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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>An Advent Promise: Goodness and Mercy Will Win</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>As some of you
know, Fiorello LaGuardia was mayor of New York during the Depression,
and he was quite a character. He would ride the city fire trucks, take
entire orphanages to baseball games and whenever the city newspapers
went on strike, he would get on the radio and read the Sunday "funnies"
to the children.<br>
<br>
At any rate, one bitter cold winter's night in 1935, Mayor LaGuardia
turned up in a night court that served the poorest ward in the city,
dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself.
After he heard a few cases, a tattered old woman was brought before him,
accused of stealing a loaf of bread.<br>
<br>
She told LaGuardia that her daughter's husband had deserted her, her
daughter was sick and her grandchildren were starving. But the
shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, insisted on pressing
charges. "My store is in a very bad neighborhood, your honor," he said.
"She's got to be punished in order to teach other people a lesson."<br>
<br>
The mayor sighed. He turned to the old woman and said, "I've got to
punish you," he said. "The law makes no exception - ten dollars or ten
days in jail."<br>
<br>
But even as he spoke, LaGuardia was reaching into his pocket and pulling
out a ten dollar bill. "Here is the woman's fine," he said, "and
furthermore, I'm going to fine everyone in this court room fifty cents
for living in a city where a person has to steal bread so that her
grandchildren can eat. Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and give them to
the defendant."<br>
<br>
The following day, the New York Times reported that $47.50 was turned
over to the bewildered old woman. It was given by the red-faced store
owner, some seventy petty criminals, people with traffic violations and
city policemen - and they all gave their mayor a standing ovation as
they handed over their money.<br>
<br>
That's how it will be with God's world. Just when it seems that all hope
is lost, and goodness and mercy shall never win, the Great Judge will
come to set things right, deciding for the hungry and the meek of the
earth. Yes, there is also an Advent promise for the nations of the world
in perplexity and distress: "Look up and raise your heads, because your
redemption is drawing near."<br>
<br>
Erskine White, Together in Christ, CSS Publishing Company </span></div>
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_______________________________________<br>
<br>
When the Play Is Over</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>C. S. Lewis said
that when the author appears on the stage, you know the play is over.
This is how he understands the doctrine of the Second Coming of our
Lord. It means that he who has begun a good work will bring it to the
best conclusion of which he is capable. After all, no one has ever
claimed that this planet earth was intended to exist forever. In what is
called by scientists "the second law of thermodynamics," it is clearly
predicted that the energy supply of this planet will eventually come to
an end, which means that a conclusion of life as we know it here is
inevitable. The concept of the Second Coming merely affirms that such a
conclusion will be purposeful. The drama of history is not going to just
fizzle out or end in a whimper! It is going to come to the kind of
climax that he who conceived the drama wants for it. <br>
<br>
Gary L. Carver and Tom M. Garrison, Sermons for Sundays in Advent,
Christmas, and Epiphany: Building a Victorious Life, CSS Publishing
Company, Inc. <br>
__________________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>When Everything Becomes "Merely"</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Virginia Owens in
her book, And The Trees Clap Their Hands, suggests that we lose the
wonder of it all, because along the way everything becomes "merely."
Things are "merely" stars, sunset, rain, flowers, and mountains. Their
connection with God's creation is lost. During this Advent season many
things are just "merely." It becomes "merely" Bethlehem, a stable, a
birth -- we have no feeling of wonder or mystery. That is what
familiarity can do to us over the years.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Owens goes on to
say that it is this "merely" quality of things that leads to crime. It
is "merely" a thing -- I'll take it. It is "merely" an object -- I'll
destroy it. It is this "merely" quality of things and life that leads to
war. We shall lose "merely" a few thousand men, but it will be worth
it. Within the Advent narrative nothing is "merely." Things are not
"merely" things, but are part of God's grand design. Common things, such
as motherhood, a birth, a child, now have new meaning. This is not
"merely" the world, but a world that is charged with the beauty and
grandeur of God's design. It is a world so loved by God that God gave
his only Son. What is so great about the Advent season is that
everything appears charged with the beauty and grandeur of God. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>John A. Stroman, God's Downward Mobility, CSS Publishing.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Exchanging Our Eschatological Heritage</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Neill Hamilton,
who taught at Drew University for many years, once observed how people
in our time lose hope for the future. It happens whenever we let our
culture call the shots on how the world is going to end. At this stage
of technological advancement, the only way the culture can make sense of
the future is through the picture of everything blowing up in a nuclear
holocaust. The world cannot know what we know, that everything has
changed in the death and resurrection of Jesus, that the same Christ is
coming to judge the world and give birth to a new creation. And so,
people lose hope. As Hamilton puts it: This substitution of an image of
nuclear holocaust for the coming of Christ is a parable of what happens
to Christians when they cease to believe in their own eschatological
heritage. The culture supplies its own images for the end when we
default by ceasing to believe in biblical images of God's triumph at the
end.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The good news of the gospel is this: when all is said and done, God is going to win.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>William G. Carter, No Box Seats in the Kingdom, CSS Publishing.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>___________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Sound Theology</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>In the Peanuts
comic strip, Linus and Lucy are standing at the window looking out at
the rain falling. Lucy says to Linus, "Boy, look at it rain...What if it
floods the earth?" Linus, the resident biblical scholar for the
Peanuts, answers, "It will never do that...in the ninth chapter of
Genesis, God promised Noah that would never happen again, and the sign
of the promise is the rainbow." With a smile on her face, Lucy replies,
"Linus, you've taken a great load off my mind." To which Linus responds,
"Sound theology has a way of doing that."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Charles Schultz, Peanuts, adapted by David E. Leininger</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>___________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Second Coming and Faithfulness</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>During his 1960
presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy often closed his speeches with
the story of Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the Connecticut House of
Representatives: On May 19th, 1780 the sky of Hartford darkened
ominously, and some of the representatives, glancing out the windows,
feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment,
Davenport rose and said, "The Day of Judgment is either approaching or
it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I
choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be
brought." Rather than fearing what is to come, we are to be faithful
till Christ returns. Instead of fearing the dark, we're to be lights as
we watch and wait.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Harry Heintz </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>__________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Preparation for Christ's Coming</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Maybe you've
heard the story of the little boy who decided to write a letter to God
one Christmas. He started out by writing: "Dear God, I've been a really
good boy this year." Unfortunately, he remembered that God was all
knowing and all seeing and he decided that he couldn't lie to God. So,
he crumpled up that letter and started over. This time he wrote: "Dear
God, I know I haven't done everything I should have, but I really tried
to be good." He stopped and crumpled up that letter, too. It was obvious
that he was struggling with what to write to God.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>As he sat there
thinking he looked up and saw his mother's favorite piece of sculpture
on the mantel. It was a beautiful rendition of the Madonna, the mother
of Christ. The boy perked up and ran out of the room. He came back with a
towel and a shoebox. He walked over, carefully picked up the Madonna,
gently wrapped it in the towel, carefully put it in the shoebox and then
hid it in the closet. He immediately went back to the table and wrote:
"Dear God, if you ever want to see your mother again . . ."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>It's time the
Church took back Christmas. And we do. Every year we take it back and
bring back the meaning and the purpose. The world tries to hold it for
ransom each year, with its multiplicity of gadgets and this year's list
of must have toys; the world tries to make demands and hold Christmas
for ransom but it never works. The birth of the Christ child is just too
powerful, even for Wall Street. The sight and the sounds and the
remembrance of this child born so long ago changes all the rules. His
very presence makes the glitter of our Christmas presents pale in
comparison.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Billy D. Strayhorn, Stay On Your Toes</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>__________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Luther on Signs of Christ's Coming</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>I do not wish to
force any one to believe as I do; neither will I permit anyone to deny
me the right to believe that the last day is near at hand. These words
and signs of Christ compel me to believe that such is the case. For the
history of the centuries that have passed since the birth of Christ
nowhere reveals conditions like those of the present. There has never
been such building and planting in the world. There has never been such
gluttonous and varied eating and drinking as now. Wearing apparel has
reached its limit in costliness. Who has ever heard of such commerce as
now encircles the earth? There have arisen all kinds of art and
sculpture, embroidery and engraving, the like of which has not been seen
during the whole Christian era...</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The rest of this
illustration, as well as many additional illustrations and sermons for
this week, Advent and Christmas can be accessed at <a shape="rect"><span>www.Sermons.com</span></a>. </span></div>
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