Take Time, Make Space
This is the sermon I wrote and Kristie Bloomquist preached for me at St. Timothy Lutheran Church, while I was home with COVID. Thank you Kristie! Good job! The text is Mark 13:24-37 . Today is the first Sunday of Advent! We lit the first Advent candle, the one of hope. And what is the gospel about? It’s not about a cute little baby or a manger. It seems to be all about disasters and death. Likewise, it doesn’t seem to go together, does it? The thrust of this gospel reading is not a dystopian future as is portrayed in movies and elsewhere. Jesus is teaching his disciples, disciples throughout the ages, how to live and believe in the midst of tragedy—how to be alert for his coming. Jesus comes to us in many ways. That can be seen with the eyes of faith. In Advent, we look for the coming of Christ as the One who will return in majesty and power at the end of the ages. We also look for the incarnation of the Savior of the world. In the midst of all of that, there looms the cross becaus