The Third Sunday of Advent, December 14, 2025

The Third Sunday of Advent describes the hope for healing for people and the planet. It proclaims the vision of a new earth, blossoming and at peace, delighting in verdancy and fruitfulness, and human and non-human fulfillment. In troubled times, when humankind and its planetary environment are in crisis, and the soul of the nation is in intensive care, we are challenged to persist with patience for the possibility of a new day, whether we find ourselves in the Temple with Isaiah or in our time of climate denial and democracy demolition. The signs of the times are obvious for the nation and the planet. The writing is on the wall as demagogues build ballrooms to honor themselves while millions across the globe and in our nation are at risk for malnutrition and starvation.
Is there any hope for the nation? Can we muster the courage to make good trouble in Jesus’ name and have the patience to face adversity and persecution? Will our efforts make any difference or is our nation and planet beyond the hope of returning to well-being in our lifetime or at all? We are tempted to give up hope, hunker down, and take care of our own circle. Yet, in the quest for a new and healed world, we are the ones we are waiting for, and we are the ones God is waiting for.
Isaiah is aware of the realities his nation faces, and like us, he knows that we have brought them on ourselves through our greed, exploitation, and violence as a nation. As a people, we have both in Isaiah’s time and our own turned from God’s way to satisfy the devices and desires of our own hearts. Our political and economic leaders are the greatest threats to planetary health and security, powerful people with no vision beyond their self-interest. Still, few of us are entirely innocent. We are guilty bystanders, Thomas Merton confesses. But can our complicity be transformed into creativity face the realities of our time without denial or hopeless resignation? Can we be agents of creative transformation empowering our congregations and healing the soul of the nation, even if we will never see the results of our efforts?
Isaiah visualizes the restoration of the earth and its inhabitants. The desert will blossom. The weak empowered. The sick healed and restored to active agency. An impossible dream. Yet, the “not yet” of God’s vision lures us forward. We must seek the “best that impasse,” as Whitehead describes the initial aim, inspiring each moment’s formation. But, beyond this moment’s “best” God calls us to wider horizons of hopeful resistance and resilience. As pastor-social activist Washington Gladden chants in “O Master [Savior] Let Me Walk with Thee”:
Teach me thy patience; still with thee
In closer, dearer company,
In work that keeps faith sweet and strong,
In trust that triumphs over wrong:
In hope that sends a shining ray
Far down the future’s broadening way;
In peace that only thou canst give,
With thee, O Master, let me live.
Mary of Nazareth shouts with joy over God’s Coming Realm. “Jesus Changes Everything,” shouts Stanley Hauerwas asserts in a recent compilation of his writing. The coming of this Child will turn the world upside down. The poor will hear good news that empowers. God is on the side of the vulnerable. God will overturn unjust political structures, and welcome the outcast, unhoused, and unfed into a glorious banquet while the wealthy are turned away empty handed. How can we read these words and take them seriously in a nation – and world – where the wealthy and powerful get away with murder, while the vulnerable are incarcerated, deported, and left with scraps from their “masters’” tables? How can we read these words when our government adds to the wealth of the wealthiest residents and subtracts from the well-being of the poorest residents? How can we preach the Gospel of Jesus to our fellow Christians, in places of governmental and economic influence, who are the leading voices of violence against the poor and undocumented?
“God is not mocked,” Mary of Nazareth says. Woe to the billionaire and profiteer. Their days are numbered. They have gained the world and lost their souls and may lose their fortunes in God’s coming realm. No wonder American Christians focus on propositions about Christ’s divinity and salvation that have no impact on public policy and neglect the teachings of our Savior! Dogmatic orthodoxy is cheap and costs us nothing. In contrast, following Jesus may mean working for social and economic solutions that benefit others rather than us. Changes that require us to sacrifice so that others will gain.
The Epistle of James counsels patience as we await the Coming Realm of God. We are called to remember the prophets’ patient waiting for the harvest of God’s righteousness and the emergence of God’s Shalom. The seeds of Shalom are growing in our midst and we must patiently tend them, cultivating the virtues of care for one another and the communities of which we are a part. This is a call to activity, not passivity, and to using every resource in our power to transform our world while recognizing that the task of healing and recovery may be challenging and difficult.
In Matthew’s Gospel, the imprisoned John the Baptist asks if Jesus is the One he’s been waiting for, the Messiah who will transform Israel and the world. Jesus scorns dogma and simply describes what the Messianic age looks like: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” We know the Messiah by God’s presence in healing people’s bodies, minds, spirits, and economic and political situation. What does good news mean to the poor? What does healing mean to the broken? Once again, we need a conversion of heart, all of us. In a world in which Christians are often the worst examples of Jesus’ teachings, and support policies that demean and destroy the lives of the least of these, can we embrace Jesus’ countercultural ministry and be agents of good trouble as Mary, John, and Jesus were?
The Coming Messiah makes a difference, challenging every temptation to live by cheap grace (Bonhoeffer) and place the love of power ahead of the power of love. Advent hope inspires and empowers and calls us to be agents of adventure, healing, and creative transformation. We are God’s hands, feet, and voice. In this moment, we are called to push forward the moral and spiritual arcs of justice one action at a time. We are called to picket and pray and herald and heal. To be God’s companions in healing the world in Jesus’ name.

Bruce Epperly is Theologian in Residence at Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ, Bethesda, MD and a professor in theology and spirituality at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC. He is the author of over eighty books, including Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet; Creation Sings: Forty Days of Spiritual Wisdom from the Non-Human World; Messy Incarnation: Meditations on Christ in Process; and Homegrown Mystics: Restoring Our Nation with the Healing Wisdom of America’s Visionaries; and the upcoming Three Wise Wisdom: The Twelve Days of Christmas with Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna. He can be reached at www.brucepperly.com.