I can’t believe it’s only five days before Christmas. I still have some Christmas shopping to do. I usually am way done before this but for some reason, I just haven’t gotten around to buying them all. Oh well…I’m sure that I will get done before Tuesday! I love this time of year. Advent is one of my favorite seasons. It reminds me of why we celebrate the Christ child’s birth. I am working Christmas Eve which will be weird since I have never missed Christmas Eve with my family. I will be driving home Christmas morning to spend it with my family. I just hope and pray that the weather holds out for me! Then my sister and I will be doing some traveling again to visit our mom. It will be good to see mom. I am definetely ready for a little break. This will have to hold me over until March when I will be heading to the Mothership for my 3 year retread. I am super excited about that! Im actually going to take some extra days just to spend with my friends who are seniors there etc. I hope it comes quickly but not too quickly! Well may you and yours have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This sermon is from Sunday 12-9-07…Advent Two! The // indicate pauses. Hope you enjoy this sermon!

Have you always wished God would give you signs telling you what to do? Have you thought it would be so much easier if God placed those signs in front of you? // Imagine running through life with traffic signs winding and weaving there way through your life telling you where to go and what to do. Go to college here! Yes, marry this individual! Take this job! Nope turn around! // Life would be a whole lot different and a whole lot easier wouldn’t it be?! // But life does not work that way! And because life is full of obstacles and challenges, we are to listen to the words of John the Baptist as he gives us direction and guides us to the promised One by telling us to prepare; prepare for the One born in a manger in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago!

This promised one, born in a manger, is a wonderful gift given to each and every one of us. This gift is given to us to remind us that Christ is the One that was, is, and is to come! // This Christ is the One who will guide us and lead us in the midst of life’s daily challenges! // In many ways, Christ is the light and hope in the midst of the darkness! But so often, we get totally wrapped up in the craziness of our own lives and forget that Christ is the one who guides and protects us! He truly is the One who brings hope to all God’s people.

We all hope for something. // We hope for our family member to be healed from cancer. We hope to find someone to spend the rest of our lives with. We hope that we return from our trips safely. We hope that we are happy and healthy. We hope! //We hope! // We hope! // Yet all the hoping in the world, doesn’t always bring us the things we hope for in our lives.

However as we await to celebrate again the birth of this promised One, who brings hope and peace to all, it is important to listen and live by the words of John the Baptist as he tells us to prepare. John the Baptist calls for repentance as we wait for this little babe born in a manger who welcomes all God’s people. // The reality is that this little babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger is the One who brings hope and peace to all of us.

“The comfort and hope of being watched over by a God who can work all things together for the good of those who love him is a message continually needed in a world that feels as though it is falling apart.” // These words from the movie Signs helps us to see what an amazing gift this little one is to each of us. This tiny precious babe brings hope and points us toward the promise that Christ will come again.

In his promise to come again, Christ asks us to take this time this Advent season to wait, not only, for the birth of the Christ child but also to the promise that he will come again to judge the living and the dead. // What does it mean to wait for the one that brings hope and peace and joy to all God’s people? // And while we wait, how do we point towards the One who brings these things to our lives?

The reality is that John the Baptist does point us towards this sweet precious child born in a manger. And while reflecting on John the Baptist’s words, it seems to me that there truly is a little bit of John the Baptist in all of us. // In the Spirit Garage Band’s Album Free Parking, the song “Ezekiel’s Sky,” truly aids us in seeing what it means to wait for the promised one while listening to the words of John the Baptist. The chorus reads “I’ve got a hidden agenda for the rest of my life, it’s our job to point to Jesus Christ. There’s a little bit of John the Baptist in all of us.” // What does it mean to have John the Baptist in all of us?

It seems to me that having John the Baptist in all of us means we continue to find hope in the promise of this little one born 2000 years ago while also clinging to the promise that God forgives us and will send his Son again to judge the living and the dead. // This innocent babe is the One we need to turn to give us direction and light when our world often seems like its being turned upside down.

So may we find and take time this Advent season to look towards the manger, // towards this innocent precious babe, born 2000 years ago in a stable,// who is the One who guides us through life’s many obstacles and truly does give us those signs we wish would be more blatantly obvious! // Help us to see Christ’s directions for our life as we await the anticipation of his birth and for the time when he will come again to judge the living and the dead!

AMEN!

Why is it that on the week’s you need to get a ton of things done you start feeling crummy? Sunday is our Christmas programs which means tomorrow and Saturday are practice dates. Then tomorrow is Confirmation, youth serving, and tonight is council. And you guessed it….today I find myself all stuffed up battling a stupid cold! Seems like whenever something needs to get down the body decides that it is time to shut down and be attacked by germs and such! 🙁 At least its only a cold though!

I saw this meme floating around out there, thought I’d take a moment to do it. Besides Im feeling under the weather today and think I may have caught the flu! 🙁

Mug Meme
Tell us about seven mugs in your cupboards.

Here are mine:

1. A mug that has the logo for Super Awesome Bible Camp on it. Since I worked there for seven summers and since that place will always hold a special place in my heart, that mug will remind me of such an awesome place!

2. A mug that was given to my from Special Olympics! The mug has the SO logo on it and reminds me of the wonderful awesome athletes that compete in that organization. This mug was given to me as a gift for working with SO and also doing my fieldwork for Diaconal Ministry through them!

3. A yellow soup mug that has a pic of a baby chick on it and the words “Lutheran Chick.” I like it because its fun and reminds me of my call to a Lutheran church and a baptized Child of God!

4. A mug that I like to call the $1000 mug. Now you probably are wondering why I call it that,so Ill tell you. This mug was given to me when I attended the Diaconal Ministry Formation Event in the summer 0f 2003. I paid a 1000 dollars to attend this event and this was one of the souvenirs I received so I like to call it the 1000 dollar mug. This mug has the Diaconal cross on it!

5. A set of two really tall Christmas mugs that have Santa on them. My aunt gave them to me as a Christmas gift a couple years ago and I love them. They hold so much more than a regular mug because they are soooo tall!

6. Another mug is a mug that was given to me from my “adopted mom” when I was working at the inbound call center before I started seminary. This woman was so much like a mom to me and gave me this mug as a Christmas gift! It reminds me of her!

7. And last but not least, and not even sure if it counts, since it’s not really a mug, but decided to count it anyways. My insulated mug from the Mothership. Its an insulated mug with the Mothership’s Logo on it. These were given to us as a gift from the mothership.

So those are my seven mugs. I too like mugs like my friend Stumbling but need to collect more. I really dont have as many as I thought I did! Anyone else want to play? Feel free and let me know if you played in the comments!

Do you ever get to a point in your life where you just get sick of the hair-do you have? It seems like there is always a time during the year when I feel that way and right now Im there. My hair is just getting to long for me. I don’t like to put too much work into it so I like something sassy but also easy to take care of. I just scheduled to get a hair cut this evening. I spotted this cute hair-do the other day on one of my fave shows and now do you think I can find a pic of it? Of course not!?! I know it’s one of the characters on one of the CSIs and her character often is called “Montana.” Does anyone know which CSI it is? IF not oh well, I just really liked her hair cut. Anyone who knows me got any ideas about how I should cut my hair. Well I should head to lunch!

I really should be working on my sermon for this coming Sunday Dec 9th but I am not motivated. Maybe that just means I should sit on the text a little longer. So instead of writing my sermon, I am doing other stuff. Oh well! It snowed like crazy here this weekend. We got like 6 plus inches which puts a definite smile on my face! I love snow! I dont ever remember a Christmas where there was no snow on the ground!

I love this time of year. It is a time for me to remember to slow down in the midst of the craziness and reflect on the Christ child’s birth along with the promise that he will come again to judge the living and the dead. What an amazing and powerful gift God gave us in God’s One and Only Son! As a college student, I started collecting my own nativity scenes and since my family has added to that collection. Each nativity is unique and different. These nativities remind me of what a wonderful gift Christ is to each and every one of us! May you celebrate and enjoy peace, hope, love,and joy during this Advent/Christmas season!