My mother had an expression, “Be alert, the world needsmore lerts!” It took me a while to catch on. There
really aren’t any such things as “lerts”. It was just a way for my mother to get me to pay attention. And it worked.

Advent is the church season for us to pay attention. Watch is a word we will hear a lot. This Sunday, the First of the Four
Advent Sundays we read from Matthew where Jesus tells us to Keep Watch, because we do not know on what day your LORD is coming. (Matthew 24:42) Keep watch. Stay awake. Be ready.
 

Advent is the season of paying attention. Getting Ready. And it is also the season of waiting. We wait.

What are we waiting for? It’s a long story. 1000 years before Christ, God spoke through his Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, to name a few. Isaiah is the prophet we read most during Advent. God was telling Isaiah to tell the people the time was coming. Isaiah 40:3, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
 

Prepare the way of the Lord. All these years later we have turned that preparation into decorations. We make a way alright, through candy canes and Christmas trees and inflatable Snoopys.
 

The Good News is that God comes to us. God comes to those who wait. God comes to those who are watching. God comes to us when we are busy with untangling lights and trying to find the perfect tree. God comes!

That was the point of the prophets’ words. God is coming. God has come. God will come again. We recite that at every service of Holy Communion. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.
 

Each year in Advent we try to celebrate the first coming of the baby Jesus, as well as remind ourselves that he will come again. And we had better be ready.

Or in the words of my mom, be a lert! Blessed Advent – Pastor Kim