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WHO IS WAITING NOW?
Advent 4 - 19th December
GOD is with us ........... [Matt.1:23]
With all my heart, I praise the Lord
and I am glad because of GOD my Saviour.
GOD cares for me, his humble servant. .....[Luke 1:46-48 CEV]Lord, I am your servant ................
with my own eyes I have seen what you have done
to save your people - and foreign nations will see also. [Luke 2:29-30 CEV]
Our next stop on the way to Christmas - stops right here with you and me!
Isaiah, John Baptist and Mary are people and symbols of GOD's preparation to do a make-over of the world. They are the big picture, they tell it like it is!
Now who's going to do it, the small picture?
What are you and I waiting for?
We have dealt with the non-appearance, the non-existence of the interventionist GOD who is supposed to "rend the heavens and come down" on us.
We have turned to the immanent GOD who breaks the membranes of our lives and comes out of us.
"GOD has no hands but our hands ............."
EXERCISE 1:
What is your way of describing the "reality" of GOD? What can your GOD do or cannot do? What 'world-view' fits your GOD?
The old theologians used to talk about the "scandal of the incarnation"
.
They didn't mean whether Mary was married or not! They meant how can you fit the omnipotent power of GOD into an ordinary human baby body. ["scandal" means a stumbling block not a tabloid headline!]
The Church has spent many centuries and many wars and persecutions in trying to decide this conundrum.
Today, another way of trying to decide this is to work out how much of John, Mary and Jesus' GOD is in you and me - waiting to get out!
In this week's reading from the Letter to the Romans, Paul gets into the issue of "chosen" people - "you are some of those people chosen by Jesus Christ."
But a word of warning. Using the phrase "we are [the] chosen people" has caused more misery and persecution and evil deeds than we dare record.
So should we get rid of the idea OR ask the question, is it "chosen from" and so become a religious elite - or "chosen for" and so be 'on call' for action?
EXERCISE 2:
Do you personally accept that you are "chosen"?
What meaning does the word have for you?
Usually we think of ourselves as being in the Christmas pageant, playing the role of fourth shepherd or third camel. This year let me ask you to think of yourself as the prophet calling for the Kingdom or as a pregnant person nearing your time.
Or even as a "little Christ" - yes! this description used to be used of us - waiting to be born. That's what we are waiting for!
Or would you rather be an angel - remembering that "angel" simply means "messenger"?
EXERCISE 3:
Choose one of the above and say why.
SONG OF THE WEEK: [© Shirley Murray - not yet published in New Zealand]
No obvious angels sing through the night skies,
no thunderstruck shepherds tell out their surprise,for Christmas comes into the here and the now
through star-sighted people,
the watchful and hopeful,
who wake us to see a new world.Our angel potential is waiting to start!
The Spirit will teach us the song of the heart,for Christmas comes into the here and the now
through peace-maker people,
the just and the gentle.
the stars who will light the new world.Whoever will take it is given the role:
the fruitful, the faithful, the joyous of soul,for Christmas comes into the here and the now
when we are the angels
who dream and deliver,
who rise and create the new world!
EXERCISE 4:
You can't sing this because you don't have a tune but put yourself into the picture - who are you? Read it slowly each person taking a line or two. It could be a reading or meditation for your congregation.
PRAYER OF THE WEEK:
Creator Spirit
My GOD, the essence of my being,
may I know you stirring within mein my doubts and my fears,
in my visions and my faith,
in my following the ways of the Christ,and be filled with the longing of your heart
to be your person in the world.
EXERCISE 5:
Each pray your own prayer.
YOUR NOTES: