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Hardship and Hope

by Vicar Lisa Rygiel

According to Chelsey Harmon, one of the commentary writers for Center for Excellence in Preaching, we open the Advent season by naming hardship and hope as our bedfellows.

Our gospel gives us Luke 21:25-36 where Jesus warns us that things will look and feel worse and worse. Chaos will threaten to overwhelm and even shake the foundations of heaven. Some of us will numb ourselves to the hardship, like how alcohol numbs our senses and thoughts so that we feel like we have a small reprieve from all that weighs us down. It may seem like things will not get better and the hardships will cause us pain and suffering. We will be tempted, and some of us will give in, to despair. Not exactly a happy welcome to Advent.

The fact that the Son of Man is coming with power and glory does not change the reality of hardship. Even as we consider the Son of Man himself, we realize that hardship was his constant companion. He warned us repeatedly that we would have hardships as we waited. Yes, the Advent story has a Merry Christmas ending, but if we are telling the truth as Christians, then we must also say that the ending is still being written.

This Advent, after climate change intensified hurricanes, floods, and fires, after another American federal election cycle and another year of war in Ukraine and a spreading conflict in the Middle East, after growing polarization and rising radical political movements around the world, there is much that seems worse than ever before. It’s as though everything that does not belong to the Kingdom of God is in rebellion, trying to shake the gates of heaven by damaging the things God loves here on earth.

And when it looks this way, Jesus says, we are to “stand up and raise our heads, because our redemption is drawing near.” It is hard to stand up when you feel bullets whizzing by your head.  However, Jesus says to look up and to look out because awfulness and hardship are not the only things to see.

There are also fig trees sprouting: new life is happening because the season has turned and “summer is already near.” In this in-between when we feel both the hardship and the new life, Jesus says, “you know that the kingdom of God is near.” Hope! 

We will see the kingdom come, even if we die—we will not pass away into nothingness before we see the goodness of God in the land of the living because this earth and this heaven will be renewed into the everlasting new heaven and new earth when Christ returns. Hope!

In the next few weeks of Advent, we’ll be reading Scripture’s teachings on how to grow the strength that is needed for this in-between time. We’ll join in the prayers of the brave who endured hardship even before Jesus started his public ministry. They did so because they had hope that the world’s redemption was drawing near in his very person. We’ll stand up when John the Baptist calls us to the Jordan River to be baptized and pray with Mary as she sings her song of God’s war against evil. We’ll be on your guard when Satan tempts us to despair because things are not as they should be. And we’ll pray to be able to see the new life that Jesus has begun here on earth as we hope in spite of the hardships.

Special Congregational Meeting Results

Nov. 24, 2024, Special Congregational Meeting Minutes

Zion’s Lutheran Church conducted a special congregational meeting at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in the Fellowship Hall. The purpose of this meeting was to vote to affirm the church council's decision to be recognized as a Reconciling in Christ (RIC) church partner. A total of 37 voting members were present in person and via Zoom. Votes were cast via paper ballot and ZOOM online meeting.

Julie Wersal called the meeting to order at 11:34 a.m.

Vicar Lisa opened with an invocation.

Jo Moss made the following motion, “I make a motion to vote to affirm the Zion’s Church Council’s decision that Zion’s Lutheran Church in Trinidad, Colorado, be recognized as a Reconciling in Christ – RIC – Church Partner.

Erin Ogletree Seconded the motion.

Discussion followed, one person. With no further discussion, Julie called the question.

The final vote was: 33 yes and 4 no.

There being no further business, the meeting was concluded with Lord’s Prayer.

First Sunday in Advent – Dec. 1 -- 10 a.m. Worship with Communion

Announcements

  • Weekly Bible Studies: The weekly Bible Studies are on hiatus until after the new year.
  • Community Thanksgiving Dinner: Will be served from noon to 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Meals are available, free of charge for dine in, pick up, or delivery. All are welcome. If you know someone who wants to join us, please invite them. If they need meals delivered, let Norine Hazen or Jo Moss know.
  • Fellowship, Potluck, and Tree Trimming: Join us after worship today in the Fellowship Hall for our 1st Sunday Potluck, conversation, and tree trimming!
  • Prep day Wednesday: There are two opportunities to come and help us get ready for our Thanksgiving dinner. People will be meeting at both 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Wednesday. Please come at either time to help set up.
  • Community Thanksgiving Dinner: Will be served from noon to 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Meals are available, free of charge for dine in, pick up, or delivery. All are welcome. If you know someone who wants to join us, please invite them. If they need meals delivered, let Norine Hazen or Jo Moss know.
  • Thanksgiving Dinner Help Wanted: We still need help and donations for the meal. Sign-up sheets for food and to volunteer time preparing, serving, and delivering meals on Thanksgiving Day. If you can help, sign up on the sheets in the Fellowship Hall or talk to Norine Hazen. If you can help with deliveries, let Jo Moss know.
  • Toys for Tots: Our member Terri Watson is the U.S. Marine Corps’ local representative for the annual Toys for Tots drive. She will be placing a collection box in the Fellowship Hall for toy donations. If you would like to make a monetary donation instead, please see Terri.

E-formation – First Sunday of Advent -- Dec. 1

This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. God is “advancing” towards us: in the past in the life of Jesus; in the present in word and sacrament; and in the future, even if there is disaster, in everlasting life. This Sunday we light the first candle on our Advent wreath, and we begin a year-long reading from the gospel of Luke.

Although the historical record is sketchy, it appears that our Advent arose out of a season of fasting to prepare for baptisms at Epiphany. By the sixth century, an eschatological emphasis was present. Our Advent comprises the four Sundays before Christmas. Each year, the first Sunday deals with our readiness for divine judgment, the second Sunday the ministry of John the Baptist, the third Sunday the Baptist’s call to a repentant life, and only on the fourth Sunday a narrative concerning the birth of Jesus. God comes, in the past in the history of Israel and the incarnation of Jesus, in the present in the word and sacrament of each Sunday and in the sufferings of our time, and in the future at the end of all things. The lectionary appoints readings to fit this pattern, and its tone stands in stark contrast to our society’s weeks of preparation for Christmas. Liturgical advice to keep a meaningful Advent without a December-long celebration of Christmas is meant not to be a kill-joy, but to awake our longing for the surprising ways that God comes to us. We mean to be a people who are know what time it is and are willing to wait for what will come—a people who do not sing Easter hymns during Lent nor Christmas hymns in Advent.

Luke 21:25-36

The reading calls us to join the Christians of the late first century, wishing for the end of all evil and sorrow and for the coming of the joyous reign of Christ. Christians believe that Christ has already come, is coming this morning in word and sacrament, and will come at the end of all things. Like a tree of life, the fig tree is already full of leaves.

Jeremiah 33:14-16

The Jeremiah passage is chosen as a condensed form of the gospel: the Lord will come to restore justice among the people. It came to be that Christians called Jesus their Lord, the divinely-sent descendant of King David.

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

We pray with Paul that all our waiting for God be characterized by lives of gratitude, love, blamelessness. Such readying contrasts sharply with what our culture expects of us during the weeks of December.

Zion's Lutheran Church

A Reconciling in Christ Community

zionsluth@gmail.com

719-846-7785