Sharing from the congregation – David Petty
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God — Mark 1:1
When you started the first grade, or maybe kindergarten, one of the adults in your family went out and bought a bunch of school supplies: pencils., paper, crayons, maybe a safe pair of scissors, a notebook, or one of those little plastic pencil sharpeners that don’t work very well. They may have gotten a list of supplies from the school, or maybe they made their own list. Either way, it was good to have those things with you. Sometime during the school year you undoubtedly needed to get some other items, but at least this was a good start.
When you started high school, you may have done some comparable shopping for yourself. There were probably some different items on the list this time — maybe, for example, a calculator. (If you’re my age, you might even remember something called a slide rule.) You might have made a similar shopping trip when you started college, or, depending on your occupation, perhaps when you started a new job.
With as many things as we have to think about at this time of year, we probably need to keep reminding ourselves that Advent means “a beginning.” Each week of Advent we focus on a different theme — hope, peace, joy, love, and Christ. A great deal has been said and can be said about each of these topics. However, I‘d like to suggest one additional way of thinking about them.
As we the church start a new “term,” it’s wise to have the right “supplies” with us. I think these five items — hope, peace, and so forth — constitute a good set of supplies. If we have them in our backpacks during the term we’ll be better prepared to do our assignments. From time to time we may need to pick up some more items, but at least we’ve made a good start.
Gracefully submitted,
David Petty