So…

Here we are at the third Sunday in Advent! It seems hardly possible doesn’t it! 

The only good news, if indeed it is good news, is that Christmas is on a Saturday this year, so even though next Sunday is the fourth Sunday in Advent, and we are almost at the end, we still will have five shopping days left until the big event.

Not that Advent is about Christmas. It really isn’t. 

The season of Advent is supposed to be about preparing for the comings of the Lord, both of them; the arrival of the child in Bethlehem for sure, but also and much more importantly, the arrival of Christ the King, again!

You see, Advent is intended to prepare us for that day of the arrival of the Lord of Life here and now in the lives of God’s people on a daily basis. 

But more than even daily living in the Spirit, it’s intended to prepare us for the second coming of that King in visible form as the ultimate presence of God on earth.

We are in Advent preparing for a King who could arrive at any time and on any day to see how well his faithful servants have done keeping the Kingdom in tip top shape.

So, while getting ready for the presents under the tree is great, the primary preparation we are supposed to be doing is getting us ready to meet the King when he arrives in his glory!

So, how are we doing on that?

For most of us, if honest, we would have to say, fair to middling. Probably not great to fantastic. Why? Well because…

Life gets in the way. We get distracted. We lose focus. We get tired. And, well, we struggle with hope.

Because we live in a world where hope is in short supply! 

There’s a pandemic in case you haven’t noticed, one that seems to be getting worse. And perhaps worse than the pandemic itself is that wonderful people just can’t seem to agree on how to battle it.

Politics seems to be worse than I ever remember, even way back when folks I know were absolutely terrified that if John Kennedy became President, the world would end as we knew it. 

Economics are great or terrible depending if you have a job, if you own stock, and if you love or hate inflation.

Science, which in my childhood was deeply respected, and every kid on the block wanted to be an astronaut, now is deeply under siege, medicine too, with paying customers getting to ride in rocket ships. Who could have imagined such a thing?

And the media, which for those of us who grew up with Walter Cronkite, and the Huntly Brinkley Report, seems to have devolved into utter chaos.
It seems as if the world as we knew it is crumbling around us with very little hope of a new future.

For some of us, it just makes us sad, sadder than we can remember in a long time. And it all seems a little hopeless.

And yet…

It is into this same kind of hopelessness that God sent his only son to be born to new parents Mary and Joseph, a son God said would save the world.

The Word comes, John tells us in the first chapter of his gospel; the Word who was with God and was truly God. 

He says, the Word became a human being and lived here with us. We saw his true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. From him all the kindness and all the truth of God have come down to us.

It is into hopelessness that God sent, at the right time, his powerful presence, his creative presence, the one through whom all things have been made - to offer us hope.

You see no matter how bad things may seem, no matter how much chaos the world seems to be in, God has us in the palm of his hands.

It may be crazy out there, but we don’t have to be crazy in here, because no matter what happens in the world, God is with us.

And because God is with us we can live in the midst of the chaos knowing that God is taking us by the hand and walking us through. 

Mary and Joseph in the first century knew chaos. 

They lived in a world where hope had almost disappeared. Faithful Jews knew that God loved them and that God had promised a savior, but in the midst of all that swirled around them it was hard to believe. 

Hope was hard to find.

But hope was on its way.

Advent is a time to listen for the voice of John calling in the wilderness.

Advent is a time to add wood to the dimming fires of faith.

Advent is a time to take stock of our spiritual lives and refocus.

Advent is a time remember what God has done and look see what God is doing!

Advent is an opportunity to get ready!

Because the King is coming.

Amen.