Sermon Tone Analysis

Training

Croire

Believe

Training

Avent 2: Esaïe 40.1-11

Advent 3:

Advent 2:

Advent 3:

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been trying to see how the season of Advent isn’t just about getting ready to celebrate Christmas.

It is that, but it’s a lot more than that.

J’ai un cauchemar récurrent (j’ai déjà raconté mon cauchemar à certains d’entre vous).

C’est un des pires cauchemars de ma vie, et il vient au moins une fois par an.

Welcome to Eglise Connexion.

We’re in the second week of our annual Advent series.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been trying to see how the season of Advent isn’t just about getting ready to celebrate Christmas.

It is that, but it’s a lot more than that.

Remember, we saw that in the Bible, God’s people live through repeated cycles of waiting and fulfillment: they wait in Egypt before being rescued from slavery; they wait in the desert before God gives them the promised land; they wait in exile before returning to Jerusalem; and they wait for four hundred years before God sends the Messiah, the Savior he had promised them—which of course is what we celebrate at Christmas.

Remember, we saw that in the Bible, God’s people live through repeated cycles of waiting and fulfillment: they wait in Egypt before being rescued from slavery; they wait in the desert before God gives them the promised land; they wait in exile before returning to Jerusalem; and they wait for four hundred years before God sends the Messiah, the Savior he had promised them—which of course is what we celebrate at Christmas.

Dans mon rêve, je fais la queue à la Poste…et c’est tout.

I have a recurring nightmare (some of you know this).

Je n’ai rien à écouter, je n’ai rien à lire… J’attends.

Toute la nuit.

C’est horrible.

Je me réveille stressé et énervé, à chaque fois.

And we’ve seen that we, Christians in the 21st century, are waiting too.

We are waiting for the return of Christ, at which time he will make all things new.

And we’ve seen that we, Christians in the 21st century, are waiting too.

We are waiting for the return of Christ, at which time he will make all things new.

In the dream, I’m in line at the post office…and that’s it.

I have nothing to listen to, nothing to read… I’m just waiting.

All night long.

And it’s miserable.

I wake up stressed and annoyed, every single time.

So over the last two weeks, we’ve talked about how we wait in times of crisis, and how God encourages us in our wait.

Pour les gens comme moi, qui n’aiment pas attendre, l’Avent est une des saisons les plus importantes de l’année.

So for guys like me, who hate waiting, Advent one of the most important seasons of the year.

So over the last two weeks, we’ve talked about how we wait in times of crisis, and how God encourages us in our wait.

But we haven’t yet talked about how we wait, on a day-by-day basis—what life in exile actually looks like.

Comme j’ai dit la semaine dernière, je n’ai pas grandi avec l’Avent, alors comme beaucoup de gens, je pensais que l’Avent était simplement le temps avant Noël.

C’est ce par quoi on doit passer pour arriver au sapin et aux cadeaux (et oui, d’accord, le bébé Jésus).

As I said last week, I didn’t grow up with Advent, so I, like many people, simply thought that Advent was the time before Christmas.

It’s what we have to get through to get to the tree and the presents (and okay, sure, baby Jesus).

But we haven’t yet talked about how we wait, on a day-by-day basis—what life in exile actually looks like.

But as we saw last week, Advent is not just what you have to get through to get to Christmas.

Advent is a particular season of the year in which the church intentionally slows down and learns what it is to wait.

In our minds, waiting is almost always a passive affair.

You sit by the phone and wait for it to ring.

You stand in line and wait for your turn.

You sit at home and you wait for your guests to arrive.

In our minds, waiting is almost always a passive affair.

You sit by the phone and wait for it to ring.

You stand in line and wait for your turn.

You sit at home and you wait for your guests to arrive.

Mais comme on a vu la semaine dernière, la saison de l’Avent n’est pas simplement ce qu’on fait pour se préparer à fêter Noël.

L’Avent est une saison particulière de l’année où l’église se ralentit, et apprend ce que c’est que d’attendre.

But in the Bible we see that these periods of waiting for the people of God are never meant to be periods in which we just get to sit around and do nothing, saying “Where is God?

I don’t know.

I wonder when he’ll show up.”

L’histoire de la Bible est une histoire d’attente et d’accomplissement.

A plusieurs reprises, le peuple d’Israël se trouve dans des situations où ils attendaient quelque chose qu’ils n’avaient pas encore : notamment, dans la période entre l’Ancien et le Nouveau Testaments.

Because the story of the Bible is a story of waiting and fulfillment.

On multiple occasions, the people of Israel found themselves in situations in which they were waiting for something they didn’t yet have: most notably, in the period between the Old and New Testaments, when they were waiting for the coming of the Messiah.

But in the Bible we see that these periods of waiting for the people of God are never meant to be periods in which we just get to sit around and do nothing, saying “Where is God?

I don’t know.

I wonder when he’ll show up.”

And we too, now, are waiting: waiting for the return of Jesus Christ, when he will come and renew us and renew this earth and bring us home in the new heavens and the new earth.

The story we see in the Bible is actually the story we’re living now.

So we have very good reasons to learn to live it well.

At the beginning of Luke’s gospel, we see two really great examples of people who are waiting well.

Dieu avait promis d’envoyer le Messie, qui allait sauver le peuple de Dieu…et pendant cette période de silence, ils attendaient sa venue.

At the beginning of Luke’s gospel, we see two really great examples of people who are waiting well.

After Jesus’s birth, Joseph and Mary bring him to the temple for the ritual of purification that all Jewish boys had to go through.

And in the temple at that time we see two people—a man and a woman—who are both present.

Et maintenant, nous aussi, nous attendons : depuis plus de deux mille ans maintenant, nous attendons le retour de Jésus-Christ, où il reviendra et renouvellera la terre et nous ramènera chez nous, dans les nouveaux cieux et la nouvelle terre.

L’histoire qu’on voit dans la Bible, c’est encore l’histoire qu’on est en train de vivre.

Alors nous avons de bonnes raisons pour apprendre à bien la vivre.

That’s what we saw last week.

Now, for the rest of the month, we’re going to look at a series of actions, a series of verbs, that God gives us to help us do that.

Last week’s verb was “Wait”.

This week’s is “Believe.”

After Jesus’s birth, Joseph and Mary bring him to the temple for the ritual of purification that all Jewish boys had to go through.

And in the temple at that time we see two people—a man and a woman—who are both present.

Turn with me to the book of Isaiah, chapter 40; we’re going to be reading verses 1 through 11.

Pendant le mois de décembre, on va regarder à une série d’actions, une série de verbes, que Dieu nous donne pour nous aider à faire cela.

Le mot de la semaine dernière était « Attendre.

» Celui de cette semaine, c’est « Croire.

»

The first is Simeon.

:

The first is Simeon.

:

As you turn there, let's remember where we’ve been so far.

Last week we were in , which was a pretty serious lament from the people concerning a desperate situation they were in.

It was painful, and sorrowful, and at the end of the psalm, the psalmist prays for God to act…and then it’s just over.

We never get to see God’s response to the psalmist’s plea.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

Allez avec moi au livre d’Esaïe, au chapitre 40 ; on va lire les versets 1 à 11.

And that’s why we’ve come to .

Because in this chapter, we see God respond to that kind of desperation, clearly showing the people that he is not indifferent to it.

Pendant que vous y allez, souvenons-nous de ce qu’on a vu jusqu’ici.

La semaine dernière on était dans le Psaume 44, qui était une lamentation sérieuse du peuple concernant une situation désespérée qu’ils vivaient.

C’était douloureux, et triste, et à la fin du psaume, le psalmiste prie que Dieu agisse…et puis c’est fini.