Fireworks of Hope

Zechariah 9:9-12

It’s 4th of July weekend.

Did you take in fireworks?

Ever wonder where this tradition of setting off a kaleidoscope of gunpowder in our sky every 4th of July came from?

Our first Independence Day celebration was held in Philadelphia on July 4th, 1777, when the country was still in the grip of the Revolutionary War.  Citizens came together to watch our nation’s sky illuminated in a grand display that was meant to raise their spirits. “I think they wanted to inspire hope, and it worked,” says James Heintze, author of The Fourth of July Encyclopedia. After that first fireworks display, news spread and fireworks took hold in every 4th of July ever since.

So, that first fireworks display was to inspire hope...

Hope for a war-torn nation of people who weren't sure if the freedom they sought would ever truly be realized.

Zechariah writes in a time and to a people of similar circumstances.  

Like the bondage of colonization, Israel had spent better than 50 years in the bondage of Babylonian captivity.  It was a dark and bewildering time for Israel.  

But, into that darkness Zechariah spoke God's Word of promise, and it broke open with hope for a troubled people the way fireworks fill the darkness with light and beauty, and most of all---power.  

It was the power of God's love.

To a people who thought that God may very well have abandoned them, left them to their sinful ways in Babylon, Zechariah's prophetic announcement broke over them with the promise that God had not left them...that God would never leave them.  Even more, God was about to make a way for their freedom.  

To us, we hear these prophetic words a bit differently.  With the gift of looking back on Zechariah's prophecy having now unfolded into historical truth, we remember the way Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as the fulfillment of Zechariah's words.  We understand that just as Jesus came on a donkey, with power are mercy found in humble service.  The love of God witnessed by all as this messiah would be crowned with thorns and enthroned on a cross.  Yet, our faith and trust in this King has become the very source of our spiritual freedom.  

Still, his grace and mercy break forth in our souls like fireworks when we cry out in prayer, when we confess our sins, when we receive him in the bread and cup.  

God's undying love and mercy for us.  This is what frees us from the darkness and bondage of sin that we experience today.  

And, they break forth the promise of the kingdom of heaven to us, like fireworks of hope within our souls.

The Gospel of John declares that if Christ has set you free, you are free indeed.

You are free!

Not because of anything you have done, or anything to do with the nation we live in, but because of what Christ has done for you.

You are free...

free to live your life with a renewed sense of God's will as your purpose.

Free to serve and care for others.

Free to share the same source of encouragement with others that Zechariah spoke to Israel, that Christ gave to his disciples, which has been passed onto you by the Holy Spirit through the church.

You are free to set off fireworks of hope in the dark and troubled places of your world.

So, try it today...tomorrow...whenever

If you think gunpowder exploding in the sky is beautiful, wait till you get a load of the hope that God breaks open in the people around you when you encourage them with the power of God's love by your words and actions.
Encourage others, as God encourages you...and enjoy the fireworks!!

Amen.