Waiting

advent wreath

I am amazing each year at how early the Christmas decorations find their ways into the stores, how early the Christmas toy commercials start, and how early the Black Friday sales start on Thanksgiving Thursday.  But we are getting ready to give headlong into that season again this space that the church calls Advent.  Advent is a version of the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming”.  It is a season where we wait and prepare to receive the greatest gift, Jesus Christ.

I have heard Jesus called God’s greatest gift to us a number of times, perhaps so much so that it does not have much of an impact anymore.  To say that Jesus is the greatest gift for me is the Sunday School answer, it is what you are supposed to say.  Yet scripture clearly crescendos toward the arrival of the Messiah, the chosen one of God who will redeem us, who will save us, and change the world forever, because God was going to become a person like you and me, and walk the face of the earth.

This Advent season I am preaching through a series called the gift, looking at a number of scriptures where God talks about why Jesus is a gift to us, and what this gift means.  I encourage you as we begin this season of waiting, of the coming of the Messiah, to spend some time in reflection, and ask yourself, what does Jesus arrival mean to me?  Is it exciting?  Does it leave you more questions than answers?  Scripture makes a big deal about Jesus arrival, in fact much of the Old Testament points toward his arrival as a crossroads in our history.  What does advent mean to you?

 

Pastor Bill