Comfort & Joy: Advent Wk 3, Leonard Sweet, LenTalk #91, PreachtheStory, Semiotics, Premiered 12DEC21

About this sermon

Lectionary Passages for the Third Sunday of Advent 12 December 2021 Zephaniah 3:14-20 Isaiah 12:2-6 Philippians 4:4-7 Luke 3:7-18 “We are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime.” Laura Ingalls Wilder Jesus as Holy Child is Everychild. God became flesh, all human flesh, all childhood flesh . . . Arab flesh, Chinese flesh, Brunean flesh, Sami flesh, Zulu flesh, Inuit flesh. When you are raising and teaching Everychild, there are two "first words." "Do no harm." "Look up, then Bend down." First words in healing? Legendary first words of "Hippocratic Oath?" “Do no harm.” Jesus' first words about children (Luke 17:2). "Do no harm. If you harm one of these little ones, better for you . . ." that you sleep with the fish. First words in holiness and wholeness? "Look up.” Every child wants to look up. Every adult needs to look up and keep looking up: to raise their heads in wonder and awe and curiosity at the world itself, to raise their heads and then bend down and bow down to admit they don’t know it all, and bend down to receive the gifts that God has for us all around us. First words in house-cleaning, “Look up.” Look up to the rafters, to the cobwebs in the corners, to the hidden places and hiding places. Then "Bend down" and "Bow down" to clean and be cleansed. Put together "No Harm" and "Look Up, Bend Down" they become the “first words” of a fulfilling and fulfilled life. A life of holiness and wholeness. #FirstWords During Advent and Christmastide we “look up” in wonder and then "bend down" to worship. The birth of Jesus the Messiah was a celestial event, signified by heavenly signs of a wandering star and hosts of heaven. But when we enter the presence of the Holy Child, we bend down in worship and wonder and adoration. If you don’t “Look up” you could miss it. Every day you have the choice: Look down or Look up. "Our source of true comfort is in God, versus the bogus comfort and substitute comfort we patch together ourselves. True comfort comes from God alone. This hits home in a world which idolizes comfort, making everyone 'comfortable.' But Jesus did not die on the Cross to make us comfortable or help us 'feather our nests.' The Gospel makes us uncomfortable before we find our true comfort in God. Our home-brewed, cobbled-together, gimcrack comfort is as nothing and less that nothing compared with the 'surpassing worth' of finding the 'pearl of great price,' the 'hidden treasure,' the 'one thing necessary,' The One who came to preach 'deliverance to the captives.'" Dr. John David Sweet, "Christmas 2021." For the story of the Bayeux Tapestry, which was really an embroidery sewn by nuns, see David Musgrove and Michael Lewis, The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry: Unraveling the Norman Conquest (2021). Bishop Odo (d.1097), a central figure in the tapestry, was the Bishop of Bayeux, half-brother of William the Conqueror, and for a time Earl of Kent. We would love for you to hit the "subscribe" button for these vlogs. Don't forget to hit the Notification Bell so that you never miss our most recent video. Support Len’s Ministry through his 510-c-3 “SpiritVenture Ministries” (SVM) https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=WLM4V9GAJDRVL Become a SpiritVenture Ministries (SVM) Supporter at $9/month or a Tribe of Issachar Member at $49/month http://preachthestory.com/donate/ Follow Leonard Sweet on Social Media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leonard.sweet​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/lensweet​ (Sweet’s daily micro-blogs) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lensweet​ (Sweet’s daily blogs) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/preachthestory​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/preachthestorycommunity (Specifically for preachers and others who love those who preach) Access sermons, conferences, and more Leonard Sweet activities: https://preachthestory.com/​ (hundreds of written sermons) https://www.facebook.com/thesalishseapress (Sweet’s newest publications) https://salishsea.press/​ https://the-salish.com​ (Orcas Island getaway cottages for board, staff and church advances (aka “retreats”) #LeonardSweet #Hanukkah #Comfort #BayeuxTapestry

Topics

• Joy
• Christmas
• Encouragement