The Rev. Dr. Donald P. Edwards
December 6th, 2006

Advent - The Season Of Hope, Repentance and Joy.

The season of Advent begins the church year with a mixed bag of feelings-hope, repentance, and joy.

Our hope looks ahead....

Our repentance looks back....

And our Advent joy is for today...

To bring these three to life, as toy action figures bring superheroes to life for children, we attach these three attitudes to real people, larger-than-life Advent action figures from Scripture:

Isaiah - The prophet of the Old Testament who stirred his people with hope in the Lord’s coming. Like Isaiah, we look forward to Christ’s glorious return at the end time.

John the Baptist - who announced the arrival of Christ. Like John, we recognize our need to repent of our past sins, sweep our lives clean and come clean to our Lord.

Mary - whose faith was blessed with the awesome gift of God’s Son. Like Mary, we want to reach out and receive the grace and good gifts of God, making a place in our hearts and lives.

As your pastor, I encourage you to attend our worship services during advent so that we may share as a community this season of Hope, Repentance, and Joy. As we journey together we will learn much more about Isaiah-John The Baptist-Mary!

Isaiah the Great Prophet - The great prophet of the Old Testament foretold the coming of Christ, the Suffering Servant, who was to bring justice to a corrupt society and blessing upon the faithful through His own faithfulness. Isaiah preserved for God’s people a moving vision of who they were and what they hoped for in a world that seemed bent on its own destruction.

John the Brave Baptizer - The fierce spiritual warrior and contemporary of Jesus pointed to his Lord as “the Lamb of God,” although others wanted John to be the Messiah. Like John, we need to be brave enough to face our failure as individuals and as a society to meet God’s expectations. John calls us to see the presence of Christ, who enables us to change our ways.

Mary the Maiden Pure of Heart - The life of this young woman of humble origins, was transformed by God’s grace. When God presented His plan to her, Mary accepted it. Her willingness to allow God to work in her life was a necessary part of the Incarnation-God becoming flesh and blood. Today our Lord comes to us in His Word and in His Sacraments, He comes through His Spirt and speaks to us in a “still small voice”. Have you listened to God lately? Have you learned from God lately? Have you been so busy working, playing, that you have failed to journey with others? Could it be that some of the closest people to you, are pulling you way from Christ? Causing you to walk their path, not yours that Christ has called you to walk with Him. Listen to the wisdom of Mary’s words, “Let it be done to me according to your will.”

Advent is a season of Hope. Our hope is built upon the love and merit of Jesus Christ, and not of ourselves! Advent is a season of Repentance. Repentance is more than a feeling of sorrow, it is a vow to change our wrong actions. Advent is a time of Joy. The good news of forgiveness will set us free in the opportunity to serve Jesus with our whole heart and soul. I hope you will choose to journey with us during this advent season. - Come Lord Jesus, Come!

Sunday Scripture Reading In Advent - Listen carefully to this year’s Sunday lessons for Advent. The words come from our friends Isaiah, John the Baptizer, Mary, and from Jesus himself. They hold lots of promises for you.

December 3 - 1st Sunday In Advent Look Up! In the first week of Advent both the Old Testament and the New bring us the Lord’s promise to right a world gone wrong, and to redeem His people.

December 10th - Prepare The Way! In this second week we hear how the Lord will prepare His way with a messenger of the covenant, whose message will purify the people and introduce them to the One who will make them righteous.

December 17th - Rejoice In The Lord! In our third week of our journey together we hear the unmistakable Good News that the Lord is in our midst as our Redeemer, our Peace , and our Renewer.

December 24th - Blessed Are You! In the fourth week, the faith of the believing community will be blessed, for the long promised King, who makes a new covenant agreement is coming. Our worship schedule will be 8:15AM Liturgical, 10:45AM Blended, 7:00PM Family Christmas Service (Live Nativity Story), 10:00PM Community Christmas Candlelight Service. Holy Communion will be offered during the two evening services. Plan to attend and invite others as our Advent journey comes to an end. We have prepared ourselves, now we may rejoice.

Financial Offerings are a way in which we share our love of Christ and this church we call St. Andrew. We are hopeful that through generous giving to St. Andrew during the month of December we will be able to meet or current account budget. Pray that God will hear our prayers and meet our needs. Participate through continued generous giving.

Jesus, Is The Reason or The Season!

Email – pastordonedwards@standrewlutheranmuncy.org