God was finally fed up with the human race and decided to end it for good. So, God called up a reporter at the New York Times to tell her the news: The world would end the day after tomorrow. The reporter tried to talk God out of it, but God was firm and wouldn't be swayed. The reporter then asked if she could have an exclusive. God said that He was sending the message around to other newspapers:
These were the Headlines the next day:
The New York Times: "God says world to end tomorrow; story and analysis on page B11."
The Wall Street Journal: "God says world to end tomorrow; market to close early"
The Washington Post: "God says world to end tomorrow; women and minorities hardest hit."
Inc. Magazine: 11 ways you can profit from the Apocalypse
Ladies’ Home Journal: Lose 10 pounds by Judgment Day with our New Armageddon Diet
TV Guide: Death and Damnation: Nielsen Ratings Soar!
Today is the beginning of the Christian New Year, more commonly known as Advent. Advent opens with images of a darkened sun, stars falling from heaven, with the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great glory and power, sending out his angels to gather the elect from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. No one can escape this gathering. Paul prays that we will be enriched and strengthened by Jesus on the day of his Revealing, or return. These natural calamities and out of the ordinary events spark terror and fear. Yet it is not fear but hope that our first week of Advent traditionally teaches us.
End of the world images are a very vivid part of the Christian tradition and holds sway over our collective imagination. Everything in historical time must come to an end. A tension is planted in our psyche with Jesus’ words” Truly I tell you; this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place…” While Jesus prophesized the end of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple that took place in 70AD, he also spoke of his own return, which the early church thought would happen any day. Once Jesus returned all wrongs would be righted. Evil doers would pay for their deeds. Justice and peace would finally prevail. The problem is, for the early church, Jesus’ return was delayed. The generation was passing away and Jesus hadn’t come back! How where they going to understand Jesus’ prediction of the last days – when the last days were nowhere to be seen? And has yet to be seen for two millennia? Yet the signs of turmoil have been the constant throughout the ages. Every age has thought they were in the end o times.
So, we find ourselves in Advent with the unfinished business of centuries - and we are supposed to find hope in this. We enter Advent with conflict in the Middle East still raging. War in Ukraine dragging on. Antisemitism and Isalmophobia are rampant. Loneliness is the new epidemic in our country, and suicides are at an all-time high. Civil discord – like fights breaking out in McDonalds over cold French fries – or subway mayhem erupting over accidentally bumping into one another - are happening with greater frequency. Many of us enter Advent with worries about work or family, problems with health. I don’t know about you, but those images are just as scary as anything found in the scriptures today. How do we cultivate hope in the midst of chaos and medlam?
But here we are, the first week of Advent, yearning for hope. Advent doesn’t wait until everything is right, and in its place; until all is well with the world and our lives; and all the loose ends are tied up. Because Advent refuses to wait, we are called to practice hope -- to learn patience and holy waiting for the signs of the kingdom of God to manifest in our lives.
It's fascinating that there are two Hebrew words for Hope. The first word for hope means to wait and be patient, having a confident expectation. Tikvah is the second word, and its core meaning is the word cord. Hope is like a cord. Each of us is like a strand of a rope, and hope arises from the strength of that cord with its collective threads bound together. Envision it in your mind for a moment, a rope or a cord, comprised of dozens if not hundreds of interwoven threads -- something we can grasp hold of with our hands. In other words, hope is something real enough that we can cling to it. Hope is something we can twist together in one strong, living rope that can be used to bind people together and keep them safe and hold them together. As we discussed in the Children’s sermon, one strand is easily broken. But taken together, the interconnected strands become powerful, and not so easily snapped. The cord of hope is like a lifeline thrown to us, to keep us afloat as we flounder in the storms of life. Hope is something real that we can cling to in rough times. So, we find hope in each other, and with each other. We create hope by joining our hearts and minds together for a common purpose.
. We create hope in the simplest of ways: by taking part in giving out Thanksgiving and Christmas groceries cards to families in need. By supporting the Angel Tree project. Visiting, calling the homebound, or inviting a friend to worship. By contributing together to provide humanitarian aid to areas of the world hit by disaster. Each of us is a strand, and as we stand together, work together, reach out together – in the name of Jesus Christ – we bind our actions together to create hope. That’s how we must begin to create a season of hope this Advent. Hope that turns lives around – like it did for Rahab and her family. Let hope enter our hearts as we join together to build a brighter today, a more enlightened tomorrow. May that hope tie us to a new future rooted in Jesus Christ and to all people – a cord we can hold onto and that will hold us together until the Day of the Lord’s return. Amen.
https://www.chicagosinai.org/worship/sermons/the-real-kind-of-hope
/graceintorah.net/2013/10/26/tikvah-hope/