When you read this message, we will have already entered the season of Advent. Advent always begins the 4th Sunday before Christmas. Advent is about waiting. During Advent, we wait for the coming of Christ. We wait to celebrate and remember Jesus’ first coming as a babe born in a manger. We wait for the coming of Christ in our daily lives and we wait for Christ to come in the future. In Advent, we are invited to wait actively. 

This Advent our church is entering into a Church-Wide study called “Faithful: Christmas Through the Eyes of Joseph.” As I’ve prepared to teach this study on Sunday mornings in person and on zoom at 9:30 am, I’ve been struck by a few themes. First, the story of Joseph speaks to everyone, but especially to those who have an opportunity to mentor others. Second, through Joseph’s story, we can learn much about God and ourselves. Third, Joseph’s story invites us to consider the question, “How am I shaping the lives of those who have been entrusted to my care?” 

As we enter the season of Advent, I invite you to reflect on a few questions: 

? What are you teaching about life to the children who look up to you? 

? What lessons about God are you teaching children in your sphere of influence? 

? What will children say is most important to you during Advent and Christmas? 

As I think about these questions, I think about a line from the Big Book of AA at the end of the original manuscript. The authors invite the readers to ask God what they can do to help the person who is still sick. They promise that the answers will come, but that promise is conditional. They write, “the answers will come if your own house is in order. But obviously, you cannot transmit something you haven’t got.” 

If we want to shape the lives of those entrusted to us, we ourselves have to be being shaped by God’s spirit. One way to allow God to shape us this Advent season is by participating in our Advent study. I hope you will join me and those who have already signed up on Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. as we seek to follow in Joseph’s footsteps and lead faithful lives. 

Pastor David