The Waiting Room... Prepare

Dec. 8, 2013                                                        

Matt. 3:1-12

Prayer

We continue our Advent Series, “The Waiting Room” today. The image of waiting for baby to be born is appropriate for us during Advent because that is really what the season is about… 

    Old Testament Hebrews waited for their   
    Messiah. 

    The Jewish people are waiting for their
    Christ. 
    We are waiting for the return of Jesus.

And the Advent season is the season of waiting for God to respond and it gives us an opportunity to give some retrospection to our lives.

Last week God surprised us by coming to Mary & Joseph telling them they would have a baby to be named Jesus. We are reminded this too is a surprise for us because this seems like a strange way to save the world. I believe the biggest surprise for us is that God is doing this because He loves us. That God is sending his son… indeed sending himself as a sign of his love to us and for us. Furthermore, God also is telling us in today’s gospel story to prepare ourselves as well.

 “Someone is crying in the wilderness, get the road ready for the Lord, Make a path for Him. “Turn Back” to God! The kingdom of Heaven is coming.”

Just as parents prepare for the birth of a child by getting all the necessary things to care for that child, we too need to prepare our lives & hearts for the journey of faith.

You gotta love John the Baptist… is one of my favorite characters in the Bible. To be so bold in his proclamation, to be so convicted of his faith in God. How many of us wish we could come close to this kind of faith.

John uses the word “TURN BACK”  … many versions say “REPENT”

The Greek word used is:

Met-a-noi-a.. means, “To Make Change” or “To Turn Away From”.

This is most often looked at negatively… more to the point that I need to give up something. It means I’ve done something wrong and I have to apologize or make restitution.

Today… I would like to invite you to experience “More” this Advent & Christmas season. Rather than take a broad view of how you might make change in your life. Let’s consider “Metanoia” and how we might do this for the remainder of the Advent season as we sit in the waiting room. Just maybe this might help us for the months that follow.

Get a pen or pencil… there are some in the pews… and take the back of one of the inserts in your worship guide…

Create a To DO List of all the things that need to be done before Christmas

Example: Shopping…Cleaning…Gift Wrapping… Grocery Shopping

Jot down all the things that need to be done.

Jesus challenged the religious people of his time of their religious patterns, rules, rituals, prejudices & arrogances, and the mechanical relationships & understandings of God.

Share some of the lists…

Create a List of what you Hope Christmas will be like.

Example: For the family to get along

That love will be demonstrated.

That the world will find peace

The future of Cana…

Our Isa reading says, “Deserts will bloom, everyone will see the splendor of the Lord, be of good cheer, God is coming, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will walk.”

Share some Hopes

With Christmas Hope in mind… review you’re TO DO List.

Circle or check those TO DO tasks that are the most important.

There are many tasks that seem important, but don’t contribute to the larger vision & hope of the season.

What can you make change at that would help you prepare for a far-less stressful Christmas?

What change would help you prepare for a far better relationship with your family?

What would you have to do to help you experience Hope & Joy?

Closing:

As we continue to wait in the waiting room and as we prepare for the season, the journey of faith is not about less, but about living with more.

Bishop Craig Satterlee of the NWLower Mich Synod says, “how we wait for the Lord is more than the anticipation of a college student waiting to come home for Christmas; it’s more like a woman in a maternity ward, waiting for the Christ to be born anew, to be born in you, waiting for the living Christ to come to life in your living. Christmas, then, is not a day on the calendar but that moment when the Christ becomes alive in you. When the Christ becomes real to you.

This is really about inviting you into the kinds of hopes, dreams, and even adventures that God promises all those who are willing to leave the familiar and venture down another way.

I want to invite you to re-imagine Repentance & Change… Metanoia as a joyful opportunity for us to experience the hopes & dreams God has for us, it is a gift not an obligation.