SCRIPTURE: Matthew 11:2-11
TEXT: 4Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: THEME: God litters our lives with signs to keep its on track. INTRODUCTION Right after the elections, Christmas began rounding the corner really quickly. We have already finished the first Sunday of Advent “Awake”. Last week with communion we celebrated the second Sunday in Advent: “Alive”. Hope is the main theme of these Advent Sundays, as we expectantly look towards; Christ’s second coming, the coming Reign of Christ, and the Birthday celebration of Jesus. We Hope for different future with newly elected political officials We hope for things to be done in a new way. We hope for peace in Ukraine. We hope for Russia’s warring to cease. We hope for our political parties to stop posturing for winning and work together for its people. And yet our political situation is not as bad as what John the Baptist was facing, being imprisoned by King Herod for speaking the truth about how he took his brother’s wife for himself. How does John know that what he is doing, is what God wants him to do? The theme for this third Sunday of Advent is “A Sign”. SCRIPTURE A minister, in a new location began pastoring a congregation who were just scraping by. The church may not see it for themselves but to their pastor, they will only be able to continue like this for a few more years, before their resources, their building and their membership runs out. Already they are finding it difficult to find leaders from within themselves to fill all of their officer positions. The upcoming generation does not want to put their time, energy or money into fixing antiquated buildings. Young adults keep away in fear that they will be recruited to fulfill the agenda of the older generation. This seems senseless to them, building maintenance and business meetings are not what they imagined the church to be about. So, this pastor simply asked the key leaders of the church to spend some time during the week, observing where they might have seen God doing something in their community. When they come back together, they will report their findings. What do you see? A prayer for a sore knee which got better, a hybrid Bible study with someone from the mainland also engaging in the good news, preaching which helps interpret our faith in the world today, those who were riddled with guilt are experiencing the love of God and those who were trying to escape death have turned their focus to living with hope of a better tomorrow. The hungry are fed and the cold are given blankets. And God has provided for the church through their fund raisers. Jesus asks, “Why did you go to see John in the wilderness? What did you see?” An example of one living their faith in God in a real and genuine way. His relationship with God was not bought with sacrifices, but through a change in perspective. God is not an unreasonable Judge who holds our fate but is as a loving Parent filled with love and grace. John preached a message about turning towards God and release through forgiveness. John did not preach about how to escape tribulation, suffering or death, but, and I paraphrase, “If you think this Baptist is a prophet, just wait for the one that’s coming.” John was preparing the way for Jesus so that we would be able to live; loving God and loving others, and then be equipped by the Holy Spirit for mission. APPLICATION We need encouragement to keep us going along a course of faith with hope. Leaving Egypt for Canaan took huge leaps of faith. Wandering around in the desert is an analogy of our faith, journeying with God. What are the signs that keeps us moving in God’s directions? Miracles, healings, visions, angelic visitation are rarities, but for most of us, we will have a slow healing, a course of therapy or a vaccine. The study of a book will open our eyes to envision our revealing God in a new way. The Angelic visit we will have will be by caring friends who show up just to check in on us. Here are a few life experiences that are signs that sustained hope: when we had strength to persevere even though things were hard, when we were able to have ease even though it should have been a lot harder. Living on the edge financially but always having the funds to pay our bills. When provisions came in unexpected ways. When God brought the people, we need into our lives. Protection when we have been threatened. We don’t know why but some of the choices we have made just ‘out of the blue’ have had amazing results or resulted in our avoiding calamity. Coincidence/Serendipity being at the right place at the right time. When the fruits that were produced by our actions were also a blessing to others. When what we were doing for God was hard and took a lot of effort and was draining and seem to have no end, but we also had a sense of peace about what we are doing and as we persisted, we felt energized. That’s what the Bible is, it is a record of human experiences with God and often times their experiences with God are our experiences too. Maybe not parting the Red Sea but having God help us out in a tight spot. Here are another set of signs: Prayer opens us up to an awareness to what God is doing with both answered and unanswered prayer. God does not just do what we wish for but teaches, shapes and forms us through prayer. Praying helps us to become more attuned to the heart of God and God’s will in our living. God brings people into our lives with wisdom, skills, encouragement, talent, generosity, kindness, smarts and faith. Scriptures cross references our experience with our ancestors in faith through their stories with God. In the same way we can have a passage rattling around our brain as a word of encouragement, as an insight, as a mantra to get us through a particular hard season. Sometimes God will use a song, a hymn or a saying to be just what we need for that chapter of our lives. Trusting in God, the plans God has for us, finds ways for us to keep moving forward. And then there are times when we have gone on what we know, before our feelings come. We grieve the lost even though we know God’s promises and when the feelings catch up our faith is renewed, we are comforted and can move on. Then the musing of others can strike a chord in our hearts and be a sign of how God is moving in the same way in someone else’s life. These are all Signs along the way that keep us on track with God and our hope alive. CONCLUSION I didn’t choose the gospel readings for Advent but was able to see these passages from Matthew as a collection of hope; Awake: waiting and being observant to God’s activity. Alive: Living provocatively according to God’s ways, living what we believe. A Sign: God leading us, encouraging us and showing us that we are on the right path. Next week we will “A-magine”: seeing what God sees so we can join God in what is beyond what we thought was possible. These themes help us to have hope as we wait for the second coming of Christ, as we wait to celebrate the birthday of Jesus and as we wait to see what our newly elected leaders will do. We can be actively Aware, Alive and looking for A Sign of God In whatever era we find ourselves because God will be journeying with us into the future. There will be signs of God’s help, presence, provision, protection, healing and love all along the way to keep us on track and to give us hope.
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