Time Keeps Passing By
As I sit here, I’m blown away that this Sunday we will be kicking off the Advent season (well, actually, I’ll be kicking it off on Wednesday night at our mid-week service). It just seems like this year has come and gone so quickly.
The Advent season seems to fly by as well. So often, we fail to slow down and enjoy the holiday season because of all the things on our to-do lists. We have to find time to get all of our shopping done, attend Christmas programs and parties, and still manage to get our work done.
Of course, the Advent season is one of the most consumer-driven times of the year. People spend money they don’t have on gifts that might not even get used. We spend more time missing the point of this holiday season then celebrating the season. We focus so much on Santa, that Jesus is overshadowed…well, we give him an hour on Christmas Eve.
Advent is a season of celebration, preparation, and expectant anticipation. We celebrate the coming of the Messiah in the birth of Jesus. And, we prepare and eagerly await his return.
Currently, there are a lot of unknown’s at Center Chapel. Rusty is planning to return to lead us through the Advent journey. However, we don’t really know if he will be ready for this grand undertaking. And, we never know if he’ll get in the game and need to take a timeout at some point during the journey.
That means, in my celebration of the Advent season, I’m preparing for the unexpected. I will be preparing messages for each week of the journey for the “just-in-case” file. So, in the event that I find myself preaching, I’m preparing a sermon series called “All I Want for Christmas is _____.” Each week the blank will be filled in with something (like peace, hope, Jesus, etc). Obviously, this title is stolen from the popular “two-front-teeth” song. I’ve also thought about doing “A Christmas Story” and using clips from my favorite holiday movie each week. And, I could put all this time and energy in and end up not preaching. And, that will be okay because I believe the preparation will give me a better Advent experience.
So, I’m preparing to celebrate a joyful Advent season…whatever it may bring.