Now What?

Living in the wake of the Advent. We all know the Christmas story. Angels, Wisemen, shepherds, dedication in the temple. What we sometimes don't think about as much is what happened after that. An unplanned trip to Egypt as Herod seeks to destroy Jesus. Upheaval. Finding work in a new place. Making new friends. Feeling cut off from home. And even years later, when the time comes to return, Bethlehem is still not a safe place to return to. Quite a story! Living in the wake of the Advent. What does life look like in the days, weeks, months and years that follow?

There were dreams that resulted in life plans changing. There were new and difficult situations to deal with and circumstances to overcome. There were things that unfolded in ways that Joseph would never have anticipated at the outset. But perhaps, what characterizes his life in the days and years immediately following that first Advent, even though it was not always clear at all what was coming next, is faithfulness. Faithfulness.

Could it be that what it means to live well in the wake of the Advent is measured less by production, or external measures of accomplishment, and much more by faithfulness? This is what Pastor Pablo invites us to reflect upon. If you would like to listen to the sermon again, or perhaps for the first time, you can access our sermon library by clicking here. Or you can watch the live stream version by clicking here.

Matthew 2

(NIV)

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

“A voice is heard in Ramah,

weeping and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children

and refusing to be comforted,

because they are no more.”[d]

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

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