1st Sunday of Advent
Mark 13:24-37
“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And, what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”
The Miracle of Hope
It is a miracle that I live and work in Helena, MT. I’ve been here for a little over two years now, and every time I stop to think about it, I just have to pause and wonder, “How is this my life?” How did I end up in this little state capital, surrounded by these wonderful people, in such a breathtakingly beautiful place? Whenever people ask me about it, I always tell them that Montana just wasn’t on my radar. I didn’t have anything against Montana, I just never thought about moving here.
Part of the process in becoming an ordained minister is finding a job that you can get ordained into. You can’t get ordained without a job. In the United Church of Christ, we have a database that has all of the churches looking for a pastor, and all of the ministers looking for jobs. When you’re looking at the jobs list, you can see how many jobs are available in each state, then you click on the state to look at those jobs. As I was looking for a job, I would click on the states that had the most jobs available, so California, Washington, Illinois, Maryland. Montana usually only had two or three available, so I never clicked on it.
Like any job search, looking for a job in ministry can be grueling. It’s particularly difficult for ministers because once your profile gets selected, you talk to the search committee, and it’s not like a regular job interview. Those conversations can go for over an hour as you talk about your theology, your past experiences, your philosophy of church leadership. And, at some point, the search committee starts telling you about the church, what the congregation is like, what the town is like where the church is, and what the relationship is like between the church and the town, because as much as the search committee is trying to figure whether or not the minister is a good fit for the congregation, the minister is trying to figure out whether the congregation is a good fit for them.
It’s a pretty intimate experience, and you really get to know each other and you even start to care about each other during this process. But, usually, a congregation can only select one minister, so eventually the rejection emails start to arrive.
Dear Charles,
We are sorry to inform you that we are no longer considering you to be the pastor of UCC Seneca Valley. We wish you the best of luck in your search and call process.
Dear Charles,
It was so nice getting to know you but we are no longer considering you to be the pastor of First Congregational Church UCC. God be with you as you continue with your search and call process.
You think you had such a great conversation with the search committee, and you feel like you really clicked with them. And, you start imagining what it would be like to move to Seneca Valley, or Seattle, or Deerfield, IL. It makes it all the more disappointing when that rejection email arrives. And, you tell yourself, that just means that wasn’t the right place for you. You weren’t meant to go there. But, you can only get so many rejections before it starts to get to you, and you start to lose hope.
Today is Hope Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent. Our gospel reading is about Jesus coming, not for the first time, but the second. It says, “you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn,” so you must stay alert. You must stay hopeful. Jesus is telling this to his disciples shortly before his arrest. He was telling them that he was going to come back. There were going to be scary and trying days ahead, and he was giving them hope.
God is always with us when we are struggling. God is with us when we long for something, or when we’re missing someone. God gives us the hope that allows us to keep going. That is the miracle of hope. When we’re ready to give up, when we can’t think of a way out or of a solution to our problem, God gives us hope that things will work out. Somehow, some way, by the grace of God, things will somehow work out. When we think about the loved ones we’ve lost, when we’re missing them and just wish we could see them again, God gives us the hope that we will, when we eventually step into eternity with God and reunite with them again.
I think about the hope that we feel as a congregation every time we send out an application for a grant, so that we can help our refugee neighbors or get solar panels installed on our roof. The hope that we felt as we waited to hear word of a grant that would allow us to put together a traveling gallery exhibit of our unsheltered neighbors, and the joy and the wonder that we felt when that hope was realized. And now, we have this beautiful exhibit that’s been making its way around town, putting a human face on our unsheltered neighbors, and which is hopefully helping to move people towards generosity, compassion, and love.
I think about the people of Israel and Palestine, and all of the terrible things they’ve experienced. How many countless prayers must have been lifted up to God from those who have lost their homes, who have witnessed horrors, who can’t find their loved ones. Who would blame them if they just gave up? Who would blame them if they just decided that they couldn’t take it anymore, that they just can’t keep going? But, they do. They keep going because God gives them the hope that they will make it through this terrible situation. Whatever their understanding of God is, whatever they think about what’s going on, God lives inside of them as a spark of hope that keeps them going. What’s happening over there is terrible, and it makes us wonder where God is in all of that. But, God is there. Maybe not I the way that we want God to be there, but God is there, with the people, with those who are suffering. And, God is the reason that it will eventually come to an end. God is the reason that those who survive will be able to continue on with their lives. That is the miracle of hope.
I was beginning to lose hope that I would ever find a job. And, if I couldn’t find a job, then I couldn’t get ordained, and then what would have been the point of all of those years of college and seminary. But, I’ve always trusted that God had some kind of plan. I always hoped that God had a plan. So, no matter what happened, deep down inside, deep deep down inside, I hoped that things would work out somehow. By some miracle, when I least expected it, I was offered a job as a youth leader, a job that I would be able to get ordained into as a youth minister. And, once I got ordained, I had to update my profile on the UCC database, which is how your conference minister found it. And then, he reached out to me.
And, despite all of the trials and tribulations that threated to stop me from coming, I made it. It is a miracle that I live and work in Helena, MT. And, I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but I couldn’t have hoped for a better church to be working with, or a more loving and welcoming community to be a part of. When I think about how my life has gone, and all of the things that happened to get me here, I can’t help but think of it as a miracle.
God is always at work in all of our lives, in ways big and small. Every time we get that sense that somehow, some way, everything will eventually work out, that’s God. Every time things look bleak, and we don’t know how we’re going to make it, God is with us, giving us the hope that we need to persevere.
Our theme for Advent this year is Expecting a Miracle. We are hoping for a miracle. We’re hoping for lots of miracles. So, no matter what happens, remember that God is with you, and look for the hope inside of you. It’s there because God put it there. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
