WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.780 Please be seated. Shall we pray together? Father God, be with us this morning, we pray, 00:00:05.580 --> 00:00:13.259 as we watch and wait for your coming again. Lord, we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:20.620 As, I don't know what your experience was as you spoke amongst your different emotions about 00:00:20.620 --> 00:00:27.539 waiting in different circumstances, and some will be waiting for a birth, some, as we think about 00:00:27.539 --> 00:00:33.000 this afternoon at three o'clock, as we meet, will be waiting and concerning themselves with maybe 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:38.899 waiting for some respite in their bereavement. People are waiting for different reasons. I always 00:00:38.899 --> 00:00:45.579 remember my first job was in a factory. Well, it wasn't a factory, actually, it was in a printing 00:00:45.579 --> 00:00:54.560 works. And being the new apprentice, you sort of, you got, there was a thing you had to do 00:00:54.560 --> 00:01:03.520 to make you really humiliated. And what they did is they gave you a note, and you took to the stores, 00:01:03.859 --> 00:01:11.140 and written on the note was, a long wait. I didn't have a clue what a long wait was, 00:01:11.700 --> 00:01:17.040 but three quarters of an hour later, I suddenly realised what the request actually meant. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:24.620 It's just amazing, isn't it, how this thing we talk about, waiting, waiting, and waiting all the time 00:01:24.620 --> 00:01:34.240 for those things that maybe cause a slight aggravation. Last week, Mike spoke about the 00:01:34.240 --> 00:01:42.719 almighty and awesome God, and that we communicate with, and that we worship. And I just heard, 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:48.239 as Mike was speaking, that song that we sang together, in fact, is that our God is a great 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:53.599 big God. Our God is a great big God. Our God is a great big God, and he holds us in his hand. 00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:59.239 He's higher than you, and he's higher than a skyscraper, he's deeper than a submarine, 00:01:59.879 --> 00:02:04.620 he's wider than you, he's inversed and beyond my wildest dreams. And he's known me and he'd love me 00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:10.680 since before the world began. How wonderful to be a part of God's amazing plan. Amen? Amen. 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:17.939 You know, I hope you have experienced that awesomeness of God in your life, as we think 00:02:17.939 --> 00:02:25.840 on this first Sunday of Advent about getting our lives ready as we prepare in this season to welcome 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:31.920 the coming King. And in the Creed, in the Book of Common Prayer, it says, and he shall come in glory 00:02:31.920 --> 00:02:40.420 to judge both the quick and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. No end. I hope you 00:02:40.419 --> 00:02:47.259 find confidence as you're waiting in that message, because after this morning's lectionary reading, 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:55.219 his kingdom will have no end. That's really comforting. I hope you feel that along with me, 00:02:55.359 --> 00:03:03.179 because it's no surprise that Advent encourages us as Christians to watch and to wait for signs of his 00:03:03.180 --> 00:03:09.599 kingdom and his kingdom and his coming again in glory. It's an active watching and waiting, not sitting 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:16.340 back. It's be alert, as we've heard in this morning's reading. And as we explore this waiting 00:03:16.340 --> 00:03:24.659 thing, now I don't know what your tolerance level is like for waiting. I see people smiling at me 00:03:24.659 --> 00:03:33.659 nervously, because if anything like me, I know what my tolerance is, because I don't know, 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:43.120 companies must have invested a minuscule amount in the recordings that they make while you're waiting 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:49.840 to have your call answered. I don't know whether you've experienced that. Companies where we listen 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:57.020 and we wait on the phone between those immortal words that we hear. Our staff are busy dealing with 00:03:57.020 --> 00:04:07.020 customers at this time. Your call will be answered shortly. More music. Wait, wait, wait. Then comes the 00:04:07.020 --> 00:04:16.060 other verse, automatically, to which we hear, thank you for holding. Your call is important to us. 00:04:16.060 --> 00:04:25.839 This is where, to be honest, I start to become a little bit like Victor Meldry. I get to that point 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:35.420 where, important, I've been waiting here for 50 minutes. I don't believe it. My last waiting 00:04:35.420 --> 00:04:42.720 experience was to the Department of Work and Pensions. I don't know what it was. Did they think that as a 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:49.560 pensioner that I have all the time in the world to wait? And I got there to this point where it got, 00:04:49.660 --> 00:04:59.040 I'd heard all this for 35 minutes, and then at three minutes past six, our lines are now closed. 00:05:00.060 --> 00:05:04.640 Would you like to phone us at eight o'clock in the morning when there will be somebody here to 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:15.539 respond to your call? I don't know what you feel about waiting. The dangers as Christians like are 00:05:15.539 --> 00:05:24.419 waiting. Our patients can so easily run out. And we are in danger of switching off. We are in danger 00:05:24.419 --> 00:05:30.180 of giving up in the waiting. Worse still, we are not ready for the response. 00:05:30.180 --> 00:05:40.879 Losing the will even to expect a response. Here in our reading this morning, we are told to expect 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:49.040 that Jesus will come again. And here this morning, following on from the apocalyptic signs that so 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:56.480 many people get fixated on. People get fixated on these apocalyptic signs around the end times, 00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:04.939 taking God's place by announcing the time and the place and the year that he, the end will come, 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:12.939 or he will come. You know, didn't they read today's scripture? It says, no one knows about the day or the 00:06:12.939 --> 00:06:21.560 hour, or even the angels in heaven, nor the sun, but only the father. Be on guard, be alert. Do you not 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:30.579 know when that time will come? People have grown a whole cult around this thing. Did they not go back 00:06:30.579 --> 00:06:38.660 to scripture and get this idea that we don't know, but we know that he is coming? Even the Church of 00:06:38.660 --> 00:06:45.340 England Synod couldn't even try to misinterpret parts of scripture like this, but, sorry, political line 00:06:45.339 --> 00:06:54.759 there. We don't know when, but we do know that Jesus will come again. We know that Jesus will come again. 00:06:56.819 --> 00:07:03.599 At that time, men, women and children, will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power, 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:10.179 and he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth 00:07:10.180 --> 00:07:17.000 to the ends of the heavens. This is what we're expecting. This is what we're looking forward to. 00:07:17.300 --> 00:07:23.780 This is what we're waiting for. This is what Advent reminds us of. Not just looking towards 00:07:23.780 --> 00:07:29.420 what is happening at Christmas. We are getting ready for Jesus to come again. 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:39.620 In Romans 10, 9, it says, tells us that we should be watching and waiting for the personal return of our 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:46.259 Lord Jesus Christ. Don't know about you, I get quite excited by that thought of what that day could 00:07:46.259 --> 00:07:53.540 look like. You know, what are the signs? Where should we be looking? Have we been looking, or have we been 00:07:53.540 --> 00:08:01.840 less than alert as a church at these signs? And, you know, there is the talk about the fig tree, and we know 00:08:01.840 --> 00:08:09.379 from scripture that Jesus used the fig tree and models of this figuratively in so many times to talk 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:15.980 about spiritual growth, death, life, faithfulness. We look for the signs of the kingdom. But can I 00:08:15.980 --> 00:08:23.759 suggest something which is a little bit radical? Are we looking in the wrong places? 00:08:25.939 --> 00:08:31.819 You see, we think things are pretty dire in the world at this time, and they are. There is no doubting 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:39.419 that. Yet the early church's collective worship took place in the shadow of occupation under the brutal 00:08:39.419 --> 00:08:48.379 regime of the Romans, a constant reminder that faith and freedom was under siege. We are in no different 00:08:48.379 --> 00:08:57.240 place. People of faith were waiting for a deliverer who would restore hope, justice, and fulfill the 00:08:57.240 --> 00:09:05.680 promises of God. Is that what we're waiting for still? I believe it is. And I guess, if you're anything 00:09:05.680 --> 00:09:15.899 like me, what I'm waiting for, too, in December 2023, is as we say, and as we say, and as we've sung, 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:25.919 come Lord Jesus. Come Lord Jesus. We are waiting. We are ready. We are waiting in anticipation of what 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:31.879 you bring. It seems there are all kinds of reasons to lose hope. You know, if the news isn't filled with 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:38.219 bad economic forecasts, reports of wars, genocide, injustice, and cruelty, our ministers don't take 00:09:38.219 --> 00:09:43.699 responsibilities for their actions, blaming and shaming each other, which we've seen in the inquiry. 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:49.079 Our national church leadership is about to radically depart from an orthodox biblical truth, 00:09:49.079 --> 00:09:55.139 and we are effectively gagged from telling the good news of Jesus Christ in so many settings in which 00:09:55.139 --> 00:10:07.159 we go to. It makes waiting difficult, frustrating even, but hope can seem impossible, and justice can seem 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:16.819 far off. Yet here's the good news, people. This Advent and Christmas, we'll sing, and we will hopefully be 00:10:16.819 --> 00:10:24.419 reminded and reassured in our carols that the hope and fears of all the years are met in you tonight. 00:10:24.419 --> 00:10:32.779 The hopes and fears of all the years are met in you tonight. Jesus tells us the signs of his coming 00:10:32.779 --> 00:10:39.179 are found in the growth and fruit of the fig tree. That's what we've heard this morning. What are we 00:10:39.179 --> 00:10:45.039 looking for? Are we looking back over our shoulder? Are we looking forward to the signs of Jesus coming, 00:10:45.500 --> 00:10:50.839 which we've heard about in our scripture this morning? Now learn this lesson from the fig tree. 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:58.660 As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, 00:10:58.800 --> 00:11:05.720 when you see these things happen, you know that it is near right at the door. Yes, by all means, 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:11.639 let's look at the shocking state of the world, but let's not build our theology around it. Let's, 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:18.440 as Jesus says, look forward to his coming and look for the signs that are there, that are right in front of 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:25.480 us because remembering all the time that our God is a great big God, never leaves us or forsakes us. 00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:31.600 And we also need to watch out at the growth in the twigs and the sign of that new life, 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:38.220 which I believe is all around us. The season of advent of expectation isn't one to be annoyed. Can I 00:11:38.220 --> 00:11:47.159 suggest, like me, we look for the signs of that new life that's coming wherever it is. Look for the 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:56.339 growth. Look for where the Holy Spirit is at work. Really exciting times. Helen Howarth Hemmer wrote 00:11:56.339 --> 00:12:02.959 the lyrics, and you'll probably join in with me in the verse. Oh soul, are you weary and troubled? 00:12:03.459 --> 00:12:10.100 No light in the darkness you see. There's light, there's light for a look at the Saviour, 00:12:10.100 --> 00:12:20.120 and life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face, 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:29.920 and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. What a beautiful hymn. 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:36.940 Looking forward, looking forward to the light, looking forward to his coming. Are we looking and 00:12:36.940 --> 00:12:44.920 worshipping the light that his glory and grace will bring? Prophets foretold it, and maybe we need to be 00:12:44.920 --> 00:12:50.400 reminded. We need to watch for the signs as the prophets have told us again and again before Jesus 00:12:50.400 --> 00:12:58.960 coming. Like Micah, we are people who do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:10.460 By focusing on the basics, and it is the basics of our faith, we will enable us to watch and look for the new 00:13:10.460 --> 00:13:17.500 growth, for the way in which Jesus is at work, for the way in which the Lord is preparing for his coming 00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:26.780 again. And that may be small growth, as Russ talked about a few weeks ago about the seed. It may be just small 00:13:26.779 --> 00:13:33.620 growth, but it may be the bigger stuff as well. You know, we've just finished an offer. Thank you to our 00:13:33.620 --> 00:13:41.919 offer team that have been here. It was amazing to see that growth in people week by week by week by week. 00:13:42.319 --> 00:13:49.360 You just saw the Lord moving in people's lives. If that's worth ignoring some of the stuff, but actually 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:58.220 looking forward and seeing the growth of people coming to Christ, are you watching for that in the 00:13:58.220 --> 00:14:05.899 community around you? And can I humbly suggest that if we aren't seeing it, maybe we need to watch a 00:14:05.899 --> 00:14:12.220 little bit closer and a little bit harder, because it's not far away, if that's what you're looking for. 00:14:12.860 --> 00:14:18.440 In the film, Love Actually, with that great scene right at the beginning, as people arrive at the 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:23.920 airport and they've come to welcome their loved ones, in the voice of Hugh Grant says over the thing, 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:30.940 wherever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals hall at Heathrow Airport. 00:14:31.900 --> 00:14:37.820 General opinion starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that 00:14:37.820 --> 00:14:45.840 at all. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Maybe in this Advent, rather than looking sideways and 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:53.100 backwards, we look forward to the love of God and all that he is doing in our lives and in the lives around us. 00:14:53.320 --> 00:15:01.220 It seems to me that so easily we can get diverted. And again, if this is a spiritual thing, which I believe it is, 00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:07.720 what would the evil one want us to do? He'd want us to focus on something that is not of him. 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:17.120 Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look forward. See what he's doing. See what he's doing in our lives and 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:24.240 through our lives at this moment, because Jesus will come again. Watchmen or indeed watch women and 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:31.220 young people have a great gift. Have a great gift in seeing this and speaking into the church. 00:15:31.220 --> 00:15:38.379 And we need to be there watching and waiting, as our scripture told us this morning. We see those 00:15:38.379 --> 00:15:44.100 who are influencing a generation. It's really interesting, isn't it, how in our social media 00:15:44.100 --> 00:15:50.920 at the moment, people are what they call influencers. In social media, what they do is they take a product 00:15:50.920 --> 00:15:57.700 and they use it, and they use it on social media to influence people, to get us basically to buy things. 00:15:57.700 --> 00:16:06.140 I was thinking, thinking of the Christian influences that each and every one of us could be in the lives 00:16:06.140 --> 00:16:12.040 and the settings in which we are, as we watch for new life and we encourage people in the new life 00:16:12.040 --> 00:16:17.700 that we see. Maybe just in the acts of random kindness, whatever that might look like. 00:16:17.700 --> 00:16:28.080 Next week, this place will be filled with guides and scouts and brownies and all of those from our 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:40.180 uniformed organisations. And each week, over 400,000 young people and 100,000 adult volunteers take part 00:16:40.179 --> 00:16:46.739 in scouting projects in activities across the heart of the UK community. 00:16:49.620 --> 00:16:58.579 On a slide, Bear Grylls, as you know, is the chief scout. He is a survivalist and author. 00:16:59.219 --> 00:17:03.859 In October this year, Bear Grylls got baptised in the River Jordan. 00:17:03.860 --> 00:17:12.200 He posted on social media for all those young people and their leaders and the world to see 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:20.180 and said, it has always been a dream of mine to get in the water that Jesus was baptised in 00:17:20.180 --> 00:17:29.299 by my hero, John the Baptist. He then went on to post again and again that on the 9th of October, 00:17:29.299 --> 00:17:39.460 he added to the story and said that Jesus' baptism is amazing. It seems wherever Jesus went that new 00:17:39.460 --> 00:17:48.099 birth, new life and new vision followed. What a great message to talk about Jesus' coming again 00:17:48.099 --> 00:17:57.859 as people came to join him. In 2019, he released a daily devotional titled Soul Fuel, which shares how his 00:17:57.859 --> 00:18:04.419 faith gave him the purpose and the power to carry on through many of his survivalist exhibitions 00:18:04.419 --> 00:18:14.579 and expeditions even. The book's description says that it explores themes of hope, courage, risk, heaven 00:18:14.579 --> 00:18:22.240 and more. Think of the number, that's just not the scouting movement he's reaching. People are buying 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:28.720 this book. People are listening. People are hearing as he watches and waits for the coming kingdom. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:38.559 And he said, remember this, you have a light within you, the Holy Spirit, and wherever you go, 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:46.319 you will bring a light greater than the darkness around you. What a phenomenal message. 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:55.299 Is that the message we carry? As we go out and we share that with people day by day, week by week, 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:03.559 as we anticipate this amazing coming to get people ready. I don't know about you, I'm not into naming a 00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:14.480 date or a time, but as our scripture says, I want to be ready. Are you ready? Are we ready? Are we watching 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:20.599 and waiting? Are we doing everything that we can to gather people as we've heard and think? Gather people 00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:27.180 together. Gather people into a relationship with Jesus so that when he comes again, that they will 00:19:27.180 --> 00:19:38.079 know and they will recognize him and they will be saved. The shepherds saw the glory of God 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:46.599 and their lives were changed. Mary responded to the glory of God in her carrying and birthing Jesus. 00:19:48.099 --> 00:19:56.099 And we too, we too, this Advent, can experience that glory if we look in the right direction 00:19:56.099 --> 00:20:06.679 and that is to Jesus. The light of the world. Scripture says, do not conform to the patterns 00:20:06.679 --> 00:20:16.299 of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And can I suggest what you are praying 00:20:16.299 --> 00:20:24.439 and watching for is often in that transforming of our mind to see what is coming. Emmanuel, God with us, 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:29.420 he is the great big God. He is with us in the power and presence of his Holy Spirit. 00:20:31.660 --> 00:20:39.660 Be on your guard. Be alert. Therefore, keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the 00:20:39.660 --> 00:20:46.320 house will come back, whether in the evening or at midnight or when the rooster crows or at dawn. 00:20:46.319 --> 00:21:00.419 If he comes suddenly, don't let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everybody, is watch. 00:21:03.059 --> 00:21:04.379 Shall we pray together? 00:21:04.380 --> 00:21:14.800 Forgive us, Jesus, when we have dated you and we have given up watching. 00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:24.480 Lord, forgive us when we've looked in the wrong places and put our faith and our trust in other 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:32.720 things rather than in you. Forgive us, Lord, when we've been complacent in our generation to make you 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:39.600 known. Forgive us, Lord, when we have failed to bring others to meet with you. 00:21:42.279 --> 00:21:46.759 So, Holy Spirit, would you come in this season afresh into our lives? 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:57.180 Would you keep us alert? Would you make us watchful? Would you fill us with hope? Would you show us 00:21:57.180 --> 00:22:04.980 signs, large and small and wonders in our generation of your coming again? 00:22:06.740 --> 00:22:13.980 And Lord, would you keep us held and fixated always by the light and power of your presence in our 00:22:13.980 --> 00:22:22.380 community? Lord, would you make us ready? Would you keep us committed? May our hearts and lives never 00:22:22.380 --> 00:22:33.820 grow tired of seeing more of you and of your coming again? Lord, we pray in our hearts, come, Lord Jesus. 00:22:35.400 --> 00:22:39.720 Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.