"Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved." --Psalm 80:3

 

       Today we begin Advent, we begin a new season, and we begin a new church year. Whenever we begin something new, we carry a sense of hope:

• A young person gets a new job, the first significant position, and hopes that it will lead in satisfying ways.
• A couple comes to their wedding day, to begin a marriage, and they hope it will develop into many years of good life together.
• A basketball team comes to the first game of the new season, and they approach it with the nervous hope that perhaps their last game of the season will be for the championship.

        So, in this new season of Advent, we begin with the hope that we will receive Christ in a new and deeper way, and also that we might be awakened to look forward with eager anticipation to his return.

        The first word of hope, or vision of hope, is restoration. Restoration means that we discover again something that we had lost. It means that we build up that which has been broken down in our lives. It means we experience the formation in our souls of the life that welcomes and carries Jesus Christ, that we might be vessels of the grace of Christ.

       Restoration begins in lament, and today we read two laments, one from Psalm 80 and the other from Isaiah 64. A lament is someone crying out to God using images of restoration, speaking of the need of the heart, speaking through pain, so that the salvation of God might be experienced anew. A lament is a cry of hope.  These laments communicate a longing -- where a need is recognized and confessed, and then images of restoration are lifted to God. These images are biblical, and they come from the heart of one remembering the faithfulness of God in the past. It is the expression of lament that enables both Psalmist and prophet to form a request for God to act. The result is both an experience of salvation, or healing, and the recovery of hope.

       The first image is that of the shepherd and the flock, found in Psalm 80:1-7. We notice this flock is not like the one found in Psalm 23. There we see sheep that find green pasture and drink from quiet waters and their souls are restored. They are led by the shepherd who is the Lord. But here we find the flock eating the bread of tears and drinking tears by the bowlful (verse 5). They are hungry and growing weak. They are not being nourished. This image describes those who are focused on their pain, and cannot get beyond it. They need food to be restored.

       We begin by asking, When we grow weak in our pain and keenly feel our loss, how do we receive that which nourishes us?

       The answer is found in turning to God who is our shepherd, which is another word for king. We are nourished when we confess God as Lord and king, and recommit our lives to the authority of God, and to living in the way of God. That means finding our nourishment in the Word of God. It means re-tuning our lives from the messages of the world to the teaching of God's Word. A nourished soul is strong. We are to eat the food that God provides.

       The next image is found in verses 8 through 19, the farmer and the vineyard. God is like a landowner who builds a wall around a field, and then plants and cares for a vineyard so that it is fruitful. But the image of the vineyard in Israel told the story of God's people who turned against him and followed after other gods. Sin breaks down the protection God places in our lives. Sin leads to consequences. So Israel found themselves as a vine in a field where the protective wall had been broken down. Wild animals roamed the field and took the grapes. Enemies easily entered and spoiled the vineyard. Then the people confessed their sins and cried out to God for protection.

       The vineyard speaks of times in our lives when we have suffered the consequences of our sins and then experienced a continuing vulnerability, even after the lesson had been learned. We feel the need for protection, for safety, for re-building the wall. We deeply desire a time to grow and become fruitful again, to sing "It is well with my soul." But we get stuck feeling unprotected, wondering what will happen next. Ancient Israel looked for a time when they would be respected as a people again, a time when they would have national power restored to them.

In our individual lives, we can come to times when we long to be respected again, to have a good name, to have some personal sense of standing, and for life to go well. The Psalmist prays, "Revive us, and we will call on your name."

         Here we learn that restoration is not a quick apology and return to normal. Restoration is a process and it never goes as quickly as we would like. This is the process of repentance. Turning to God and experiencing the re-building of a life takes time, there are many steps along the way. Alcoholics Anonymous has identified twelve steps in their program of recovery. In the church we have too often seen repentance as simply the confession of sin. The twelve steps help us to know that while confession is important, it is just the beginning of a longer process of healing and restoration. There needs to be honest confession of who we are and what we have done, and belief that only God can help us, and commitment to turn our lives over to Him, and searching our hearts, and admitting to God and others just what we have done, making amends to those we have wronged, giving ourselves to developing a growing relationship with Christ, and sharing our lives with others in need. All that is our part in restoration.

But the twelve steps also help us to understand more clearly what it is that God does in the re-building of our lives. It is God who removes our sins and defects, and it is God who re-builds our lives, and God who gives us back what sin took away.

         The third image is that of the potter and the clay, and comes from Isaiah 64. The vessel formed by God gets damaged by sin, so that it is no longer useful. It is cracked and it leaks. So Israel came to a time when they were no longer able to carry the glory of God.

The same thing happens to us. We feel empty and useless. We think that all would be solved if the cup could just be refilled. But the cracked vessel leaks and soon is empty again. The vessel itself must be repaired, reformed, made whole.

          John Oswalt says that "God can act and will act again. But there are conditions. He acts in behalf of those who 'wait for him,' who put their trust in him." Our repentance must lead to a re-formation of the soul. In God's hands the cracked or damaged vessel is formed anew, somehow put back on the potter's wheel and made useful and whole.

          I think about the financial crisis in or country. I believe it is a formation issue. It is not solved by money alone, but by a change of heart. The solution comes with the restoration of integrity and honesty in institutions and leaders. The vessels must be made worthy of trust.

         This is the heart issue of our day. Who is it that forms your values, your behavior, your attitude, your sense of calling, your stewardship of life? Are you yielding to the potters hands? Do you simply want God to pour out more and more blessings upon you, or are you willing to be molded, to be truly formed in heart and mind by Him?

          Three images of restoration: a flock cared for by the shepherd; a vineyard whose wall has been rebuilt by the owner; a cracked vessel formed again by the potter. Each of these speaks to our hearts. First we must identify our hunger, our vulnerability and our brokenness. Confessing the truth of our lives, we turn to God who can restore us. Then we will experience the hope that comes from restoration.

          Amen.