12/06/2023
In Sunday’s sermon, I closed by thinking through what a real worst-case scenario might look for us leading up to Christmas. I offered the following:
What would Our Worst Case Scenario be this holiday season
if we had to imagine it?
- That when we could not get to God—God did not come to us.
- That we cannot become anything more than what we already are.
- That despite all the directions we’ve been given, we are destined to remain hopelessly lost.
Our worst case scenario would be waiting for a Savior that never comes, or worse still—to go through the next few weeks without realizing how badly we need the Savior who will come, has come, and who will come again.
Advent is not meant to be a season of parties and songs about reindeer and snowmen. Advent is a sacred pilgrimage back into our desperate need for what only God can provide. It is a remembrance of being lost in the darkness and falling prey to our worst and most self-destructive desires. It is to wait upon the One who has been promised, knowing that God has been and will be faithful to God’s promises. It is know that there is no gift so great as the gift of presence: God’s presence among us, and our presence offered to one another.
May that be the gift you focus on this holiday season.
Archived Posts
Patience and Trust
Sunday, in my benediction (which traditional folks did not hear) I talked about the Marshmallow Test. The original results of that test with children was that those who could delay gratification did better in life than those who could not.
Gandhi and the Sugar
I wasn’t preaching Sunday, Reverend Jackie Chandler was. And she talked about the power of influence you get when you practice what you preach. This famous illustration came to mind. It fits Jackie’s points quite well. Enjoy!
Not Just for Parents
Our current sermon series is about How To Talk Parent, but it doesn’t require any of us to be parents to appreciate the bits of wisdom OUR parents shared with us growing up.
If Not Higher
Here’s a story I wanted to use when talking about ‘what you do when no one is looking’ yesterday. It’s a wonderful illustration of what Jesus was saying in Matthew 6:1-6—do what you do because of who you want to be, not so that others will take notice and praise you.
The Perfect Church
There is an old joke about the perfect church. We talked just a little about the perfect pastor, but turnabout is fair play. It goes like this:
The Clothes You Wear
Sunday I talked about Joshua the High Priest having his filthy clothing replaced by a cleaned and beautiful garments. I also used the illustration of a boy becomes a dragon—who ‘wears’ dragon scales—and is stripped of those scales in order to be restored to a boy. In fact, I could have done the whole sermon around all the clothing imagery in scripture.
What just missed the cut for Sunday’s Sermon
Naaman’s servants may actually become one of the hidden gems of the sermon. They say, essentially: “If the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it.”