[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage 585, Advent 1, 12/2/07

[rmcgregoralbq at aol.com]

Advent 1, December 2, 2007

Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 122
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:36-44

The Perpetual Vigil

Isaiah is keeping the watch for international peace administered from 
Jerusalem.  The Psalmist keeps a prayerful vigil for Jerusalem at 
peace.  Paul exhorts the church to watch for the day of the Lord.  
Jesus adds, "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is 
coming at an unexpected hour."  (Matthew 24:44)

The message is not that Jerusalem is the center of the world or that 
one person is taken and another left.  The message is "Remember what 
you are about."  And what are we about?  We are about another world and 
another reality, a world under God's rule and a reality more like 
heaven. "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in 
heaven."  That is what we are about.

For this reason, we are always uncomfortable with business as usual, 
the conventional wisdom, "réale politique".  The media version of life 
rings hollow to us.  The "alternative media” is no better.  First it 
was "World War".  Then it was "Cold War".  Now it is terrorism.  We 
have tried ending war with war and winning cold war with terror.  Now 
terror is all that's left.  We are ready for something better, much 
better.  We watch day and night for another possibility, one that God 
alone can precipitate.

"Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one 
will be left."  (Matthew 24:41)  Jesus gives no rationale for one being 
left other than she was not ready for the return of the Son of Man.  
This is a lesson about being ready not a plot for a science fiction 
movie.  Readiness means knowing what you are looking for.  The 
Christians in north Africa were looking for something much better than 
what they had in the seventh century.  When they saw Mohammed, they 
were taken.  Or, were they left?  When certain Christians in upstate 
New York saw Joseph Smith, they were taken.  Or, were they left?

Being ready doesn't just mean being alert.  Alert sentries wind up 
shooting their own people unless they know what they are looking for, 
unless they know what they are about. An important part of being ready 
for the return of the Lord is to keep watching for the real thing when 
the next person has run after an imitation.   We ran off with imperial 
church in the fourth century.  We run off with mega-church today.  We 
ran off with the “civil religion” the previous two centuries.  Now the 
society has run off without the religion at all.  We were the alert.  
We were yearning for a breakthrough, but what we got, fell through.  We 
were looking for the return of the Lord, but we didn't know what the 
Lord looked like.

"For as the days of Noah were...", Jesus says, but he could just as 
well have said, "For as the days of Jesus were..."  We weren't ready 
for the Lord the first time, and we won't be ready for the Lord the 
second time unless we know what the Lord looks like.  We know how the 
Lord looks when we live as he lived.  We are ready when we know what we 
are about.  "...Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for 
the flesh, to gratify its desires," Paul advises.  His coming will be 
trans-national, Isaiah reminds.  It won't be the triumph of a nation or 
a race or a religion.  It will be the victory and the glory of God.  
Our readiness will be that we had already turned ourselves over to 
God's reign.   Our alertness will be that we proclaimed the Gospel 
rather than settle for a sinful world.  This is what we are about.  
This is the perpetual vigil of the church.


May these thoughts strengthen you.

An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors
>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor
(an e-mail service)

[See Web Page address below for a Children’s Message coordinated with 
these lections.]

http://www.webspawner.com/users/ChildPage/

Multiple Sermon Starter Essays are available at
http://www.webspawner.com/users/McGregorPage/

Children’s Sermons coordinated with McGregorPage  available free to 
your email inbox
To subscribe, write the word SUBSCRIBE in the Subject line and send it 
to childpage-request at intenex.net.

To unsubscribe, write the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject line and send 
it to mcgregorpage-request at intenex.net.

You may contact the author at RMcGregorAlbq at AOL.COM.

  --Copyright 2007, Roland McGregor, all rights reserved—
You have permission to share this material with any individual provided 
that you include the source with e-mail address.


________________________________________________________________________
More new features than ever.  Check out the new AOL Mail ! - 
http://o.aolcdn.com/cdn.webmail.aol.com/mailtour/aol/en-us/text.htm?ncid=aolcmp00050000000003