Advent Encouragement

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” Psalm 122:1

     Happy Advent Season! Advent is Latin for “coming”, and it is the season we prepare ourselves for the coming of our King on Christmas morning! Now I know this is the busiest of busy times of the year. Most likely you just got done traveling for or hosting Thanksgiving with family. Now it’s a mad dash to find all the presents on sale. Get them wrapped. Get the tree up. Get the house decorated. Then it’s only a few weeks until all the Christmas parties and family get togethers start taking over every weekend. You are busy, I get it.
      However, we are busy here at church as well. We have our cookie sale this Saturday, Wednesday nights are now busy with dinners and an extra worship service each week, we are hosting a Christmas party on the 16th, we have the preschool Christmas program on the 18th, the Sunday school Christmas program on the 21st, and then comes the big day we all have been preparing for with three worship services on Christmas Eve and one more on Christmas Day. Normally we do not have a Christmas morning service here at Peace in Christ, but because Christmas falls on a Sunday this year we are still having the late service. There are so many opportunities to come worship, eat, serve, and gather at church in the next 25 days!!!  Hopefully every church is this busy and active during this season!  My question for you is will you have the same attitude as King David in Psalm 122?
     David starts this whole psalm by admitting he was glad when the people said they wanted to go to the house of the Lord. So, when it comes to four or five extra worship services, four dinners, a cookie sale, and two Christmas programs, all on top of your regular Saturday/Sunday morning services during this season of Advent, are you going to get tired of all this extra “church stuff”, or are you going to be glad to come to the house of the Lord again and again? I hope you are glad! I hope you see each one of these “extras” as a chance to truly prepare yourself for the celebration of your King, the one and only begotten Son of God, being born in the flesh. God literally became just like you, in order to save you! If the good news that Christ is born, the Word of God has become incarnate in the flesh, doesn’t make you glad, I don’t know what will. If coming to the house of the Lord to hear you have salvation and eternal life in your Savior and King Jesus Christ doesn’t make you glad, again I don’t know what will. If you are too busy with the hustle and bustle of all the holiday requirements to come spend time in the house of your Lord who was born for you, I think you are missing the whole point of this entire season!
     I know you are busy, and I know you have a hundred and one things to get done by yesterday. However, there is also a reason we have extra opportunities to come to the house of the Lord during this busy season. We all need those extra opportunities to come just be in the presence of our God, to forget about all those things “we have to do” for a few moments, and to set aside all that stress and focus on preparing ourselves for the real reason for the season. Instead of grumbling that we have to go church one more time, I pray this Advent season you can be like David and genuinely be glad that you get to go to the house of your Lord one more time. I pray we can all gather together with happy hearts and rejoice in the fact that our King is born! Our King has won our salvation and eternal life through His death and resurrection. And our King is coming back to end all sin, suffering, and death! So, from a pastor, I lovingly encourage us all together, “Let us go to the house of the Lord to hear His good news as often as possible during this busy season!” – and hopefully you are glad to hear this!