truth is: everybody needs somebody with a skin face. God realizes that, and God calls people like you and me with skin faces every day for God’s purposes.

I believe all of us who are here today have our own, unique stories of annunciation. Lori tells the story of how she believed God was calling her to be a pastor’s wife, while she was yet a teenager.  But she didn’t tell me about calling until three years after we were married when I told her I believed God was calling me to be a pastor. I said, “Baby, if this is true, that you always thought God was calling you to be a pastor’s wife, what did you think when you married me?  I was selling cars at the time and had no idea I was going to be a pastor!” She said, “I just assumed you were my first husband.”

The truth is, all of us are called for some purpose which is greater than ourselves. This is good news for there is nothing in the world which is more hopeless than someone who walks this earth with absolutely no purpose whatsoever. Or is living a completely self-absorbed, self-centered life.

If we had time, I think it would be fun to go around this sanctuary and hear some of you share your stories of annunciations.  For I am sure that many people have often wondered, why some of you do what you do. Why you are a part of this church. Why you continue to give of yourselves through this church to make a difference in the world.

You may not know this, but Sam Hubbard and I work together to see  a few hospice patients each month. I would love to hear from the hospice nurse that Sam and I work with. She could have been anything she wanted to be, but for some reason she decided to become a hospice nurse. She decided that she wanted to care for the dying knowing all the while that she was not going to make a lot of money doing it.  

I would love to talk to some of my favorite school teachers and ask them: you could have been a done a hundred things with your life, but for some mysterious reasons you decided to be school teacher. You gave up untold riches so you could work with children. What made you do that?

What persuades some of you to spend a day in your retirement, not in the spa, on the golf course or at home, but out preparing and serving meals to college students?

So, in a world filled with hate and violence, racism and bigotry, death and despair—where’s the hope?  Although there are angels among us, they are not coming with a heavenly army. The angels are among us calling you and calling me, to do what we can, where we can, how we can, to live out the way of love that Jesus taught his disciples in order to bring some heaven to earth. You are the hope. We are the hope. Our children and grandchildren are the hope. 

Where’s the hope ya’ll? Ya’ll are the hope.