Happy New Year!! We had our New Year’s Eve gathering at the Williamston Theater last night. We usually don’t stay up until midnight to welcome the new church year in. Part of what the church year has done is to try and offset the regular calendar. This is how we got December 25 for Christmas, as it used to be a pagan holiday.

So, what do we do differently in Advent? In some sense it is a penitential time, similar to Lent. We always talk about slowing down, but how often do we really slow down. It often gets busier. Even though we hear the words in our Gospel lesson this morning to stay awake, be alert, do we? The busier we are the less that we see and are able to experience.

Jesus paints quite a picture in our Gospel lesson today of what his second coming may look like. Quite stark language, During the days after this trouble comes, the sun will grow dark, and the moon will not give its light.
The stars will fall from the sky. And the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Jesus had just told his disciples prior to our Gospel lesson, that the temple would be destroyed, not one stone would be left. Up until this time the presence of God was thought to have been in the temple, thus this was a radical departure from what they grew up with. Can you imagine the anxiety that this must have created? Then Jesus paints this picture of the Son of Man returning. I am not sure the disciples fully understood what Jesus was talking about.

How and when all of this would take place, Jesus says no one knows except God. In the meantime, stay awake, keep alert. We could read this as don’t go to sleep, but we know that is not the way God made us.

There are some people who will focus on, “you will see these things taking place” and then you will know the time and the hour. Many people have waited at a certain place at a certain time, but Jesus did not return at that time. Thus, I don’t believe waiting and keeping alert means that we stand still.

In Mark, Jesus is changing the focus of where we will find God’s presence. God’s presence is not only found in the temple, but out in the wilderness, outside the doors of the temple. In the next few weeks, we will encounter John the Baptist who was out in the in wilderness. People left their cities and towns as they were seeking something more than what they were finding from the church leaders in the temple.

Since Jesus has not come back yet, we can easily become complacent. We only talk about Jesus’ second coming at the beginning and the end of the church year. When we talk about it, I would like to suggest that it can encourage us not to be fearful or complacent, but to continue seeking God’s presence in our lives. For me, this is what it means to be awake and alert.

Our Old Testament lesson from the prophet Isaiah, may help us be in a posture to do this. Some of the people have returned from their exile. They returned to a demolished temple and plundered land. At least now they were home, and not under the Babylonian authority.

The prophet Isaiah is not happy with God and kind of feels that God has abandoned them. Isaiah says tear open the heavens and come down to us and help us get back on our feet. Although, he recognized that God had done awesome deeds that they didn’t expect. He recognized that God intervened for those who waited for God.

At the same time, Isaiah was blaming God for their sin as God hid God’s face from them. This may seem quite bold to blame God, but if we are honest, there are times we blame God for things also. Isaiah was asking God, since you are angry with us, where does that leave us?

Yet, says Isaiah, since you are our parent, we are your clay, and you are the potter. This can be good news, but what does it mean for us to be clay. Clay is a lump of wet gooey stuff. Is this what we want to be? Is this what we are called to be?

For us to be clay means that we are vulnerable and flexible. It means that we will continually be reshaped until the day we are made perfect and go home to God in Jesus Christ.

The Potter’s Hand

Verse 1

Beautiful Lord wonderful Saviour I know for sure all of my days are

Held in Your hand crafted into our perfect plan

Verse 2

You gently call me into Your presence, guiding me by Your Holy Spirit

Teach me dear Lord to live all of my life Through Your eyes

Pre-Chorus

I’m captured by Your holy calling, set me apart I know You’re drawing

Me to Yourself Lead me Lord I pray

Chorus

Take me mold me, Use me fill me, I give my life to the Potter’s hand.

Call me guide me, lead me, walk beside me, I give my life to the Potter’s hand

CCLI Song # 2449771

Darlene Zschech

© 1997 Wondrous Worship

For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com

CCLI License # 720217

When we allow ourselves to be molded by God’s hands, the potter, we will be awake and alert. It also means that we may need to slow down in order to see people and situations through Jesus’ eyes. In order to be molded, we are called to be vulnerable and flexible.

During this Advent season, there may be things that we need to let go of, that are holding us back from more fully experiencing God’s presence. Where are we looking for God. We often find God in the unexpected places. This will mean changing our hearts and minds being clay and allowing God the potter to be remolding us.

May we pray the prayer together printed in your bulletin:

Change My Heart, O God

Change my heart, O God; make it ever true.

Change my heart, O God; may I be like you.

You are the potter; I am the clay.

Mold me and make me; this is what I pray.

Change my heart, O God; make it ever true.

Change my heart, O God; may I be like you. Amen