University Presbyterian Church
Sacramento, CA
Sunday Service @ 11:00 AM
upcsac@gmail.com
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Santa - A no-show?

12/10/2014

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My grandson Ethan went to visit Santa at the Pavilions shopping area with his mom and dad over the weekend. A long line of parents and children were patiently waiting his scheduled arrival at 1:00 pm. Unfortunately Santa was a no-show. Can you imagine trying to explain to a bunch of nicely dressed, ready for pictures children, let alone frustrated and bewildered parents that Santa wouldn’t be coming today? I’d hate to have been that messenger. I’m sure the stand-in Santa (of course he’s not the real Santa from the North Pole) may have had a good excuse. Maybe his car wouldn’t start or his alarm didn’t go off, or he got snatched by aliens. Whatever the reason, I assume the parents had to do some fast thinking and even faster talking.

Now you might assume my reason for telling you this story is so I can say that in the real Christmas story, Jesus never fails to show up for us. And of course that is the truth we proclaim at Christmas. But I also want to say that, occasionally, there are times when we feel very similar to the way these parents and children felt at the shopping center. Sometimes, it feels like God has overslept or lost his way, or got distracted from our waiting need for his presence. There will be times in life when our faith in God’s faithfulness will not have strong or immediate circumstantial support. In extreme moments, we may even feel abandoned.

This is exactly why we need Advent. If we always felt the presence of God in our lives, or always felt strong in trusting his love, or never wavered in our belief in his goodness and blessing, then seasons like Advent would be unnecessary. But that isn’t the real world we live in, is it? Even Jesus in his suffering prayed, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” On the cross, in the worst moment of Jesus’ earthly life, God felt far away from him, and he felt forgotten. 

Advent is the way we gather together as a faith community to remember and proclaim in our worship the faithfulness of God, especially for those who are struggling to remember it for themselves. It may not be your struggle this year, but it is for someone. During those times, we must see him and trust him for each other. We stand with one another through these times of difficulty because we need the strength and support of each other’s confidence and hope. And then someday, we will have the opportunity to do that for someone else. This is how the community of faith works. We are fortunate and grateful to have that kind of community developing among us at University Presbyterian Church.

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Advent Awakening

12/3/2014

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As I sit writing my email this morning, I am listening to the heavy rain coming down just outside my window. For most of the world’s history, and also in the Bible, rain was viewed as evidence of God’s blessing. And, in Sacramento, in the 21st century, it has taken on this same flavor. Even in our civilized, technological society, where we can design and produce so many amazing things, we are still dependent upon the weather for our water. We can store water, dig for it, and even divert it when necessary, but we cannot create it. 

Food is this way also. As a society we used to live closer to the miracle. Put some seeds into the ground, add water, sunshine, maybe a few nutrients, and then we’d wait for food to come into being. But for most of us today, the food we eat is pulled off the shelf at the neighborhood market, having been recently packaged and presented for our purchase.  Because we trade our hard-earned money for food, rather than our backs and our sweat, it is easy to forget that humans didn’t create it. We forget that if all the water disappeared suddenly, as it has in so many parts of our world, our money could not feed us. 

Advent calls us back to this reality. Life, like water and food, is not within our power to produce. It is mostly waiting, watching, anticipating and paying attention to the miracle of God’s provision. It is not easy in our technologically advanced society to admit such dependence.  We can get fooled by how hard we must all work to make a living in our culture today. Civilization has brought much comfort and security, and many jobs, but it has also provided a certain level of deception. We can lose sight of the fact that the real miracle of life is not ours to control.

There is a danger to live so far from the miracle.  Mostly there is the danger of missing out on what is exciting about being alive. We can miss out on the surprise of it, the amazement in it, and the privilege of waking up to the sound of the rain or the beauty of sunshine. Advent calls us back to the miracle that is really all around us, both in creation and in each other. It is hidden sometimes by the important work we are given to do and by the amazing civilization we have developed. But those incredible accomplishments were not meant as a substitute for the miracle of this mystery we call life. Advent is the season of the church year when we are reminded that we are a part of something overwhelming and spectacular. Advent sits us down, invites us into a moment of silence, to listen again to the rain.

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