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RC 16/12/12 Hopeful words in Chaotic Times.

Prophets help us connect the dots between the world as it is and the world as it might be. They reframe what is at stake what is really important - in chaotic times which is the point at which they often emerge - in moments and chaos and change, when hope often fails: when the darkness seems to linger people become tired of waiting for the better to come and give up.

Walter Brueggemann challenges us in his writing, walking back and forth between challenge and mercy. Indeed, he shows how the two are meaningfully fused. He points out that the Hebrew word (like the Arabic word) for "mercy" is derived from the word for "womb." It is the ultimate image of knowing one's own well-being to be bound up - existentially, uncomfortably, life-givingly - with the well-being of another.

At Christmas, we see the response of history to the voice of prophecy. At a time when the Faith of the Jews was under the greatest strain, the people of God were taken into captivity and everything seemed lost: some of the Greatest Prophets gave voice to their pain and the message of God. Many of these ancient words concerned the hope of a coming Messiah in Isaiah 7:14 for instance, we read:

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

This prophecy was fulfilled as recorded in Matthew 1:18, 24-25:

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She was found with child of the Holy Spiritthen Josephdid not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And she called His name Jesus.

This was no ordinary child, Isaiah claims the Messiah existed before His temporal birth at Bethlehem, and His eternity in contrast with all time is mentioned:

Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and His Saviour the Lord of hosts: I am He that is from old, yea, the Everlasting ages are mine, and beside me there is no God.

The voice of prophecy even said that the child would be visited by kings from the East, would grow into a man, teach and declare the Kingdom of God. Yet we also read that this Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, would greatly offend the Jews and die a painful death. At that point within 24 hours, 29 prophecies which speak of the betrayal, trial, death and burial of Christ were fulfilled even though they were predicted between 500 and 1000 years before the event. These prophecies continue into the resurrection and ascension of Jesus: in fact, there are 61 prophecies altogether fulfilled in the complete life of Christ.

Thus when we worship the child at Christmas, we are acknowledging the whole life, purpose and mission of Jesus Christ as God Incarnate as Eternity Invading Time. This event, starting with the simple birth of a helpless child, is the point to which history is reaching its climax and from which after the death and Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, it leaves the world an altogether different place.

The Voice of Prophecy is not complete it reaches to the end of time God

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has not finished yet. The Son given at Bethlehem to be the Saviour of the world is also to be its Judge. For Jesus is the only One worthy of initiating the Coming Judgement. If we fail to acknowledge Him as Saviour we will meet Him as Judge, when prophecy is finally completed and History makes its final response to the voice of prophecy.

So this event which we celebrate at this time, has significance and the potential to encourage us in our Faith that God has a plan, that will be fulfilled: even if the days seem dark: it has the potential to lead us into action and service for Him and rededicate our lives. In conclusion, Bruggemann writes

Advent and Christmas are seasons for mismatches. There are mismatches between assumed entitlement and the summons to bear fruit appropriate to the purposes of God, between our dysfunctional world and Jesus' readiness to rehabilitate. There are mismatches between our sense that the world is abandoned and the declaration that "God is with us," and between the establishment claims of Jerusalem (and many other citadels of power) and the lean claim of the vulnerable village of Bethlehem that shatters all such establishment claims. The truth being enacted and celebrated in these seasons fits none of our expectations and refuses our conventional domestications. We are invited to linger over these mismatches, to notice that the conventional ways of the world are incongruous with the good news, the new revolutionary gifts of God.

May this time this morning be infused with the Glory of God may He challenge us in our place in history and what we are doing with our lives today, Amen.

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