Luke 21:28So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
Exterior design is changing all around us this season of Advent. There are signs everywhere, though Wal-Mart is already “looking a lot like” Halloween! The Christmas decorations have been on the shelves so long that they have cobwebs. The Ghost of Christmas Past?
The exterior designs and signs of the season are exciting. We all love this wonderful season of brightness and glisten, but the signs do us no ultimate good because in the end it is the interior design that counts. And new interior design will not be the result of something we do, not something we put on or hang from our human limbs, but something we allow to have happen within us.
God desires to do something new inside us. God desires for something in the interior of our lives to be made new in this season. And, as our scripture warns this first day of Advent, there is always the possibility that we might miss that opportunity. Jesus, here at the end of his ministry warns us to observe, watch, and get ready. We should guard our hearts against waste and worry. This is the soundest advice that we can get as we enter this season.
I was fuming as I watched a lady dump her car ashtray in the intersection while stopped at a light on Airline Drive. I said aloud to my passenger “That makes me very unhappy!” To which she responded by laughingly instructing me to observe the sign on the same lady’s rear window: HAPPINESS IS AN INSIDE JOB.
Advent is an inside job too. What happens on the exterior is cosmetic and delightful but it has its limitations. What happens on the interior will occur when we choose to allow God to do something within us. That something has eternal value. The signs will be everywhere but we must observe, watch and get ready to receive them. This IS Advent. We may enjoy our exterior decorations but we must also prepare and anticipate and notice the signs of His desired coming within us.
God is coming to make us new in this Advent season by interior design. Our job is to show up. God will do the rest. Peace to you as we together begin the long journey in darkness toward the marvelous light of Jesus birth.
Prayer: Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus. Open our ears Lord, and help us to listen. Open our hearts Lord and fill us with the new you bring to our lives. Amen.
Rev. Larry Norman
Lighting of the Advent Wreath for the Home – Week 1
HOPE
Once again, we greet the season of Advent. Our Advent Wreath reminds us that we have begun a solemn time of waiting which will end in a time of great rejoicing. Soon a child will be born who will change the world forever. He will teach us of God’s love and show us how to live.
Long years ago, during a period of bleak despair, the prophets of Israel told us this Messiah would come. They kindled hope in the people of Israel. One of them, Micah, wrote that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem, a little town only a few miles from the great city of Jerusalem. It’s a long way to Bethlehem from here, but in our thoughts we can make that trip. We’ll walk there, just as we would have done two thousand years ago.
There are four candles in our Advent Wreath. This morning we light the first, the candle of HOPE.
Full of hope, we begin our walk to Bethlehem, following in the footsteps of the prophets.