"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

 

         Mary watches the events surrounding the birth of Jesus, and she ponders them in her heart. Her quietness stands in contrast to the activism of the shepherds. Our busy lives are much more tuned to the shepherds. We like the grand spectacle, the rushing off to Bethlehem, the witnessing to all who will listen, the praise of God on the hillside. But Mary is described as being quiet, as treasuring these things up in her heart. We wonder if it really might be all right to watch God work, to ponder what we see and experience, to quietly wait instead of always being in a hurry to accomplish the next goal, to take up the next cause. Part of me hopes you don't listen too carefully to this sermon, because I need you to help at the Adopt-a-Family party, to play your instruments in worship on Christmas Eve, to help at PADS, to go to the food bank. What is this quiet watching all about? According to the Romans passage, it seems to be about "filling"--empty and quiet lives being filled with joy and peace, overflowing with hope.

         Despite our inclinations to activism and over-commitment of our time and energy, we do have a need to watch what God is doing and reflect on what we see and experience. God fills us, if we will take time to receive. There is a living in hope which requires simple trust, and time for prayer and song. There is an experience of grace that only comes when we pause to read God's Word, listen to it and then do what it says. Then the experience of grace leads to an inner strength, to endurance and encouragement. Any experience of God calls for reflection or meditation, so that we can use the special experience for spiritual growth. Remember, it is Mary we find at the cross. There is no mention of the shepherds there.

         What happens to the shepherds? Does their activism cool, or do they find a mature and lasting faith? We do not know. Theirs is an unfinished story.

         I would like to share with you an unfinished story, one I found in the County Jail Ministry newsletter that I receive from Washington. What is described in the jail ministry is often beyond my own experience, and so it stretches me. This one is a story about the need for more than raw experience in our lives, about the need for reflection, pondering, treasuring the acts of God, and the need for us to be filled with hope. It is an unfinished story.

         During a Bible study in the jail, the chaplain notices Jorge, a gang leader known for his articulate raps on the street, his quick sense of humor, and his leadership skills. This day the chaplain observes a sullen demeanor in him during the study. Jorge does not say anything. At the end of the study the chaplain invites the men to experiment with the tangible presence of God. They hold their hands out for God to fill them with the Holy Spirit.

"I watched as another person poured the invisible substance over Jorge's head, and his eyes jumped open. He smiled, looked up, and laughed as he realized he was feeling something hot and beautiful that defied his cynical assumptions. Something real."

         When Jorge got out of jail, he called the chaplain and described his experience. "It felt like real oil all down the right side of my face, the side the person poured the Spirit out over me!" For some days they spent much time together, praying and studying God's word. Jorge unabashedly asked for hugs before goodbyes and shook his head at times and said, "God is big, man."

         "Then I stopped hearing from him. His parents call me, asking where he is; worried that he is lost again to the streets, to the all night, endless episodes of his gang."

         This is an unfinished story. The power of God sometimes seems weak compared to the power of the world, in this case the power of gangs and drugs and an old life. Change is difficult. But what the world considers to be weak is in fact the greatest strength. When we take time to ponder the work of God in our hearts, we are in fact filled with hope.

         It is good for us to remember, before we get to Christmas, that the birth of the Savior begins in the words of the prophet about a green shoot, arising from a stump. Isaiah also uses the image of the root. That image would include the tender new growth arising from the ground. Both images are of something small, seemingly insignificant, but life bearing and filled with promise.

The shoot refers to a child descendent. After generations of poor and unfaithful kings who wandered into greed and idolatry, the forest that is Israel is cut down by God's judgment. The kings no longer bear life. The people who follow their ways have become hollow, empty and worn out. But in the vision of Isaiah, there comes a day when one tree, that of Jesse the father of David, sprouts a small green shoot. It seems insignificant, weak, not of great value in the world. But on this shoot, on this child descendent of David, the Spirit of God rests. There is a time for filling of wisdom, understanding and power. Then with righteousness he will judge the needy, the empty, the grieving. Finally, peace comes not only to the nations, but to the natural world itself.

         Those who put their trust in the Lord, who believe and who treasure up in their hearts what they see God doing, pay attention to the shoot. Though it is not mighty in worldly terms, it is life-bearing, it is growing, it carries with it a statement about the future. That is what Mary did as she looked at her child, Jesus.

         In Romans 15, Paul quotes part of the Isaiah passage, "The root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him." The Christian life is one of uncertainty, of looking at what seems weak and placing our trust in it, of confronting our circumstances with hope from God.

         Leon Morris writes, "Becoming a Christian means leaving a whole way of life and in faith starting a new one. Not having been along that way before, the beginner cannot know to what it will lead; he can only go ahead in hope and in the power of the Holy Spirit."

         So for all of us we have hope by the power of the Holy Spirit in tension with worldly power; that which is known, that which brings the comfort of the familiar, even if it comes with false promises.

         For one like Jorge it may be the allure of the life on the streets, the quick riches that come from selling drugs.

         For us it may be a comfortable life built on security and physical safety, the promise offered by financial gain.

         For a young person it may be the path to having friends, of being accepted.

         Each has its power, each comes with false promises. Whether one is a street gang member or a Wall Street banker, the temptation is always to be pulled away from hope by that which is known and seen, to place our trust in worldly power rather than God's power.

         Mary gives us a model for trusting the root of Jesse with our lives. She shows us what it means to watch what God is doing, to watch with clearer vision, treasuring up the grace we have received from God. She shows us how to live by the hope that God gives and not by empty promises.

         If you came today feeling empty, the God of hope desires to fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.

         If you came wavering today, trust in the God of hope, lifting your eyes from whatever tempts you in the world's power, and renew your trust in the child born in Bethlehem, weak by worldly standards, but now exalted as King of Kings and Lords of Lords.

If you came today filled with joy because you are experiencing the power of God and his grace tangibly in your life; don't move too fast, but take time to treasure the grace God is giving you, let it fill you and prepare you for the journey of faith.

         Amen.