Jer 33:14-16
1 Thes 3:12—4:2
Lk 21:25-28, 34-36
Anticipation, waiting, it can be a good thing or it can be a bad thing. When we were children the anticipation of a good thing, like Christmas, was almost unbearable. As Christmas approached the days got longer and longer. Days were weeks, weeks seemed like months, and the big day seemed like it would never arrive. The joy of the day made all of the waiting worthwhile. Indeed, the waiting, the anticipation, made the day that much bigger. Then there is the other anticipation, the anticipation that is better expressed as dread. You know what I mean, you did something stupid, and your parents send you off to your room to await the decision, the decision that you are sure will affect your fate for the rest of your life. The longer you waited, the worse you were sure the punishment was going to be. Maybe they were even checking to see if what they wanted to do was legal! The fear of what was to come made the wait unbearable. As we enter this season of Advent we prepare, we anticipate the birth of the Christ child, an occasion of great joy. So, if we are preparing to celebrate such a joyous occasion, why does the Church start us off with a reading about an event that we anticipate, but not quite so gleefully? We anticipate the return of Jesus, even say that we look for it, long for it, but, do we really mean it? Really, if you asked 10 people if they looked forward to the Second Coming with joyful anticipation, I believe they would say no. We don’t look forward because we are afraid. Afraid that we won’t measure up, that we will somehow fall short. Well, of course we will. We can never measure up and we will always fall short. We fall short because we forget to rely on the grace that is available to us because of that first coming of Christ, the one we are supposed to be getting ready to celebrate. But the grace of that first coming, the grace that entered the world because of Christmas, makes it possible for us to look forward to the Second Coming of Christ as well. Advent is a time of anticipation, a time, hopefully, of preparation. Prepare, prepare by calling on the grace that God has granted each of us through Jesus. His birth is our birth as well. There is no need to fear, accept him, accept the grace he brings us, for he has given us much to look forward to.
Deacon John
First Sunday in Advent
Dec. 3, 2006
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3 comments:
Wonderful sermon Brother Deacon! It’s plain to see that you call it the way you truly see it and that’s probably why you don’t get too many comments at this time. What could anyone say to improve on your sermon?
I might be that one out of your ten who would say that I’m looking forward to The Judgement Day but I would also say that I’m really terrified cause my faith tells me that not all will make it. I just want to tell them that even if we must burn for a little while, God Forbid! Just hang in there anyway. Who knows we might get lucky because Jesus The Christ did say that nothing is impossible for His Father and I believe that all we need is a simple little smile from Him..
The reason I’m really scared is because many of my friends and loved one of the pass might not get the chance to be as lucky as I’ve been. Call it what we want, my gut feeling, an imaginary spiritual friend, or a figment of my imagination but something told me that the Judgement Day is very near for the real world but yet so very far because a billion years is but a moment for Our Heavenly Father.
My thoughts seem to think that in the year two thousand, a very powerful Angel released a dragon on our earth. My thoughts also said that this Angel had this dragon on a leach for a thousand years before and in the year 2000 he let him out for a little walk and this dragon is still out walking and there’s not too many human adults who would dare tease him.
I can just about hear some of my imaginary childish friends saying right now, Come on Victor, everyone has got to do their job now and then so what’s the worry? (lol).
My thoughts have been wrong before but it really doesn’t matter because I also believe that All God’s Little Children will make it some day if we just hang on and keep praying for each other.
What would a person do if they ever saw while walking down a street, an old man with sweat poring down his face running in and out of a house removing furniture from it and placing this stuff on the lawn while yelling “Fire”?
How many out of ten would tell the same story as to what they did to help this man?
Peace on earth and good will toward “Men”
So that I don't upset any of our ladies out there, I better say that I had my mind on Adam and Eve when I wrote "Men"
Great job John. I'm really proud of what you are doing in spreading God's Word. Advent and Christmas is a season of hope. May we keep that Hope alive.
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