It is now just two weeks and three days until Christmas!
While that may sound like the call of a retailer, seeking create an urgency to lure one into a store to make a purchase, it also serves as a reminder as to readiness!
Just as we don’t want find ourselves to be last minute shoppers (though many of us will be), desperately trying to purchase and ready for Christmas at the last moment, so it is with Christ’s anticipated second advent. Are we ready in advance, or will be hoping to prepare at the last minute?
Christ’s first coming was foretold, yet when He came, most people were unprepared for a number of reasons.
Still, others (shepherds and others) welcomed and worshipped the Christ-child as one sent to rescue them from their sin. Though they were perceived as being among the most unworthy recipients of God’s love, they were the first to receive and share the Good News of Christ’s coming.
As we come to Christmas 2017, we know when Christ first came to earth as our Saviour (though it was most likely not December 25), but we do not know the day of his return. We are called to readiness, to be prepared, and to be at our assigned tasks upon his return.
While sitting at the bedside of my failing mother, I have prayed that as she rests, she may simply wake up in the presence of her Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. If she could choose this, she would sign on with enthusiasm and with a large smile. It is what she hopes for!
As I spoke this week with a pastor who also faces the failing health of a loved one, we encouraged one another with such words of hope. As God’s children, purchased through the blood of Christ, we are inseparable from his love, and nothing we have faced, are facing or can face can separate us from this! (Romans 8:31-39).
We live in a world that is distracted from being ready. People are so focused on seeking the ideal Christmas celebration that they may well forget to prepare for either Christ’s return or our departure to face him. Robert W. Service, best known for his ballads of the north, such as “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” or “The Shooting of Dan McGrew,” wrote a poem called “Repentance,” in which he describes the tendency to wait until the last moment. He writes:
Repentance
By Robert Service
“If you repent,” the Parson said,”
Your sins will be forgiven.
Aye, even on your dying bed
You’re not too late for heaven.”
That’s just my cup of tea, I thought,
Though for my sins I sorrow;
Since salvation is easy bought
I will repent . . . to-morrow.
To-morrow and to-morrow went,
But though my youth was flying,
I was reluctant to repent,
having no fear of dying.
‘Tis plain, I mused, the more I sin,
(To Satan’s jubilation)
When I repent the more I’ll win
Celestial approbation.
So still I sin, and though I fail
To get snow-whitely shriven,
My timing’s good: I hope to hail
The last bus up to heaven.
This Advent, we will have opportunity to share the Good News with those who may be counting on “catching the last bus.” May we have words of hope, and may our own celebrations demonstrate our awareness of where our “tent” is and where our “home” is too.
****
Uganda Refugee Project: A few weeks ago, I let you know about the Uganda Refugee Project, where people at Jesus Grace International Church are raising funds to assist brothers and sisters in Uganda to obtain a place to worship and minister within their refugee camp. This is the same refugee camp in which Pastor Sammy and Eva Kabyemera and their six children lived, before they were able to come to Canada as refugees. While there, Sammy and Eva planted five churches! Please see the attached opportunity for how we can partner with Pastor Sammy and Jesus Grace International Church in ministering to these overseas brethren.
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/433d3cb120e1cebbbc3b0c67c/files/967d9133-fce8-4ab5-a2b0-6531b27f5dc8/Ugandan_Refugee_Project.pdf
Please see below for Prayer Updates and District Announcements. There is no additional attached, “Five Minutes on Friday.”
Please Pray for:
Upcoming Events:
