Sermons

Signs

“Signs”

Sermon Preached on First Day of Advent

November 29, 2009

Julie Watson, Student Minister

First Congregational Church, Webster Groves, Missouri  

            I don’t know about you….. but I don’t like to wait. I mean I REALLY don’t like to wait. If you happened to be standing in line behind me the other day at Schnucks you might have noticed me impatiently drumming my fingers and shifting from side to side, peering up to the cash register trying to figure out what the hold up was. ….. Like I said I don’t like to wait. As a matter of fact, I would be surprised if many of you could honestly say you enjoy waiting. Waiting for many of us means wasting time.

          Yet, today marks the beginning of Advent, a time of waiting and…. somehow we don’t mind. Because in this case, waiting is characterized by hopeful anticipation and preparation. Having hope makes all the difference. In this time of Advent we look forward and prepare ourselves to celebrate God’s taking on human form in the person of Jesus Christ. We are glad in knowing that Immanuel is truly “God with us.”……… We have hope because God loves us and is with us.

          The gospel reading this morning comes from the book attributed to Luke. Since this is the beginning of Advent I expected the lectionary text to be about the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. Instead I was confronted with apocalyptic images of “nations in distress and people fainting from fear and foreboding.”  To be quite honest, I was filled with fear and foreboding as I thought of how best to preach from this text!

          However upon closer examination of the passage I began to see it in a more hopeful light. Instead of focusing on the gloom and doom aspect as being central to the text I realized that these were only the signs which pointed to the coming of God’s reign on earth. Likewise, Jesus’ parable of the fig tree also points to the in-breaking of God’s realm on earth. These signs offer us hope because God’s realm is one of love and transforming grace.

          At the same time we live in a world where people are desperate for hope. Many have lost their jobs and homes, others are forced to choose between such essentials as food and shelter. Our nation is at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the reasons President Obama was elected was because he offered the people of this country hope. Without hope the people perish.

          I would suggest to you this morning that the question we need to ask ourselves is HOW are we spending our time during this Advent and beyond? Are we waiting impatiently like I was in line at Schnuck’s or are we making the most of the time we have in hopeful anticipation and preparation?

          Just as God has called on all generations of believers to spread the good news, God is calling on each of us to tell the fearful and despairing world that God is with us in Jesus our Immanuel and that God loves all of us.

          Each of us is a unique and beloved child of God created with gifts to share with the world. How each of us reaches out with God’s love to the world is as individual as we are. However, I believe most Christians would agree that an excellent starting point would be to pray and to look to the words and deeds of Jesus as the living example of how God would have us be and act in the world.

 We have hope on this first Sunday of Advent and every day because despite the pain and despair in the world, God loves us and never leaves us no matter how difficult life gets. It is our responsibility and privilege to share this good news of God’s love so others may have the same hope.

Amen.