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828 W. Main St., Grass Valley • (530) 273-9631
A Congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Uncomfortable. Threatened. Panicked. Even scared. We should be uncomfortable when it comes to baptism. We should be panicking when we really think about the power that is release by the Almighty when His Spirit comes to action in our lives. We should be even more scared when God drops down on us with the Holy Spirit.
“Am I pregnant?” “Am I a handmaid of God?” “Is God so real and alive in me that God is ready to spring forth?” “Has God gotten inside me?” How about you? Are you pregnant with God? Is the good news of God’s love bursting inside you? Has God gotten close to you?
It is still Advent…we are not ready because there is yet a mystery-“Among you stands one you do not know.” This is Signs and Season: Who stands before us?” It’s the mystery that John invokes as he preaches a baptism for the forgiveness of sins. It is the root of my question for “Signs and Season”, “Who (or what) stands before us?
Advent is about waiting. Advent is about a journey into the darkness (almost literally as we approach the shortest day of the year) so that we can be ready for the Light of Christ. Advent is about waiting both for eternity, and waiting for the first light that God sent into the world in Jesus. Advent is all about waiting.
Somehow, I wonder if some of this early season hype, some of our desire to have Christmas early, doesn’t have something to do with the deeper longings of our hearts. I wonder it if doesn’t have to do with wanting to claim clear signs of “peace and calm” — Silent Night, Holy Night; all is calm, all is bright”.