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Advent is a season of hope, joy, and big promises. A world set right. Dignity and self-determination restored. Justice and peace. So, it is almost inevitable that Advent leading to Christmas will be a disappointment. From the beginning, we know that the world will not be at peace on Dec. 25, 2017. Economic injustice will not be rectified by Dec. 25, 2017. Sexual harassment, assault, and rape will not end on Dec. 25, 2017.

Maybe the Christmas trees, the lights, the presents, and the stockings help to ease our disappointment with merriment.

This week I joined about 50 other clergy from the Florida Conference of the United Church of Christ for a day with the farm workers in Immokalee, FL. We heard from the leaders of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and from the Fair Food Campaign. We also visited a grower and heard the story of his involvement with the Coalition.

Apparently, the Coalition approached this grower asking to have a conversation about the Fair Food agreement. The farm workers wanted to explain the issues that were important to them. The grower was not interested. And things stayed as they were. The farm workers asked again. No interest on the part of the grower. And again. No.

Twenty years after the first request, the grower came to the Coalition asking to hear about the issues that the farm workers were concerned about. And the grower eventually signed the Fair Food agreement and is a model grower working with the Coalition to get others on board.

Twenty years. The leaders of the Coalition waited twenty years. They told us that when the grower finally came, they were angry and frustrated that it had taken so long. They had to recognize their anger and hostility and put it aside so that they could work with the grower. And the results have been mutually beneficial.

Twenty years is a long time. But the promises of God for restoration and renewal may not come for a long time. People waited hundreds of years for the messiah. Some people today are still waiting for a messiah. Things like peace can take a long time to unfold. And we must not lose hope even though we may not live to see the fulfillment of the promises of God.

We also want to remember that when the promises of God do come true, especially if has taken a while, we may need to make the conscious effort to put our negative feelings about the delay on the shelf. Whatever may be holding us back from receiving the fulfillment of the Divine promises, whatever may be blocking our participation in the Divine justice and peace that is emerging, we must overcome it. And take part in birthing God’s intentions for humanity to live in peace and mutual respect.

Prayer
Sometimes things to take so much longer than we would like. We wonder why a dove doesn’t just swoop down and eradicate violence from the face of Earth. But God’s time may not be our time. We must learn to wait and maintain hope lest we miss the wonderful things that are happening to create a more just and peaceful world. We may get so caught up in our impatience that we miss what is happening and the dreams that are coming to fruition. May we stay attentive and alert to ourselves and what is going on around us. Amen.

Each Easter at Lakewood UCC the service opens with several hymns. One of them is always “Joy to the World!” Yes, it is typically sung at Christmas time, but it is fitting at Easter as well especially with all of the nature imagery. And Christian Educators tell us that singing the song at Christmas and Easter helps children and youth understand that both holy days are part of one story.

The Advent is a season to deeply appreciate and experience God’s comfort but with that comfort comes joy. The words joy and rejoice and joyful are used far more by the prophet Isaiah than the word comfort. The ultimate goal is joy! We can say this about Isaiah. We can say this about Jesus. We can say this about the Bible. And we can say this about God. The ultimate message is joy!

What is joy? Gratitude for being alive? Delight in the awe and wonder of creation? Appreciation of others and the loving relationships in our lives? All of that and more. Joy really is an attitude that comes from the inside. It is not dependent on outside circumstances or having certain material things. Joy is an inner orientation.

We often talk of taking comfort in something. This is a way to refer to something that gives us relief from our anxiety and distress.

But what about joy? I had a Christmas book as a child called “Take Joy!” by Tasha Tudor. I always found the title intriguing. We seldom say, “Take joy.” Really, how much do we use the word “joy”? Not much, I fear.

But I like the message of “take joy.” It seems to say – joy is there. Lots of it. Waiting for you to take it. Hoping you will have some.

Maybe if we were taking more joy, in life, in one another, in nature, in relationships, in the arts, we wouldn’t need so much comfort. Maybe our great need for comfort comes in part from a deficit of joy.

This is a season to remember that God desires humanity to live in joy, to be joyful, and to rejoice!

Prayer:
Joy to the world! Heaven and nature are singing! Earth is praising the wonders of Divine love. Let us join the chorus. Take joy. And repeat the sounding joy! Repeat the sounding joy! Repeat, repeat the sounding joy! Amen.

Comfort is a word that we associate with this season. The prophet Isaiah offers God’s comfort to people who are in a situation of devastation and perhaps demise.

But God’s comfort is not just to soothe bruised spirits or to pacify sorrow. God’s comfort implies hope for the future: A future that shines with justice and compassion and right relationship. A future of peace and plenty. It’s a future that is hard to imagine when your cities and towns lie in ruins and you have no power of self determination. But God’s comfort comes with hope and promise. It will not always be this way.

There are certainly many who feel, at least some of the time, that we are living in a time of devastation and perhaps demise. I speak with people every day who are in shock over the way our society seems to be going backwards – more racism, more sexism, more income inequality, more intolerance, more violence, less education, less accurate information, less rationality, less faith in the government, less trust. To some it feels like a time warp, like we are going back in time. While much of this regression seems to have its locus in the president, it should be noted that the president is in part reflecting sentiments that originate in certain pockets of the US population. But most people did not expect those pockets to gain such power. We are being shown what was already there. And it is ugly.

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we are opening ourselves to Divine comfort and to Divine hope. We need our bruised spirits soothed, but much of that solace lies in the promise of a different future. In our Biblical heritage, we are promised a future characterized by justice, generosity, and peace. The birth of Jesus is the foundation of that future. And we must continue to build on that foundation – in hope. Maybe we put just one stone in place, but it is one more in building a beautiful world of peace for all; a world where every form of life is respected and nature is revered as a sacred gift to be enjoyed not exploited.

God’s comfort is an investment in God’s future. It comes with hope attached.

Prayer:
As we open ourselves to God’s comfort this season, comfort we so desperately need, may we recognize that Divine comfort comes with hope. God comforts us so that we can be part of God’s hopes and dreams for the future of Creation. Amen.

When someone takes your hand or puts an arm around you it can be an expression of comfort. Perhaps a call or a card is an expression of comfort. We tend to think of comfort as the soothing of pain and hurt with gentle compassion. And that is something that is very much needed in these times when people feel buffeted and torn apart and scrabbling to hang on.

A woman stopped by the church recently telling of how she had had a car accident. After the accident she missed work. She lost one of her two jobs. She got behind in her rent. Now she is worried about getting evicted. And still trying to do the one job. And trying to recover her health. Where is the net for her? Where is the life line? Where is the helping hand? When this woman came to the church hoping we would help her with her rent, which we did, she mentioned how good it felt to have someone who would listen to her describe her situation and show understanding and compassion. She was very grateful for that. There’s clearly much soothing of pain with gentle compassion needed in today’s world.

But there is more to comfort than a kind word or a sympathetic gesture. The word comfort comes from the word “com” which means with or together. and “fort” which means strength mighty, steadfast, brave, spirited. It’s where we get the word fort as in a military post.

So the concept of comfort has teeth to it. There is an implication of solidarity and resistance. There is the sense that we are stronger together. Together we can be strong.

When God offers comfort to the people, as in Isaiah, “Comfort, O comfort my people,” [40:1] this implies continued relationship, loyalty, and steadfast love. True comfort is more than just a fleeting gesture, it is a long term commitment which is why I gave the woman who cameo the church for help with her rent some information about the church and invited her to come to church on Sunday. As a church, we truly want to be a community of comfort.

Prayer:
Comfort is so important especially for making it through difficult times. We are grateful for those who offer comfort when it is needed. May we receive the comfort we need expecting to be made stronger and expecting our relationships and connections to strengthen. May we always be able to count on the church for comfort in the fullest sense. Amen.