Wingham United Church

November 30, 2025

1st Sunday of Advent

Choosing God

Isaiah 2:1-5

Romans 13:11-14

Matthew 24:36-44

 

Isaiah’s vision in our Hebrew scripture reading this morning describes God’s plan for those often referred to as God’s chosen people. They are to become the model that all other nations would follow. The example they were to set of peace and justice would be so compelling to others that people from all those other nations would flock to Jerusalem to learn how the Israelites had accomplished such an idyllic society. When they did, they would learn how it was by following God’s will that such a paradise on earth had come to be.

          “This is what awaits us,” the prophet proclaims, “so come, let us walk in the Light of the Lord!”

          But they didn’t. Injustice, jealousy, greed, lust for power and influence, and discord remained because God’s people were just people after all. Despite being chosen by God, the people did not choose God.

So, hundreds of years later, God tried again. Since the people wouldn’t listen to the prophets God sent all those years ago, God decided on a new tactic. God would come among the people in human form to dispel the imperfect notions the people had about their perfect God. Where they had been told by other humans that God demanded their obedience to the rules and adherence to ritual and ceremony, God would share with the people that all they really needed to do was love each other.

          If they could just learn to love their neighbour, to care about the person they met in the street, to have compassion on those in need, and share what they had with those who had none, everything else God hoped for them would come naturally. All they needed to do was love one another.

          But they didn’t. Injustice, jealousy, greed, lust for power and influence, and discord remained because God’s people were just people after all. Despite being chosen by God, the people did not choose God.

          Seeing this, God told the faithful ones that he would have to leave them. They were given the task of sharing the message of God’s love and grace throughout the world. Now, it wasn’t just the Jews God had chosen. Now, anyone who chose God would become God’s messenger, empowered to carry on the mission.

          That, however, is not the end of the story. God would return to finish what had been started when God appeared in the form of a human named Jesus. Someday, when the time is just right, God will try again. And no one knows when that will be.

          I suppose it depends on a lot of variables. Would the people change? Would they accept and adapt to this new way of living together, where there is no competition for acquisition? Only love, justice, and peace would be known by God’s people.

          It seems even God had given up on the dream of this being a universal transformation of the whole human race. So, those who became what God envisioned would be given a new home that fulfilled the vision Isaiah had described so long ago, and those who stubbornly refused to change would be left behind to carry on the struggle and strife they had chosen for themselves.

          Because no one knew when this would happen, the faithful are told to always be ready. Never leave a day when God would have to stop and wonder if you should be taken or left behind.

          One of those who took up the challenge to share the word and prepare the people was Paul. He told the people of this time of judgement that was coming. He thought, given all the evidence and warning signs he saw in the world, that the time would come very soon, and since he wanted everyone to be saved, just as Jesus had wanted to save everyone, he shared with them what they must do.

          Change. Stop living your old life devoted to the comforts and extravagances of this unjust world. Like Isaiah, who had urged the people to “walk in the Light of the Lord,” Paul urged the people to live as they had been taught to live, and to love as they had been taught to love.

But they didn’t. Injustice, jealousy, greed, lust for power and influence, and discord remained because God’s people were just people after all. Despite being chosen by God, the people did not choose God.

Now, here we are, two Millenia later. Today, we lit a candle of hope. Throughout this season of Advent, and far beyond, we hope and pray that our world will become the vision Isaiah had all those many centuries ago, when swords became plough shares and spears became pruning hooks, when the weapons of war and destruction were turned into tools of productivity and justice. As Christians, it is now our turn to set the example that becomes such a shining light that others will come to us to learn how we became what Christ calls us to become. It is for us to walk in the Light of the Lord.

Every year, we live our Advent, waiting, anticipating the arrival of the one who would set everything right, creating a world that reflected God’s perfect vision for what we are to become. Every year for hundreds of years, we have done this, yet, injustice, jealousy, greed, lust for power and influence, and discord remain because God’s people are just people after all. Despite being chosen by God, the people still do not choose God.

As most of you know by now, I begin every Advent with hymn number 1, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Many people hate it. It’s slow and long - very, very long. It is also, in my own humble opinion, the quintessential song for the first Sunday of Advent. It’s a prayer that Jesus will come to save us. It could well have been written with our reading from Isaiah in mind. The final verse, when we at long last get to it, prays that Jesus will bind all people of earth in one heart and mind and be for us the Prince of Peace. The time it takes us to get there helps remind us of the long, drawn out, and agonizing wait humanity has experienced as our Lord gives us more and more opportunities to choose to live according to God’s loving guidance.

And if we think we have been waiting a long time for God to come to us, imagine how Jesus feels as he waits for us to come to him. That, for me, is one of the messages, and purposes, of Advent. It gives us time to reflect on what we believe the Christ Child’s arrival will look like. The baby was born in Bethlehem long ago, but have we allowed Christ fully into our hearts yet today, or have we said, like the innkeeper so long ago, “Sorry. I just don’t have room for you today.”

The prophet said, “Let us walk in the Light of the Lord!” The apostle said, “Wake up! Clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.” The message is the same.

Christ has come, Christ will come again, and Christ will keep coming until we allow him into our hearts and into our lives in a way that will transform not only us, but the world we live in. When that happens, injustice, jealousy, greed, lust for power and influence, and discord will disappear because God’s people will finally choose God.

Rev. Colin Snyder, MDiv.