Let There Be Hope!

November 28, 2004

The Rev. Dr. Anthony J. Godlefski, Pastor

Montgomery United Methodist Church

Luke 1: 5-22

⁵In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. ⁷But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

⁸Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, ⁹according to the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. ¹¹And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. ¹²And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. ¹³But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

¹⁴And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth; ¹⁵for he will be great before the Lord, and he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

¹⁶And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, ¹⁷and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.

¹⁸And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” ¹⁹And the angel answered him, I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God; and I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news.²⁰And, behold, you will be silent and unable to speak, until the day that these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. ²¹And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they wondered at his delay in the temple. ²²And when he came out, he could not speak to them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he made signs to them and remained dumb.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, good morning! Did you have a good Thanksgiving? How many of you had Thanksgiving at home, hosting it? How many of you went visiting? I hope you had a great time. I know I did. I went visiting my niece and my sister’s family. There were 23 of us around the table. It was a great time. We sat and got to know each other again and feasted. And after dinner, we sat around and solved all the world’s problems. Did you do that at your Thanksgiving dinner? We went from topic to topic, and we had a great time.

I saw something on the way to my niece’s that I want to tell you about. It was such a beautiful sight. Driving along in the car on that dark, cold evening, I saw Christmas lights! People had started to put up Christmas lights. It was wonderful. It touched my heart.

If you know me, you know that as far as I’m concerned, you can’t put up Christmas lights too early or take them down too late. I like to see them all winter long. Why is that? What is there about Christmas lights that rings a bell in our hearts?

I think it’s that people decide to let the light shine on a dark night, when the days get shorter and the nights get longer. The evening comes earlier and earlier, and shadows lengthen, and that setting sun seems to linger for so long. When that sun finally sets, lights come on, and people say, “Darkness, there’s something more than this.”

Oh, friend, I invite you to turn that kind of light on in your heart. The title of our message this morning is “Let There Be Hope!” Friend, I’m wondering if there’s someone in the congregation today who needs to hear those words in a very, very urgent way. Oh, Christian friend, let there be hope in your heart.

The cover of today’s bulletin shows one single candle lit, the candle of hope. This week, as you go past those lit houses, even if there’s just one candle in the window, I invite you to let there be hope. Say yes to hope.

In our Gospel reading this morning, we encountered an amazing guy, Zechariah. He got a “100” for faith, and “60” for hope. Zechariah went into the temple to pray; he was a man of faith. And what happened? He saw an angel! Right there in church, he saw an angel! And the angel said, “Zechariah, I am Gabriel. Your prayers have been answered.”

You know, we’ve got a lot of angels decorating the church today. I want them to remind you of Gabriel this morning, talking to Zechariah. He said, “Zechariah, your prayers have been answered.” Evidently, he’d been praying for something good to happen. He’d been praying for some wonderful possibility – “Lord, help me make a difference. Lord, let me have joy in my life.” And the angel said, “Zechariah, your prayers have been answered. You’re going to have a son.”

Zechariah got “100” for faith, but in the hope department, not so good. What did he say to the angel? To the angel he said, “I don’t think so. How could this be? I’m older. My wife is older. Angel, I’ve got a whole bunch of excuses why God doesn’t have a plan for my life.”

And the angel Gabriel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the presence of God! What do you mean, Zechariah? I’m telling you that your prayers will be answered and you’re giving me excuses! You know what, Zechariah? You’re going to need to be silent until all this comes to pass.” And indeed he was.

And indeed, God did great things for Zechariah. Zechariah had every reason for hope. Don’t you? Oh, friend, say yes to hope this week, won’t you?

What does hope mean? In the middle of hope is “op” – that’s short for “optimism.” Optimism means something good could happen. Optimism is the sneaking suspicion that something good might happen. How many of us have that? We’re worried and troubled about so many things. Christmas lights sometimes only remind us of the wonderful times of the past.

Oh, but let it be different this year! When you see the Christmas lights, say, “I’m going to say yes to hope. I’m going to let God do wonderful things.” What does hope mean? Hope is the conviction that God has something good in store for you. God has something wonderful planned for your life.

That’s a daring thing for us cautious people to accept! That’s what hope is, and that’s what makes you different as a Christian. You’re a person of hope, of hope that you have potential, that God can do something wonderful with your life. Say yes to hope this week, and let the lights of Christmas remind you of it.

Why should we say yes to hope? First of all, we’re Christians. Amen? Amen! We follow Jesus, and was there ever a more hopeful leader than Jesus Christ? Follow your leader, Jesus Christ! He was the one who said, “Blessed are you, broken-hearted, mourning person. You will laugh someday.” He was the one who said, “Blessed are you, meek person. You will inherit the earth.” “Blessed are you who have been reviled and beaten upon. You will rise up.” He was the man with the words of hope on His lips. As He hung on the cross, He said to the repentant thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Jesus was hanging on the cross! Now there’s a person who said yes to hope.

How about you? How about me? Can we say yes to hope? Jesus invites us to.

Why should we say yes to hope? Because Jesus has a plan for your life and a plan for this world. The prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 2:1-5) says, “In the latter days… they shall beat their swords in plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.” They will take the implements of war and make them into the tools of peace. Oh, how many of us are tempted to give up on the world! “Oh Pastor, Fallujah! Oh Pastor, Iraq! Oh Pastor, Korea!” Wait a minute – God still has a plan for the world. Hold that hope. Keep that candle bright and burning, because it begins with you and me. God has a plan for you. God has a plan for this world.

Oh, and friend, if you get to feeling hopeless, down, and unbright, light that candle again, and I’ll tell you why -- because God needs you to be somebody’s candle in the night. And even if you’re feeling kind of hopeless, won’t you just make the decision to do that for someone? I don’t know when God’s going to call you to do it, but I’ll bet He does, and you’ll know. When was the last time someone was your candle in the night and touched you or called you or spoke to you when you were really down? Oh, I can look out at this congregation and see them in front of me. God needs you to be someone’s candle in the night.

So, my friend, go forth from this place encouraged. Go forth from this place ready to say yes to hope. Go forth from this place knowing that God has a plan for your life. Go forth, and when you see those candles in the window, say, “I’m going to say yes to hope.” Because God loves you. I do, too. Have a blessed week. Amen.