[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Advent 1

[Joseph Parrish]

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Begin forwarded message:

> From: Judith Boli <judy_boli at ecunet.org>
> Date: November 23, 2010 6:53:26 PM EST
> To: propertalk.topic at ecunet.org
> Subject: Re: [propertalk.topic] Advent 1
> Reply-To: propertalk.topic at ecunet.org
> 

> Thanks- very helpful!
>  
> Shalom,
> Judy
> 
> On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 10:29 PM, Fr HC Smith <howard.smith at anglican.org.au> wrote:
> I've been a lurker for a while but thought I might make a bit more of an effort to participate.  So here are some notes towards a sermon for Advent 1 from and Australian perspective.
> Howard
> 
> * Today is the first Sunday in a new Christian Year - called the First Sunday in Advent;
> - and Advent is a Latin word meaning “Coming”.
> + So at this time of the year the Church begins to prepare for the 
> “Coming of Jesus”.
> We are thinking about his Coming as a small babe, born in the 
> town of Bethlehem, out the back of an Inn (a bit like a motel) 
> where his parents Mary and Joseph were staying for the night.
> + We also think about his Coming Again, at the end of the world, at 
> the end of history, when he will do away with all the bad things of 
> this world and open up God’s New World.
> + And because God’s New World is better than this world, the Church 
> often does things differently on purpose to keep on reminding us 
> that God’s New World is not the same as this world we live in now.
> + So the Church starts her year at a different time to the rest of the 
> world, and when the Church starts her Year, what she is doing is 
> beginning again to think about the story of Jesus, the One who not 
> only tells us about God’s New World, God’s Kingdom, but Jesus is 
> the One who overcomes all the evil of the old world and starts the 
> new way of living, and also gives us the power to live that way too.
> 
> * Now the reading from the Letter to the Romans takes us right to the heart of the matter.
> + It tells us just what the difference is between the present world 
> and God’s Perfect World.
> + It tells us that most of the laws we have at the moment tell us 
> what we should NOT do, and they tell us how we will be punished if 
> we break the laws; 
> - but God’s World is based on something more wonderful, 
> something far more powerful than that: it is based on love.
> - Paul says it’s all summed up in the words “Love others as much 
> as you love yourself.”
> + And why is that so different?
> - it’s because no one who loves others will harm them.
> + Many of us know what it’s like to be hurt or harmed by other 
> people, and it’s not very pleasant at all, and we want it to stop.
> + And the reason people have behaved like that is because they 
> didn’t have enough love inside them.
> + But we come here to worship so as to be near Jesus, so as to 
> receive some of his love through the Sacrament of Holy 
> Communion, so that we can go out and show others what love is all 
> about.
> 
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
> The Rev'd Dr H.C. Smith
>  Retired Anglican Priest
>  Orange NSW
>  Phone (+612) 6362 3375
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>  
> 
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