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 how good are you at waiting i have to admit i'm quite impatient so waiting is not really my thing

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 and for christmas i think if i said to most of my friends and family you've got to wait

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 till december the 24th before you can start celebrating they'd be quite horrified now i

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 love christmas but even for me the fact that the shops from about september have christmas music

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 and christmas food and drinks and decorations in them is a little bit early although i do have to

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 admit that last week one of the highlights of my week was going to waitrose um i did look at the

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 mince pies and think i think i might get some of them and in our house we've got grown-up children

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 but we've still had home alone on at least three times so far and i'm sure we've got elf and nativity

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 and various other ones to come really really soon and then there's the christmas shopping now i do

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 not like christmas shopping at the best of times and this weekend is black friday weekend which i know

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 lots of people get really excited about but i have to say fills me with horror at the thought of queuing

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 around the block at three in the morning in the freezing cold to get some money off a new tv and i

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 imagine that during covid a lot of people are doing that online probably as we speak

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 so with christmas there's a rush about it there's this attitude of rushing and wanting to skip over

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 advent and get there at least that's with the world's christmas the world probably don't even

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 know what advent is a lot of the time but for us as christians i think sometimes we think ah well we

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 know what the reason for the season is so we celebrate it differently but i do think that actually that

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 rushing attitude has crept into the church too now we've got grown-up kids but when they were younger

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 and not so young when they wanted to put their christmas decorations up in november they would

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 get heartily sick of their mum giving them a teachable moment about the fact that no christmas the real

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 christmas that we celebrate is jesus's birthday and it doesn't start till christmas eve and it goes on for

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 12 days until epiphany on january the 6th and so therefore the earliest we can put our christmas

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 decorations is up on the beginning of december and i do like to tell them and it really makes them fed up

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 every day of christmas this is the first day of christmas this is the second day of christmas to

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 remind them but for a lot of people i think christmas finishes often on boxing day or the day after

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 when people are sick of having their christmas decorations up because they've had them up since october

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 and um they sort of take them down chuck the tree out on the radio there's no more christmas music

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 and the tv has stopped so um showing christmas adverts and now it's saying to us where are we

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 going to go on our summer holidays just as the real christmas season gets going

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 christmas seems to come earlier and earlier every year we can't wait for it and so the problem that we

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 have is what do we do with advent you see advent is all about waiting and we don't like to wait

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 we could like a lot of people just ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist but then i think we were

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 going to be missing out on something that god has got for us during this season that begins today

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 so today i'm here to tell you that advent is worth waiting for

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 advent is a whole season of waiting but it's not just waiting idly sitting around twiddling our thumbs

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 being bored it's a time that we should put some thoughtful preparation in a time to reflect

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 and prepare and think about who and what we're waiting for

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 in our old testament reading we see isaiah the prophet and he's desperate and he is waiting but

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 he's kind of crying out and saying oh that you would rend the heavens and come down he wants the lord

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 to make his name known to his enemies that the nations might tremble at his presence

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 but that judgment to be brought down upon god's enemies people doesn't happen straight away

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 the people must wait isaiah also realizes that the lord is a god who acts on behalf of those who

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 wait for him lots of faith and patience and perseverance is called for he knows that the lord

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 will act at the right time he's going to deliver his people from their adversaries when it's the right

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 time it's probably a good idea to be honest that the lord doesn't rend the heavens and come down

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 right away upon those who sin against him because that would mean for a lot of us we might be in a lot

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 of trouble but isaiah goes on to say it's a bit of a prayer of confession you are angry when we continue

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 to sin against them and shall we be saved all of us have become like one who is unclean and all our

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 righteous acts are like filthy rags we all shrivel up like a leaf like the wind our sins sweep us away

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 no one calls on your name or strives to take hold of you so for us we too have been sinning for a long

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 time we've been continuing to sin and shall we be saved i think it's wonderful that the lord is so

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 patient with us otherwise i don't think we would be if we were relying on our own righteousness to

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 kind of hang out on a clothesline it would look a bit like dirty laundry as one of my friends says

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 it's not very pure and it's not very edifying darling and also like the november leaves falling

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 off the trees we too dry up and we fall to the ground even as christians we're far from perfect

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 so we're left to the lord's mercy which is what isaiah prays for in the passage when he says

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 yet you lord you are our father we are the clay and you are our potter we are all the work of your hand

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 do not be angry beyond measure lord and do not remember our sins forever oh look on as we pray for we

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 are all your people so advent is a time for prayer for reflection it enables to take a really good

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 look at ourselves and see what actually our filthy garments are and say sorry for all the ways that we

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 mess up and also sometimes when we're a bit like dried up leaves we're left with nothing but we need

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 to ask for the lord's mercy which i think is what the lord wants for us so these times so in these

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 weeks of waiting they help us to do that and so that is one reason why advent is worth waiting for

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 and if we now look quickly at a different reading coming from the gospel of mark when jesus entered

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 jerusalem we do this because often on advent sunday the church of england lectionary also gives us this

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 passage because it's about jesus coming as king and the word advent means coming and the people of god

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 at that time were greeting their king accordingly they knew who he was when they were shouting

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 hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord blessed is the coming kingdom of our father

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 david hosanna in the highest the coming kingdom of our father david except it didn't come till a thousand

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 years after david there was more waiting but it was worth the wait jesus the messiah came into jerusalem

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 in order to win our salvation and it came on a truly black friday on good friday when the sky turned black

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 and god's son was left forsaken by his father as jesus suffered the penalty of our sins

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 but it took his death to wipe out our debt and to put us in the black forever the riches of his

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 righteousness have been credited to our account and that's amazing that's worth its weight in gold

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 so advent is a season of waiting we've seen it today and over the next few weeks we'll see it to come

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 we'll see john the baptist serving as the warmer pact if you will getting the crowd ready for the

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 main attraction of jesus about to come on stage and john calling us to make straight the way of the lord

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 as we wait for him to come and mary herself she had to wait nine months from the time of conception

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 or the annunciation as it's called to the time of the birth christmas did not come without some waiting

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 so friends today i'm encouraging you to take advantage of this season of waiting

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 god has a work to do in all of us for advent don't be tempted to skip over it and to rush

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 onto christmas and rush into the new year which i know is tempting we just want to get 2020

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 out of the way and move into 2021 but let advent be advent

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 i know that we've got the world and all the craziness that's going on at the moment

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 and also our culture the culture we're living in working against us but let advent be advent

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 god's got some really good stuff in store for us this season

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 a time of reflective repentance

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 having some quiet prayer and getting away from the madness

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 i can recommend a couple of resources for you if you're if you're not sure

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 there's lots of things out there but a couple of things i've seen are the bible society has produced

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 something called hashtag advent challenge which is a lot of resources that you can use

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 and also the church of england's website has got a page on it called comfort and joy

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 which they've produced lots of stuff for advent and christmas so maybe take a look

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 or it could be just something as easy as getting up a little bit earlier and praying and spending time

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 with god a bit more or maybe getting out one of the gospels maybe luke and maybe looking a little

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 bit more deeply into that and praying through that or it could be maybe starting listening to

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 lectio 365 i don't know just do something different take some time to prepare and to welcome

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 our lord appropriately at christmas and also at his second coming

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 if we have patience and we wait patiently for the lord to act

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 in his own time and in his own way then we'll know that it's for our best

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 and that's what advent is about and that's why advent is worth waiting for

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 let's pray

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 dear lord we pray to you the lord of time and space by whose love we are saved

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 help us to patiently wait and to prepare ourselves for the time that christ comes in glory

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 help us to be honest with ourselves and to see what needs changing and transforming in our lives as

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 individuals and as members of your church we ask this in your name lord amen