Tactile Lifestyle

What keeps us properly focused during Advent 2020? I say that it should be the understanding of what God wants us to be living up to and living into as we work and wait until Christ’s return. Our work is both spiritual as well as action-oriented. Our wait is about serving while we are preparing for Jesus’ second arrival.

This time of preparation is about love, humility, lifestyle, and obedience. These themes are those that we are concentrating on and are part of the Down to Earth Advent Study that I am leading based on the book by Rev. Mike Slaughter and Rev. Rachel Billups, pastor emeritus and senior pastor of the Ginghamsburg Church in Ohio. I am also taking those core themes as the subjects of my Advent sermon series. We are looking to experience God in down-to-earth ways this Advent and Christmas.

For the Third Sunday of Advent, we are focusing on a down-to-earth lifestyle. This is a way of living our life and achieving a condition of our spirit that shows our faith in presence and practice. Some of us believe that God wants us to be thinking about what we should or should not do so God will be pleased with how we lived when Christ returns. Others of us are more concerned about the ways that we feed our souls to keep them from falling into a wayward state of being

However, the attitude and state of our down-to-earth lifestyle should be focused on the foundation of Advent and Christmas. Why did Jesus come in the first place? How was Jesus’ down-to-earth lifestyle experienced by those who knew him and those whom he met? What was Jesus’ doing while he lived and what was the result of his life here on earth

If you read Matthew 1:18-25 in the Bible, it will guide you closer to the answers to those questions about Advent, Christmas, and Jesus. It is a passage that describes a story about the way that two young people, who were dealing with some incredibly stressful circumstances, revealed their blessed character and lifestyle, which took its shape directly from their relationship to the One who called them to care for and to serve their baby, who was unique in his commonness

After reading it, pray to find out how your blessed character and down-to-earth lifestyle will be revealed by the same One who those two young people followed in the story. Amen!