Week 2 of Advent - Loving Acceptance

Passages are Isaiah 11 and Romans 15.

I knew a woman a few year ago who had a teenage daughter that had behavioral issues. She was full of anger and bitterness and would refuse to speak to anyone. She had been this way since she was a little girl, but the older she got, the worse her behavior became. She began to act out, had awful fits of temper and would hit and bite and scream at whoever was near her. Her mother didn’t know what to do to help her. Finally, she sent her to visit for a few weeks with her aunt who was a counselor. Before she left, the teenage girl looked at her mom and said, “How could you give me away?”

I am telling you this because during the Advent season we are told to think of all the good things in life. To remember to be hopeful and expectant, to look at one another with love and compassion, to experience joy in the coming Savior and to feel peace on Christmas Eve. But for some people this season is about pain and loneliness and despair. This season reminds them of what has gone wrong in their life. It reminds this mother that for some reason, her child is deeply troubled, but she cannot help her.

The question the teenage girl asked her mom is one I often ask God about His Son, Jesus. How could God give Jesus to us? How could God bear to know the pain His Son would soon experience? Did Jesus ever want to ask, “How could you give me away?”

We live in darkness. Every day we are surrounded by pain whether it is our own or other people’s. We have created things to bring us happiness, but it only works on a superficial basis because the only happiness that lasts is happiness based upon God. There is a reason that pastors are always telling their congregations to be thankful for their blessings. We know that happiness comes only from God and that it begins with our own thankfulness for what we have been given. God gave us His Son. He gave us Jesus because we are deeply troubled and we needed a lighthouse, we needed a beacon to guide us safely home.

Jesus provides that light. Jesus comes as the promise of light at night. He was born at night. And that’s where his spirit meets ours. I can’t say what this will mean for me, much less for you. But Advent asks that we face any night within or around us, and come to see it as the birthplace of unexpected opportunity, a chance to find hope and love in a world filled with pain and hurt.

Let me tell you what happened to the teenage girl while she was with her aunt. She spent several weeks with her aunt. She didn’t talk at first so her aunt took her places and talked to her. Eventually, the teenager opened up bit by bit and began to speak of the darkness inside her. She felt all alone. She was scared of who she was and what she had done to her family. But just having a chance to speak about how she felt released some of that anger and bitterness. It was like for a brief moment the sun burst from the clouds and she could see the world around her, she could see her family was not her enemy.

Advent is a special time for us. We hope and wait, we watch and listen. But we are also supposed to talk. Talking releases those dark emotions so that the light can trickle in. Too often these days, Christians are afraid to speak out about their faith. Especially at Christmas time. Has anyone heard about the two billboards that have gone up about Christmas? One was put up by Atheists that says, “You KNOW it’s not real. This season believe in reason.” And the other billboard was put up by Catholics that says, “You KNOW it’s real. This season believe in Jesus”.

Is it any wonder our young people are confused? Is it any wonder so many people have chosen to not speak out about their Christian faith or have ignored their faith to the point where they have no faith at all? Christmas is no longer about anything but economics and rivalry. Who can put up the most lights on their house? Who will hold the best party? Will your Christmas bonus come in time for you to buy all those presents for your family?

The reality is that Christmas is not about any of those things. Christmas is about reminding all people and all nations that we have been given a gift without price. We have been given Jesus Christ, without any strings attached and there is nothing we have done or could do to have earned such a remarkable gift as our Savior. Because we are loved, a love so deep and bountiful that nothing we do could mar it, and because of that love we will know eternal life.

The teenage girl that asked, “How could you give me away” eventually got to come home to her mother. The first thing her mom did was hug her close, kissing her and not letting her go for several long minutes. Finally, the teenager pulled away and looked at her and said, “Could you ever love me again?”

This is the question we often end up asking God. “Lord, will you still love me even though I lied? Will you still care about me even though I cheated? Lord, how can you still love me when I’m so sinful?”

But just as that mother looked at her daughter and said, “I never stopped”, God looks at each of us and says the same. Because of Jesus Christ, we know that God will never stop loving us, God will always accept us and will never let us go. Sometimes it feels like God has left us. Sometimes it feels like the darkness in our lives will consume us until nothing is left. We forget that God is here with us, that God is listening to us and willing to help us. Like that teenage girl, we bottle everything up inside of us, not daring to speak until everything explodes and we are left with shattered dreams and broken hearts. Then we pray to God for help.

But Advent reminds us that we are not alone. Advent reminds us that Jesus Christ has redeemed us in God’s eyes and that when he looks at us he sees the love we have for Jesus and God loves that about His people. Advent is about Jesus Christ, the long awaited Savior who cements are relationship with God the Father so that in Christ we are forgiven. In and with Christ we are able to do good things and to be the people God wants us to be.

This Advent let us all remember that God is with us. That the Lord has never left us. Let us speak out about our faith. Let us not be afraid to love one another, lets not be afraid to believe in more than what we can see and touch. Let us raise our voices in song, in praise, and in prayer as we wait for the coming of our Savior. For God has given us a gift beyond compare, one that insures us everlasting life. I’ll leave you with these final words from Paul who wrote in Romans 15:14, 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.

Amen.