The Days are Coming

Scripture: Jeremiah 33:14-16 / Delivered: Dec 1, 2024

When my sister was in the Navy she was stationed out at San Diego. In the apartment building where she lived there were several other families that lived there where one or both of the couples were serving in the Navy as well. I remember her talking about one young boy who was her neighbor. He was waiting on his dad to return from a 6-month deployment from sea. As the time got closer his mother was helping him wait and prepare for his dad’s return. One thing she did was instead of telling him how many days until that homecoming, she told him how many sleeps he had. So, if it was two weeks away, she would say 14 more sleeps, that is bedtimes, until dad gets home. Of course, Robin thought was the cutest thing and then when she told the rest of us that story we thought it was cute as well. So ever since then that is how our family counts down to things we are waiting on, such as birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, or vacations.

I happened to have the chance to be in San Diego one time to witness a ship return to port after a 6-month deployment. It was a neat thing to witness and be a part of. Families standing there watching the ship arrive, anxious to be reunited with loved ones, and many with signs with words and pictures welcoming them home. I don’t know for sure, but I imagine that young neighbor boy of my sister’s perhaps with his mom worked and prepared a welcome sign for his dad. Also, I imagine they made a special trip to the grocery store to stock up on his dad’s favorite foods and snacks for him to enjoy. Instead of just sitting around anxiously awaiting, they spent that time in preparation for that special day.

Today is the first day of Advent, the four-week period leading up to Christmas. The word advent simply means a coming or an arrival. So theologically in our churches it is the period of time that we are called to wait and prepare for the coming or the arrival of Christ. We do this with a double mindset. For one, we are looking back and reflecting on and learning from those who waited for the first coming of Christ or the promised Messiah. That promise was fulfilled in a manger in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago. But we also are spending this time in waiting and preparation for Christ’s eventual return when all things in this created world will be restored and renewed to the perfect state that God initially intended and in which God still intends it to be.

We lit the first candle of our Advent wreath this morning. The candle that represents Hope. Together, as a congregation during that lighting we affirmed in our response the following: While fear, anxiety, misinformation, and suspicion surround us on every side, we choose to watch and wait in hope, preparing our hearts to notice and cooperate with God’s grace already at work in our midst.

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made.” These words written and proclaimed by Jeremiah to the people of Israel were done so while Jeremiah was in prison and the people receiving the words were in exile from their homeland. I would say that they too felt surrounded by fear, anxiety, misinformation, and suspicion. Fear and anxiety wondering if they would ever return to their native home. Misinformation and suspicion from interactions with the people in Babylon.

Then the Lord sends this message to them from Jeremiah to give them the encouragement and courage to choose to watch and wait in hope. “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made. . . In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up . . . and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.”

The days are coming: Promises fulfilled. Justice and righteousness will prevail. People will be saved and will live in safety. Hopeful words for people who desperately needed a light of hope to shine in their midst.

The days are coming. Now, Jeremiah doesn’t tell the people how many sleeps until this happens. And the people don’t start making welcoming signs and stocking up pantries with favorite foods. But they are given words of hope in the midst of fearful and uncertain times.

Fearful and uncertain times. I think we all can identify with and understand how that feels. It doesn’t take long to look around and find things to be fearful about or to have worries and uncertainties about days to come. Global issues of wars and threatened wars. National issues here in the United States. State issues in North Carolina. Local issues in the county. And even more pressing issues in your own homes and families. Whether it’s illness, worries about family members and their destructive choices, financial worries, and the list goes on.

But I’m here today to proclaim and say to you that God’s words from Jeremiah to the people of that time are just as true and relevant today for us here and now. The days are coming. The days of God’s promise to us will be fulfilled. We are called to choose to watch and wait in hope.

But before I speak more about what that choosing looks like, let me say this. Often we just so easily say to each other, and maybe ourselves, just have hope, put on a smile, be happy, it’s all going to turn out okay. Yes, it is all going to turn out okay. The days are coming. But it’s also okay to admit and say out loud that the days are not here yet. The theologian N.T. Wright says, “Sometimes there is no answer but lament.” In other words, sometimes it’s okay to as Kate Bowler states, “to acknowledge how wrong and unfair things seem and weep with another before we can move our attention toward hope.”

We live in those days describe as already, but not yet. We know that Christ has come. We know that the words proclaimed by Jeremiah to the people of his time about a promise fulfilled has come true. We know that by his death Christ defeated and became the Victor over sin and death. And yet. And yet we know that the work of restoration and renewal of Creation is not yet finished. That work was started on the Cross and in the Resurrection. So, yes it is okay to acknowledge our fears, anxieties, worries, uncertainties. But in the midst of that we are called to move our attention toward hope.

I mentioned Kate Bowler earlier. Kate is an author and professor at Duke Divinity School. In one of her podcasts she interviews a journalist by the name of Nicholas Kristof. Nicholas has both a personal and professional story that involves the witness of seeing just how terrible life can be at times. Yet, the interview was ultimately about finding hope in the midst of that. One of the things Kristof said stood out to me. He said one of the things he had come to believe from watching his dad overcome adversity was that “Hope is a muscle” that we must build and develop.

The days are coming. They are not yet here. That is what the season of Advent is all about. Recognizing the here and now. Living in the here and now. But doing so knowing that the promise will be fulfilled. The question is what are we called to do during that time? How do we develop that muscle of hope?

In verse 15 of Jeremiah 33 we read that the righteous Branch God promises to spring up, “shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” I believe we best exercise and strengthen that muscle of hope when we choose to participate in the bringing about justice and righteousness in this broken world we live in. I refer you again to the liturgical reading we shared in response as we lit the candle of hope where we affirmed this time of Advent as a time of “preparing our hearts to notice and cooperate with God’s grace already at work in our midst.”

God’s grace does abide in the work of justice and righteousness in this world. Both of those words often have very heavy connotations and meanings applied to them. But let’s break them down a little.

Righteousness in simple terms can be described as acting according to God’s purpose. What is God’s purpose for you, me, and all of creation? Love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. We often try to make the idea of righteousness so hard to grasp. We make it seem like an impossible standard of behavior to live by. Instead, let’s just encourage ourselves and each to living right in God’s eyes by loving, forgiving, and reconciling with each other. Are we going to get each of those perfect every single day and in every single encounter with those around us? No. But it is in the effort of trying that we exercise not only our own muscles of hope but we also shine a light of hope for those around us.

Next, the idea of justice. Like myself, you have probably heard the phrase, “receiving your just desserts.” Webster’s dictionary defines justice as “receiving reward or penalty; just desserts.” Justice is simply making things right. God’s idea of justice is restoring things to righteousness, that is restoring things to God’s purpose.

Yet, also remember that within righteousness and justice, God’s mercy and love is ever present.

In that podcast I mentioned earlier, Kristof also mentions some brain research studies that shows that when they place people under brain scans, “that in most human beings the pleasure center lights up more when they help somebody than when they get something.” I don’t believe that is an accident. I believe we are hard-wired, that is to say, designed by God our Creator to love others, to seek righteousness and justice for all people.

The days are coming says the Lord. How are you going to spend the days leading up to that time? I can’t tell you how many sleeps until those days. But I can tell you and emphasize the fact that the days are coming. In the meantime, we are called to wait and prepare. Wait and prepare with hope in our own hearts. And while shining the light of hope for those around us who are living in the midst of their own darkness.

How do we shine that light of Hope?

Continue to bring in food and other staples for the local Food Distribution we already support.

Continue to bring in coats, gloves, scarfs, toboggans, and other necessities for winter for those affected in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Continue to look out for neighbors who need help with electrical and heating issues.

Continue to support each other as we pray for the personal issues that affect the members of our congregation.

Continue to love and share mercy and grace with family, friends, and members of our community.

Friends, the days are surely coming. I believe that promise from God. And I hope you find encouragement and courage in that promise as well.

As we continue this journey of Advent together may we remember that promise. And may we wait, watch, and prepare.