HOPE "What Are We Waiting For" Pray Welcome to the season of Advent. Welcome to the first day of this New Year. On the calendar of the church, the year begins today, four Sundays before Christmas. The year begins with the celebration of Advent. This ancient tradition has been practiced by Christians for centuries. The name Advent means coming. It is a time for preparation, because Christmas is coming. More importantly, it is a time for preparation because Christ is coming! But I have to wonder if that’s what people are really thinking about. I wonder what we are really waiting for. Everywhere you look things are changing. We are certainly preparing for something. Decorations are up in the stores and beginning to appear in our neighborhoods. In spite of the bleak economic news, the stores were packed this weekend. Just like excited children who can’t wait for Christmas, the nation’s retailers can’t wait either. The shopping frenzy is underway and our calendars are filling up. This morning we lit the advent candle and tonight we will transform this sanctuary with greenery. It is beginning to look and sound a lot like Christmas. Then we open the Bible and read this strange story about suffering and darkness, about a violent tremor in heaven and about the return of the Son of Man with great power and glory. It doesn’t sound like the Christmas story. There was no mention of Mary and Joseph or wise men and shepherds. Instead we hear a tale about a fellow who decides to leave on a journey. Before departing, he puts his servants in charge of all his affairs. Each servant knows what is expected. They all know when the master returns, he will judge their performance. This is a story about being prepared, all right. It is about getting ready. It’s about waiting and watching, but it may not be what you expected to hear today – four Sundays before Christmas. The season of Advent is a time for us to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. In one sense we prepare by remembering his birth – his first coming. We remember Mary and Joseph and a lowly manger. We remember angels, shepherds, and wise men. Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but it is more than that. During the season of Advent we are challenged to remember not only that he came but why he came. When we sing “Christ the Savior is born”, we celebrate his purpose in coming. Jesus left his home in heaven and came to earth to save us all from sin. While it is true that the season of Advent is about waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus, there is a larger purpose. There is more! The season of Advent is a time to prepare our hearts for Christ to enter into our present circumstances. Jesus wants to live in us today! He stands at the door knocking. Remember that image? Every day Jesus waits to enter into our lives through his Holy Spirit. Jesus wants to live in and through us now! Are you prepared for that? Are you ready and waiting? Finally, Advent is a time to prepare for the future – for the second coming of Christ. Jesus said, “I will come again.” Our reading in Mark’s Gospel invites us to catch a glimpse at the final chapter of the story and to prepare for the final victory – the second coming of Christ. Our reading today ended with Jesus saying, “what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” Are you ready? Are you really prepared? As we begin the season of Advent, I want to challenge you to consider this question: “What are we waiting for?” What are the preparations really all about? What does Advent mean to you? Let me tell you what it means to me. First Advent reminds me that God is never far away. God is with us. The prophet Isaiah foretold the birth of a child who would be called Emmanuel, which means God is with us. In Jesus Christ, God identified with all humankind. In Jesus Christ, God took on human flesh and lived among us. The Apostle Paul rejoiced in that fact when he wrote to the Corinthians, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that through his poverty you might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). Several years ago, when Princess Diana was killed in a senseless car crash in Paris, there was a great backlash against the Royal Family in England. British subjects, usually reluctant to criticize their queen, were suddenly quite outspoken. The news media was abuzz with their complaints. "The Royals don't know how we live and furthermore they don't care,” said one person. "They have been isolated in their palace so long that they don't understand the common people," said another. "The Royals never come among us. They are totally detached and preoccupied with their riches," commented a third. That is not the case with our Heavenly King. God is not some detached Monarch who does not know or care how we live. God came to earth in the form of a person. He was born into a peasant family. His Christmas wrapping was not one of tinsel and paper but of human flesh. Because God lived among us, God understands our feelings, God can identify with our experiences. He knew loneliness at Gethsemane and betrayal at the Mount of Olives. He wept at the death of Lazarus and was tempted in the wilderness. He experienced joy at a wedding in Cana and felt the pain of seeing his mother suffer, while he hung on the cross. Don't tell me that God does not understand. No matter what you or I may encounter; God has been there. God understands! In the embrace of family and friends, God is there. In the suffering of children who are the victims of violence, God is there. No night is so dark that God's light will not shine. No place is so barren, that new life cannot emerge. No person is so lost that they cannot be found or so weak that they cannot healed. In Jesus Christ, God lived among us. And through the Holy Spirit, God continues to dwell in our hearts. As long as we are open to receive him, God comes into our present and abides with us. The season of Advent reminds me to look for Jesus every day and to be open to God’s presence. The season of Advent also reminds me to be ready for Christ’s promised return. Every time we receive Holy Communion we are reminded of that great promise: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.” That is the second thing Advent means to me: Christ will come again. As Christians, we look forward with hope to His second-coming. Our Scripture reading reminds us to look forward to Christ’s promised return. On that great day, the sky will be darkened, heaven and earth will pass away, but we will not! We will not pass away. We who live in the shadow of the cross know that the cross does not signal the end, but the beginning. We who are illumined by the Son of God know that His light will never be extinguished. We who claim the name of Jesus Christ live with the ever-present hope of resurrection and life everlasting. That is the essence of the promise contained in John’s Gospel. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17 NIV). Our hope is firmly rooted in the promises of God. Our hope is proclaimed in the songs of the season, in the stories of his birth and life, and in the faith that we share. The call to stay awake and be ready is our challenge to live a life of faithful anticipation. We have no reason to fear death, for our God has overcome death. As Christians, we are part of something much bigger than just you and me. Advent is bigger than you and me. Christmas is bigger than all of us. As we stand on the threshold of this season of waiting and preparation, it is good to remember that it isn’t about you and me. It is about God! It’s about what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will continue to do until the end of time. During Advent, we are invited to encounter the love and hope, the peace and joy of God’s presence. It is God living in us that brings transformation. God is in the transforming business – freeing us from sin and making us new. God’s love is bigger than all of us, but freely available to each one of us. For centuries this reading from the Gospel of Mark has been among the suggested readings for the first Sunday in Advent. Our ancestors understood the importance of preparation. There is a lesson here for us as well. Perhaps we need to be reminded of the end of the story so we can appreciate more fully the beginning. God’s love for us is beyond measure. It is too deep for us to fathom, too wide for us to comprehend. And it was made known to us in the birth of a tiny child, who could be touched and held, who could be seen and heard, who could be nurtured and loved. And ultimately his life and his love changed us all. What are you waiting for as you begin your preparations for Christmas? Are you truly waiting for Christ? Do you really expect Jesus to come again? Are you ready? It is the season of Advent. It is time for us to prepare! Amen
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