First Sunday of Advent – 11/30/2025

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come, Lord, join us here today
For those who are weary we ask for hope
For those disappointed we ask for hope
For those discouraged, beaten down, struggling, and drowning we ask for hope
For those who are afraid
For those who worry
For those who cry out we ask for hope
For the broken hearted and the tenderhearted
For our grieving family
For our aching ones who feel alone
For our sick
For our dying
For our whole community
Pain and sorrows unspoken
We ask for hope

We ask to be reassured of your care
Of your knowledge
Of your gentleness
Of your consideration
Of your touch
We ask that you meet us
In your good, great love
That your coming not be in vain
That our yearning for your return not be folly
And that our trust in you
Emmanuel
God with us
That our trust in you will be satisfied
And our hope fulfilled
And our hearts made whole
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Psalms 42

Intro: Thanksgiving is now behind us, so we have a green light

We can, legitimately, start preparing for Christmas
– pull out boxes of ornaments, wreaths, and other decorations
• this is the time when we think our smart neighbors,
◦ were the ones who left their lights up all year
• getting ready can be a meaningful time of fond memories;
◦ so long as we’re not competing for the “Griswold Trophy”
– as Christians, we have a long history of preparing for Christmas
• in fact, 4th century believers took Christmas very seriously
◦ they observed it with six weeks of fasting and prayer
◦ Christmas day was a time for new believers to be baptized
• it was about two hundred years later that Christmas turned to celebration
◦ the four weeks leading up to Christmas became Advent, which incorporates two events:
1. rejoicing in the long-awaited arrival of Jesus our Messiah born in Bethlehem
2. seriously preparing ourselves for his return
◦ Christmas marks the “in between” time; when we meet Jesus in the here and now

Today is the first Sunday of Advent – and the theme is HOPE

There are many beautiful and inspiring verses regarding hope in the Scriptures
– but my favorite is found here
• I cannot be sure that you will enjoy this psalm as much as I
◦ when a person has lived with depression as long as I have,
◦ you naturally connect with confessions of despair
• then, when you find what helped someone else,
◦ it becomes a promise of hope for yourself
◦ at the very least, you cheer for them and their successful escape from darkness
– the poet apparently found that he could best express his experience with liquid metaphors
• he begins panting for God as a deer pants for flowing streams
• staying with that theme, his soul is thirsty
• until now, his salty tears have been all he consumed day and night
• what he does in his poetic prayer is he pours out his soul
• the poet seems to have an ambivalent relation to water in verse 7
◦ the waterfall’s depths calls to his soul’s depth
◦ but near the ocean, its breakers and waves roll over him
– water was both a necessity to life and a danger if one did not know how to navigate the ocean

As we listen to the psalm, notice if it speaks to you and if so, how
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
    so pants my soul for you, O God.
² My soul thirsts for God,
    for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?^[b]
3 My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”
⁴ These things I remember,
    as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
    and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
    a multitude keeping festival.

⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation ⁶and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
    therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
    from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
    at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
    have gone over me.
⁸ By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
    and at night his song is with me,
    a prayer to the God of my life.
⁹ I say to God, my rock:
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
    because of the oppression of the enemy?”
¹⁰ As with a deadly wound in my bones,
    my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”

¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation and my God. (ESV)

The major concern of the poet, in his words, is “my soul”
– he begins and ends with the condition of his soul
• the soul is our inner self – the person you perceive yourself to be
◦ our entire mental or psychological self
it is all your needs and wants
all your dreams and disappointments
all your joys and sorrows
◦ sometimes our souls rejoice, sometimes they grieve
often times our souls thirst and other times they’re cast down
• the soul can become agitated, anxious, and upset
◦ and when it does, the psalmists may talk to their soul
◦ for instance:
“Return to your rest, O my soul;
for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you” (Psa. 116:7)
– our poet has questions
• his first question is “When shall I come and appear before God”
◦ he feels distant from God – cut off,
◦ and that has intensified his desire, his thirst for God
• meanwhile, his enemies pour salt on his wounds,
◦ asking the very question he is asking, “Where is your God?”

When we become severely grieved or disturbed over a situation,
– specific memories tend to surface and haunt us
• for the poet, he remembers a time of festive joy
• he recalls past pleasures approaching the temple,
◦ with a joyful crowd, he sang praise to God on their way to the temple
– in his current state, to think of those things, only reminds him of how empty he feels
• and how far he is from everything good and important and matters most to him

The poet’s next question, he asks of himself,
“Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?”
– he asks himself (his soul, that is) but gets no answer
• perhaps he doesn’t know why his inner self is cast down
• perhaps the problem is too obscure, or the pain is too deep,
or his soul is too confused or too stunned to answer
– what typically happens in a depressed state,
• is that the soul raises bothersome questions
◦ and rather than find answers, the questions just echo in endlessly in the mind
◦ but one feels that the question must be asked, or the worrisome thought must be repeated
• if you ask a depressed person why they’re in such despair and sadness
◦ nine out of ten times, they don’t know

Even if the poet cannot find an answer to his question,
– he eventually realizes what he must do: “Hope in God”
• this rushes into his soul as if the clouds suddenly parted, and the sun’s bright light reveals a clear path
• the poet’s soul has been dis-located – literally!
◦ it has been located in some place distant from God
◦ but now he can see the way back to where he wants to be
he can see himself again among the crowd of worshipers
he pictures himself praising God for rescuing him

This, then, is today’s Advent theme: “Hope in God”

Advent is an adventure
– a journey we make from a place of turmoil to rest
• a return home from a place of danger to our place of safety
• a journey from heartbreaking chaos to hope
– the first Christmas began as an adventure
• at least that’s how Matthew and Luke tell the story
• both of them describe scenes of conflict or tension
◦ then our heroes face strange surprises and difficult challenges
◦ for awhile, we’re held in suspense, but then comes a resolution to the turmoil,
and for a time, the stories settle down to a manageable pace

Hope is the adventure of a lifetime

I’m going to quote a verse that doesn’t fit the context of this psalm
– but it makes such a good point, I can’t resist including it
• it’s in the Book of Ezra (who is the main character)
◦ at this point near the end of his story, he is practically hysterical in his overreaction to a problem
He says, “As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled.”
And a short while later we find him “weeping and casting himself down before the house of God” drawing the attention of a large crowd (Ezra 9:3 and 10:1)
• then one of the more level-headed leaders came to him
“We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this” (Ezra 10:2)
– that’s it! That’s the line!
“We screwed up! We made a mess of everything. Our circumstances could not be any worse, but even now there is hope in spite of this”

Conclusion: Advent hope is not a “natural” hope

It does not appear as a result of a change in seasons,
or political adjustments,
or new cures for mental or physical illnesses
Advent hope comes from the outside
outside the system,
outside the science lab,
outside the march of human progress
Advent hope is not an old hope,
taken from a warehouse, warmed up, and repackaged for the current century
Our hope is brand-spanking new, “born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”
Advent hope is not wishful thinking
it doesn’t require us to create a world of fiction – a fairy land or sci-fi planet
Does it seem lately that the days are too short and dark? That maybe tomorrow the sun won’t rise?
Hope in God;
for we shall again praise him,
our rescuing presence and our God

“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf” (Heb. 6:19-20)