November 27, 2016
Stetson Memorial UMC
1st Sunday
of Advent
“A Sacred Moment”
Sermon Series
Psalm 130
Matthew 3:1-12 MSG
Romans 13:11-12 NIV
“In The Business...”
A prayer of illumination so that God will
speak through me or in-spite of me…
I would ask that you would stand as you are
able for the reading of the Gospel according to Matthew. We will be reading chapter
3, verses 1-12. Listen to the word of God for His people…you and I… (Read the
gospel from the Message translation)
Good
morning. I can’t believe that next week is December. Where has the year gone?
It seems that I have been so busy with life that time has just slipped away.
Now here we are at the end and not quite sure how I got here. There have been
so many things to do and see that I think that I feel as if I need a vacation
from life. I need a time to just slow down and take a breath. But this is not
the right time to be doing that either.
We
have begun the Christmas season which I am the business. Even society is
ramping up on the business. Last Friday was Black Friday…the busiest shopping
day of the year. In fact, it is so busy
that many places have started their Holiday season on Thanksgiving Thursday…even
before the turkey is cold…
We,
as people, as Christians need to find a way to slow down, otherwise we are
going to miss the best part of this season of giving. We are going to miss the
best gift that we could ever receive. The gift of God’s own Son in the form of
a baby on a cold and silent night. As we slow down, we will see the sacredness
all around us.
Today
we begin the season of Advent in the church calendar. It is the season we
expectantly await the celebration of His birth and wait expectantly for his
return. The Christmas season is a time where the sacredness of it all gets
drowned out by the secular business. The word sacred itself means set apart and
holy. The sacredness of something is revered and respected but this time of reverence
and awe seems to get lost in the lights and glamor. In order to see…to feel…to
touch the sacred, we need to slow down our pace and just be for the moment…lest
we miss the awe and wonder of the manger.
This
Advent season we are going to do just that. We are going to slow down…even if
for but a moment…to see what might be missed in the hustle and bustle of the
season. I would invite us…you and I…on a spiritual journey to see all things
through the kaleidoscope…the display of beauty within the sacred space of
Advent…
©
Sacred Time
©
Sacred People
©
Sacred Space
©
Sacred Knowing
©
Sacred Being
©
Sacred Doing
I
would ask that we would stop for a moment and just breath in the sacredness of
the space we are in right now…this sanctuary where God shows up to meet us each
Sunday…By the way…in order to really
enter into the Sacredness of Advent…we need to do it more than just on Sunday’s
so I would ask that each of us spend some time each day…even just five minutes
and focus on…meditate upon the Sacredness we talk about each week… Let each build
upon each other until we embrace genuine purpose within this sacred moment…
So,
Advent is a sacred time. John the Baptist spoke about time. The time of heaven
intersecting the time of the then and now. The time had come for a heart and
life change. The time had come…and
continue today…to prepare the way of the Lord. We are that thunder in the desert. We are that message of sacredness.
We are the voice calling out in the desert “make way for the kingdom of God…it
is right before us…do you not perceive it?”
We,
at times, let the busy-ness of the holiday season overrun the sense of sacred. In
fact, setting apart time for God…for the real reason for the season…God
incarnate…gets set aside to create trappings of the holiday in which we celebrate
the Holy.
We
are given the gift of now from God. Within this gift of now…this sacred time of
now…is given to God…to family…to friends…and those who need help. Within the
sacred time, we are the gift given to others in which God can be seen within
the mask that we, as society, have created to hide what is sacred beneath the “sensationalism”
of the season.
The
Word became flesh and lived among us…that is the message of the season. Speak through the Spirit of this one truth.
How are you going to spend this “holiday season”? Are you and I going for the
superficial…or is there something more…is there a better way? I challenge you
and I to take a road far different than the highway that leads to the Bethlehem
Stable. I challenge you and I to slow ourselves down and sit within the Sacredness
of the manger.
“11 And
do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to
wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we
first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us
put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Romans
13:11-12 NIV)
Amen.
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