Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27; I Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

When Christ called the first disciples he set himself a task - the task of making them into fishermen.

"As he walked by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea - for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "follow me, I will make you fish for people."

That is what God wants us all to do. It is what Jesus did - in Galilee and in Samaria and in Jordan and Judea and Jerusalem, and it's what we are supposed to do - in Kowloon, in the Outlying Islands and on Hong Kong Island.

We are supposed to fish for people, to seek to bring them into that great net known as the Kingdom of God - into that creel known as salvation, as redemption, as everlasting peace.

But are we? Are we fishing that is? And if we are fishing - who are we fishing for? For God and God's glory? For the sake of those we talk to each day? Or for ourselves and for the sake of those people to whom we are loyal - albeit in a worldly way?

There is so much power that flows when you witness to the love of God - when you share with others what it does for you and what it can do for them - when you have a chance to engage someone who is troubled, or curious, or hungry, and bring them before the one who can sooth their pain, satisfy their yearnings, and feed their soul.

I was talking to someone some time ago whose father is an alcoholic. She was sharing with me how her family coped with the problem - and naturally Alcoholics Anonymous came up in the conversation. From that it was but a short step to the concept of the Higher Power which is at the heart of that program - and then to the concept of believing that the Higher Power can help you with your problem and that one should surrender to that Power - to "Let go and let God."

What a prescription for life that is - and how wonderful it was to be able to share it - as any believing person is able to share it - whether or not they have read through the AA program.

It was wonderful to be able to share with someone that God is ready and able to help them.

There is power in witnessing - in sharing one's faith - in being a person who fishes for people, because there is power in the message and power in the God the message is about.

But sometimes we don't experience that - most often - perhaps - we don't experience that.

We don't experience the power and we don't succeed at the task of fishing for people - indeed most often we don't even begin that task, because we are involved with and committed to the wrong things.

Although every one of us believes in God - our energy - our focus - is all too often fixed elsewhere.

It is as if we belonged to another - and indeed we often do. We often belong to other things - to other people - to other teams - and God gets the short end.

But my friends, when God gets the short end from us, so do the people around us, so do our families, so does our church, and so do we ourselves.

When Paul wrote his First Letter to the Corinthians there were a lot of problems in the congregation.

There was arrogance, there was pride, there was indifference. There was gluttony and laziness and intolerance, and there was depression, and anger, and despair. And it all tracked itself down to one simple fact - the people in the congregation at Corinth had fixed their focus on themselves and on one another instead of fixing it on Christ and on the power of his cross.

That's not to suggest that the Corinthians never paid attention to God - or that they totally ignored Jesus. Far from it. It's simply to say that most of their attention went elsewhere.

Instead of using the Gospel as a filter by which to see the world around them and of asking God at each moment of decision to direct their words and their actions - they fell into their old routines, routines that are programmed into us by our genes and by the expectations that others have of us and by our own reluctance to really trust God for everything.

They relied upon the teachings of others for their own understanding of the Gospel. They formed loyalties with those who first showed them the love of God and quite naturally they defended those teachers when questioned about them. And because there was a contrary spirit in Corinth, they soon began to quarrel about who was better and who was worse - some saying Paul, others Apollos, and still others Cephas, and even some entered the fray saying that they belong to the party Christ and that he was, and therefore they were, better.

In short the Corinthians missed the point of what the Gospel is all about and instead of knowing the joy and the peace that comes with the fellowship of the faithful - instead of being powerful in their witness and being able to catch people for God - their congregational life collapsed and their sense of well being evaporated.

People complained about each other and about their leadership, they became confused about what was right and wrong, and they bickered about issues that made no sense then and even less now.

The King James Version of the Bible says that problems at Corinth could be traced to the believers there having a party spirit.

When I was younger I used to joke around a bit and say that this meant that the Corinthians stayed up too late and drank and danced a bit too much - that they played even more than they worked - but really it is no joking matter.

The Corinthians placed their loyalty in things other than the things of God - in persons other than the person of Jesus Christ, and they suffered because of it - they suffered a loss of power - they suffered a loss of love - they suffered a loss of joy in believing and in sharing.

The Corinthians did this

- they misplaced their loyalty
- they missed the point of the Gospel
- they formed up into party, cliques, and factions, not because they were wicked or mean or stupid, but because they looked elsewhere and forgot what they were to be about, because, most of all, they forgot who they believed in and what who they believed in was, and is, about.

The effective Christian life is based on three simple facts - the fact that God loves us unconditionally - the fact that apart from God we can do nothing that is worthwhile - and the fact that God is pleased to work through us if we allow him to, and around us if we will not.

Sometimes we look out upon our families, upon our congregation, or upon our club or lodge, or upon our place of employment and we say to ourselves - "things would be better if only Joe would cut x and y out", or "if only Nancy would do this or that everything would be fine".

Who hasn't heard the old song that is sung by close to everyone:

if only my father hadn't been so stern,
if only my parents hadn't gotten divorced
if only my mother had been more affectionate,
if only my high school had a better program
if only my boss wasn't such a boob.

Who do we belong to? What holds onto us because we hold on to it?

Do you look out and assign blame for what problems exist upon some people - and apportion credit for what good is happening to still others instead of alternately - either asking God to work through you to make things better or thanking God for making things as fine as they are.

Too many judge things, too many judge people just as they always used to instead of judging them by the standard show them by Christ when he went to the cross for them.

We prefer our friends to our enemies quite naturally. We prefer our comfort to our discomfort quite naturally. We would rather fit in than stand out. We would rather be praised than be criticized, and we would rather be served than serve - all quite naturally.

But we are not meant to be natural people any longer - we are meant to be the children of God - to be a spiritual people who live by spiritual principles, to be a people who live by the power of the cross of Christ rather than a people who live by the ways of the world.

Do you recall what it is like to wake up in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar place?

Sometimes a night light in the hall, providing a small amount of light, of security, against the darkness of the night. Sometimes a light has been left on in the hallway and its steady glow allows you to navigate safely when you have rise to raid the fridge or do what is necessary. And that's great.

But what foolishness it would be if you got up, as you do when you are at home, and, ignoring the fact of whether there is any light on or not, you try to navigate your way to the kitchen or the bathroom by making all the usual twist and turns. It's a sure fire way to experience some form of pain - I mean think of what happens if someone simply moves something in your home without telling you about it, if for some reason they leave the seat up instead of down, or some other unexpected thing...

But we do this all the time - in a metaphorical sense at least.

We forget that we have been called to a new way of living, and that we are meant to navigate our way through our new life by the light that God provides rather than by our old channel markers.

Do you have a problem - don't worry about fixing blame - check out the possible solutions in the word of God. Do we have something that is hampering our life together

- let not accuse one another
- lets pray together and then let's work the works that God calls us to, both individually and collectively.

The church at Corinth was a weak church.

It was weak because the people there forgot that they were called to a new way of life. It was weak because they forgot that the true and only real source of transforming and healing power comes from the cross of Jesus Christ.

And it was weak because they forgot that their sole and only task as his followers was to show his love to others - that they were to live in such a manner and to speak in such a manner that others might be touched by God - that others might know the lure - the attraction - the wonder of God through us -and so be moved to claim Christ as their own.

I started this message today by saying we are supposed to fish for people, to seek to bring them into that great net known as the Kingdom of God, into that creel known as salvation, as redemption - as everlasting peace.

That is, my friends, the central calling of every disciple and every apostle, and every teacher, and every evangelist, and indeed of everyone who bears the name of Christ.

And it is a wonderful calling - a calling in which we have the privilege of witnessing God at work - a calling in which we are shown a portion of the love and the joy that exists in heaven.

Turn to Christ and place your allegiance in his person your focus on his cross, your energy on his work, and all that God has in mind for you will be yours in this life as well as in the next.

Blessed Be God, Day by Day, Amen

Isaiah 42:1-9 and Matthew 3:13-17

Let us Pray: Bless O God, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

We started off the service with a call to worship in which we recalled the essential message of God to us - the story of Jesus and how forgiveness and salvation come through his name.

It is the message of the cross that we proclaim - of the cross and the resurrection; yet for many of us proclaiming the message is difficult.

We know what the message is - but we find it difficult to express it to others - to get others to really feel and sense the importance of it, sometimes, even to get others to listen to us.

It is about this last - about getting others to listen to us, that I want to speak of today and I want to do so by looking at one of the great riddles of Jesus' life - the riddle of his baptism.

Theologians, scholars, and just ordinary people like you and I are puzzled as to why Jesus was baptized.

Jesus himself tells us that he was baptized to "fulfil all righteousness", but that term is never explained by him, and there is nothing else in the passage to help us understand why Jesus, who was sinless, received, at John's hands, a baptism for the repentance of sins.

What theologians and bible scholars are all agreed on however, is the fact that the baptism of Jesus by John at the Jordan marked the beginning of his ministry - it was his debut as it were - his coming out ceremony - and that at the end of it he received the approval of God, who speaks from heaven, and says: "this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

There is no question that the baptism of Jesus was a significant event, a turning point in his life and through him - a turning point in our own lives.

So what does the baptism of Jesus show us? How does understanding it lead us to being more able to communicate the Gospel to others - to be able to get others to listen to us?

The answer is contained in the reason that Jesus gave for his baptism when John says to him - in verse 14 of today's reading:

"I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

and Jesus responds

"let it be so, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness."

Righteousness is an interesting word.

It is found 232 times in the bible - and in close to half of these occurrences it refers to the righteousness of God - to his love and his justice, to his saving activities and purposes.

In other words, contrary to the popular understanding, the word "righteousness" does not primarily refer to someone who is living a good life, rather it refers to a state in which the way of redemption is actively offered or illustrated by someone.

To be righteous is not just to be good - it is to be in the right kind of relationship with God and with others - to be a relationship which brings salvation, which brings wholeness, which brings the good news of God's love, to others.

Righteousness is something active - not simply a description of one's moral state.

Proverbs 11:4 says - "Righteousness delivers from death."

and again in Proverbs 15:9 we read - "God loves the one who pursues righteousness"

and in Proverbs 21:3 we see these words - "To do righteousness and justice, is more acceptable to God than sacrifice."

So when Jesus says to John: "let it be so, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness"

what he is saying is - "do it, it is a good thing to do - because in this way we will go further towards saving others, we will deliver them from death, we will make God's loving purpose more evident, more accessible to others."

And indeed the baptism of Jesus does help bring the healing word of God to others; and it shows us, as well, how the saving message of Jesus is best delivered.

There are three points I would like make to today. Yes - I do occasionally give an old fashioned three point sermon.

First - the baptism of Jesus shows us that Jesus truly did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped - to be held on to. His baptism, there in the muddy old Jordan - shows that he identifies with us and with our sins - and not only with God and God's perfection.

Jesus did not need to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins - all agree about this - but he chose this path - he chose to be seen with us - as one of us - because in this way - so Jesus says - righteousness is fulfilled.

Pause for a moment and think about this with me.

Each one of us here has had pronounced upon us the forgiveness and acceptance of God, we need not have anything more to do with thinking about ourselves as sinners.

In fact, according to the Bible, we can think of ourselves as chosen by God, as being selected by him for glory. Yet, think some more with me - in our communication with others - with those who have not yet really listened to the word of God's love - would this be helpful?

Who gets the better hearing? The perfect person, the one who has never made a mistake? Or the one who can stand and say - I know where you have been, let me help you. I know how difficult it is.

In his baptism Jesus identifies with us. He shows us the way of righteousness, the way of saving others, is a way of empathy and understanding - of putting ourselves in someone else's shoes.

Jesus does not "lord" his superior knowledge or virtue over others.

Instead he sits with them in their homes, he eats their food, he answers their questions, he laughs with them in their joy, and he cries with them in their grief. And with them, and with us, he descends to the Jordan and is washed for the forgiveness of sins.

Do you want to proclaim the message and be heard in it as was Jesus?

Then you need to identify with the people you are speaking to. You need to remember how you have "been there" before, and if you have not actually been there - well, you still need to try to put yourself in the other persons shoes, and try to really understand what it going on in their hearts as well as in their heads.

True communication can't be done in an atmosphere of judgement, it requires understanding, acceptance, and the willingness to link hearts and minds together.

Second - Jesus shows us in his baptism that it is important to go beyond ourselves when seeking to do the work of God - he shows us that we should turn to God and seek God's help when we are trying to point the way to God to others.

Jesus seeks John out at the Jordan river - it is no accident that he is there.

Jesus deliberately goes to a place where God's power and love were being proclaimed and he asks for that power and that love to be poured out upon him in a special act - an act performed by a special man - a man who was filled with God's spirit.

It is then, and only then, after this has been done, that Jesus goes on to help others.

We often forget this in our attempt to communicate to others the love of God.

We want to tell the story of Jesus, we want to share the salvation of God, but we ignore, neglect, or just plain downgrade the resources of our faith.

We speak to others - but we do not prepare ourselves to speak: we do not pray for God's help - we do not pause to ask ourselves what Jesus would have said or done in this circumstance - we do not call upon God's power to assist us in touching their hearts.

Further, when we speak with others we all too often do not offer them anything special; we do not show them anything different than that which they already have. We do not offer anything that they have not already been offered.

Too often we offer common sense, pop psychology, and the wisdom we receive from self- help books - instead of the way of God that is found in the Bible and in our different traditions.

My friends, the gospel we seek to communicate, the saving message we want to share, the righteousness we are called to fulfil with Jesus, is not something that is based on a "self help" model.

Salvation is something that ultimately comes from beyond us. Righteousness is something that is given to us by God, given as gift through the very Jesus whose baptism we are looking at today.

When Jesus wanted to make a beginning, he turned to a spiritual resource.

When he wanted to fulfil all righteousness, he turned to a spiritual man speaking spiritual words. When he wanted to communicate a spiritual message he was first baptized in a spiritual river - the river Jordan through which Israel had passed to enter the Holy Land.

Jesus turned to these things, and he also pointed them out to others - which leads me to the last point.

Third - Jesus in his baptism reminds us that we need to set the example.

Jesus was, above all things, authentic in his communications.

When he spoke of being able to help us carry our burdens - he had already experienced the same trials and tribulations as we do. When he spoke of how trusting in God could help one overcome anxiety - he had already trusted in God for his daily bread, his physical safety, and his spiritual power.

People listened to Jesus - not just because he understood and identified with him - and not just because he pointed out the way to God but also because he lived his own message.

He didn't just tell others to turn to God - he himself sought out God blessings: at the Jordan and in lonely places away from others - and regularly in places of worship - the synagogues on the Sabbath each week and at the temple at Passover Time.

He didn't just tell others to pray for people - he himself prayed for them - as he did for the disciples before going out to the Garden of Gethesame.

He didn't just tell others to forgive each other - he himself forgave them - even from the cross when he was in the midst of his agony.

He didn't just tell others how important it was to heal others - he himself did healings. He spat on the clay and anointed a beggars eyes. He reached out and touched the lepers. He laid his hands upon the sick and anointed them with his prayers.

Jesus did everything he asked others to do, and he was respected for this, and he was heard by many because of it.

My friends - not everyone will listen to us.

No matter how good we are, how righteous we are, there will be some who will take offense at us - as they did at Jesus. But the message of Jesus to us is that we ought to be trying as he did.

And when we do, when we humble ourselves - like Jesus - and identify with others, when we tell others about the source of saving power and go to it and accept it for ourselves then God will be well pleased with us. And his Spirit will indeed be seen to rest upon us as it did upon Jesus.

Thanks be to God - for his living word - Jesus Christ our Saviour, and for his Spirit - which gives up power day by day. Amen.

Ephesians 3:1-12 and Matthew 2:1-12

Let us Pray: Loving and Gracious God, bless thou the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts, we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

More than any other characters in the Christmas story the three wise men have been the subject of much good humour - like in the story of the little boy who was setting up a manger scene in the corner of the school room and, puzzled for a moment about what to do, he calls out to the teacher - "And where shall I put the three wise guys..."

We really know very little about the wise men despite the story we tell in plays and songs around Christmas time - you know the one - about how three kings arrived in Bethlehem - fast on the heels of the shepherds - to pay homage to the baby in a manger.

The problem is that the gospels do not confirm this often told story. In fact what we do know is a bit different:

First - the three kings were not kings at all, but rather they were magi, wise men, professional scholars in fact, schooled in the science of astrology.

Second - we do not know if there were three of them or thirty, we only know that there were three gifts given.

Third - there is no mention of the manger in the story of the wise men, in fact just the opposite. The story states that the wise men entered into a house.

Fourth - the last statement is really no surprise if you read the story found in the Gospel of Matthew carefully - because you discover in it that the wise men arrived in Bethlehem close to two years after the birth of Jesus - time enough for Mary and Joseph to have found a house and settle in.

Today, I want to look at the story of the magi - let's call it the story of the three wise men for convenience, and draw four points from it. Each of these points concern the wisdom of the wise men - a wisdom that is available to us if we want it.

First - we discover in the story that the wise men sought for truth and wisdom.

The magi knew that the star that they followed was no ordinary star. These three had apparently been searching the heavens for years for signs of something unique and significant occurring in their world. They were open to new wisdom and truth - more than this - they searched for it. They were not simply content to get along with that which they already knew. So, when they saw a new star in the heavens, they sensed in their hearts that it was a sign from God.

The Bible tells us over and again - that if we seek, we will find, if we knock, the door shall be opened to us, if we ask, we will receive. But how often do we actually seek for wisdom? For new truth? For guidance?

Think of assembling all those new toys and tools that appeared this Christmas. How many people actually looked at the directions before beginning to assemble them? How many tried to put something together relying on the knowledge they already had - only to find that it was not good enough?

The wise men gained their wisdom because they were seekers - they were looking for new things, new insights, new signs. They read their manuals, they searched the heavens for signs and wonders. And so can we.

Second - The Wisemen set forth in faith to find what the star pointed to.

Faith by definition involves the idea of making a journey - of venturing forth - of risking one's very self in a new activity. The living God cannot be found by proxy. That was Herod's mistake - he wanted the magi to go in his place and search for the Christ child. Only then would he come and worship the new born king. By contrast the magi had to travel from a foreign land in search of wisdom and truth. They did not know where the star would lead them, how long it would take, or what the end result would be for them. They only knew that it was important for them to follow that star to wherever it lead. It was a personal quest and the result was an opportunity to worship the one who would be king of kings and Lord of Lords..

This may well be the most important truth for us in the Epiphany story.

A story of faith with Jesus has to be a personal story, a personal quest.

It is not enough to know all kinds of facts about Jesus Christ. One must encounter the wonder of God's grace for sinners and then make a personal decision to receive him into our heart as Lord. One must decide to follow him and then do so. No one else can do that for us. Faith is not inherited like the family jewels - nor can it come from simply knowing what others have said about it..

Faith is like the difference between having read about how to make a cake and actually making one. One may know all there is to know about cooking, one may well have memorized the recipe for the cake that he or she wants to make - but until one actually gets out the ingredients and mixes them together and puts the results in the oven - it means absolutely nothing.

Third - The wise men sought help from other people as they tried to find the king.

We so often try to live our lives without making any demands on others. We try to be independent. To stand alone. To make it by ourselves. Sometimes this comes out of noble motives - we do not want to burden others. Other times it comes out of fear - we are afraid of looking weak or foolish.

When the magi arrived in Jerusalem it seems that they lost sight of the star. They knew they were in the right area, but they were not yet at the right spot. Kind of like us sometimes when we visit a new city to find a friend. We get into the right neighbourhood - but somehow can't quite locate the street we are looking for. Our map may be outdated or in error, whatever the reason may be, we are stuck and remain stuck until we ask someone else for help.

That is what the magi did. The bible says they consulted with the people in Jerusalem. They ask where the new born king is and how they can find him so they can pay homage to him. Because they ask - they receive. Their question is answered by people who are familiar with the Scriptures and prophecies concerning the birth of the Messiah - and they take that answer and set forth with it - and when they do so, once again they see the star going ahead of them - until it takes them to Jesus.

There are many people who can help us on our journey of faith - if we are wise enough to ask them. The question is: are we willing to ask for help when we need it? When we are in the right neighbourhood, but can't quite find our way to our destination will we stop and ask for directions as did the magi?

Fourth - The wise men accepted what God lead them to and believed in it.

In the story of the wise men often much is made of what they gave to the Christ child. But consider what they were given for a minute.

They set forth looking for a king - a king of kings in fact. After a long and hard journey they end up at a simple home in Bethlehem - and there they find a carpenter and his wife and child. There are no costly treasures in the house, no purple robes, no gold rings, nothing in fact to show that they are in the presence of person destined to be a great king. Only the star stood overhead to indicate that anything special at all was going on.

And they accept this. Although all the outward signs, save one, are telling them that they are in the wrong place, they accept that single sign - the sign of God that they have been following for so long - and ignore the rest.

So many of us have a hard time accepting what God has given in the form that he gives it. Because we are waiting for a gift from God - we look for great miracles, instant healings, signs and wonders, trumpet calls and 21 gun salutes.

We may pray to God for a special blessing - and then turn away at our door a homeless person who is looking for a meal, or a neighbour who is dropping by unannounced, or a client who shows up just when we are preparing to leave work for the day.

Louis Cassels tells a story about a man who hated Christmas.

It was late Christmas Eve, but in spite of his wife's pleas he would not accompany her to church. The whole crazy idea of God becoming a human being made no sense to his logical mind. He stood watching the heavy snow at his picture window. He thought of the birds and wondered if they would find the seeds he had put out for them. It was snowing hard enough that the seed holders were quickly covered. He turned on the backyard lights, but both the birds and the seed were lost in the falling snow. Putting on his heavy coat, he went outside and opened his big barn door. Then he spread bird seed just inside the barn, hoping that the birds would see it. They did not! Still hoping to help these little starving creatures, the man tried desperately to shoo the little birds toward the light of his open barn - but they were too frightened. Here they were only inches away from the food and water they needed, and he was helpless. "If only I were a bird", he thought to himself, "I would show them the way to that life-giving food." Just then the church bells began to ring announcing Christmas morning. Suddenly he understood why God's Son came to show us the way to eternal life in the way that he did - as one of us. From that point on he became a believer.

We have this idea fixed in our minds that God does not, or should not, appear to us in the ordinary aspects of our life. We do not expect God to show up while we are at work in our office, or sitting in a classroom, or doing dishes at the kitchen sink.

We have a hard time too considering that God's answers to our questions can be found in a 2000 something year old book, or on the lips of our employees or our friends, or that a dream we have had during a long and troubled night is, in fact, a message from God.

The wisdom of the wise men was and is simply this - they sought wisdom - they were willing to journey in faith to personally discover what God was doing - they did not hesitate to ask for help along the way and finally - they accepted what they found - even though it was plainly dressed - and believed in it.

Simple stuff really - but wisdom normally is simple stuff. Simple - but when used - as the wisemen used it, it leads us to God. May God bless us all with this kind of wisdom. Amen!

Isaiah 63:7-9; Psalm 148; Hebrews 2:10-18; Matthew 2:13-23

Let us Pray: Father - bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts - grow thou in us and show us your ways and inspire us to live by your truth. Amen

The Christmas story can be summarized this way: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."

The Word became flesh, it took on human form, and lived among us, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is the incarnate word, he is the Word made flesh, the word of God, the word of love, the word of truth and grace and beauty.

He is the one who is the love of God in human form.

Jesus is the human form of God's forgiveness, he is the human form of God's mercy, he is the human form of God's justice, of God's truth, of God's love.

This is the Christmas story... the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

God, so that he could help us, decided to walk among us and to live with us, as one of us - born of human parents, nurtured at a human breast, and working at human tasks until he died a human death.

God among us, God made flesh, God for us - in Jesus Christ.

What is remarkable about the Christmas story is not just that God chose to place all his glory, all his beauty, and all his truth in a human form, though that is remarkable enough - it is that he chose such a simple human being in which to take on flesh.

God's word, the Word that was at the beginning of all things, and without which nothing was made that was made, could have come upon a royal princess, but it did not.

God's word - made flesh, could have taken on the form of a philosopher, wise and full of truth living in some imperial palace, but it did not.

No - God's word, the word made flesh, was a simple word - a word made manifest, a word made visible in a simple human being, born to a simple peasant woman, and cared for by a simple carpenter in a land that time still seems to have forgotten.

The Word made flesh. The Word of God, is found in its fullness in a babe who had to lay in a manager because there was no room for him at the inn.

The Word made flesh, the Word of God, is found in all its fullness in a child, who while obedient to his parents, still argued with his teachers, and got lost in the city at the time of his Bar Mitzvah.

The Word made flesh, the Word of God, is found in all its fullness, in a young man who wandered the countryside, teaching the teachers, healing the sick, eating with the sinners, and forgiving those who needed forgiving.

Jesus was the word of God in its fullness, and yet, consider, it was a word that had no home to call its own, it was a word that was denied, and betrayed, and finally killed in the hope that it would not be seen or heard again.

God's word took on flesh, and dwelt among us - it lived among us, first within the body of a simple woman and then in the body of a simple man, and that word was both accepted, and rejected, but IN rejection, and then later in death, it could not be destroyed.

This is the Christmas story, and it is a story that continues today, because the Word of God is an eternal word, it is a lasting word, it is an undefeatable word.

Jesus - the word of God is still among us, He is here as spirit, teaching his followers that which they need to know, comforting his disciples with a comfort that they need, and leading them to the truth that they need to know.

And what is that truth we need to know? Where is the word for us today?

It is in the same place that it was when Jesus walked among us, it is in the acts of love that his followers perform, it is in the mercy that his disciples give to others, it is in the truth that they utter, the justice that they struggle for, and in the forgiveness that they bestow.

God's word is still made flesh today, much in the way that it was made flesh in Jesus.

God's word takes on flesh when a woman brings food to the sanctuary of the Lord to share with the poor, and when a man delivers groceries to the local food bank, and when a brother help another brother in financial need.

The Word of God took on flesh in a unique and tremendous way in Jesus of Nazareth, and it takes on flesh today, wherever the word is believed and done.

God's word wears human flesh, in those who follow the risen word, those who obey the risen Lord, and heed the living God.

And as it was in Jesus, where the word was found in a simple man, born to simple parents, so the word today is found, found in flesh, in simple acts of love and kindness.

The word takes on flesh in those who heal, in those who forgive, in those who seek justice, in those who share, and in those who show mercy. Amen.

Micah 2:2-4, Luke 1:26-38, Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:22-32

Today I wish to share with you a wonderful Christmas tale written by Raymond MacDonald Alden many years ago. It is a story that is delightful and warm and I pray that you may be blessed by it as have many others. It is called "Why the Bells Chimed".

There was once, in a far-away country where few people have ever travelled, a wonderful church. It stood on a high hill in the centre of a great city; and every Sunday, as well as on sacred days like Christmas, thousands of people climbed the hill to its great archways, looking like lines of ants all moving in the same direction.

When you came to the building itself, you found stone columns and dark passageways, and a grand entrance leading to the main room of the church. This room was so long that one standing at the door-way could scarcely see to the other end, where the choir stood by the large altar. In the farthest corner was the organ, and this organ was so loud that sometimes when it played, the people for miles around would close their shutters and prepare for a great thunderstorm. Altogether, no such church as this was ever seen before, especially when it was lighted up for some festival, and crowded with people, young and old.

But the strangest thing about the old building was the wonderful chime of bells. At one corner of the church was a great, grey tower, with ivy growing over it as far up as one can see. I say as far as one can see because the tower was quite grand enough to fit the grand church, and it rose so far into the sky that it was only in fair weather that anyone claimed to be able to see the top. Even then one could not be certain that it was in sight. Up and up climbed the stones and the ivy, and, as the men who built the church had been dead for hundreds of years, everyone had forgotten how high the tower was supposed to be.

Now, all the people knew that at the top of the tower was a chime of Christmas bells. They had hung there ever since the church had been built, and were the most beautiful bells in the world. Some thought it was because a great musician had cast them and arranged them in their place; others said it was because of the great height, which reached up where the air was cleanest and purest. However that might be, no one who had ever heard the chimes denied that they were the sweetest in the world. Some described them as sounding like angels far up in the sky; others, as sounding like strange winds singing through the trees.

But the fact was that no one had heard them for years and years. There was an old man living not far from the church who said that his mother had spoken of hearing them when she was a little girl, and he was the only one who was sure of as much as that. They were Christmas chimes, you see, and were not meant to be played by men or on common days. It was the custom on Christmas Eve for all the people to bring to the church their offerings to the Christ- child; and when the greatest and best offering was laid on the altar, there used to come sounding through the music of the choir the Christmas chimes far up in the tower. Some said that the wind rang them, and others that they were so high that the angels could start them swinging. But for many years they had never been heard.

It was said that people were growing less careful of their gifts for the Christ-child, and that no offering was brought great enough to deserve the music of the chimes. Every Christmas Eve the rich people still crowded to the altar, each one trying to bring some gift better than any other, without giving anything he wanted for himself, and the church was crowded with those who thought that perhaps the wonderful bells might be heard again. But although the services were splendid and the offerings plenty, only the roar of the wind could be heard, far up in the stone tower.

Now, a number of miles from the city, in a little country village where nothing could be seen of the tower when the weather was fine, lived a boy named Pedro, and his little brother. They knew very little about the Christmas chimes, but they had heard of the service in the church on Christmas Eve, and had a secret plan, which they had often talked over when by themselves, to go and see the beautiful celebration.

"Nobody can guess, Little Brother," Pedro would say, "all the fine things there are to see and hear; and I have even heard it said that the Christ-child sometimes comes down to bless the service. What if we could see Him!"

The day before Christmas was bitterly cold, with a few lonely snowflakes flying in the air, and a hard white crust on the ground. Sure enough, Pedro and Little Brother were able to slip quietly away, early in the afternoon; and although the walk was hard in the frosty air, before nightfall they had trudged so far, hand in hand, that they saw the lights of the big city just ahead of them. Indeed, they were about to enter one of the great gates in the wall that surrounded it when they saw something dark on the snow near the path, and stepped aside to look at it.

It was a poor woman who had fallen just outside the city, too sick and tired to get in where she might have found shelter. The soft snow made of a drift a sort of pillow for her, and she would soon be so sound asleep in the wintry air that no one could ever waken her again. All this Pedro saw in a moment, and he knelt down beside her and tried to rouse her, even tugging at her arm a little as though he would have tried to carry her away. He turned her face toward him so that he could rub some of the snow on it, and when he had looked at her silently a moment, he stood up again and said:

"It's no good, Little Brother. You will have to go on alone."

"Alone?" cried Little Brother, "And you not see the Christmas Festival?"

"No," said Pedro, and he could not keep back a bit of the choking sound in his throat. "See this poor woman. She will freeze to death if nobody cares for her. Everyone has gone to the church now, but when you come back you can bring someone to help her. I will rub her to keep her from freezing, and perhaps get her to eat the bun that is left in my pocket."

"But I cannot bear to leave you, and go on alone," said Little Brother.

"Both of us need not miss the service," said Pedro, "and it had better be I than you. You can easily find your way to the church; and you must see and hear everything twice, Little Brother, - once for you and once for me. I am sure the Christ-child must know how I should love to come with you and worship Him; and oh! if you get a chance Little Brother to slip up to the altar without getting in anyone's way, take this little silver piece of mine, and lay it down for my offering when no one is looking. Don't forget where you have left me, and forgive me for not going with you."

In this way he hurried Little Brother off to the city, and winked hard to keep back the tears as he heard the crunching footsteps sounding farther and farther away in the twilight. It was pretty hard to lose the music and splendor of the Christmas celebration that he had been planning for so long, and spend the time instead in that lonely place in the snow.

The great church was a wonderful place that night. Everyone said that it had never looked so bright and beautiful before. When the organ played and the thousands of people sang, the walls shook with the sound and little Pedro, outside the city wall, felt the earth tremble around him, for the sound was so great.

At the close of the service came the procession with offerings to be laid on the altar. Rich men and great men marched proudly up to lay down their gifts to the Christ-child. Some brought wonderful jewels, some baskets of gold so heavy that they could scarcely carry them down the aisle. A great writer laid down a book that he had been making for years and years.

And last of all walked the king of the country, hoping with all the rest to win for himself the chime of the Christmas bells. There went a great murmur through the church as the people saw the king take from his head the royal crown, all set with precious stones, and lay it gleaming on the altar as his offering to the holy Child. "Surely," everyone said, "we shall hear the bells now, for nothing like this has ever happened before."

But still only the cold old wind was heard in the tower, and the people shook their heads, and some of them said, as they had before, that they never really believed the story of the chimes, and doubted if they ever rang at all.

The procession was over, and the choir began the closing hymn. Suddenly the organist stopped playing as though he had been shot, and everyone looked at the old minister who was standing by the altar holding up his hand for silence. Not a sound could be heard from anyone in the church, but as all the people strained their ears to listen there came softly, but distinctly swinging through the air, the sound of the chimes in the tower. So far away and yet so clear the music seemed - so much sweeter were the notes than anything that had been heard before, rising and falling away up there in the sky, that the people in the church sat for a moment as still as though something held each of them by the shoulders. Then they all stood up together and stared straight at the altar to see what great gift had awakened the long-silent bells.

But all that the nearest of them saw was the childish figure of Little Brother, who had crept softly down the aisle when no one was looking, and had laid Pedro's little piece of silver on the altar......

Isaiah 7:10-16; Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38,46-55

Gracious God, source of hope, peace, joy and love - attend this time of speaking and this time of hearing - this time of prayerful seeking and this time of meditation. Move in me and in all here assembled - that your saving word may be experienced and your name glorified in us and through us, now and evermore. Amen.

We have looked at three ways of being prepared for the coming of Christ this Advent Season.

We have stressed the need to keep the vision of God's kingdom alive in our hearts - that vision that gives hope as it tells us about the purpose and meaning of life.

We have looked at the wonder of how God's peace comes as a gift to us when we seek it, when we turn from those things that build walls between us and our neighbours and our God nd follow in the path shown to us by Jesus.

And we have briefly spoken of how God grants his gift of joy to those whose hands are open to give and receive the blessings that he pours out on his faithful people.

Today - as we see Christmas approaching, I want us to consider the importance of our saying Yes to God's love, and how our saying yes to love is able to bring to birth in our world a new and marvellous thing, how it prepares us and others for the coming of the Messiah.

You know the Christmas Story is strongly reliant upon something that most people find very strange. It is reliant upon two people saying yes to God. And saying yes in most unusual circumstances, to a proposal that seems most strange indeed.

We are all keenly aware of Mary and how she said yes to God, and so came to be the earthly mother of the Messiah, the earthly mother of the one we call the Son of God, the earthly mother of the one who would die so that we might live.

But have you considered how this Yes profoundly changed the course of Mary's life? How her willingness to trust the angel of God and to accept his word altered her entire world?

Engaged to be married, she is suddenly to be with child by one who is not the man she loves.

The risks are tremendous.

And what is this child of God's love to be? This child that she says yes to when she opens her life so totally to God?

At the time that Mary conceived there were many Messiahs, many people who proclaimed that they had been chosen of God to take the throne of David - to take David's throne back from the corruption of the rulers who sat upon it - to take it back from the control of the many who had manipulated it since the fall of Jerusalem: from the Persians, the Greeks, the Egyptians - and now the Romans - to take it back and to sit upon it and bring to Israel that time that God had promised would come.

There were many Messiahs at the time Mary conceived. Most of these were either ridiculed or were killed or both.

So why would her child - this child that she was told would be of God be any different?

Truly Mary had a lot to store up in her heart and ponder, as the scriptures tell us over and over again that she did, she had not only to store up the angel greetings and the words of shepherds and wise men and prophets, she had to ponder what all these would do with her life and the lives of her child and of her husband.

And Joseph?
What did it mean for him to say yes to God?
How easy could have it been?

Joseph is the odd man out in the Christmas Story, isn't he?

A minister that I know tells the story about how once a worried mother phoned the church office on the afternoon before the annual Christmas program to say that her small son, who was to play the role of Joseph in the Christmas Pageant, had a cold and had gone to bed on doctor's orders.

"It's too late now to get another Joseph," the director of the play said. "We'll just have to write him out of the script."

And they did! Joseph just disappeared! And few of those who watched that night actually realized that Joseph was missing."

Joseph is often forgotten. But consider his role in bringing Jesus into this world for a minute.

Without Joseph how would Mary have been supported? Her family would have been bound by the law to reject her if Joseph had rejected her. Her baby would have been seen as illegitimate. Her life, and his, would have been in a ruin.

Joseph nurtured and protected and watched over and loved both Mary and her child. And so brought into the world - as much as did Mary - that child whom we call the gift of God's love.

But how easy could it have been at first?

How easy could it have been for him to say yes to the Angel who came to him and told him that the story that Mary had told him was true?

It is hard to believe many of the things that God tells us, hard to accept, especially when our feelings have been hurt and our sense of what is really possible in our world is limited by the pain that we experience and the pain which we see in the world around us.

Could it have been any different for Joseph?

Joseph, the scriptures tell us, was a righteous man, a good man, a kind man.

He didn't want to expose Mary to public disgrace, but he certainly didn't want to marry her either, in fact he had resolved to cancel their betrothal just before the angel finally appeared to him.

It must have been hard for him to accept what he heard - yet, with the same kind of faith with which Mary said yes to God, so did Joseph. He said yes to God and he took Mary to be his wife. And what would the future bring? What would Mary's and Joseph's Yes to God bring?

It would bring to them a wonderfully intimate experience of God's love. It would bring to them and to the world not just the marvel of a new and tender life. It would bring to them and the world the King of Love, the Shepherd of the Sheep, the one whom we await this day and the one whom we know already in our hearts if we too have said Yes to God.

You know the promise is to us - as well as to Mary and to Joseph. The promise that if we say yes to God and his gift of Love that we and our world will be blessed.

But it is no easy thing to say yes. To say yes involves risks. To say yes involves overcoming our sense of pain and hurt.

Think of the number of people whom you know who seem to live by the maxim: "once burned, twice shy." The number of people who are unwilling to risk accepting love. The number of people who are afraid to show the love that God puts into every heart. The number of people who have erected a wall around their life so that they will not ever again feel hurt or pain because of how an imperfect love has let them down.

Yet, ultimately, love is what it is all about - what living is all about, whether that love be the perfect love of God or the imperfect love of human kind.

Pain and hurt will come to us all - whether we love or not. Pain and hurt will afflict us all - whether others love us or not. They came to Mary. They came to Joseph. They came to Jesus.

The big question for us - is will that pain and hurt have any meaning? Will it have any sense???

People unfamiliar with our God, marvel and wonder at the sign of his love that we display. They marvel and wonder at the cross - a symbol of suffering and shame - yet also a symbol of so much more. That cross signifies that God loved us so much that he gave his only son so that we might not perish. That cross signifies that God loves us so much, that he walks with us into the worst that life can deal out, and helps us to overcome it.

When we say Yes to God's love, we say Yes to that which will change our lives and give to them meaning and purpose.

When we say Yes to God's love, we say Yes to that which will transform our lives and give to them a radiance that transforms others.

Christmas, as most people over the age of five know, can be a very difficult time of year.

It is a time when we feel that we are supposed to be happy and joyous, a time in which we and the world around us, so it seems, puts upon us this expectation that we should be full of good cheer and at one with all of our family and with all of our friends.

We can really lay a trip on ourselves and allow others to lay a trip on us during this season.

And it is so hard - when we do see others full of joy and expectation - and we have in ourselves little but a sense of pain and loss, it is so hard to really embrace what this season is truly about: which is nothing more or less than making room in our lives for God's love - than saying yes to the wonderful gift that God offers us through Christ our Lord.

There are no 'shoulds' at Christmas, other than the should of saying yes to God's love, and that should always comes to us as a gentle knock at the door, rather than an overwhelming pressure to be happy and to be a million and one other things that we simply are not and cannot be.

I have talked to you over this Advent Season about be being prepared for the coming of Christ into our lives.

I have spoken about hope - about peace - about joy - and now about love.

I urge you as you prepare for Christmas day to remember that these things, hope, peace, joy, and love, are gifts to us, not demands upon us.

They are gifts by which God comes to us and changes us and our world.

Say yes to God's love as did Mary and Joseph even though the saying yes involves risk and sacrifice.

Say yes. Keep the vision alive. And walk in the path of Jesus with open hands and hearts, and God will come to you and to our world, and make the rough places smooth.

He will come and as he did at the creation of the world, and at the tomb of Jesus and he will bring order of chaos and life out of death.

This is the mission of our God in and through Christ Jesus our Lord, who by the power of the Holy Spirit can accomplish all things.

Praise be to God day by day. Amen.

Isaiah 35:1-10; Matthew 11:2-11

Today is the Sunday of Joy. The joy of God. As we saw in the last two weeks, in preparing for the coming of the Christ - we are called to keep alive the vision which provides us with hope and to seek the Peace of God - that peace that only God can give - that peace which comes when we turn, and walk in the path that Jesus has shown us.

Joy is not something that we can seek, it is something that overtakes us when while we are working to keep the vision alive, and walking on the path that Jesus has set before us.

As we walk that path - joy happens to us, we gain glimpses of what it is that God is about, we encounter situations where we see God's promises coming true, and we have, suddenly this great joy in hearts.

Imagine if you will for a minute John the Baptist, in prison, Herod is about to kill him - and undoubtedly John is aware of this though the particular circumstances of his death are still to be shaped by Herod's wife and daughter.

John is uncertain about whether his ministry is completed or not, uncertain about whether or not Jesus is the Messiah that he has proclaimed the coming of. And he sends messengers from prison to ask Jesus - "Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another"

And imagine if you will for a minute how he heard the answer, the feeling that must have overcame him when his disciples reported to him what Jesus said:

"Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. Blessed are they who take no offense at me."

Imagine how John felt when he heard that all that he yearned for as a child of Abraham was in fact happening, that God was working a great work through through Jesus, the child of Mary, the kind of work that Isaiah spoke of in our first reading this morning.

Joy should not be confused with happiness.

Joy rather is something rather overwhelming, it is what happens when we witness God at work, whether it is in our family relationships, in our church, or in our community and in the wider world.

I called today's homily "Giving and Receiving The Gift of Joy", not only to as a means of keeping together our Advent theme, that theme suggested by the light of the candles upon our wreath, but to highlight one of the realities of the gift of joy - that reality which relates to the fact that while it cannot be sought, the gift of joy can be given and received by us.

When we see the works of God being done - we receive the gift of joy. And when we allow God to do his works through us - we give the gift of joy or at the very, very least - it's possibility.

That is part of what White Gift Sunday is about - it is about doing the works of God the work of caring, and praying joy may come with the giving, that the hand of God may be seen.

Joy is a wonderful thing, a thing that overtakes us when we are on the path shown to us by Christ.

It is not continuous - at least in this world -- but it pops up whenever we see God at work healing the sick, curing the lame, giving sight to the blind, and proclaiming good news to those who are poor. It pops up when we do the work of God - and understand that God is doing his work in the circumstances around us.

Everlasting joy comes, so testifies Isaiah on the day of Christ's second coming:

On that day, he testifies, the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, on that day, the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

There is a day coming which we are called to be prepared for, a day coming, of an eternal joy, a joy which we receive a taste of in the here and now when we receive the gift of seeing God at work, and when we do the works of God and thereby make it possible for others to have the joy of seeing him.

Blessed be the name of God, day by day. Amen

Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:-13; and Matthew 3:1-12

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

The good news - the Gospel - began before Jesus arrived on the scene. It began with John The Baptist, and John's message was received with the same great joy that the message of Jesus was received with.

John was the one spoken of by Isaiah. He was the voice crying in the wilderness; "prepare the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight!"

And people heard John this way - they saw him as the promised one, the one who was to come before the Messiah, and they went out to him in the wilderness, out to him from Jerusalem, and Judea, and from all the region around the Jordan, and they listened to his message - and they responded to his call - and in the thousands they were baptized for the forgiveness of sins.

"I tell you", said Jesus later on, "I tell you that among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist..."

And why is this?
Why this praise?

Looking back I think we often see John as strange character.

With his camel hair clothing and leather belt, and his long hair and his diet of locusts and wild honey, John often ends up reminding us of the cartoons we have seen, the cartoons of a strange looking character who stands on the street corner waving a sign that says - "repent , the end is near."

John seems scary - frightening almost - telling people that they are a brood of vipers, and that the axe of judgement is even now being laid to the roots of their lives, and yet - yet thousands heard his message that the kingdom of God was near - and thousands responded to his call to repent of their sins - thousands were baptized and made ready to welcome Christ into their lives.

What are we missing in our picture of John? In our picture of what he did and said as he spoke of repentance and the one to come after him?

I don't want to belabour any points today. I think what we are missing is the marvel of what John called the people of Israel to receive as they came out to him at the Jordan.

John called people to be ready for the coming of Christ, by letting go of their burdens and receiving the forgiveness of God.

John said to all who came near to him that they could get a fresh start in life; that they could begin again as newly washed individuals - pure and holy in God' eyes; and that God would visit them and redeem them as promised by all the prophets of old.

John proclaimed the love of God, the forgiveness God, and the day of God's coming, and he made this personal and particular, by giving that love and forgiveness to all those who came to him and entered the river with him.

What John proclaimed and gave was hope, the hope that peace in our lives is possible, that the past can be forgotten, that it can be washed away, and that when the new comes, when God comes, we can meet him and stand before him without fear.

The call of John for us to repent is not a word of criticism nor a word that claims that somehow he is better than we.

No, on his lips the call to repentance is a word of opportunity

- it is a way into the future with God,
- it is a renewal of our relationship with the Lord.
- it is a new beginning in our relationships with each other.

It is a foreshadowing of the message of the one to whom he pointed, the one who preached peace to those who were far off, and to those who were near.

Peace in forgiveness.
Peace in the Spirit,.
Peace in a new life.
Peace in a new heaven and a new earth.

Despite how John railed against the sins of those who thought they had none, his message was that of the one who followed him: There is none so lost, that they cannot be found, none so bad, that God still will not seek them out to save them, none so hopeless, that their life cannot be changed.

Previously I spoke of how important it is to have a vision of God, to hold onto his promises.

Today I tell you - it is important that we open our hearts to God, to admit to him what is wrong in our lives, to ask for his forgiveness and to vow each day to live as he has shown us.

It is important, not only to have a vision of what God has done, is doing, and will do; it is important that we be willing to confess our need for him and to accept from his hands the forgiveness he offers, the new life he gives - the life which leads us to his Son.

It is what, in the end, we all need, and it is what God offers to us, it is what John pointed to as he spoke in the wilderness of the one who was to come after him.

At the last few bible studies we have had on Wednesday evenings we have started having lengthy periods of silent prayer - time in which I ask each person present to close their eyes and to get relaxed, to focus at first on their breathing, and to allow thoughts and images of God to come into and then to pass out of their minds, time to listen to the thoughts that they have, and time to let them pass - and sometimes as they do this I provide some words for this time of deep prayer. It has proved to us to be a powerful experience - one in which we have felt God and heard God speak to us.

I would invite you all now to close your eyes, and to think of John the Baptist, standing by the River, calling to you to be ready, ready for the one whose sandals he is not worthy to carry, calling you to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, and to start new today, walking in God's way, knowing that Christ will appear to you, very soon.

Close your eyes...and see John and listen to John and pray to God as the Spirit leads you...

wait

Oh Lord, we think of the gift that John offers us in your name...the gift of forgiveness, the gift of washing away our sins, the gift of making our hearts ready for Christ to enter in, and we thank you....

Oh Lord, we think of John, and we confess to you that the path in our life is not smooth, we confess that we have sinned against you, we have put up road blocks....we are sorry Lord, please ake them away Lord, make the path straight once more

O Lord, we listen now to John. We listen now to Jesus. We listen now to you as the water of forgiveness pours down upon us. We listen as you proclaim the word of peace, the word of your coming.

And now we thank you again O God, we give you thanks for your servant John who prepared the way in your people for your son. We thank you for levelling the mountains and filling in the valleys and making straight his path. We thank you for the message of forgiveness and hope he proclaimed. We thank you for the new life you give to us through him.

We praise you and we adore you, God of God, Light of lights. We praise you God, Lord of Lords, King of Kings. You who enter every trembling heart. Glory and honour be to your name, now and for ever and ever, Amen.

Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 12:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

One way to describe the Season of Advent - which has begun this day, is to say that Advent operates in three tenses all at once.

In Advent we await the birth of the Christ child as the recollection of a past event, of a birth that happened over 2000 years ago - and a celebration that will happen - is beginning to happen - right now.

This past event has great significance in the present. In Advent we once again await the birth of the Christ Child into our lives, into our families, into our church community. We await this Christmas - and a Holy Evening, not 24days away, where - bathed in candlelight - we will say: "Yes Lord! Thank You Lord" and rejoice in his presence, his having come among us as a babe, a child, a man, a human like us - to love us.

And as we wait we savour those things that remind us of all the good Christmas's that have past. We savour them and make them part of this Christmas - songs and carols, special dinner dishes and treats, candle lit worship, visits and phone calls, prayers and readings, and cards and notes, and the wonderful smells of the season.

In Advent we await a past event and indeed we prepare our lives for it. And the preparation we do enriches our lives and makes this time a special time.

And, in Advent we await the future - a special future: we await the unveiling of the reign of God, something which is continually being revealed, but is yet to be fully realized.

We await a time that Isaiah, and Jesus, and Paul describe as a time of judgement: a time when accounts are settled - not always comfortably - but always rightly - a time when two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left, and a time when at long last all the swords are beaten into plowshares and all spears into pruning hooks, and peace - lasting peace - comes at last.

We await a time of judgement and a time of salvation, the time of Christ's return - the time when the whole world is of God's Kingdom - the time when all who have passed through judgement are as one, one in joy - and in faith - and in hope - and in love - the time when sin, suffering, pain, and death are no more.

Come, says Isaiah as he proclaims the word of judgement and of salvation in today's reading, "Come - let us walk in the light of the Lord!"

That "come" is a word about what to do now - today, as we await tomorrow.

"Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord" says Isaiah, "Stay awake, be alert", says Jesus. "Put on the armour of light." says Paul, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."

That is the third tense of Advent. The present tense. The active tense.

Advent is not just about preparing for Christ's coming as a child from the past.

Nor is Advent just about preparing for Christ's coming as the righteous king in the future.

Advent is also - and primarily - about preparing for Christ's coming in our lives - right now.

For his light to be around us and shining from within us - today. For his spirit to be dwelling in our hearts and our minds - this minute. For his living presence to be seen in all that we say and do and all that we see and hear - second by precious second..

In this sense advent memory and advent hope are joined together: together our past experience and our future expectations about the reign of God and about the Christ, the Messiah, are realized now, not simply because of our preparation for it; but because of the divine truth about God's past and God's present and God's future: the truth that God has been with us - and will yet be with us - and even now is with us.

Advent as a season of the church year helps us to be prepared, it reminds us to keep our ears, eyes and our hearts open, open for the in-breaking of the saving presence and power of Almighty God.

These are indeed times like the times of Noah. Ordinary times:

- times when men and women marry and are given in marriage;
- and children play games and go to school;
- and adults go to work or to the market every day.

These are ordinary times with our wars and our rumours of war - ordinary times with our good - and with our evil - with our love and with our hate, the ordinary times - when it is easy to forget the extraordinary - and to forget to be ready for it.

For all time, but especially for this time, this ordinary time, this time right now - the question is: is your home in order? Is it ready? Does it even now embrace our Saviour?

Look around you.

I think you know and I think the church knows how to embrace the coming of the Christ Child. How to be ready for the celebration. How to decorate that which is outside - and how to decorate, how to hallow, that which is inside.

And I think as I listen to you pray at your homes and here in this sanctuary that you know how to read the signs of times - and to pray for God's kingdom to come and for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

I know your longing for peace as you hear the news from the mid-east about all the turmoils going on over there, and as you think of the children who go hungry, and of the recent typhoon which hits the Philippines, the recent earthquakes and floods that afflict the world. I know what you hope - for we all hope for it - we all hope for the time of eternal blessing - we hope for us and we hope for the world for the Christ to return in power and in glory.

But what about now?
What about the God who is here now?
The Christ who is here now?

Is our house completely ready for him?
Are we making him comfortable?
Do we let him live with us - and own us completely?

Are we able to invite him into every nook and cranny of our homes - or are there beds we hope he will not look under and rooms that we hope he will not enter.

The room where we hide our anger and resentment at someone. The chamber which we often disappear into when it seems that doing the right thing might cost us more time, or more comfort, or more money than we care to think about. That area where we separate out people - one from the other; that place where we make judgements about people and what they need and what they deserve.

Advent speaks to us about God's coming to us, about Christ coming to us, about light shining into the darkness, and spears being turned into pruning hooks, and about judgement coming upon the earth, and salvation to the people of God.

That speaking is for yesterday - and for tomorrow - and - most of all - it is for today.

Thank you Isaiah - thank you Matthew - thank you Jesus - for this word - for this promise.

And thank you Isaiah, thank you Matthew, thank you Jesus, thank you Paul for the call to keep awake and to walk in the light - clad in the armour of light.

We have good words - and good advice in our readings today. This is a good words and good advice from God. Not just for the coming of the Kingdom over all the world, But for the coming of Christ in our lives today.

Clean house. Open the doors to the secret places. Let the Lord who knocks come in and dine with you. Let him ready you for the fullness of his promises, day by day. Amen....

Jeremiah 23:1-6; Luke 1:68-79; Colossians 1:9-20; Luke 23:33-43

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

Today - this last Sunday of the Church Year - is the Sunday that is called "Christ the King Sunday".

For most of us the image of Christ as King is perhaps troublesome. We live in a place call HongKong after all - our minds can't quite wrap themselves around the whole concept of kingship, even when it is applied to Christ Jesus.

It may help us to appreciate what Christ the King Sunday is all about if we know a bit about how it came to be.

The title for this Sunday was created fairly recently - in 1925 in fact - by Pope Pius XI, and it entered into the Protestant Church during the nineteen-sixties as more and more Protestant churches began to use the Lectionary (or fixed schedule of readings) as a basis for proclaiming the Word of God each Sunday.

Why did Pope Pius XI create this Sunday and suggest the readings that we have just heard?

Quite simply because the church needed the image of Christ the King at that moment in time.

On its first celebration, Mussolini had been the leader of Italy for three years; and a rabble-rouser named Hitler had been out of prison for a year. Hitler's Nazi party was growing in popularity, and the world lay in a great Depression: a depression that would become far worse over the next fifteen years.

In such a time, Pius XI asserted that, nevertheless, with all of those new dictators and false values in the world, Christ is King of the universe.

The feast of Christ the King, then, was - and is - basically a language thing, a symbol, a metaphor, designed to be a statement of life's fundamental question for broken times such as ours.

The question - who exercises dominion over whom? And the question - Who or what rules our lives and how?

If we pick up on that theme, then the feast of Christ the King can makes sense for us today.

Who rules our lives? Who dominates culture?

The answer to the last question - who or what dominates our culture is - I think - fairly obvious. The forces of evil hold great sway both here in Hong Kong and around the world.

Greed, pride, selfishness, and fear motivates much of the world:

- in our corporate systems;
- in our media - and especially our advertising media;
- in our economic and governmental systems, where what matters most is not whether you are right - but whose side you are on - or who you work for;
- and in the hearts of many individuals - of those who think only of what is in it for them and for those they love, and rarely, if ever, about what is in it for those they don't know - or those they don't like.

The fruit of those forces that rule in our culture - and in every nation of this world - are as obvious as the huge pile of rubble and debris that sits in the heart of Central District here in Hong Kong today - as clear as the pictures of starving children in Africa and Asia and that come to us on Television so very often - and as manifest as the number of homeless - beaten - battered - abused - drug dependant - persons that live on our streets or are hidden away in our middle class homes.

The pursuit of happiness - the pursuit of success - and the exaltation of our families and our region or our country or our religious and political thinking as the most important things in life - is fraught with danger.

These are, in part, the things that led to Mussolini and to Hitler in the 20's and 30's -and they are in part the things that feed the Bin Ladens and the Arafats of our world today - the things that allowed countries to spend so much money on weapons and very little to help the people of their own country who need help. Are warplanes and warships more important than people's lives? Who and what rules our culture?

The answer is depressingly obvious.

And it feels even more obvious - and even more depressing the more we focus on all that trouble out there, the more we look at all the negative stuff, the more we experience the body blows of troubles within our own families and the more we are slapped silly by the series of illnesses and deaths within our very own community.

Think of them all.

In the last few months many people have been taken from us - one after the other - both young and old - people like Maggie, Michael, Jean, Ah Sze, Lok Man, Vincent, and now Carol.

You just get up off the floor from having been hit by one death or illness or tragedy and another comes and knocks you down.

It makes you wonder who or what is in charge doesn't it?
It makes you wonder if it will ever end.
If things will ever get better.

Hence this day - today - Christ the King Sunday.

Today we assert the Gospel message - the message that Christ is in charge.

And we assert the Gospel message that not only is Christ in charge - but the peace that we need, the hope we need, can be found in him, now, today. And more - that the peace our world needs - the peace our culture needs - is coming through him, on the day that God has chosen.

But - as Jesus himself said to the disciples on the night of his betrayal, the peace he gives - he gives not as the world gives.

And that is important - very important - as we, with Paul, name Christ not only as the King of the Universe, but as King of our lives - of our hearts.

In the first reading today we heard that:

"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness"

The word Righteousness conjures up for most of us an image of someone who is holy and good, of someone who is following the laws of God - the laws of moral correctness. And that is indeed part of the meaning of the word Righteous.

But when the word Righteous is applied to God in the Bible it is almost always used in reference to the saving and healing activity of God.

God shows us that he is righteous by delivering us from our enemies and by making us whole. God is righteous when God forgives us. God is righteous when he keeps his promise to be our God and to watch over us and protect us.

The righteous branch of David, the one who will be called "the Lord Our Righteousness", is, of course, Christ Jesus: the one that Paul describes in our reading from the letter to the Colossians as the image of the invisible God; the one who through whom and by whom all things were created; the one who is the head of the church, and the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead.

Let me illustrate the nature of Christ's Kingship, this Lord of Righteousness with a story.

It is the story of a little boy who wanted to do something good. A fellow like most of us.

Six-year old John decided one Saturday morning to fix his parents pancakes. He found a big bowl and spoon, pulled a chair to the counter, opened the cupboard and pulled out the heavy flour canister, spilling it on the floor. He scooped some of the flour into the bowl with his hands, mixed in most of a cup of milk and added some sugar and an egg, leaving a floury trail on the floor, which by now had a few tracks left by his kitten.

John was covered with flour and getting frustrated. He wanted this to be something very good for Mom and Dad, but it was getting very bad. He didn't know what to do next, whether to put it all into the oven or on the stove, (and he didn't know how the stove worked!). Suddenly he saw his kitten licking the bowl of mix and reached to push her away, knocking the egg carton to the floor. Frantically he tried to clean up this monumental mess but slipped on the eggs and landed on the floor - getting his pajamas white and sticky. Just then he saw Dad standing at the door. Big tears welled up in John's eyes. All he wanted to do was something good, but he'd made a terrible mess. He was sure a scolding was coming, maybe even a spanking.

But his father just watched him. Walking through the mess, he picked up his crying son, and hugged him - getting his own pajamas white and sticky in the process of loving him.

That's how God - our Lord and King - deals with us and the mess we have created. That's how Jesus - our Lord and King - deals with us and the mess we have created.

He enters into our reality and takes our mess onto himself. He loves us and forgives us

- and shows us the way of true love;
- the way that gives life - and that abundantly;
- the way of the kingdom over which he rules;
- the way of the kingdom in which he serves.

Jesus provides us with an image of royalty totally different from the world's image of royalty.

His is a total reversal of roles usually assigned to royalty and servitude. He refuses to be master of the world, the mighty monarch, the spiller of blood.

Rather he is a king who serves others. He is the king who dies for others. He is the king who is ridiculed, scorned and mocked. He is the king who is described in the Book of Revelation - not as a lion - the usual image for a king, but as a lamb - a crucified lamb upon a throne, with sword coming from his mouth by which he smites his enemies.

I don't know about you - but in all the years I have watched nature shows I have never yet seen a killer lamb... how about you? I have seen lions take down prey - but a lamb?

Jesus our Lord, our Righteousness, is one who heals, who forgives, who restores: one who refuses to take up the sword to protect himself, or call ten thousand angels to keep him from the cross, one who even as he dies promises us, as he promised the repentant thief on the cross beside him, to remember us when he comes into his kingdom, one whose word is his sword - rather than steel and space age alloys, one who conquers - not by killing others - but by allowing himself to be put to death.

I will tell you this - although Jesus as a King is a lamb rather than a lion, he is a king I want to obey - a king I want to rule over my heart and my life, a king - whose ways - whose kingdom - I want to have rule over my world and my culture.

Jesus is Lord - Jesus is King - precisely because he is not like the kings of this world.

And it is his faithfulness and his obedience and his love which has conquered death and opened the way to eternal life to all who call upon his name - for all - not just for those who are good enough, or strong enough, or smart enough.

Who and what rules our culture? I think we know who rules right now.

But it will not always be so - because I know in here - and from the words of Scripture that the one who rules our hearts and our lives is stronger than the one that rules this world.

Jesus told his disciples - and he told Pilate - "My kingdom is not of this world". And that is true. But this world will be of his Kingdom one day.

For now - let each of us hasten that day by becoming citizens of that kingdom by focussing on its Lord - and living by his direction - his values - his wisdom - here and now.

If you must look into the darkness - and occasionally we must if we are to do the work of God, then look at it with the light of Christ behind you and within you.

When the world strikes you - and then strikes you again, remember whose you are - trust in him - pick yourself up - turn the other cheek - forgive those who need forgiving - and proclaim once again that Jesus is Lord and King and that his way is the way of life.

As you do you will find within you the peace that he has promised to give to all who follow him.

Praise be to God, and Praise be to Christ Jesus our Lord: our King - our brother - and our friend. Amen

Malachi 3:13-4:6; Isaiah 12; Luke 21:5-19

Bless thou, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, oh our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

There is a story told about the monk who once approached Buddha and asked:

Do the souls of the righteous survive death?

Characteristically the Buddha gave him no reply. But the monk persisted. Each day he would repeat the question and each day he would get silence for an answer, till he could take it no longer. He threatened to abandon the path to enlightenment unless this crucial question was answered, for to what purpose, he wanted to know, was he sacrificing everything to live in the monastery if the souls of the righteous perished with their bodies? Then Buddha, in his compassion, spoke.

You are like a man, he said, who was dying from a poisoned arrow. His relatives rushed a doctor to his side, but the man refused to have the arrow pulled out unless three vital questions were first answered.

First, the man who shot him - was he a white man or a black? Second, was he a tall man or a short man? And third, was he a fat or thin?

How many of us are in the same position as that monk? How many of us question God and refuse to go on in our faith walk until those questions are answered to our satisfaction? How many of us have had friends and family leave the church - leave the faith - leave God - because they have not received the answers they wanted to hear when they wanted to hear them?

Many people refuse to belief in God, they refuse to act as God wants them to act, until their questions are answered.

Lest we become too judgmental about these people, I want you to know that many of those who ask these questions are very sincere people. For them it is not so much a matter of avoiding God, or of refusing to consider the path of faith, as it is a matter of being convinced that they will not be wasting their time.

For many the questions that they have revolve around one simple matter, it revolves around the apparent success that evil people have in this world.

The sincere amongst the questioners are very concerned - they are concerned by the fact that while God is supposed to be a God of justice, the wicked do not seem to be hindered in their evil ways at all.

This was certainly the situation for some of the people of Israel during the time of the prophet Malachi, and it continues to be the situation for so many believers and, of course, for so many sceptics , in our land today.

They cry out - or they just plain assert:

It is vain to serve the Lord. What do we profit by keeping his command? Or by going about as mourners before Him? What does it avail us? The arrogant are happy and evildoers not only prosper, but when they put God to the test, they escape.

I admit that these are tough questions and statements. I can't count all the times I have heard them from both those who openly disbelieve, and from those who claim the name of God as their own.

What is in it for us? How do we profit if we do all that God says we should do? Why should we follow the Lord since we see that wicked people do very well, and that evil people all too often do not suffer?

These are tough questions - yes they are - yet I can't stop thinking that these statements and questions miss the mark - that when they are asked amongst believers these questions reveal a lack of understanding concerning God's ways, and that when they are asked by unbelievers, they reveal an unfortunate willingness to snuff out the light of hope in this world and have everyone dwell in darkness.

In the old testament reading of today, we have featured a group of people complaining to God and saying "what is the point of serving God - the wicked prosper, and the evil ones do not get punished."

There is a point to all this my friends - A point to our worship of God. A point to our serving Him and obeying his laws, even when all around us evil seems to prosper and wicked people seem to go off scott free.

Actually there are several points - but the one I want to high light today is one of the most fundamental ones - the one that we so often forget when we look out on the world and complain about how things are going and question what profit there is in following God.

That point is the one made by God through the prophet Malachi after he listened to the questions and doubts of his people:

There is a day coming sayeth the Lord, a day coming "when all the arrogant and all evil doers will be stubble. The day that comes will burn them up, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch - but for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in his wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act."

That is the image that is provided to us in the very last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament - and it is an image that is repeated over and over again in the New Testament - there is a day coming when:

the wicked will perish, they will be ground underfoot, they will be burned up like so much straw and stubble, while the righteous, those who keep faith with God, those who attempt to follow in the path of Christ, will be spared as parents spare their children who serve them. They will be more than conquerors through him who loves them they will be richly blessed and live eternally.

There is a point to all this. A point to faith, a point to keeping the law of God, a point to believing. Even when the wicked seem to prosper, and the good seem to suffer and died without any kind of relief.

Those who righteous live by faith. Those who are evil - perish - at the last day. That is the long and the short of the point to all this.

I would be the last person to say to anyone, believers and sceptics alike - do not ask questions about evil, do not ask questions about the fate of the righteous.

Indeed I am convinced that between now and the time of Christ's return that there is a place for the questions we have for God, and that God has provided an answer for almost all of those questions within his holy word - and within the faith we have inside ourselves.

But that really is the secret of it all - and one must be willing to act in faith and live in faith before the answers to the questions of faith are revealed to us.

We must be willing to allow God to pluck out the arrows that poisons our lives, before we have all the answers as to who shot us, and why poison arrows are allowed in the first place.

Hearing about the judgement to come will avail us nothing as an answer to our questions unless we are willing to allow Christ to enter our hearts, and minister to us his life giving word, and share with us his life-restoring powers.

We all my friends end up this life the same way, we all die - whether young or old, good or bad.

The question we need to ask is not - why do the wicked seem to prosper? but rather - with whom do we want to be numbered?

The story is told of a village preacher who was visiting one day at the home of an elderly parishioner.

Over a cup of coffee, he ended up answering questions that were being put to him by the kindly old grandmother.

"Why does the Lord send us epidemics every so often?", asked the old woman.

"Well", said the preacher, "sometimes people become so wicked that they have to be removed and so the good Lord allows the coming of epidemics."

'But", objected Grandma, "then why do so many good people get removed with the bad?"

"The good ones are summoned for witnesses", explained the preacher, "the Lord wants to give every soul a fair trial."

God gives to all a fair trial, but even more - he gives to all a fair chance before the time of judgement: a fair chance to observe his life-giving laws, and to follow his Christ - the one who was willing to die so that we might live, willing to suffer so that we might not perish.

There is a point to all this - and there is an end.

Those who endure in faith will win their souls. Jesus came to tell us this and to ensure it.

Praise be to his life giving name. Amen

Haggai 2:1-9; Psalm 145; Luke 20:27-38

God of our days and our nights, of our coming and our going, bless we pray thee, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts and by them and the power of your Holy Spirit, make us more fitting servants of your most Holy Will. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

There is An Italian legend about a master and servant.

It seems the servant was not very smart and the master used to get very exasperated with him. Finally, one day, in a fit of temper, the master said: "You really are the stupidest man I know. Here, I want you to carry this staff wherever you go. And if you ever meet a person stupider than yourself, give them this staff."

So time went by, and often in the marketplace the servant would encounter some pretty stupid people, but he never found someone appropriate for the staff. Years later, he returned to his master's home. He was shown into his master's bedroom, for the man was quite sick and in bed. In the course of their conversation the master said: "I'm going on a journey soon."

"When will you return?", asked the servant.

"This is a journey from which I will not return." the master replied.

The servant asked: "Have you made all the necessary arrangements?"

"No, I guess I have not."

"Well, could you have made all the arrangements?"

"Oh yes, I guess I've had time. I've had all my life. But I have been busy with other things."

The servant said: "Let me be sure about this. You're going on a journey, from which you will never return, and you've had all your life to make the arrangements, but you haven't."

The master said: "Yes, I guess that's right."

The servant replied: "Master, take this staff. For at last I have truly found a man stupider than myself."

Just a story - perhaps. Or perhaps it is more. Perhaps it describes the way in which we live, many of us, refusing to look on the one journey that faces us all. There may be good reason for that.

A famous theologian, confronted by an eager young seminary student to say a few words about the resurrection of the dead, refused.

"I can't talk about the resurrection with anyone under the age of 30. Before 30 what do you know of honest-to-God failure, real heartbreak, mortality, solid defeat? So what can you know of a dark world which only makes sense if Jesus Christ is raised?"

Sure, we could argue about the accuracy of choosing age 30, but the larger point remains. Unless we have experienced something of the world's darkness, then the light which shines in the darkness is never going to make any sense.

As a friend of mine said recently: "It was not until I had been a patient in a hospital for a month while the best of medical science played Sherlock Holmes over my body that I understood - down here where life gets real - what that fear and uncertainty and awful waiting is all about."

Maybe some questions shouldn't be asked unless we're starving for an answer.

The Sadducees who approach Jesus don't want an answer - they want to play theological tennis with the question, to throw a question up and bat it around a bit.

I love academic debate. But it's not the route of people starving for an answer. This is not a text about marriage; it's a question about the resurrection and Jesus' answer seems particularly flat. Like he's having an off day.

Other people got better answers to this resurrection question - but then they were asking from a very different place in life.

To Martha, weeping for her brother, Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life".

To Mary, weeping outside the tomb on Easter Sunday, the answer came in the form of her name spoken from the other side of death.

Ask the question with tears in our eyes, ask it in a hospital room or a nursing home, ask it in those long hours of the night after a difficult verdict has been given and we may hear our own name in answer as well.

But if we ask it, as the Sadducees do, in a comfortable, secure, brightly lit religious building where we imagine everything is under control, we get something that sends us away scratching our heads.

The Sadducees come to Jesus with their convictions. There's nothing wrong with convictions. But they can cause blindness - they can prevent us from seeing what others see.

The Sadducees were very conservative theologically. They only accepted the first five books of the Bible - the ones everyone thought Moses wrote. For the Sadducees that was the extent of the Bible. And since nowhere in those five books is resurrection mentioned - they believed that the resurrection couldn't be real. That's conviction number one.

Conviction number two that they came to Jesus with was that, if there is a heaven, an eternity, a resurrection, then it has to be just like this life. What you see is what we get - for eternity.

So they put together this peculiar, but marginally plausible, story about a woman and seven brothers. For you see, tucked away in the corner of Moses' law, in Deuteronomy 25:5-6, is the idea that if a man died childless it was up to his brothers to create children with his widow.

All the evidence suggests that this law, which is known as the law of levirate marriage, wasn't even practised in Jesus' day. But here's a nice little theological conundrum the Sadducees can pose. Maybe they even think it's funny. It's a ludicrous situation - designed to show everyone who was listening to them question that a halfways intelligent God couldn't dream up something like eternal life if it could result in a mess like this.

It didn't strike Jesus as funny. Maybe it leaves a sour taste in your mouth too.

Jesus' response is to turn the issue around. The Sadducees have been evaluating eternal life on the basis of earthly life. He tells them that all those social and legal and relational arrangements which can be so good and necessary and wonderful here, remain here. The structures of "this age" will be superfluous in "that age - in the resurrection of the dead".

So is eternal life so absolutely different that we can't do anything to get ready?

Not quite. Remember the servant and the master. It is a journey which we will all face. It is a journey for which we can prepare - although we are often reluctant to do so.

In preparing for this sermon I thought about all the funerals I attended or even conducted. The subjects of the those funerals ranged from barely one year old to 96 years old. There have been men, women and children. Most died from so-called "natural causes" but I have had my share of accidents, murders, suicides and so on. Some funerals were attended by the tens, some by only four or five.

The point, of course, is that death is no respecter of age or status. You know that and I know that but we often live as if we were blissfully ignorant of it. What can we do?

Here are some really practical suggestions.

Have you got a driver's license? Sign the donor card. You won't need any part of your body where you're going but someone here might. It is the last desperate act of human selfishness not to give that gift.

Have you talked to your doctor and your loved ones about what heroic measures if any, are to be taken in event of serious illness? This is a deeply personal decision, to be made individually, but don't leave it to your wife, your children or your doctor outside the Intensive Care Unit to decide. Think about it. Talk about it.

Pre-arrange your funeral. Too many times I have heard the plaintive "we don't know what so-and-so would have wanted".

Have you a will and is it up to date? Or is your family going to get into a real mess because you haven't wanted to think about things ahead of time?

Several things you can do. Simple things - some of them. Things I'd be willing to help anyone through. Please, for the sake of those you love, don't leave the preparations for others to make.

But that's only one aspect of the preparations we can make - having to do with those thing we leave behind. What about being prepared for that which is to come?

I'm sure that the Sadducees were convinced that they had hard-headed common-sense on their side when they rejected the pie in the sky when we die by and by notion of eternal life. Better to stand tough and face the harsh truth that this is all there is.

But that is a position of faith just as surely as the one Jesus advances.

Opposite to the view that this is all there is - that history is nothing but a row of tombstones - Jesus places another vision. He says we'll be transfigured. That everything - our life, our relationships, even the very world itself - will be changed - as Paul puts it - in a twinkling of an eye.

How will all things be changed? And Into what? Neither Jesus, nor Paul, says.

Jesus does says that the transfigured life will be like that of angels - but to say it is like something implies it is also unlike.

In the end Jesus settles for saying that we will be the children of God. That's based on a few clear ideas.

First, history is going some place. Not just round and round. There is a beginning and an ending.

The words of the Bible are theological and religious, not historical and scientific, but the message is plain: there is a beginning, a present, and a consummation.

And God is more than just a great engineer who set it all going and then walked away.

The clear reason that we were made - was to be friends with God.

There's lots that gets in the way of that but that's our purpose, to be God's friends - now in this world - and forever in the world of the resurrection, in a world,a state, a condition, which includes those most have viewed as long dead - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Sarah, Leah, Rachael, Rebecca, my friend Robert - our sister-in-Christ - Grace - our brother-in-Christ - Sammy.

As Jesus said - God is not God of the dead, but of the living - to him all of them are alive.

Are you willing to the friend of God - to go where God wants you to go? Are you willing to begin the process of being changed - of being transfigured - here and now? Are you willing to let go of the brief and transitory things of this world for the sake of drawing closer to God?

The Sadducees showed in their question to Jesus that they wanted an eternity as close to earthly life as possible - and of course it is ridiculous. As ridiculous and unappealing as sitting around on a cloud strumming a harp for all eternity. Jesus tries to blow the doors off that.

Whatever the resurrection is, it is utterly other than anything we have known. But, at its centre is the One we have always known, however dimly.

When John Owen, the great Puritan pastor and teacher lay dying, he was dictating some last letters to friends. He said to his secretary:

"Write, I am still in the land of the living." Then he stopped and said: "No, change that to read - I am still in the land of those who die, but I hope soon to be in the land of the living."

That is where what is real, what is love, will be lifted into the light and all relationships and all faces will be transfigured for the children of God.

In that transfigurement we will at last become the living.

To be ready for the journey, for that reality - that life - Jesus tells us that all we need to have is faith, and that all we need to do is to try to live by faith.

May the God of the living - the God of Christ Jesus - be praised now and evermore. Amen.

Blessed be God, day by day, Amen.