In the second installment of the Back to the Future trilogy Marty McFly and Doc Brown are propelled into the future. They find themselves sixty years ahead of their present in a world run by their rival Biff Tannen. Upon seeing what the future might bring, they must go back to their own time of 1955 and work to fix things so that the world they witnessed in 2015 doesn't come to pass.

Our calling as the people of God is a bit like that with one important difference. We too know the future, we know the end of the story. Only it is ultimately a future that does not need fixing … for the future we know is the very fulfillment of God's promises to us. It is the promise that we celebrate at Easter, and the promise birthed at Christmas with the coming of the Christ child. It is a future we know from the opening of the Bible as God proclaims the goodness of all God's creation. (Genesis 1) It is the future we know in the closing words of the Bible: "See, the home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them as their God; they will be God's peoples, and God will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more for the first things have passed away." (Revelation 21) It is this 'knowing the future' that determines how we live our lives in the present – for we are called as the body of Christ to live into God's promises, to shape a world in which God's love is seen. In those promises we have the courage to live the gifts of hope, faith, joy and peace that are a part of the Advent and Christmas seasons … but more importantly to testify to them, to share and to demonstrate God's love in the world.

This morning you heard the first of our testimonies to God's love. As Advent unfolds, I hope that you will be moved to share how God's love is evident for you. If you have a story to share, let Rev. David Henritzy know … or be brave enough to say yes if he asks you. This morning we heard Katherine Roguski share a bit of her experience in Peru this past summer. Toothbrushes! Something we take for granted, something we usually have extras of, something routinely handed out at the dentist after check-ups – toothbrushes! In such places as Katherine worked it is easy to get overwhelmed by the massive needs and ask what hope is possible, what difference will the little that I can do possible make. We asked a similar question as we worked this past summer in Kentucky with the Appalachian Service Project. My particular work team asked that question a lot as we labored to finish an addition on a home that was falling down. We got a glimpse of the answer late in the week. After working one day we went to Wal-Mart and shopped for some basic necessities to bring to our family, one of those necessities being diapers for the three youngest children. Those diapers were such a precious gift that the toddler proudly carried them around the next day, showing off her great gift. Toothbrushes and diapers – small steps in living into God's future. Will it make any difference, will it matter? As God's people I believe the answer is yes, and that the more we speak and show God's love, the more we participate in God's ultimate promises for us and for the world. What difference does showing and testifying in tangible ways to the love of God make? All the difference in the world.

Our United Methodist Bishops have recently published a pastoral letter calling United Methodists to action around environmental issues as they related to caring for all God's creation. We will be sharing the full text of the letter in some form during the Advent season. They too look around and know that the problems seem massive and overwhelming – what difference can we make. In spite of how overwhelming it seems, they too speak of living into the future. A part of their letter says this:

"First, let us orient our lives toward God's holy vision. This vision of the future calls us to hope and to action. "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."(Jer 29:11) Christ's resurrection assures us that this vision is indeed a promise of renewal and reconciliation. As disciples of Christ, we take God's promise as the purpose for our lives. Let us, then, rededicate ourselves to God's holy vision, living each day with awareness of the future God extends to us and of the Spirit that leads us onward." (God's Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action, a pastoral letter from the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church, November 3, 2009)

Living into the future of God's kingdom was something the prophet Jeremiah knew well. Much of Jeremiah's writings are full of ranting and raving to the people of Israel. Even his name speaks of his bent towards ranting – "jeremiad," – a doleful, thunderous denunciation. Yet, even as he predicted the downfall of Israel, he could still speak of hope and promise, God's love fulfilled. We hear in this in the text from this morning: "The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made … Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety." (Jeremiah 33:14-16)

Jeremiah does not simply speak words of God's promise of restoration, he lives them out. When Jeremiah preaches these words he is under house arrest, confined to the court of Judah's king, Zedekiah. He is there under the accusation of treason for preaching about the fall of Israel. And indeed Israel and Judah are about to be conquered by the Babylonians. It is under these gloomy circumstances that Jeremiah demonstrates how firmly he believes in God's promise. He directs a relative to go out and buy a plot of land soon to be taken by the Babylonians – an investment in the future fulfillment of God's promises.

As the people of God we are able to bear the present because we live into the future of God's loving promises fulfilled. We know that the toothbrushes and diapers … all of the other signs that we give … each one is a sign that God's love is present and active and in the end will be more than enough. Our living into the future is that – a future as yet unimaginably beautiful and not simply a recreation of a mythical past golden time. And so we live into this future, even as we look back this season to a long ago birth in Bethlehem. Peter Gomes says it this way: "As we look forward to the return of the past, the rekindling of the lights that lead to Bethlehem, we look forward also to that which has not yet been, the lights that lead to the eternal victory we shall share in Jesus Christ."

And so we shall – follow in the example of Jeremiah, spending our life-savings on land about to be overrun by invaders, proclaim justice where there is none, love even in the midst of the most hate-filled situations. We shall build additions on homes that are otherwise falling down, find toothbrushes and buy diapers – we can do this! In all that we do we shall testify to God's love born into the world again and again … each time God's people speak and act in the example of Jesus Christ love's hope is there. In the beginning God was there, spreading the stars and moon and the skies. On the other side of time God is there. God was, and is and always will be. Luke reminds us: "Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." We know the end … therein lies our hope for living. And this is why we testify to God's love … a love that came down at Christmas time.