Embracing the Living God This Advent Season

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Today, as we celebrate this last Sunday of Advent, this preparation of getting ready for the holy mystery of Christmas, we will be baptizing little Raelynn Meason, so what a joy that we get to celebrate that together. This morning, you're going to need a bulletin, which you should have received when you came in. For those joining us online, welcome. We are delighted you are joining us. [00:12:24] (27 seconds)


And so we gather, as we gather every Sunday, every Sunday, a weekly anniversary of the resurrection. We gather to make disciples, to grow in our own discipleship, to inspire others to grow in their discipleship. And our worship series is God is Born, as we've been going through these Advent weeks. This morning, we're going to be looking at the one who is the living one, God is born. [00:13:09] (30 seconds)


And so during this Advent season, we practice keeping our eyes open and looking at the one for God and we have our four Advent candles lit and so we bless our Advent wreath we light this candle as a symbol of Christ our love may the word sent from God through the prophets lead us to the way of salvation God is born amen and please rise as you are able as we sing away in a manger it's in the hymnal which should be in the pocket in front of you number 217 you [00:13:26] (43 seconds)


human and fully God. We call it the incarnation. That God was born. It was at that point in history Mary starts being referred to as the mother of God. In the gospel of Matthew we hear about Jesus being divine. A virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall name him Emmanuel which means God is with us. [00:27:40] (27 seconds)


Now some of you when you heard a reading from the book of Revelation you got a little nervous because Revelation is often misunderstood and I would say misused. It's wrong. the last book of the Bible. It was written by John. We don't know which John. Might have been the same John that wrote the gospel. Might have been a different John. But we do know because the author wrote that they were in prison on an island at Patmos. [00:28:20] (31 seconds)


Some of them were suffering under persecution and remaining faithful. Some of these churches were being corrupted by Roman society. Some of them just stopped treating faith as important. And so, John uses bold imagery. Bold imagery to guide these churches into right and wrong. And he uses symbolic imagery that people then would have immediately understood. But today, isn't nearly as apparent. Now, John's in prison. He couldn't exactly write a letter to these churches saying, stop worshiping the emperor. [00:29:32] (45 seconds)


That would not have gone well for anyone. So, he uses symbolic language. We might even call it code language that they understood. And we can do that today with symbols that we understand. So, I'm going to give you an example of a story using symbolic language and see if you can tell what I'm talking about. So, there was a great battle between an elephant and a donkey. People lined up behind the elephant. They said, we are elephant people. [00:30:17] (37 seconds)


And people lined up behind the donkey and said, we are donkey people. And the elephant people said, we want nothing to do with those donkey people. And the donkey people said, we want nothing to do with those elephant people. And they forgot that they were people first. And that they had more in common than divided them. So, what am I talking about? talking about political division in the United States in 2024. I am not talking about a literal elephant and a literal donkey. [00:30:54] (38 seconds)


At the end of Revelation, after John shared these visions with this bold imagery, he laid out one last vision, encouraging those Christians who are being persecuted to be faithful, remain faithful, and to rebuke those Christians who were acting more Roman than Christian to correct them back to faithful living. And then he shares this final vision, which Melanie shared with us this morning, a vision of a new heaven and a new earth, a new Jerusalem, a new people of God, and in this vision, we hear God is among the mortals. God is with them, and death is no more. [00:31:32] (51 seconds)


Now, when you think about living, think about what it means to you to be alive. I mean, it means breathing, moving, but think about when you feel fully alive. What is it in your life that makes you feel, fully alive? Perhaps it is a garden in full harvest. That is, you've taken care of and cultivated and watered. Some of us already have the seed catalogs out, getting ready for the next growing season. [00:32:31] (37 seconds)


Or perhaps for you, it's not the harvest, it's the flowers. And you plant these flowers and nurture them and watch them grow and then share them with others. Share them with friends and family. Perhaps for you, what makes you feel fully alive is hiking in the mountains. That being immersed in the raw nature and beauty of creation and hiking up into it. Or perhaps for you, the pace is a little faster. [00:32:49] (30 seconds)


That for you, running makes you feel fully alive as you feel the strength and the rhythmic contemplative movement. Perhaps you run at sunrise or at sundown and running for you is part of your connection to creation. Perhaps for you, being fully alive involves water. Swimming or being at the ocean or the river or the lake or hot tub. Or perhaps for you, being fully alive means being in a full stadium. [00:33:26] (38 seconds)


As the team runs out, and you are filled with excitement and anticipation of what the game will bring. Some of us are counting down to the Fiesta Bowl. How many days is it? Is it nine? Listening to a great choir and a great orchestra, or it is singing that makes you feel alive. Perhaps it's a different kind of music that makes you feel alive [00:33:48] (58 seconds)


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