<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div><br><br>Sent from my iPad</div><div><br>Begin forwarded message:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><b>From:</b> Judith Boli <<a href="mailto:judy_boli@ecunet.org">judy_boli@ecunet.org</a>><br><b>Date:</b> November 23, 2010 6:53:26 PM EST<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:propertalk.topic@ecunet.org"><a href="mailto:propertalk.topic@ecunet.org">propertalk.topic@ecunet.org</a></a><br><b>Subject:</b> <b>Re: [propertalk.topic] Advent 1</b><br><b>Reply-To:</b> <a href="mailto:propertalk.topic@ecunet.org"><a href="mailto:propertalk.topic@ecunet.org">propertalk.topic@ecunet.org</a></a><br><br></div></blockquote><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div>Thanks- very helpful!</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Shalom,</div>
<div>Judy<br><br></div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 10:29 PM, Fr HC Smith <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:howard.smith@anglican.org.au"><a href="mailto:howard.smith@anglican.org.au">howard.smith@anglican.org.au</a></a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">
<div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font><font size="2" face="Arial">
<dir><font size="2" face="Verdana"><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span lang="EN-AU">
<p><font face="Arial">I've been a lurker for a while but thought I might make a bit more of an effort to participate. So here are some notes towards a sermon for Advent 1 from and Australian perspective.<br></font><font face="Arial">Howard</font></p>
<p>* Today is the first Sunday in a new Christian Year - called the First Sunday in Advent;<br>- and Advent is a Latin word meaning “Coming”.<br>+ So at this time of the year the Church begins to prepare for the <br>“Coming of Jesus”.<br>
We are thinking about his Coming as a small babe, born in the <br>town of Bethlehem, out the back of an Inn (a bit like a motel) <br>where his parents Mary and Joseph were staying for the night.<br>+ We also think about his Coming Again, at the end of the world, at <br>
the end of history, when he will do away with all the bad things of <br>this world and open up God’s New World.<br>+ And because God’s New World is better than this world, the Church <br>often does things differently on purpose to keep on reminding us <br>
that God’s New World is not the same as this world we live in now.<br>+ So the Church starts her year at a different time to the rest of the <br>world, and when the Church starts her Year, what she is doing is <br>beginning again to think about the story of Jesus, the One who not <br>
only tells us about God’s New World, God’s Kingdom, but Jesus is <br>the One who overcomes all the evil of the old world and starts the <br>new way of living, and also gives us the power to live that way too.</p>
<p>* Now the reading from the Letter to the Romans takes us right to the heart of the matter.<br>+ It tells us just what the difference is between the present world <br>and God’s Perfect World.<br>+ It tells us that most of the laws we have at the moment tell us <br>
what we should NOT do, and they tell us how we will be punished if <br>we break the laws; <br>- but God’s World is based on something more wonderful, <br>something far more powerful than that: it is based on love.<br>- Paul says it’s all summed up in the words “Love others as much <br>
as you love yourself.”<br>+ And why is that so different?<br>- it’s because no one who loves others will harm them.<br>+ Many of us know what it’s like to be hurt or harmed by other <br>people, and it’s not very pleasant at all, and we want it to stop.<br>
+ And the reason people have behaved like that is because they <br>didn’t have enough love inside them.<br>+ But we come here to worship so as to be near Jesus, so as to <br>receive some of his love through the Sacrament of Holy <br>
Communion, so that we can go out and show others what love is all <br>about.</p></span></font></font><font size="2"></font></dir></font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<br>The Rev'd Dr H.C. Smith<br> Retired Anglican Priest<br> Orange NSW<br> Phone (+612) 6362 3375<br>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<br> </font></div>
</div></blockquote></div><br>
</div></blockquote></body></html>