November 23, 2011

“Be alert and think straight. Put all your hope in how kind God will be to you when Jesus Christ appears.” (I Peter 1:13, Common English Version) This is the scripture for today in the One Year Bible, and it is my theme for Sunday’s message. This week is the first Sunday of Advent, with the traditional theme of hope. Last Sunday my message was on Thanksgiving with Hope, and Sunday my title is Waiting with Hope. To be alert, to think straight and to put all my hope in how kind God will be to me when Jesus Christ appears could be the heart of Sunday’s message.

My approach during these almost 30 years of pastoring has been to daily read and meditate upon the scriptures, specifically to hear God speak to me, to feed my soul, and to frame my day in God’s will. I am careful not to read scripture only looking for sermon ideas. But on days like today, when my theme has long been established, and the daily reading speaks directly to that theme, there is a great merging of pastoral preparation and personal practice of holy living. So what does it mean for Bruce Baxter to be alert and think straight?

Audrey and I have awakened early on this day before Thanksgiving. The house was stuffy with the thermostat set to 71. We should keep it overnight to 68 or lower. It is programmable, but that always seems so complicated. I might revisit my attempt to maximize its capability by programming it. Just like the thermostat, each of us humans has greater capacity than we normally use. Often it is great calamity or conflict that draws the most out of us. My opportunity, and the same for each living person is to every day live to the fullest, in ways that please God. Today is the first day of the rest of my life, and I will take a “long view of this short life.”

In Mark 13:32-37 Jesus says “take heed, be on the alert, … it is like a man away on a journey…put his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task.” It is so easy to lose the alertness necessary to please God. Jesus said “be wise as serpants and harmless as doves.” Watching, paying attention, noticing what is happening all around is the instruction of Jesus to his disciples, and in Peter’s letter to believers who did not know Jesus in the flesh. My message to Christ followers and to seekers is to pay attention, think straight and wait with hope for the return of Jesus Christ, and to the present working of God in the world.

Henry Blackaby wrote Experiencing God and his main theme was for the reader to look around and observe what God is doing in the world, and to jump in and participate.

“Behave like obedient children. Don’t let your lives be controlled by your desires, as they used to be. Always live as God’s holy people should, because God is the one who chose you, and he is holy.” (I Peter 1:14-15) In verse 24 Peter reminds the reader that the scripture says “Humans wither like grass and their glory fades like wild flowers… but what the Lord as said will stand forever.” I will be officiating at a funeral on Saturday of a man who died Monday morning of a heart attack, after leading an 8 o’clock meeting at his office. I am very conscious that on any given day, Christ might return, or this human heart might stop beating. Guide me today Lord as I seek to be alert and think straight, putting all my hope in how kind you will be to me when Jesus Christ appears.