Sunday December 3, 2023

1st Sunday of Advent

Mary Ann is very familiar with the kind of language I will use here. I often say to her in reference to preaching: honey the homily has arrived, or I need to walk away or run because the homily has not arrived. I really mean it, it arrives and I am ready to preach it. Well it arrived at 05:30AM but we have no Mass today. Someone did not get the memo that Mass was cancelled due to our retreat yesterday. So briefly with regards to the message:

Isaiah says

And yet, Lord, you are our Father;

we the clay, you the potter,

we are all the work of your hand.

Are you broken? Pause! Stop and slow down with that question. Are you a broken man?/woman? What has broken you? Certainly COVID-19 did break some people, bills break us, tragedy breaks us, relationships break us. If nobody is with say it! Lord I am broken, let the rivers of tears flow, go there. Gosh I have a lump in my throat as I write this.

Do you know why Jesus told his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the messiah until after his death and resurrection? They would not be ready or qualified to tell the story until they were broken by great disappointment, grief, his death. This is serious business!!! So are you broken this Christmas season, this year? If yes, if you know despair and fear then GOOD. You are in the potter’s hand. Watch and see how God unlocks beauty out of that brokenness. You my dear are becoming, you are being formed.

I wish I was preaching this today but I have limited space here. Trust the potter, and discover Him.