Get ready, He is coming!

Kia ora whānau,

Hope, Peace, Joy, Love - those are the Advent candle themes. They are fruit that grows from a well-watered tree. We all long to experience those things personally and in our neighbourhood and world, but sometimes things feel and look a bit barren - like a stump.

The prophet Isaiah gave a beautiful word to his people when they were at a low point in their history: "A shoot will grow out of the stump of Jessie." Can life come out of something that looks rather dead? To be sure, that prophetic word took hundreds of years to begin to be fulfilled. But a shoot did grow out of the stump: Jesus was born to the line of David (the son of Jessie). 

I suggested on Sunday that for this Advent season we imagine that the promised return of Jesus was going to happen on 25 Dec as well. This was just an experiment to see what affect that would have on our life (although it could happen ). I am thinking that it would cause us to turn toward him in our thinking and our living in a way that we often don't. Perhaps it would move some of us who feel rather 'stumpish' to a new season of hope. God still brings life out of things that appear dead. 

So, keep your eyes on Jesus - he may be coming in the clouds. 

Mark 

This weeks message: