So Let Us Wait
Well it is fast approaching. Or according to the retail stores it has arrived! Yes, it blew by Halloween, is making a quick flyby of Thanksgiving and all the while the tinsel is hung and the trees are up throughout retail land. Welcome once again to the extended version of the Christmas Season. So let us go straight to the buying and selling at the Temple gates and oh by the way how about some pumpkin pie with that purchase? I’m tired already and what’s this all about anyway?
Maybe we should start with Advent, the ancient Christian practice of waiting on Christ. The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” The Season is focused on celebrating the first arrival of Jesus the Christ and the continued anticipation of the Lords’ second arrival in power. It is a time which will renew and restore Creation to its’ rightful place in the Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The healing of the world and its people has begun. It started with the birth of the Christ child as the Lord was incarnated into our mortal lives and the arms of a poor but devout Jewish couple in the village of Bethlehem. Though we live in this time of healing there is still much work to be done. As Disciples of Jesus Christ we are to participate in the establishment and mending of Gods’ world. In the parable of Talents from Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus teaches of a living faith, one that is useful to Almighty God and His beloved creatures journeying through this time.
In this parable the Lord exclaims you have given me joy! Consider for a minute that you can bring joy to God. That what we do affects heaven! By the Grace of God we have a salvation filled with opportunities to actively participate in the work of the Lord. The work of the Kingdom of Heaven is done out of Love for God and others. We can join the characters of this teaching and say look Lord and see what I have gained for the Kingdom of Heaven by using what you gave me!
First let us wait. Let us find the time to rest quietly with God and reflect upon the Advent. What has been given is part of us, what is promised will come and is in fact apparent in our very lives! True Christmas cannot be bought in a store. It is a child born in poverty, a man teaching and prophesying, a man sacrificed and life resurrected. This is the beginning and the anticipated finish of Gods’ great act of Salvation in Jesus Christ. It is a salvation from our very selves. So let us wait, enjoy Thanksgiving to God with grateful hearts and then wait again in the active peace of our Lord.
God Bless,
Pastor Rick
