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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Resources for Advent 3</span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px">John 1:6-8, 19-28<span> - <strong>"Waiting"</strong></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>John </span>1:6-8, 19-28<span> - <strong>"</strong></span><strong>Bear the Light"</strong><span> by Leonard Sweet</span></div>
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<span>John 1 <font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">- </font></font>the sermon title "Waiting"<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> </font></font> </span>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>As a child I
remember that the most difficult part of Christmas was simply waiting
for it to come. From Thanksgiving to December 25 seemed more like an
eternity than a month. Days seemed like weeks. Weeks felt like seasons.
Time seemed to stand still.<br>
<br>
Waiting is foreign to our society. It
seems unnatural. We hunger for immediate gratification. The idea of
delayed satisfaction is a stranger to our thinking.<br>
<br>
The symbols
of our unwillingness to wait are all around us. Fast food chains boom
because we don't have time to eat. We stand in crooked lines, then yell
out an order, get it down in five minutes and then get back to the rat
race. We haven't got time to sit down and read a book anymore. Perhaps
it is a sign of the times that we have condensed versions of the Bible.
In kitchens all over America there are gadgets to get the meal prepared
quickly. I would guess Mr. Coffee started it all. Simply spoon in the
coffee and pour water. The coffee is made before you can even find a
cup. When we become sick we want to be made well now, not later.
Medicine, doctors, pastoral care and love are often rejected if they are
not swift.<br>
<br>
I, like you, accept most of our no-wait approach to
life, with the exception of instant potatoes, which are intolerable. But
the truth is that, though we do not like waiting, waiting is a part of
living. We must wait for payday, a break, quitting time, and for the
mailman. When you do your Christmas shopping, you had certainly better
be prepared to wait in a line to get checked out, wait to get a parking
place, and wait through at least four red lights before making a left
hand turn on Poplar Ave.<br>
<br>
But there are also very serious matters
for which we wait. Some wait for health to return, some for the coming
of food stamps, some for marriage or remarriage. We must wait for peace.
A scared child waits for the coming of morning, and a scared adult
awaits death. And an expectant mother waits for delivery. Waiting can be
pure agony. It's like the jury is out.<br>
<br>
The problem is that
scripture time and time again tells us that God's clock is wound in a
different way. Time is different to him. We look at seconds; he looks at
the ages. Waiting, not hurrying is one of his characteristics. And this
waiting God tells his people that often, they too must wait.<br>
<br>
And
that is where the story of Christmas really begins. It begins thousands
of years before the birth of Christ. They longed for that one who would
bring light out of darkness, and make the blind to see. They <br>
<br>
Longed
for that one who would turn their sorrow into joy, and vanquish their
enemies. But, God said, you must wait. Let us look at how God's people
have waited throughout the ages...</span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>1. Waiting in the Old Testament</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>2. John the Baptist's Waiting</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>3. The Waiting in Advent</span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining <a __removedlink__1557492525__href="http://www.sermons.com/signup" target="_blank">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a></span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Click here: <a __removedlink__1557492525__href="http://www.sermons.com/signup" target="_blank">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a> <br>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>_______________________</span></div>
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<br>
<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Jo</font></font><span>hn 1 <font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">- </font></font>the sermon titled "Bear the Light" by Leonard Sweet </span>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The five year old
nephew of the bride was chosen to be in charge of carrying the rings
down the aisle. At the wedding rehearsal he was unusually unruly. He
kept leaping out at people, baring his teeth at and then chasing the
flower girls. He growled and snarled as he practiced going down the
aisle. He brandished the pillow like a pistol. Finally his mother pulled
him aside and demanded to know why he was behaving so badly. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>"But Mom," he explained, "I have to act fierce - I'm the 'Ring Bear.'"</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Like so many of us
that little boy misunderstood just what role he was supposed to play. He
thought he was called to be big, imposing, fearsome, large and in
charge. He thought he was to BE the "star of the show." He thought the
spotlight was his. </span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>But he wasn't
supposed to BE a bear, he was supposed to offer the supportive role of
"ring bearer." His role was important. The pastor, not to mention the
bride and groom, needed those rings down front. But the focus of the
wedding ceremony was not on the ring bearer. The reason for the wedding
celebration was not him.</span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>In this week's
Advent gospel text John, the author of the fourth gospel, has no trouble
distinguishing the one who "bears witness" to the light from the One
who actually IS the light...</span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>For the rest of this sermon by Leonard Sweet click here: <a shape="rect">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a> <br>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Why Do We Try to Know It All?</span></div>
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<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span>It seems to be a
relatively late hobby, peculiar to western Christianity, to contrive a
sort of 'unified field theory' of the Bible that can include all facts
and explain all things. That, of course, would require us to comprehend
God. However, a mind can only comprehend something less complex than
itself - so if we could comprehend God, He would not be God. For this
reason, the historic Church teaches that we can know God, but we cannot
comprehend Him, much as a husband might jokingly complain that he knows
his wife quite well, but he can't begin to understand her.<br>
<br>
St.
Cyril of Jerusalem, who died in 386, explained this teaching in his
Catechetical Lectures: "Is it really true that because I cannot drink
the whole river I will not take water from it in moderation for my
benefit? If, when going into some great garden, I cannot eat all the
fruits, would you wish that I go away from it completely hungry?" St.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, who died in 430, was contemplating this same
topic while walking along the seashore. He saw a small boy scooping
water from the sea with a seashell and pouring it into a pit in the
sand. He noticed that it is impossible for the boy to scoop up all the
sea, but it is possible for him to know the sea by scooping it.<br>
<br>
Why
do we ignore the plain teachings of scripture and attempt to know all
things? Scripture plainly teaches that our knowledge is not complete,
and if our knowledge is not complete, it means we will always have
puzzles.<br>
<br>
Kenneth W. Collins, How Old Is the Universe? <br>
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