Suncook United Methodist Church
November 29, 2009
Isaiah 2:1-4 ESV Bible
The Lord be with you
And also with you
Let us pray…
Creator God in heaven, it happens every year. We think that this will be the year that we will have a reflective Advent. We look forward to today and this new season, Jesus. But all around us are the signs rushing us to Christmas and some kind of celebration that equates spending with love. We need your help. We want to slow our world down. This year, more than ever, we need Advent, these weeks of reflection and longing for hope in the darkness. This year, help us to have that longing. Help us to feel it in our hearts and be aware of the hunger and thirst in our own soul. Be with us…guide us in these weeks to what you want to show us this Advent. Amen
(Adapted from “Praying Advent-http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Advent/)
Ray and I were discussing the other day when does Advent, pre-Christmas time, begin. Does it begin the Monday before Advent Sunday when he started reading the lectionary for this Sunday or does it begin on the first Sunday of Advent which is today? Well…I think we figured it out…we have solved the mystery…it begins on the day of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, when Santa comes down the road in his sleigh. At least that’s what the world around us would say…I was also listening to the radio the other day and heard an interesting commercial. It takes place with the 3 Wise Men talking…making sure they had all the gifts for the trip to Bethlehem and so they were talking about the gifts…they had the Frankincense and Myrrh. The next gift was the one that made me stop and think…this next gift made them tell the 3rd king that he was going to show them up…the best gift for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords was Dunkin Donuts Coffee. You know…”America runs on Dunkins”. What is this world coming to? Even on Google they have put shopping right next to the News…it is just as important as News…in the short cuts at the top.
Today, we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent…that time when we begin to prepare for the celebration of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. We are also beginning our Sermon Series “the Advent Conspiracy” when we will be looking at the Nativity story in a new and hopefully exciting way. Our prayer is that we will see the story of the babe in the manger in a way that will give us new eyes to see the world around us.
Well let’s start by looking back in time…to the time when Jesus was born. The people were looking for a savior, someone who would free them from the enemies around them. They were looking for someone to come in and take the world by storm, someone who would be a mighty warrior for them, someone who would make things right. In Isaiah, we see a description of that very person (one of many descriptions found in the Hebrew Bible). It is found in the 2nd chapter verses 1-4 and it reads (And I’m reading from the ESV version of the Bible):
Isaiah 2: 1-4 ESV
The Mountain of the LORD
“ 1The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3and many peoples shall come, and say:"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.4He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
But the Savior of the world was not born in some castle, he was not of noble birth, he was not found among the elite. The story of the Savior began in a lowly stable and the news of His birth did not come to the kings of that time or even to the royal court. The news of his birth came to shepherds in a field…to commoners like you and me.’
And here we are now, over two thousand years later. We are celebrating the birth of a King, of a Savior, the One who came into the world and turned it upside down. But somewhere along the line things got mixed up for some people. Instead of waiting expectantly for the day we celebrate His birth, they fill our lives with the “Business of the season”. Instead of looking towards the star they are looking towards the next sale. Instead of spending time with family and friends they are spending time with strangers in a line. Instead of remembering the reason for the season they are trying to remember what they bought Uncle John last year so they don’t get the same this year. They are busy making their list and checking it twice. Oh what blessings they are missing out on because of their priorities. Their priorities, unfortunately, are temporal not eternal.
I would like to end my sermon with a few questions for us to ponder (and some of them are from the Advent Conspiracy
1. What if this year we spend more time with our families instead of time shopping?
2. What if we made gifts with family instead of spending the money in stores?
3. What if we used the extra money to help those without?
4. What if we got back to the true meaning of Christmas?
It’s not about the parades
It’s not about the gifts under the tree
It’s not even about the decorations
It’s about the gift that was given so long ago, in a manger
It’s about a tiny baby that came to change the world, to change how we think and act, to change how we see our brother and sister.
5. What if we changed what was on our Christmas list this year?
(Play “Grown up Christmas List”)
Amen
Isaiah 2:1-4
Jeremiah 33:14-15
Luke 1:46-50 (Call to Worship) and
sermon, “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas”
by Pastor Ruth L. Foss,
by Pastor Ruth
Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Suncook United Methodist Church
Suncook, NH
November 29, 2009
First Sunday of Advent
part of a series of sermons,
using the Advent Conspiracy
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