I love my grandsons.  They are at a stage of life where they are funny even when they are sad.  I have some great pictures of pouts, poochie lips, frowns and weeping.  They get over it all pretty quick...or we give them back to their parents.  Those fits are not all that common; those boys are pretty happy for the most part.  They are not serious about things...even serious things.  If I have the privilege of seeing them while I am carrying the weight of the church on my shoulders, they are not worried.  The older two, Titus and Ike, often hum, bob their head from side to side and smile about the silliest things.  This makes me ask myself, "When did I get so serious?"  "When did I stop skipping, humming and tilting my head from side to side while waltzing to Veggie Tales?"  There are over 450 references to joy, gladness and rejoicing in the Bible and I'm pretty sure none of them are directed at kids!  They get it.  It would be unnatural for a 2 year old to fret and be filled with anxiety.  Oh, they do other things that are sinful but generally they are not filled with worry.  There are serious matters.  There is a lot of sadness and wrong in this broken world.  Someone once told Howard Hendricks that they were very blue "under the circumstances."  He said, "What are you doing under there anyway, a Christian can live above the circumstances."  We're going to learn more about that on Sunday as we "Meet the Shepherds."  Hopefully their joy at the good news of great joy will infect the serious among us with some hilarious, contagious joy.

The word advent simply means "arrival."  We refer to the First and Second Advents of Christ.  The First Advent (or arrival) is also known as the "incarnation."  The Second Person of the Triune God took on flesh and lived among what He made...us.  We celebrate this initiative of God to a broken world and broken people.  From the cradle to the cross we see the image of God the Father unfolding.  We learn about what God is like from Christ the Anointed One.  In fact, Jesus said that to see Him was to see the Father!  These 4-5 weeks before Christmas are a great time to remember and celebrate the first arrival of Jesus Christ.  We also believe in a Second Advent, we believe Jesus Christ is coming again.  When He comes the second time He will not come as a baby and grow up to be the Suffering Sacrifice for our sins.  His second arrival will be as King and Sovereign Lord.  He will come as Judge not as Savior.  In our Advent celebration we are looking back at what He has done but we do this with a glance forward to what He will do.  As certainly as He came the first time He will come again.  Are you ready?