A MOMENT WITH OUR MINISTER

"PREPARE FOR AN ANGEL VISITATION"

Here we are approaching the Christmas season again already. It seems like just yesterday we were playing softball and enjoying the warm lazy days of summer. Where have the days and weeks gone? In these moments of reflection, I remember my Mom telling me, "Time flies when you’re having fun." Life has shown me the truth in what she said, but I’ve also learned that time seems to fly by whenever we’re busy. It is so easy to get caught up in things that are going on around us that we lose sight of things that are truly important. How often do we hear about people who look back on life with regret, because they didn’t even think about taking the time to do something important until it was too late? What a sad and wasteful place to be.

Life is like that, isn’t it? Life doesn’t wait for us. I don’t mean to sound cliché, but we need to regularly take a moment to stop and smell the roses. In those extraordinary moments we step out of our busy schedules and have a real chance to connect with the world around us. God knows I need that; so do we all. And these moments can easily become time spent with God. How can you not, if you really take the time to look at the splendor of a sunset, or the breathtaking expanse of the heavens on a clear starry night.

Now we are moving from thanksgiving right into the season of Advent. Advent is a time for us to reflect and prepare for the birth of our Savior. Eugene Peterson, author of The Message Bible, said, "I’m ever and always a stranger to grace. I need this annual angel visitation . . . to know the virgin conceives and God is with us." How true it is. We all need this "annual angel visitation". We need that divine moment to pull us out of our daily routines and back into the reality of life. We all need to be reminded that the virgin did conceive and through that conception God’s love for us entered into time as His Son; Emmanuel – God is with us.

We need to take the time to reconnect with what this whole season of Advent and Christmas really means to each of us as people. The prophets of old foretold of Christ’s coming. They brought God’s message of hope to a people in exile; a people without hope. The message was of a Messiah-Deliverer who would set captive Israel free. Oh what joy came with the long-awaited angelic proclamation, "Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord!" What wonderful words; for the people two thousand years ago! Let us rejoice with them in the hope that God has given for Christ sets us free as well.

We live in a time of uncertainty brought on by moral decay, by terrorism and by societies ever growing intolerance toward Christian beliefs and practice – even intolerance toward Christmas itself. Praise God that we can find comfort in the fact that God loves us so much that He was willing to send His Son into the world to save us. This Christmas season, rejoice in the fact that prophecy was fulfilled; Jesus was born, he is the Son of God, and he did give his life for you "that you could have life and have it abundantly". Praise God for this gift that’s too incredible for words!

It has been said that Advent is the "coming of quiet joy – the arrival of radiant light in our darkness". Over the next few weeks commit to spend some quality time reflecting on what God’s "Radiant Light" means to you. As Children of God, that light can shine from within all of us. I pray that each of you let your light shine for all to see throughout this Advent and Christmas season for others to see; others who desperately need to experience the grace and love of our God through Jesus Christ, and may we all come to realize that the best way to prepare for the coming of Christ is to never forget the presence of Christ through His Holy Spirit live within each one of us.

May our God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – bless you and keep you and use you to bless others. Have a very Merry and blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Grace and Peace, Pastor Rob

month 2005

Grace and Peace, The Rev. Rob Hughes

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