Sunday, November 29, 2009
First Sunday of Advent at Tinney Chapel
Joy To The World and You Better Watch Out
On this First Sunday of Advent at Tinney Chapel, Pastor Sue Gross took the congregation through a winter wonderland journey, with people and places ranging from Santa Claus, an unidentified modern Rabbi, the Jewish Temple, Richard The Lion-Hearted and, of course, Jesus The Christ!
It was a lively sermon, reminding us that Jesus will one day keep His Promise to return, a point emphasized in one of this day's hymn selections, Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus.
Christians have been waiting a long time for that event, which seemed to be just around the corner to those first-century writers of New Testament Scripture. Even Paul and Jesus seem to have been in that camp, although both made it abundantly clear that no one knows the day or the hour. After all, those were turbulent times, including the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 A.D., only a few decades after the Crucifixion.
We are to live in a spirit of watchfulness, concluded Pastor Sue: "Perhaps we should live our lives as if Jesus might return at any time. Watch, but don't be afraid, because the future is in God's Hands, not ours. Do so in a spirit of Hope, not fear, with a view toward perhaps dancing in the streets when it does happen."
The Moore Family, Alicia, Ronny and Blaine, officiated at the lighting of the First Candle of Advent, appropriately named The Candle of Hope!
Amen.
