Wake up!

Good morning brothers and sisters,
In our reading for this morning Paul encourages the church in Rome to wake up because the time is near. Paul felt that Christ's return and God's kingdom was right around the corner, that the fulfillment of history was noticeably closer at that point than it had been when the church began. Two thousand years later, we're still waiting, but Paul's urgency has something to teach us. Now is still the time to recommit ourselves to Christ. We don't know when Christ will return, but we know that our lives are short and unpredictable. There's no point putting off living out our calling. Now is the time to take that next step in faith. Now is the time to invite a neighbor to church or to share your faith with a friend. Now is the time to ask God to lead your next step. Now is the time to act on faith.

Advent is about waiting, but it's about waiting expectantly. It is an active waiting, a hopeful waiting. In Advent we look ahead to Christ's return and the coming of God's righteous kingdom. We look back at the birth of Jesus and we prepare for a new birth of hope within us. To help us in this expectant waiting we'll be offering weekly services of prayer and contemplation at Laurelton in the evening. Tonight at 7 is the first of those services. Come from work or from home. There's no need to dress up, just come as you are ready to enjoy some quiet and singing. Come ready to wait with others, to allow the stillness and hope of Christ to fill your heart.

God bless,
Sam

Romans 13:11-14

11Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.