WAITING AND WATCHING
Isaiah 9:2,6
Matthew 2:1-12
During Advent, this year, we're going to experience the first Christmas through the stories of Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds. It may seem odd, but we're going to kick off this series with the Wise Men.
Remember what it was like as a child waiting for Christmas to come?
When my little sister, Paula, and I were children, we were given strict orders that we couldn't get out of bed on Christmas morning until we knew our mother had started breakfast. Awake usually before dawn, we watched the sky lighten outside our window as we waited for signs that Mom was up. When we heard cupboard doors opening and closing and smelled the bacon frying, we were up like a flash.
As adults, we still spend a lot of time waiting in the weeks before Christmas, usually in lines or cruising up and down the streets and in parking lots looking for an empty parking space. And when we do find one, doesn't it feel like it's a sign that God loves us and that there is still goodness and light in the world?
The special times in the church year, like Advent, help us re-tell the stories of God's people and help us find new spiritual insights for our journeys of faith.
The word "advent" means the "coming of," and through the words of prophets like Isaiah, we are reminded that Advent is about the coming of the promised Messiah, the one who would be call called Emmanuel, "God with us"(Isaiah 7:14), as well as "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)
So why begin Advent with the story of the wise men when they don't come into the story until later -- usually a sneak preview on Christmas Eve, but really not until Epiphany? The reason is because of the Advent theme of waiting and watching. Before the gifts were ever selected, before the supplies were bought, their bags packed and the camels were loaded, they were waiting and watching.
You see, for 500 years, God was silent, as far as the prophetic word was concerned, and the chosen people of God waited and watched for a sign that God was going to at last fulfill His promise. The wise men, gentiles probably from Persia, remind us that it wasn't just Israel that was waiting and watching. but so was the whole world was waiting in darkness, to see the great Light -- the blazing life-light that could never be overcome by the sin and brokenness of the human condition.
It is as true today as it was then. In the darkness of these frightening and uncertain times, humanity is watching and waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel of sorrow, hatred and division. It may seem to us as we watch the news and hear stories of the suffering caused by natural and climatic disasters, terrorism, deceit and the arrogant indifference toward the needs of the least among us that God has again become silent. For people living in darkness, where is the light of hope, peace, joy and love that this season promises?
The light has never left us. God continues to come to the world with love and hope and into the lives of people and floods the situations we are faced with the life-light of Christ. Those of us who have put their trust in God through Christ have living within us that life-light that strengthens for whatever the world throws at us. It shines in our lives in our words and acts of compassion and justice, and through us, into the darkest corners of this sinful and broken world.
This Advent season, people are waiting and watching in the darkness. How will they know that Christ has come to them?
Will they see the light of Christ in us?
Matthew 2:1-12
During Advent, this year, we're going to experience the first Christmas through the stories of Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds. It may seem odd, but we're going to kick off this series with the Wise Men.
Remember what it was like as a child waiting for Christmas to come?
When my little sister, Paula, and I were children, we were given strict orders that we couldn't get out of bed on Christmas morning until we knew our mother had started breakfast. Awake usually before dawn, we watched the sky lighten outside our window as we waited for signs that Mom was up. When we heard cupboard doors opening and closing and smelled the bacon frying, we were up like a flash.
As adults, we still spend a lot of time waiting in the weeks before Christmas, usually in lines or cruising up and down the streets and in parking lots looking for an empty parking space. And when we do find one, doesn't it feel like it's a sign that God loves us and that there is still goodness and light in the world?
The special times in the church year, like Advent, help us re-tell the stories of God's people and help us find new spiritual insights for our journeys of faith.
The word "advent" means the "coming of," and through the words of prophets like Isaiah, we are reminded that Advent is about the coming of the promised Messiah, the one who would be call called Emmanuel, "God with us"(Isaiah 7:14), as well as "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)
So why begin Advent with the story of the wise men when they don't come into the story until later -- usually a sneak preview on Christmas Eve, but really not until Epiphany? The reason is because of the Advent theme of waiting and watching. Before the gifts were ever selected, before the supplies were bought, their bags packed and the camels were loaded, they were waiting and watching.
You see, for 500 years, God was silent, as far as the prophetic word was concerned, and the chosen people of God waited and watched for a sign that God was going to at last fulfill His promise. The wise men, gentiles probably from Persia, remind us that it wasn't just Israel that was waiting and watching. but so was the whole world was waiting in darkness, to see the great Light -- the blazing life-light that could never be overcome by the sin and brokenness of the human condition.
It is as true today as it was then. In the darkness of these frightening and uncertain times, humanity is watching and waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel of sorrow, hatred and division. It may seem to us as we watch the news and hear stories of the suffering caused by natural and climatic disasters, terrorism, deceit and the arrogant indifference toward the needs of the least among us that God has again become silent. For people living in darkness, where is the light of hope, peace, joy and love that this season promises?
The light has never left us. God continues to come to the world with love and hope and into the lives of people and floods the situations we are faced with the life-light of Christ. Those of us who have put their trust in God through Christ have living within us that life-light that strengthens for whatever the world throws at us. It shines in our lives in our words and acts of compassion and justice, and through us, into the darkest corners of this sinful and broken world.
This Advent season, people are waiting and watching in the darkness. How will they know that Christ has come to them?
Will they see the light of Christ in us?
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