“Season’s Greetings”
Have you ever noticed how the angels in the Christmas story scare the living daylights out of the people they greet? The angel says to Mary, "Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" (Luke 1:28) and the Favored One nearly faints… I've come to the conclusion that Mary and company's anxiety is perfectly understandable. After all, it's the case throughout the Bible that whenever God draws near to greet someone it's never just to chit-chat. It's usually to make a request of that person-- and a humdinger at that!
View the video of this sermon. Sermon begins at 37:45
“Love Waits for Us”
I thought to myself, “What kind of sign is that?” The angels’ announcement is of the birth of a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And what is the sign that accompanies an event of such earth-shaking, world-changing, life-transforming magnitude? (Drum roll, please) … a baby in a layette in a feed trough. I ask you: is that kind of sign proportional to that kind of announcement?
“Joy Waits for Us"
What do you make of this? Paul writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Mind you, he’s in a Roman jail cell. How can he be rejoicing? He lifts his head and hands and rejoices when he ought to be burying his head in his hands and sighing. How can that be? What that says to me is that joy – biblical joy – is apparently not dependent upon external circumstances, but upon an awareness of God’s presence in all circumstances.
“Hope Waits for Us”
Advent is supposed to begin in Exile. Advent doesn’t begin shopping for doorbuster specials on Black Friday or surfing the web for bargains on Cyber Monday or in the garage or attic rummaging for those boxes marked "Christmas." No, Advent rightly begins in Exile because by definition the word Advent means coming. Coming as in the coming of a Savior to people who are in exile. Coming as in “Coming for to carry me home!” Exile is the natural habitat of Advent.