Daniel 3.1,8–3
John 18.36–37
Light one candle for hope. Light one candle for hope…
I want to begin this morning by
inviting you into a moment of imagination.
Picture a city under imperial
control,
a place where the rulers’
demands are absolute.
Their authority touches every
corner of life
—commerce, law, education,
even faith.
Now imagine yourself as one of
a small group of outsiders in this city,
exiles far from home, under
pressure to abandon your identity,
your convictions,
your God,
and bow before a statue
erected by the king himself.
That is the world of Daniel 3.
The story is famous, of course:
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
three young men in exile in
Babylon, refuse to worship a golden statue.
They are thrown into a furnace
so hot it consumes the guards who bring them,
and yet when the king looks
in,
he sees four figures walking
unharmed in the flames.
The outcome is miraculous, and
the king’s proclamation follows:
no one is to speak against the
God who has saved them.
And today, on this First Sunday
of Advent,
that story comes to us as a
challenge.
It is not just a tale of
ancient heroism.
It is an invitation to reflect
on what it means
to live faithfully in a world
shaped by power, empire, and expectation.
It is a story that begins
Advent
not with quiet reflection on
the coming of the Christ-child,
but with the furnace:
the pressures and perils of
life in the world as it is,
and the hope that comes with
living in the reign of God even amidst the fire.
Refusal in the Face of
Empire
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
are young exiles,
stripped of their old names,
relocated to Babylon,
and placed in the court of the
king.
Their very identities are
challenged.
The king erects a golden
statue and commands all to bow,
promising death for those who
refuse.
They are caught between
survival and faithfulness,
between compliance and
conscience.
Their response is striking:
they refuse.
They do not negotiate, they do
not hedge,
they do not offer a
compromise.
They tell the king:
“Even if God does not deliver
us,
we will not serve your gods or
worship the golden statue.”
Their courage is rooted not in
certainty of rescue,
but in certainty of
allegiance.
They are willing to face the furnace rather than betray God.
This refusal is a stark act of
witness.
And here is the first Advent
word for us:
sometimes, preparation for the
coming of Christ
begins not with comfort but
with resistance.
It begins by naming the idols of our age.
The empire that demanded bowing
in Babylon might be subtle in our context:
pressure to value profit over
people, power over justice,
security over neighbourly
care, tradition over truth.
These are the statues of our world.
And Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego ask us:
to which kingdom will we give
our allegiance?
Here at Bloomsbury Central
Baptist,
in the life of our church and
in the work of justice that we engage in,
we are invited to ask that
same question.
Will we bow to the idols of
economic expediency,
social conformity, or
political pragmatism?
Or will we risk witness for the
kingdom of God,
even when it is difficult,
unpopular, or dangerous?
Standing Together in the
Furnace
One striking feature of the
story
is not only the courage of the
three young men individually,
but the power of their
solidarity.
They do not face the furnace
alone;
they are together, a community
of witness.
Their courage is amplified by
their relationship to one another.
Each relies on the others’
fidelity to God,
and together they model a
refusal to compromise.
This reminds us that
faithfulness is not a solitary journey.
The fires we encounter in
life—social, political, or personal—
can be overwhelming, but
shared courage sustains us.
The furnace of Babylon is less
intimidating
when we walk alongside others
committed to truth, justice, and God’s purposes.
In our church, our networks,
and in our organizing work,
we learn the same lesson:
courage is contagious when
grounded in community.
Standing together, even when
outcomes are uncertain,
emboldens each of us to act
faithfully.
Advent invites us to nurture
this communal courage.
We prepare not only our hearts
for Christ’s coming
but also our communities,
so that when the flames of injustice, fear, or oppression rise around us,
we are not alone.
Together, we bear witness to
the reign of God,
supporting one another through
the trials,
and reminding each other that presence and hope
come not only from God
but also from the shared
commitment of God’s people.
The Presence of God in the
Furnace
The story does not shy away
from danger.
The furnace is prepared. The
flames are so intense
that they consume the guards
who deliver the three men.
The threat is real. The stakes
are high.
And yet, in the heart of the
furnace, something unexpected happens:
a fourth figure appears,
walking alongside them,
and the fire harms
them not at all.
The narrative is not naïve.
The three young men do not
assume safety.
They acknowledge the
possibility of death.
Their courage is not founded on
certainty of deliverance,
but on the presence of God
with them in the flames.
This is a crucial Advent truth:
God’s presence does not remove
the fires,
but it changes the nature of
our engagement with them.
We are never alone, even when
the trials before us are overwhelming.
Think for a moment about the
“furnaces”
in our city, in our lives, and
in our world.
The flames of injustice burn
hot:
economic inequality, the
precarity of housing,
the marginalisation of
refugees, the climate crisis,
and the violence that
fractures communities.
The fires are real.
We may face them with fear,
uncertainty, or even despair.
But the God who walks in the
furnace,
who is present with Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego,
walks with us too.
Advent invites us to pay
attention to this presence.
It calls us to stand
courageously in the midst of suffering,
knowing that God’s kingdom is
breaking in,
not as an escape
from the world,
but as the power
to transform it.
This is not a promise that all
suffering will vanish,
but that in the furnace, God
is there, shaping us, sustaining us,
and empowering us to bear
witness to justice and love.
Reversal, Hope, and the
Coming of God’s Reign
The story reaches its climax
with the king’s astonishment.
The three emerge from the
furnace unharmed.
And the king declares: no one
may speak against their God.
The improbable has become
witness.
Power has been exposed, empire
has been humbled,
and the reign of God has been
revealed.
This reversal resonates deeply
with the Gospel reading from John.
Jesus tells Pilate,
“My kingdom is not of this
world.
If my kingdom were of this
world, my followers would be fighting…
but as it is, my kingdom is
not from here.”
Jesus’ kingdom is not a
conventional empire.
It does not wield coercion,
intimidation, or violence as its instruments.
Its power is expressed through
fidelity, truth, justice, and love.
Its victory is revealed in
witness, not in domination.
Advent invites us into this
paradox.
We live between “already” and
“not yet.”
God’s kingdom has come in
Christ and yet is unfolding.
The three in the furnace are a
vivid reminder
that faithful witness can transform
even the most
unyielding structures of power.
The kingdom is present when we
refuse to bow to idols,
when we act with courage in
the face of injustice,
and when we embody hope
in a world that seems to have
lost its way.
For us, as a church community,
this has tangible implications.
Our interfaith initiatives, our
work with local communities,
our advocacy for housing
justice, our engagement with climate action,
all are expressions of God’s
kingdom breaking in.
They are, in effect, acts of
walking into the furnace
alongside the oppressed, the
marginalised, and the vulnerable,
trusting that God is present
with us.
Living Advent in the Furnace
So what does Advent ask of us
this year?
What does it mean to prepare
for the coming of Christ
in the midst of our own
Babylonian realities?
First, it asks us to name the
statues in our world.
Where are we tempted to bow to
the values of empire
rather than the
values of God’s reign?
What idols demand our loyalty
and obedience,
quietly or
overtly?
Second, it asks us to enter the
furnaces of our city and our world.
The furnace is not
metaphorical for comfort.
It is real, it is present, it
is hard.
To stand with those experiencing homelessness,
to walk with refugees, to
challenge systems of injustice,
to speak truth to power—these
are the furnaces of our day.
Third, Advent reminds us that
God is present, breaking into our world.
We do not face these
challenges alone.
God walks with us in the flames, shaping our courage,
guiding our witness,
sustaining our hope,
and calling us to fidelity
even when the outcome is uncertain.
Finally, Advent calls us to
hope-filled action.
The story of the furnace ends
in reversal.
Power is upended. Faithfulness is vindicated.
The kingdom of God is
revealed.
And so, we, too, are called to
participate in this transformation,
through prayer, through
advocacy, through acts of justice and mercy.
The coming of Christ is not
simply a past or future event;
it is lived every day when we
choose allegiance to God’s reign,
and when we bear witness to
truth and justice in our world.
Advent as Active Waiting”
Advent is often described as a
season of waiting,
but the kind of waiting the
scriptures invite is never passive.
It is active, attentive, and
expectant.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
waited,
not in idleness, but in faithfulness
and courage,
fully present in the midst of
danger.
They were alert to God’s
presence even in the flames,
ready to act faithfully,
and open to the possibility
that God’s kingdom could break
through at any moment.
This is the Advent challenge
for us today.
We do not wait merely for a
baby in Bethlehem,
or even for the distant
consummation of God’s reign.
We wait with eyes open
to the injustices,
oppressions, and inequalities that surround us,
ready to participate in God’s
work of justice and mercy.
Our waiting is active:
it takes the shape of
advocacy, compassion,
solidarity, and bold witness.
It is a waiting that
transforms, shapes, and strengthens us
for the kingdom work we are
called to do here and now.
In this way, Advent is deeply
political, deeply practical, and deeply faithful.
It calls us to embody hope in
action,
to live as those who trust
that God’s reign is real,
even when the
fires of the world are hot,
even when the
empires of greed and oppression seem overwhelming.
Advent is a season that trains
us to wait with courage,
to hope with integrity, and to
act with faithfulness.
Conclusion
So this Advent, we stand with
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
We face the flames of our
world,
aware of the challenges, the
pressures, and the dangers.
And yet, we do so with courage,
knowing that God is present.
We refuse to bow to idols, we
witness to truth,
we act with justice, and we
live in hope.
As Jesus told Pilate, the
kingdom of God is not about worldly power,
but about truth, allegiance,
and faithful witness.
This is the message of Advent:
that even in the darkness,
even in the furnace,
God is present, God is active,
and God’s kingdom is coming.
Let us pray together:
God of Advent fire, you walk
with us in the furnace of our city.
Grant us courage to refuse
idolatry,
wisdom to witness
your truth,
and hope to live
your reign now.
Strengthen us for the work
of justice,
embolden us for the acts of
mercy,
and remind us that the kingdom of God begins with us,
here and today. Amen.
And may the God who walks with
us in the fire,
who upends power, and who
calls forth justice,
sustain you, guide you, and
bless you this Advent season.
Amen.
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