Shortly after I moved here, Mary and I went down to Ferndale. We saw a sign that said “Capetown Petrolia” with an arrow, and we thought we would see what that point of interest was.

So I turned my little Chevy Spark onto Wildcat Avenue and then onto Matole Road.

We’re from Illinois. The curviest road I regularly traveled was a road that went through a forest preserve on my way to work. There were maybe 6 turns in a half mile.

Those of you who have driven Matole know this is not a smooth, straight drive.

We didn’t know where this road went. It was bumpy, narrow, and twisted. I kept reaching to record video on my dash cam, to the alarm of Mary.

---

Let’s go to God in prayer.

God of wisdom, may the words that I speak, and the ways they are received by each of our hearts and minds, help us to continue to grow into the people, and the church, that you have dreamed us to be.

---

Today is the first day of Advent, a time of waiting.

Although Christmas shopping season seems to begin on November 1,the actual season of Christmas doesn’t begin until Christmas – or Christmas Eve –depending on liturgical tradition. The twelve days of Christmas are from Christmas to Epiphany.

So Advent is a season of waiting for Christmas. It begins the fourth Sunday before Christmas, which means it is somewhere between 22 and 28 days long, depending on what day of the week Christmas is.

There was a time when Advent was a lot more like Lent. It was an eight week period of fasting and penitence that began on November 11 and lasted through Epiphany. That’s why the color for Advent is purple like Lent, although some churches now use blue.

We don’t fast during Advent anymore, but it’s good to hang on to this time of waiting, of anticipation, of expectation.

Today is the Sunday of Hope. I think “hope” has lost a bit of its meaning these days. It gets used interchangeably with “wish,” and I feel like these are two different things.

I can wish for something to happen, like “I wish my cat would stop pestering me while I write a sermon.” That wish expressed my desire for something, regardless of whether that desire is reasonable.

But hope is deeper. Hope is grounded in promise.

When Mary and I turned onto Matole Road, we had hope that it would lead somewhere, that we were not just driving off into nowhere land.

That hope was based on several things:

• There was a road. Roads generally go somewhere, unless we’re talking about the song “Road to Nowhere” by The Talking Heads.
• There were buildings and fences along the way, along with the occasional signs indicating 10 MPH turns.
• And there was a large sign with an arrow at the beginning of the journey, which promised a destination.

Hope is not merely a wish. It comes from faith built upon a promise.

Jürgen Moltmann was a Nazi soldier. He was captured by the Allies and spent time in a British military prison. His experience of being well-treated by the British – as well treated as a prisoner of war might be – led him to study theology and, eventually, become a professor of theology.

I mention Moltmann because of his theology of hope. He did not think Christians should fall into despair, nor should they be unguardedly optimistic. Instead, he advocated for a hope grounded in the promises of God.

This morning’s passage from Luke seems like a list of things to be worried about: signs in the sun, moon, and stars, distress of nations, roaring of the seas, people fainting from fear.

But Jesus says

“when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”

– Luke 21:31, NRSVue

Our hope is based on this promise: that when there is great trouble, God’s commonwealth of peace and freedom is near.

We may think of it in terms of being near in time. We may also think of it being near in place, because God is with us through trouble.

The sign that pointed to Matole Road promised us Capetown and Petrolia. It didn’t mention Black Sand Beach, which we also saw. But the promises of Matole Road took us through some difficult driving and beautiful scenery, and brought us back to route 101, from where we drove home.

When we rely on promises, we can have hope that those promises will come true for us. They won’t always come true the way we wish, but they are not likely to be the worst we fear.

This season, expect hope.

Amen

* Scripture quotations marked NRSVue are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue

* Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James version of the Bible.