First Love Church
These podcasts are messages that were preached at First Love Church in Ocala, Florida. We hope that you are encouraged and inspired by what you hear. We are a non denominational, egalitarian church that practices a generous orthodoxy. Find out more about our local congregation online at firstlovechurch.org.
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First Love Church
Exploring Advent: Hope, Love, and Transformation
What if the season of Advent is more than just a countdown to Christmas? Join us on this enriching journey through hope, love, peace, and joy, as we explore how these profound themes can transform us. Through our discussions, we'll unpack the beauty of waiting and uncover the quiet miracles that unfold around us every day. Discover the sacredness of darkness as a space where the Spirit hovers, offering comfort and assurance that we are never alone, even amidst life's challenges.
As we reflect on the transformative power of love, we challenge our perceptions of divine intervention. The quiet acceptance of Mary and the imagery in Luke’s Gospel remind us that true transformation often comes through humble, everyday moments. We'll share insights on how to cultivate a posture of awareness, finding fulfillment in the miraculous nature of spiritual growth. This Advent, embrace the kingdom of God by nurturing relationships and creating meaningful connections with those around you.
Finally, we explore the tension between personal gain and the satisfaction found in love and service. Through metaphors of darkness and light, and stories like that of Lazarus, we'll delve into the divine possibilities that await when we open our hearts to love’s freedom. In moments of solitude and wilderness, be encouraged by prayers for hope, as we tend to it like gardeners allowing it to grow wild. May this Advent season lead you to the table of love, where the promise of renewal and a complex joy born from suffering can guide you toward new hope.
This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving
In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake
Welcome to the First Love Church podcast. This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the Revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala, florida. For us to slow, for us to wait, for us to hear the Advent of the Spirit. I love about Advent it is a patience, it is a practice and it invites us into waiting. But the good news is not that you are great at waiting. The good news is that God is faithful in coming. That's the good news of Advent that God is faithful in God's coming for us and we're so grateful for the hope, for the revelation that is hope in giving to us in Advent and in this new year.
Speaker 1:I want to read to us from chapter Isaiah Isaiah, chapter 9. For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace. This was something the people in ancient Israel knew and understood, but this is the hope for all of us. Advent is a practice in waiting in the past and also waiting for the future. This beautiful now and not yet. We wait with the ancients and we wait for the future. And this the hope of advent and we're so glad that you're here with us this advent season. We want to say thank you so much to those of you who helped us participate in our outreach and in the handing out of groceries and and food that we gave an entire thanksgiving dinner away, and we're so grateful for all of your help with that well we we were able to give 50 Thanksgiving dinners.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, so that was beautiful and thank you for everyone who carried those turkeys. They were, yes, they were not light, but we are grateful for all of that hope.
Speaker 2:Amen. Speaking of hope, isn't that today?
Speaker 1:It is, but we have a reading first and we're working on those other things. Carly, will you?
Speaker 3:do a reading for us, please this morning. I do not know what these shadows ask of you, what they might hold. That means you good or ill. It is not for me to reckon whether you should linger or you should leave, but this is what I can ask for you that in the darkness there be a blessing. That in the darkness there be a blessing. That in the shadows there be a welcome. That in the night you be encompassed by the love that knows your name.
Speaker 1:Thank you In the dark. May you be encompassed. Thank you for reading In the dark. May you be encompassed by the love that knows your name In the dark, may you be reminded, may you understand, may you have hope that you are not alone, that God is with you, that God is always with you and that you will never, ever be alone. It's our joy to celebrate the first Sunday of Advent with you, and we get four weeks of Advent, and that's four weeks of practice in waiting.
Speaker 1:It's four weeks of practice in paying attention to your own darkness, and the darkness in you might be a difficult health diagnosis. The darkness that you're experiencing might be a difficult health diagnosis. The darkness that you're experiencing might be a difficult relationship. The darkness in you might be an unanswered prayer or something that you struggle with and think that it will never change. The darkness in you and in me and in the world may be many things, but Advent reminds us.
Speaker 1:World may be many things, but Advent reminds us, re-centers us and teaches us that even in the darkness, god is with us. I remind you too, sometimes, as people of an American culture. We have this idea that light is good and that darkness is bad, and I want to tell you that is not how God created it, it is not how it it should be that there is something holy in the dark. A dark is the womb place, a place where the Spirit hovers, and so don't dismiss those places, as I want to see only. I think that we love summer and we love long days and we love lots of light, but there is a holy invitation into the darkness, into winter, into settling, into waiting for all of the goodness that God has placed in the earth to be unveiled in us.
Speaker 2:You know, as I'm getting older, I like a lot of light.
Speaker 2:I mean, I need surgery light when I'm doing my projects around the house or whatever.
Speaker 2:And uh, you know my uh, as I'm getting older, my, my increasing need for that light is so that I can see, uh, but in the darkness I have to depend on God to lead.
Speaker 2:And so I don't wish darkness for myself or you, I don't wish those struggles, but I do remind you that in them God has not misplaced you and God is drawing us even in that. And so I hope that during this season we're gonna light a candle here in a moment, and each one of these candles represent a theme, and hopefully the songs that we sang even outlined that theme At least that was the intention and so that, even though maybe you set in darkness, we're reminded that we have love, that there is hope for us, there is peace and there is joy, and so maybe this week we'll kind of meditate on that theme for the week. As we remember, this candle's lit, and though that candle doesn't illuminate this whole room, it does begin to dispel darkness in that area. Amen. And so I think that for us, we can realize that these gifts that God has given us right in the middle of struggle is something that will bring illumination.
Speaker 1:We remind ourselves together that we are a people of resurrection. We are a people who are not afraid of death, we are not afraid of the grave. We understand that love is eternal and that God is able, that love is able to resurrect all things, all things being made new in the light and in the hope of Jesus Christ. So today, pastor Dennis reminded us and this is what we'll do together is we will light the hope candle and Thomas is usually here to do it and he's good at lighting things and we might have to find another one.
Speaker 2:We're going to work on that. Somebody, some smoker? No, we're not going to.
Speaker 1:They're going to work something else out and we will light together. We have the thing and this is the hope of all of us that sometimes, if you have something and you cannot light your own light, you need someone else to bring a light for you. And I remind you, this is true also of hope. Sometimes you cannot carry your own hope. Maybe enough of what has happened for you has made you cynical or made you hopeless. And let the community come together and hold hope for you so we can see and wait for the arrival of the coming King. Amen.
Speaker 1:I read to you this morning, not from the Psalms. There's three readings in this Advent time and I want to read first to you. You're going to give me just a second. Sure, thank you for your generosity. I appreciate that From Jeremiah the day will come, says the Lord. Thank you for your generosity. I appreciate that From Jeremiah the day will come, says the Lord, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good things I have promised them. In those days and at that time I will rise up. Raise up a righteous descendant from King David's line and he will do what is just and right throughout the land, and in that day Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety, and this will be its name. The Lord is our righteousness. And then I read to you from the book of Thessalonians Thessalonians is, for those of you who care about these things, the oldest book that we have in the Second Testament.
Speaker 1:In fact, thessalonians was written from an apostle to the church in Thessalonica about 15 years after Jesus's resurrection, long before the Gospels were written. And Paul was writing to a people who were really disappointed because they had been waiting for Jesus' return for 15 years and some of them had died and some of them had said hey, I thought you said Jesus was coming back and I thought you said that our lives were going to be different. And so he writes the entire letter to remind them have joy, joy, unspeakable joy, because there is a better story that is being told. We go to the letter here in chapter 3, for what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all of the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, and as we pray most earnestly, night and day, we pray that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before God, our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints.
Speaker 1:The part of the scripture that is so alive to us during this time of Advent is may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you. This is the invitation into a life that has seen, that has experienced a resurrected Christ, a Christ coming with us. One of the beautiful things about Advent is it reminds us that God comes low for us. A lot of times, when we have ideas about how a answer will come or how a prayer will be answered or how it'll happen when the God's kingdom come, we have ideas of grandeur and greatness, and we see in this beautiful story, we see in this rehearsal, that God comes low, that God comes humbly, that love comes to us in meekness, and that love offers unto us a new way. May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and in all, and that love offers unto us a new way. May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and in all as we do for you. This is our prayer for you this morning May God himself make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, so that he may establish your hearts, blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all of his saints. What a beautiful invitation.
Speaker 1:And then we go to Luke's Gospel and you'll see here how the writers of the liturgy and how the people in Advent want us to look at this very apocalyptic type of scene.
Speaker 1:And in the next few weeks we'll listen to the witness of John the Baptist and we'll listen to Elizabeth and we'll listen to Mary and we'll look at the posture of those people who are able to say let it be unto me according to your word. I can't imagine and maybe you can, but I can't that Mary had any idea of what was going to happen when she said yes. And maybe the same is true for you when you said yes to following Jesus, when you said yes to following love. Maybe you had no idea what it was going to look like. But this invitation is to an apocalypse and maybe you find yourself in your life right now and you're like there is an apocalypse. Find yourself in your life right now and you're like there is an apocalypse, and I want to remind you that that word actually just means an unveiling. Perhaps a new perspective, perhaps a practice in waiting can reveal to you, can unveil you. Perhaps the advent, the arrival, is something that would stir you.
Speaker 2:You know, I think that a lot of us would like god to show up in the lightning and we want the, the armies of heaven, to move and uh, and yet, over and over, we see in scripture it's like in that still small place, in the quiet, you know, and and we want victory to to be certain and our enemies to be crushed when god brings this unveiling and this transformation through love.
Speaker 2:And it's a path that is less, maybe, exciting, and I think that what we've been duped into as human beings is we want magic, and God doesn't do magic. God does miracles, and magic would be sleight of hand and it would be impressive. Boom, look, look what I did. That's impressive and that's magic. But a miracle is that through love and my surrender that I will be transformed. So I would encourage you to not do when we read scripture, sometimes we're like I can't believe those people had Jesus right there and they missed it. Well, I wonder where I have Jesus Right here and miss him, and so maybe I was looking for magic. But God is so ready and willing and doing miracles.
Speaker 1:If we are awakened to see the miracles and to watch for them. There's a miracle in a seed beloved that we put in a very dark place and out of it, without our help, comes an enormous tree. There are things in our life that when we wait for, when we have anticipation for the advent, the arrival of new and better things, there is a hope. There are other words that we can use in advent aware, alive, attentive, alert, awake. They're all appropriate. Advent is, above all, a call to full consciousness and a forewarning about the high price of being aware, of being awake, of being alive, of paying attention to the workings of the Spirit and to this invitation into the miraculous Beloved. Love is a miracle and it is a transformative power. And so when we attend to love, when we attend to the invitation of the Christ into waiting, waiting for the blessed coming, waiting for things to be revealed to us, waiting for us to maybe even have our eyes healed, so we are able to see that what we have is already enough. So we are able to see that what we have is already enough. And there is a grace in the time of Advent to listen to this beautiful call I read to us from Luke's Gospel, expect to witness amazing and perplexing signs throughout the universe, with the sun and the moon and the stars, and the raging of the sea will bring desperation and turmoil to many nations. Earthquakes will bring panic and disaster, and what men see coming to the earth will cause the fear of doom to grip their hearts, for they will even see the powers of the heavenly realm shaken. And at last, when you see how the Son of man comes, surrounded with a cloud of great power and miracles and the radiance of his splendor and great glory and praises, it will make you jump for joy, for the day of your full transformation has arrived. And Jesus gave his disciples this parable. Haven't you observed the fig tree, or any tree, that when it buds and blossoms, you realize that a season is changing and that summer is near Again? Jesus invites all of us to let nature witness to us of the goodness of God, of the plan of love, of the hope that is already here. In the same way, when you see these prophetic signs occurring, you realize the earth is yielding to the fullness of God's kingdom realm. And I assure you the end of this age will not come until I have spoken, until all I have spoken comes to pass, the earth and the sky will wear out and fade away before one word I speak loses its power or fails to accomplish its purpose.
Speaker 1:Be careful that you never allow your hearts to grow cold. Remain passionate and free from anxiety and the worries of this life, and then you will not be caught off guard by what happens. Don't let me come and find you drunk or careless in living like everyone else, for the day will come as a shocking surprise to all, like a downpour that drenches everyone, catching many unaware and unprepared. Keep a constant watch over your soul and pray for the courage and the grace to prevail over these things that are destined to occur, that you might stand before the presence of the son of man with a clear conscience. What an incredible invitation.
Speaker 1:And Jesus gives this very apocalyptic parable and he's asking us to look at trees and the very fact that there's going to be signs in the heavens and all around us, and then says this is the coming. This is going to be the kingdom that is coming. And I remind you, beloved, the kingdom of love may not look like you thought it did. The kingdom of love that is so expansive, that looks like what is done in heaven is done here on the earth. This is an invitation for all of us to stay alert, to stay awake and to pay attention to the miracles that are all around us you know it's, it's amazing when you look at the, the stars, and how you see the vastness and the arrangement.
Speaker 2:And for those of us that are believers, you know we see God's handiwork and that encourages me to see that he's made those arrangements in the universe and he will make those arrangements and adjustments that need to be in me. You know, and it talked about the sun, and you know it's a little chilly today, but you know you're going to go out in the noonday and be warmed by a burning star that is just the right distance between you so as not to burn you up or that you'd go freeze to death outside. I see handiwork. You know scientists are perplexed at our moon, that it's precisely in the spot that it is and the size that it is and how it affects our tides, and if it were any distance and of course I'm no scientist, but they themselves are looking at this going the mathematical equation for this to be a coincidence is so large that the current belief is that aliens towed it in place. And it makes perfect sense to someone who doesn't believe that there had to be some kind of outside intervention to come in or we could, as believers say well you believers say well, you know, he made the moon and stars, you know. And so for us that we look at that evidence and we can be amazed at God's handiwork or we can miss what's right in front of us.
Speaker 2:You know, and choosing to believe, what does that do for me? To choose to trust god, that that in that, uh, in the vastness of this universe, that there is some order there, and that I believe that, in all of the disorder that I feel sometimes, that that there is a God who cares. And my experience has been, as I trust, that God brings peace to me. That's my evidence, Because we look both of us look at the moon tonight. We all do, but we come up with different idea of what it means and why it's there and how it got there, and some can bring you great peace and some do not. Amen.
Speaker 1:We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining us today. If you're finding this episode meaningful, would you take a moment to share it with a friend? This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of people just like you. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church and the continued work of our podcast, visit us online at firstlovechurchorg, reminding you to like, follow and subscribe.
Speaker 1:I was thinking about what you just said and reading someone who had this particular thought. During the time of Advent, we remember and pay attention to the virgin birth, which is preposterous I mean, it's just absurd really and we look at that. But then we also look at people who believe that there is a virgin cosmos, that there is no creator, and so the invitation is choose your miracle. If you're going to believe that, then we can go. It's all a miracle. It really really is and the invitation is that we could be people who practice and who see the miracles that are around us. In this beautiful invitation that we have a loving creator that, by God's own spirit, is given to us, that will allow love to be formed in us, the idea that love would rule and reign, the idea that there would be peace on earth, the idea that there would be abundance that no one would have lack Beloved, that is the kingdom of God. Abundance that no one would have lack Beloved, that is the kingdom of God. And the invitation is to allow the spirit to ignite our holy imagination, for us to imagine what it would be like for there to be just a oneness between all people, for everyone to see everyone as a loving brother, as a loving sister, for us to be able to see that image of God in each person that is before us, in their diversity, in their uniqueness, in their beauty and their splendor, as God made them. And there is an invitation into a deeper love. And that is, I think, the beauty of Advent.
Speaker 1:The other beauty of Advent it is full of hope. And in the Talmud it tells us about God and about angels, and it says that every blade of grass has an angel that bends over it and says grow, grow, Grow. I love that image, that there is so much care from a loving creator that every blade of grass has someone whispering lovingly grow, grow, grow. And what I see in Advent is the loving presence that says to us hope, hope, hope, when the rest of the world says it will never change. Things are going downhill, everything is bad. Listen to the sound of Advent that offers us a hope. A hope in the idea and in the understanding that love is eternal, that God is with us always, and there will never be a time that we are alone.
Speaker 2:And there will never be a time that we are alone.
Speaker 2:You know, we can spend so much of our energy trying to get ours, you know, and get recognized or get approval, or get one-up on somebody, or get our wealth or whatever it is, and I can tell you, at 57, every attempt that I have made in that direction has not satisfied me.
Speaker 2:I've been so full I couldn't need another bite.
Speaker 2:But I've never been satisfied like I am in the moments that I allow love to reign in my life, that I allow kindness and service to be the driving force in my life, and I wish that it were a consistent path that I always walk on.
Speaker 2:But it seems that I drift in and out of it, and maybe many of you find that same thing, where occasionally, we're wakened by the Spirit, but it's in that place that we connect with God and we find our fulfillment, and so we keep looking somewhere else, as if that will ever bring you and I the joy that we seek, the satisfaction that we long for, you know, the fulfillment, and so I want to remind you that it is in these disciplines and these practices that we talk about, and, though they're not magic, they're miraculous. And and in the how is it that in me, uh, applying these principles of of deciding I'm just going to live a life of service, of love, how is that going to bring joy? It seems to make more sense that I should spend that energy to just get all I can and store it up for myself.
Speaker 1:One of the practices that Advent brings to us is the practice of waiting in the dark, and we invite you over this next month to practice with us and we will be up early in the dark. And we invite you over this next month to practice with us and we will be up early in the morning and before the sun comes up. And the practice is and you decide how much time you're willing to wait. I mean, if the sun comes up at 7.01, perhaps you're up at 6.58. I am not a judge of that. However, you want to do that. But wait in the dark and light a candle and wait for the sun, and sometimes that practice alone is so holy for us Waiting in the darkness for a light that is coming. Dennis and I were talking this week about the story of Lazarus, the account of Lazarus being called out of the grave and his dear sister, who loves him, when Jesus comes, says to him you're late. Had you been here sooner, my brother would not have died. And somehow we on this side of history can look at that and go. She should have known. Should she have Brothers die, beloved, and we put them in the ground and that is the last time we see them. It is not unbelievable that she had no framework for the miraculous, that she had no framework for what we know now was an invitation into the supernatural. And perhaps for you maybe in the narration and in the point you are in your life was an invitation into the supernatural. And perhaps for you maybe in the narration and in the point you are in your life you are angry at God. If you would have done this, then we wouldn't have suffered. If you would have come, then I wouldn't be in this pain.
Speaker 1:I remind you what Jesus does next he goes to the tomb of Lazarus and he weeps beloved. Advent welcomes our weeping. Advent welcomes our acknowledgement that things are not the way that they should be. We live in a world where love does not reign, greed and intolerance and power and anger and strife reign. But beloved. That is not how it is supposed to be.
Speaker 1:And the invitation of Jesus is the same today as it was when he came and offered Allow God's good kingdom to come into your mind, into your heart, and allow that spirit to be ignited in you. And then, after Jesus wept, he said God, I know that you hear me when I pray. And he went over to that tomb and he said Lazarus, come out. And Lazarus came forth and then Jesus said to the people around him take off his grave clothes and let him free. This is the invitation of Advent for all of us that we would be people so marked by love's freedom that, when we saw someone who was still marked by death, we would be able to help them take their grave clothes off. Come and be a part of the freedom and the light that love invites us to. Come and be a part of allowing Jesus to reframe our narration of how our life has gone. Beloved, all things will pass away, but Jesus is saying to us all things will be made new.
Speaker 2:You know, I think about that idea of Lazarus and his sister said you know, jesus, you're late and she lives in this world of time, but forgetting that god is outside of time. And maybe that's hard for you and I'd figure, but you know, really, in her judgment, it was right to say he was late, because he was right, you know, if we live under that, that restraint of time, uh, but jesus didn't have to be bound to that, did he? No? And I want you to think about that, because you, so, much of the time we live in, so wrapped up in I gotta get somewhere, uh, or we're wrapped up in what happened before that's preventing me from going where I would like to go, and so we get so caught up in that.
Speaker 2:But if God lives on the inside of you, I've heard it said that the timeless one lives on the inside of us, and I recognize, as Heather said a moment ago, that this world is driven by greed, driven by hate and anger, and horrible things happen and I can look at that. And do you know what I've noticed about my 57 years being on the planet? For me it's been about half of every president that got elected was somebody I voted for about half of the time. That means half of the time the other one got and people in my party said well, if they get elected, that's going to be the end and I've heard it both sides, democrat or Republican it's going to be the end if the other one gets in. But it turns out, no matter who gets in the office, christ is still on the throne.
Speaker 1:Our allegiance is to Jesus and to the beautiful kingdom. Christ is still on the throne.
Speaker 2:Our allegiance is to Jesus, and so I want you to think about this that we can get caught up in oh, now things are going to go bad, or oh, now things are going to go good, and what we're putting our faith and hope in is a system that is fundamentally flawed because it's outside of God, and so I can live in that restraint of time and distracted by all that, or I can realize, you know where God is Not in the past and not even in the future. God's right now, and you know what can reign right now in you and I is love, is peace. Yes, we don't have to be controlled by the fear of what might happen based on this politician being in or out, or or this thing happening, or, or what if my, my kids said this or my parents did that, and we? We live in that place of fear and turmoil versus the gift that God has given us of this present moment where we choose what reigns. And I want you to try to imagine if you could let a few of those moments string together where joy just gets to be no matter what, because I have some bills and if I start thinking about them, I don't really know exactly how I'm going to pay them, and I can get freaked out, or I can stop and just listen to my children giggle and go. Well, that stuff, it may or may not happen tomorrow, but right now, joy can reign in the middle of what appears to be dark, amen.
Speaker 2:And so I want you to imagine that if you began to surrender to God those moments occasionally, in practice, maybe, do like I do. I'm not a morning person, so I'm going to get up, set my alarm right before daylight, light the candle and then go back to bed. I beat the system, but I still, in those moments, can practice that. And if I string those moments together, I can live outside of the control of this world and I can live under the kingdom of heaven that God said you and I are a part of. But it's our choice and I'm going to tell you it's a practice.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying that you're bad and you're not choosing, and I'm saying that you're probably like I am. You're under trained in a practice, but I hear and feel God offering this to me and as I lean into it, I experience something that is maybe doesn't always make sense. You might look at me. Something that is maybe doesn't always make sense, you know, you might look at me. Well, that guy's just crazy. But I'm crazy in love, I'm crazy in peace, because I found the Spirit of God and it's right now, it's not later, it's not if you do more Amen. I might just preach a little today.
Speaker 1:If you will allow me, I would like to pray over us and then we will receive holy communion, perhaps the most sacred thing that we will do together. Enter the mystery, allow ourselves to be fed at love's table, but I pray that God and God's nearness would be evident to you and would be a strength for you. I pray for comfort for you. I pray for a friend who knows and a friend who will sit in your sorrow without fear, and a friend who will not try to jolly you up.
Speaker 1:I pray for endurance in your heart and in your mind and in your soul and in your strength, and I pray for perseverance beyond what you think that you can bear. I pray that you will not be someone who gives up, but continues to take up the spaces that you need. I pray that you will know how to ask for what you want, and I pray for you to be entwined in a community that will meet you where you are at. I pray for comfort. I pray for candles and good books and movies and long walks in the darkness, and may your voice crack with tears when you sing your own song this year that there will be a thrill of hope for a weary world. May you fall asleep humming songs of hope. I pray for courage. No one ever told us how much courage it takes to have a broken heart, and no one told us how brave we would have to be simply to carry on every single day. And yet here you are. I pray for your courage to rise up in you so that you would get out of bed another day and do what you need to do. I pray that you'll be good to your own self in the midst of this season. I pray for your hands to find work and enjoy doing, and creativity to give you respite, and I pray for you to find intimacy with the Holy Spirit. It is in the wilderness, often, and in dark places and in loneliness that we find God's spirit drawing us near. I pray for the presence of divine mystery to be so close to you in ways that you cannot name or explain or understand, but I pray for dreams that will give you comfort in the hours of sleep that you are given and I pray for God to be near you in ways that you would have never expected, and I pray this will give birth in you to a great compassion and a love for our suffering world like you have never known. You are in the company of all the people with unanswered prayers, and together we hold hope and grief together, and I pray for your hope to rise unbidden and unforced, like a flower breaking through the cement in a parking lot. I pray for you to tend to hope like a gardener and I pray that your hope will grow wild. I pray that you'll have opportunities to serve other people in your life and I pray for eyes to see the company of the broken-hearted people around you, that you will become a place of rest for each other, and I pray that you will find something or someone to love in these days.
Speaker 1:I pray for the love and the joy and the peace and the hope of Advent to be yours. May you hear the whole world bending low and speaking to you, offering hope, hope, hope. May this Advent be ones that you are reminded of that this season is for those who are afraid, for those who are wandering, for those who wonder for refugees and broken-hearted ones. You, as you are right now, were written into the story from the very beginning and you, as you are right now, have a place here and you belong in this house, at love's table, in the good kingdom of God. Today I pray joy for you.
Speaker 1:I pray that all the moments that you sow in grief you will reap in joy. It may be a different sort of joy than the one that you knew. Maybe it was an uncomplicated joy, but maybe yours is complicated because you've suffered and joy that is from suffering is so much greater. May the light of Jesus Christ and of love break through all of the darkness and warm you and birth in you a new hope, and may love guide you and bring you to the table. We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon. If you would like more information about us,
