I loved giving family talks during my time in the pastoral ministry. They too a bit of a work – a lot of work, actually – but people always responded to them warmly. Truth be told, many in your typical congregation, if not most, probably take away more from a well-put-together family talk than they do from a sermon. This Advent talk is taken from my 2003 book Getting It Across: One Hundred Talks for Family Worship.
Prepared for his coming
Readings
Isaiah 40:1-11; Luke 1:57-79
Aim
To emphasise that the message of Advent is as much about the present – the way we live, think and feel now – as about the future.
Preparation
You will need the following as visual aids: potato peeler, sun cream, recipe book, holiday brochure, GCSE revision book, sandpaper, soap and bowl of water, can of oil, Moses basket, safety glasses/goggles, umbrella, shin pads, cricket gloves or pads.
Talk
Display the items you assembled beforehand, and ask if anyone can identify what they have in common. It is most unlikely that anybody will have a clue. Announce that you have some questions that will help provide the missing link.
- Which of the items might you use if you were planning to spend a day on the beach in the middle of summer? (Sun cream)
- Which might you take if it was going to rain? (Umbrella)
- Which might you use if you were going to work with machinery? (Safety glasses/goggles)
- Which might you buy if you or your partner were expecting a baby? (Moses basket)
- What should you check in your car engine before going on a long journey? (Oil)
- Which should you use before sitting down for a meal? (Soap and water)
- Which do you need to use before you start painting a peeling door or windowsill? (Sandpaper)
- Which would you need to study before sitting an exam? (GCSE revision book)
- Which might you look at if you’re planning to go away on holiday? (Holiday brochure)
- Which might you need to look at if you’re planning a special meal? (Recipe book)
- Which might you use if you’re planning to have chips for lunch? (Potato peeler)
- Which would you use to plant some potatoes? (Spade)
- What might you put on before playing a serious game of football? (Shin pads)
- What might you wear if you’re playing a game of cricket? (Cricket gloves/pads)
Once all the questions have been answered, ask if anyone has guessed yet what all the items have in common. If people are still unsure, suggest the motto of the Boy Scouts as a clue – ‘Be prepared’. All of the items remind us how important it is to prepare for something in advance. We wouldn’t go away on holiday without deciding first where to stay. We wouldn’t have much chance of passing an exam if we didn’t revise first. We wouldn’t make a very good job of decorating if we didn’t sand down the area before painting it. We’d risk serious injury playing cricket or football without shin pads or cricket gloves, and similarly if we used machinery without safety glasses. We’d suffer serious sunburn if we lay on a beach without sun cream, and we’d experience a real soaking in a thunderstorm without an umbrella. So often, for a host of reasons, it’s vital to prepare for the future, to plan ahead, and that is precisely the message in both our readings today.
First, words spoken three thousand years ago by the prophet Isaiah: ‘A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God”’ (Isaiah 40:3). Isaiah tells the people of Israel to be ready for the coming of the Messiah, the one God is sending to deliver his people, and, almost a thousand years later, those words were to take on new meaning following the birth of a child called John, later to be known as John the Baptist. ‘And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins’ (Luke 1:76). Words spoken by John’s father, Zechariah, through which he gave thanks to God that his son was to prepare the way of Jesus. Which, of course, is just what he did, preaching and teaching in the wilderness so that people would be ready to welcome the Messiah when he came. Here is one of the great truths at the heart of Advent – the fact that God prepared the way for his coming in Christ. Through the words of the prophets centuries back in history, and through so much else in scripture, he revealed his loving purpose so that the world might be ready to welcome him. Yet, as the Apostle John reminds us, many failed to do so, either misreading the signs or preferring their own way to the way of Christ. The coming of Jesus caught them unprepared.
Advent asks us whether we have responded and whether we are any more ready today. Have we listened to God’s promises? Have we understood what they mean? Have we opened our lives to his love in Christ? Above all, do we live in such a way that we would be happy to welcome him should he return here and now, or at any moment? No doubt we are all busy preparing for Christmas, buying presents, writing cards, decorating the Christmas tree, planning meals and get-togethers. All of these have their place as part of our celebrations, but Advent asks us, how ready are we to celebrate what this time of year is all about: the birth of Jesus Christ and the new life his coming offers to all?