A future we should believe in

Last Monday Donald Trump issued a video statement in which he laid out some of his plan for the first hundred days of his administration. The plan included  among other things,  included withdrawing from a strategic trade partnerships and rolling back some restrictions on certain forms of energy.  These were  just some of the first steps of how our new president is going to work to make America Great again.

For the last year, year and a half our lives have been inundated with visions and plans from politicians and bureaucrats—we have been listening and thinking about the future of our country and investing in  this or that politician’s plan—   we’ve run the gamut from Trump’s vision to Make America Great Again  to Hilary’s vision about how we might be Stronger Together to Bernie Sanders a Future to Believe In.

I don’t know about you but it seem like much of my life  this  last year has been consumed by Party platforms and policies  and plans and visions for the future

As  the church we move into a season the Season of advent—we are invited to slow down –to wake up and  to be patient  as we wait for the coming of Christ.

During advent we also come face to face with another vision, another plan, another possibility for the future.  God’s plan—God’s advent—God stepping out of heaven to reveal yet another possibility for us and our future. For the next four weeks we will get to glimpse behind the curtain to see what God has in store for us.  And Maybe this is a future we can believe in.

The opening words from today’s scripture cast a vision of a future time when people will stream to God like they streamed to the mall or to big box stores last Black Friday---- people will pour into the house of God not in search of the latest smartphone or the best deal  but  they will come because the love that God has drawn them there.   

Isaiah prophesies about  A time when people from all nations- brown, black yellow, white, purple green or red will be welcomed into God’s house.  There will be no barrier and no walls built around God’s house---- all will be welcome. 

Isaiah says that at that time war will be no more—swords turned into plowshares and spears into  pruning hooks. No longer will we kill one another but rather we will work to feed and care for  each other and we will learn the ways of God. 

I know we are a little bit tired of visions and plans--- and  the future that God promises seems just a little bit out of our reach— a time when all will come to god –no swords and spears--a little pie in the sky.  And yet what choice do we have---what are the alternatives—to believe that God might not hold our future— perhaps.  To believe  that our faith is built on a tomb that is closed up tight—the stone has not been rolled  away-- a stinking corpse inside— to believe that death does have the last word.  

I guess when I am honest God’s vision seems a little Pollyanna-ish.

But something deep within me wants, needs to believe in God’s future—that there will be a time when God’s house will not be empty but full to overflowing— that there will be a time when the hungry will be filled, where the thirsty will find water-- that there might be a time when pain and suffering will be no more—that there will be a day when God  

takes His hand and wipes away the tears  that stain our eyes.  

My job this advent is to point to an alternative vision and invite us to try with every fiber of our being to believe it.  

So this advent I invite us to turn in our paltry visions for the future and to believe that there just might be another future—a future that God holds.

The reading from Isaiah closes with an invitation to Judah to walk in the light of God.

  

So dear people walking begins with one step— all we need to do is take one tiny, one small step toward God to begin our walk –to take our mustard seed of faith turn our lives back  toward God this advent— but how will  we do that?  How will we walk a little bit more in the light of the Lord?  How will we allow room for Jesus to born in our lives?

Perhaps we might need to put down the newspapers, turn off our television sets—put down our smartphones—perhaps we need to log off of social media for a little bit and to take a few moments to  light up our advent wreaths,  to pick up our bibles and to hear about that other vision that has nothing to do with making America great or being stronger together— This advent how we will step into the light of God and get enfolded by the hope and peace that God’s future holds?

Will we continue to put our trust in the visions of men and women-- in visions of politicians and bureaucrats?  Visions that moth and rust consume— or might we seek God’s future this Advent?  I know I want to move toward that future. I want to put my hope and faith that God is moving us in that direction—Jesus birth reminds me of that. 

Let us wake up and look forward towards God’s future—it might just be a little brighter than anything we can come up with on our own.

AMEN