What a joy to come together with you this morning as Pastor Dale kicked off our new series, Honest Advent. In this Christmas season, we will look at the birth of Jesus with honesty, staring at the very humanity of Advent. As Paul famously wrote, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” - Philippians 2:5-7
Advent is the literal story of "becoming human." Throughout our series, we will explore that humanity and be given the opportunity to enter into a deeper intimacy with the one whom we celebrate and anticipate returning again. Pastor Dale began our series today as we stared together at something right in the middle of the Advent story, fear. We see Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and even Herod experiencing fear.
Fear is an emotion God created in us and there is both reason and purpose for it. In scripture, when God says, “Do not fear,” he is not commanding us to shut off a part of our brain. God wants us to wrestle with what we do with the fear. While fear is real and can be paralyzing and powerful, God is more powerful. Experiencing fear might not be the problem, it could just be that we are trying to fight it or simply denying it. When life is out of control, fear says: “Life is happening to me.” Trust starts to develop by seeing, “God is forming me into something better than I could imagine.” Courage says, "I refuse to miss out on what God wants to do in me, my relationships, my family, and my life."
In reality, Advent is a master class in courage.
A beautiful quote from Jesus Lives, by Sarah Young, was read over us during our response time. We invite you to read it again:
“Most of your fear stems from pondering bad things that could happen, leaving me out of that imaginary scenario. This is a very harmful practice; it’s also an exercise in unreality. Although your future stretches all the way into eternity, there is not even one second that I will be absent from you. Whenever your mind wanders into the future, make the effort to include me in that imagery. See me helping you, strengthening you, encouraging you. Instead of being intimidated by tough times ahead, view them as adventures that you and I together can handle." – Jesus Lives, by Sarah Young
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