Advent 1

I'm going to take a break during Advent and share about the season rather than my usual posts.  Here are some pieces from my sermon on the First Sunday of Advent:

My third favorite day of each year is the one when I get my new calendar.  It is full of hopes and dreams.  Empty of things left undone and those done in error.  It is a chance to pray for things to come, some known, yet most unknown.  It is also a chance to dream about possibilities and new ways for God to move in the new year...

It is a time to look back at a portion of our salvation story, a chance to look back to the first coming of Jesus to earth.   How can you not love such a beautiful story?  A story that gives hope.  Babies are so full of hope.  And that is how our savior came.  As a baby.  In a manger. 

It is also a season in which we look around to see those ways Jesus is breaking into our present.  We have been blessed so abundantly and we experience breath taking moments when Jesus reaches in and touches our every day experiences.  When Jesus with skin on is found in those around us.  Jesus is present here.  Now.

We also look to when Jesus will come again.  We anticipate Jesus’ second coming.  This is the part of our story we don’t quite yet know...

Don’t shy away from all this season offers, the holy and even the not so holy.  It is the season the world looks to Christmas, often in a material way.  A natural time for us to make all we do holy as we share about the first gift that changes everything.  That wee little babe in the manger who will climb on a cross and come to us again.

To fully experience this season and to share its meaning with those who may have forgotten it or those who may not have experienced it before is a gift as well.  It is with hope and anticipation we remember who we are celebrating and the gift we are celebrating. 

 

We are able to celebrate that gift as we take a deep breath in the middle of the hustle and bustle of this time and remember to thank God for the gift found in a manger, that gift in the hands and heart of Jesus found in those around us, and the gift we still wait for. 

 

As we bring joy to others, not just with presents but in our presence, we share the true meaning of this season.  We are able to do that as we decorate, shop, wrap, and bake.  These acts become a living prayer.  They can become a chance to pray for those we love, for our world, and for the needs of others.  

 

This is a season the world is more open to our salvation story and we have the gift of sharing it with those around us.  How we do this may be different...

 

This is a season to pursue Jesus, the Savior who came to us in a humble manger, who comes to us today, and the one who will come again.  A savior that calls us to remember his first coming, seek his presence with us now, and anticipate his coming again.

 

May it be for you a season of remembering, seeing, and anticipating the possibility of God moving in and among us and our world.