Wake Up

Advent is a season characterized by waiting, but not all waiting is the same. We are not talking about regular, boring waiting in every day life like waiting for a doctor’s appointment or waiting in line at the grocery store. Advent is marked by an expectant kind of waiting like a family waiting for the knock at the door when a loved one returns home for the holidays. It is the waiting of longing, the waiting of hope, the waiting that says, “The Lord is coming. Any moment now.”

Our readings today all teach us something simple, but needful: Wake up! Your King is at the door! That is to say, Advent is marked by three waitings. One was fulfilled with the birth of our Lord Jesus over two thousand years ago when Jesus came in the flesh. The second is fulfilled today when Jesus comes to us for forgiveness and salvation through the Word and the Sacraments. The third will be fulfilled when Jesus comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead, that is, when He arrives again at the end of time.

Find out more in this sermon for the First Sunday in Advent from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!