Domes - Our Monthly Newsletter
Dunbar UCC
December 2, 2007
Isaiah 2:1-5
Matthew 24:36-44
A Thief in the Night
- In the Hebrew Scriptures, the book of Ecclesiastes says: “All things are full of weariness -- the eye isn’t satisfied with seeing -- nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be -- and what has been done is what will be done -- and there is nothing new under the sun.”
- That’s not true, is it? I can go to Hamden Plaza right now and get all kinds of new things. That’s why shopping is so much fun. When we’re feeling like that old man in Ecclesiastes, we can go to the Plaza and buy something new. That’s one way to fight the blues, isn’t it? We can follow our president’s advice and fight the terrorists with our credit cards. With our debt -- we will kill them!
- I love new stuff. Why should I manage my depression with pills when I can get a wall-to-wall plasma, high definition, blu-ray TV with speakers surrounding me from the ceiling, from the floor, and from every direction!? Why should I take sleeping pills, when I don’t have to sleep at all with the thousands of varieties of NEW and delicious coffees from around the world!? EVERYTHING CAN BE NEW! And if one TV makes me feel better -- how about one in every room!!!???
- And why are we driving that 200 horsepower clunker when we could be speeding down the Merritt on 500 horses? This year lets trash the old and get the new -- to fight the terrorists, the depression, the sleepless nights -- even AGING! Get rid of those lines -- look young! Look new!!! Let a surgeon stretch and botox our face. Make our body NEW!!!
- Isn’t that what Advent is about? God coming into our world and making it new and improved? Well, why wait for God? We can do it ourselves!
- Well -- wait a minute. We get in trouble when we spend so much effort and money trying to feel good, or powerful, or young. We waste so much of our lives trying to come up with that “fix” that will make our problems go away. Getting ourselves in debt won’t defeat our enemies. If our president says it will -- he’s lying. And however many times we see the plastic surgeon -- we’re still going to die. You want to spend all that money and trouble just to look good in your casket?
- What if we put all of that effort preparing ourselves to meet Christ right now? What if we spent more time in quiet,considering the wisdom of the scriptures? What’s better-- a face that defies age? Or a heart filled with the spirit of Christ that gets younger every day? So what will we do this Christmas? Buy a lot of stuff that’s old before it’s out of the box? Or maybe this year we’ll seek the treasure that doesn’t age. Jesus said God will come to us when we don’t know it -- like a thief. Like a thief that takes -- but also gives. God is the thief that steals our sorrow, and our violence, and our greed -- and leaves us with the heart of Jesus Christ. This Christmas, we don’t want to miss this thief.