“Advent: Be Ready!” by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

    My kids think I have eyes in the back of my head. It’s a mom thing, a sixth sense. I just know when they are up to something. When they were really little, they thought they could break a household rule and not get caught. But mom always knows what is going on. Am I right? Was your mom like that? Yesterday, they were decorating a gingerbread house with their Gram. I walked in right after one had taken the frosting and squeezed a big gob of it right into their mouth. They smiled and tried to hide it from me. I knew exactly what they had done. They got that innocent look on their face, and then burst out laughing when I said, “We both know you have a mouth full of frosting, young one.” MAMA SEES EVERYTHING!

    From the time a child is crawling, we must establish this truth, because when they become teen-agers, we want this feeling ingrained in their psyches. We hope and pray it will keep them out of trouble when they are out there in the big bad world, driving, and at parties with other teen-agers being tempted by all sorts of evil things. Am I right? You see your Mama could not protect you from everything out there.  We all make mistakes, can I get an Amen?

    You see, we want our children to learn to make good choices for themselves. We want them to develop their own internal conscience for making good decisions. We help them when they are younger, but eventually they are outside our homes, and outside our influence. They are on their own. And they will have to live with the consequences. And eventually the consequences out there get really big. Am I right?

    Well, today’s scripture is about ultimate choices and ultimate consequences, BIG ONES. Today is the first Sunday in the church calendar, the church year, the first Sunday in Advent. There is a suggested plan of scripture readings for the church year called a lectionary, and every year on the first Sunday of Advent, and every year we get this really scary text, about what it will look like at what we call the “Second Coming” of Jesus.  It’s not my favourite thing to preach on. 
    Now, when Jesus was here the first time, and he talked about his return, and these conversations got recorded in the Bible, the assumption was by some people, that this “second coming” was right around the corner. That was 2000 years ago, so it seems that the folks that were listening to Jesus misheard something. Because he also said that no one will know the time or the place, (which makes all these predictions about the date of the second coming kind of silly, to me, but we won’t go there today).

    This is the gist of what Jesus was saying to his followers: always be ready to come face to face with God. This mysterious Second Coming could be at any time, but we never know when the time for the final judgment of the world will come. You never know when your own time will come. So live as a person ready to die, and face God. I think that’s pretty good advice. Always live ready to face God. (Always live as if your Mama can see what you are doing. As a mother, I like that one.  I think it would keep lots of us out of trouble. Maybe it’s not such good theology – but I think it could make the world a better place, don’t you think.

    Well, we read part of Mark’s gospel, chapter 13 for you today. Listen to some of the part that comes earlier in chapter 13:

 11"When they bring you, betrayed, into court, don't worry about what you'll say. When the time comes, say what's on your heart—the Holy Spirit will make his witness in and through you.
 12-13"It's going to be brother killing brother, father killing child, children killing parents. There's no telling who will hate you because of me.
   "Stay with it—that's what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry; you'll be saved.

 14-18"But be ready to run for it when you see the monster of desecration set up where it should never be. You who can read, make sure you understand what I'm talking about. If you're living in Judea at the time, run for the hills; if you're working in the yard, don't go back to the house to get anything; if you're out in the field, don't go back to get your coat. Pregnant and nursing mothers will have it especially hard. Hope and pray this won't happen in the middle of winter.

 19-20"These are going to be hard days—nothing like it from the time God made the world right up to the present. And there'll be nothing like it again. If he let the days of trouble run their course, nobody would make it. But because of God's chosen people, those he personally chose, he has already intervened.

Then we get to the part Kristen read today in our worship celebration:

But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven's angels, not even the Son. Only the Father. So keep a sharp lookout, for you don't know the timetable. It's like a man who takes a trip, leaving home and putting his servants in charge, each assigned a task, and commanding the gatekeeper to stand watch. So, stay at your post, watching. You have no idea when the homeowner is returning, whether evening, midnight, cockcrow, or morning. You don't want him showing up unannounced, with you asleep on the job. I say it to you, and I'm saying it to all: Stay at your post. Keep watch."

Those last two words are why these texts are used today, as we begin this season of Advent and prepare our hearts to celebrate Christmas. “Keep watch” for God to give us the gift of Jesus.   Every year we get this amazing gift from God.

    We are in a time of watching and waiting for Jesus. No matter what anyone else tries to tell you, these next 28 days are a season of watching for Jesus. We can decorate our houses, send out cards, buy presents, cook a special meal, but we need to ask ourselves one question. Are we living in such a way, that when Jesus comes, we will bring him joy? Will our lives bring him joy?

    Yes I could put it this way: I could say, Jesus is coming to judge us. I could get all scary like and say, when Jesus comes again – is he going to judge you worthy to live with him in paradise or is he going to condemn you to hell? I could.  But here is the thing. If we have chosen hell, we are already living there. Hell is right here on earth when we choose to live apart from God.   We don’t need Jesus to tell us we’re going to hell, we’ve visited.

    Another way to put it is this: are we living our lives for Jesus now? When he gets here, would he recognize we are living that way?  Are we crafting our lives and forming our lives in a way that would give Jesus joy, with every decision we make? Are we choosing friends that build us up and encourage us to live in the ways of Jesus? Are we making choices about how we use our time and spend our money that help us live out the values of Jesus? Or are we following someone else’s way?   If Jesus were standing beside us every day, would he be filled with joy at the way we treat our neighbors, our friends, our loved ones, the strangers we meet, even our enemies? Because, here is the thing: Jesus is standing beside us every day, because he lives inside those neighbors and strangers and even our enemies.

    In four weeks we will celebrate the birth of Jesus again. In the newspaper, on the TV and on the net, they will soon start a countdown, sadly of shopping days until Christmas.  Now, I’m not totally anti-shopping, but that’s a silly way to countdown to Christmas.  I love Christmas. It is my favorite day of the year. Because we get to remember that God comes to the world just like us, a vulnerable little child, helpless and fragile.   Born of average parents, in a barn, without a home.

    For now, Jesus calls us to watch for him. Jesus calls us to take a look at our own lives and consider this: Will we be ready to have Jesus take a close look at our lives with us? And if not, it’s not too late. We can make some changes today. With God’s help, we can carefully move ourselves back into line, be ready. Will you do it? Will you ask God to show you the changes to you need to make?  And will we make them?  And will you be ready?

    Do you need a place where you can get ready for God’s greatest gift?  A tiny baby who would show us the way.  A “king” born not in a palace, but homeless in a barn, with a feed trough as a crib.  A leader who changed the world, not with military might, but with love.  If not, consider stopping by the corner of Monroe & Central in Toledo, we are here Sundays at 11 AM, and soon at the Maumee Indoor Theater (where the Anthony Wayne Trail and Conant Street).  We are getting ready for Jesus.