This Advent/Christmas preaching series grows out of the Worship committee's suggestion last year about reflecting on the empty manger. Each week of Advent, the manger will have something added to it, eventually having the Christ-child there on Christmas Eve.
As you gaze at the chancel are area Sunday and see an empty manger, what will that bring to mind?
My thoughts, not all of which will make the sermon.
1. Empty manger reminds us that we are still waiting. Matthew passage reminds us that the early church had to turn to stories that gave uncertainty to knowing when Christ would come again, because Christ had not returned as they expected. How do we live our lives professing belief that Christ will come again, but not knowing when?
2. Waiting is, of course, and Advent theme. Henri Nouwen once observed that we in the United States are not very good at waiting. We consider it a huge waste of time. Our culture says, "don't just sit there, do something." Nouwen notes that "waiting is an awful desert between where we are wand were we want to be." (John Buchanan, "Awaiting God's Reign<' Christian Century, 11/28/12)
3. The church is called to announce to an oblivious world that we detect God's present in our midst (Journal of Preaching, "Preaching Advent Hope," Joseph Phelps, p. 8).
4. Empty manger means that there is no clutter. Imagine your life with not clutter. How can you be shaped during Advent to become the person God calls you to be when you meet the Christ child?
Which themes resonate with you?
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