Dear All
Today we gathered to celebrate 2nd Sunday in Advent.
The Christmas Tree Festival is now in full swing.
It will run until 9th December at St Paul’s – daily 10am – 4pm. Sunday 1pm -4pm – music and refreshments are available.
We are sponsoring a tree which we decorated on Friday. All the trees look spectacular – the festival is well worth a visit.
Notices for this week:
Tuesday 10am Prayer Group in the Garden Room.
Thursday 10am Said Eucharist followed by coffee in Friendship House
Sunday 18th December Milngavie Choir Christmas Concert – All Saints Bearsden 3pm – tickets available on the door
Readings for next Sunday – 3rd Sunday in Advent – Isaiah 35:1-10 James 5:7-10 Matthew 11:2-11
Today’s readings – Isaiah 11:1-10 Romans 15:4-13 Matthew 3:1-12
Waiting is not something most of us do easily. Frustrations of waiting are something we experience at an early age and are not easily outgrown.
But sometimes we have to wait and with good reason, its part of the rich pattern of life and although frustrating as it may seem at the time, waiting can sometimes prove to be a profitable experience.
The church dedicates 4 weeks to Advent – the season of waiting and hoping, waiting and hoping for God, waiting and hoping for a sign of “God with us” – the Emmanuel coming into our lives.
All put so succinctly by Paul in the letter to the Romans this morning.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” … Romans 15:13
But as much as we are waiting and hoping for God, perhaps, even more so, God is waiting and hoping for each of us, waiting and hoping that we will turn to him during this season of Advent?
We hear so often of God’s love. However, do you ever think about God’s love searching for us, longing for you, wanting no hindrance or obstacle between you and him?
Today we light the candle for the prophets. And so, we reflect on those people of ancient times who spoke the word of God and foretold of a time when God would actively come into our world as “the one who is to come”.
In the beautiful passage from the prophet Isaiah which we have just heard, Isaiah in his description of the peaceful kingdom predicts a time when the world will be totally immersed in the knowledge of God. As the waters cover the sea, so shall the knowledge of God cover the earth. This all-encompassing, inescapable knowledge of God will bring a complete and lasting peace, a time we continue to wait for.
As we light the candle therefore, we are waiting for the future and all that it might hold.
But what exactly do we mean? whose future? Is it the prophets’ future that may or not have come to fruition before the time of Christ? Or is it Israel’s future that came to fruition at the time of Jesus? Or our own future that will come to fruition at the end of all time? Or perhaps at the end of our lives.?
This all reminds us, as we said last week, that Advent is a season which encompasses all the three tenses – Past present and future – looking back to the birth of Christ and his ministry on earth. Yet, it is now we are encouraged to put on the armour of light and cast away the works of darkness. We also look forward to our yearly celebration of his birth at Christmas. And we look still further forward to his coming again, when he will reveal fully his glory to us and when we shall meet him face to face.
But in the meantime, we wait. We wait in limbo.
The bible, however, has its own geographical limbo – the wilderness. And today, at the beginning of Mathews gospel, we are immediately introduced to John the Baptist in the wilderness. John’s ministry was so important that he needed the kind of spiritual preparation that is often associated with and found in the wilderness.
Moses spent time in the wilderness as God prepared him for his role in leading his people out of Egypt and through the wilderness. Jesus also spent time in the wilderness preparing for his ministry as did Paul after his conversion.
Wilderness time…..
We all know what that is like – to be in a place of limbo. Waiting for something to happen, marking time. It may even be that the wilderness is a stagnant time in our lives when nothing seems to be happening and we can become restless and unhappy. But waiting need not be a passive time, it can be active. Its where the seeds of change are sown and nurtured. A time for waiting, reflecting and listening carefully to the voice of God and discerning where that might lead us.
We think of Abraham and Sarah and the prophets of old who listened and acted faithfully and trusted in the word of God as we too are called to trust in our Lord and to live our lives faithfully.
And now as we travel through Advent may we allow hearts and minds to be still, to allow God’s time to speak in our hearts.
As the psalmist said “Be still and know that I am God” Ps 46:10
Amen