Sunday, December 11, 2011

Watch for the signs



From the website Monastic Wisdom for Everyday Living is this powerful Advent message:

One of the things that used to be fun about driving to Heathrow Airport was, as you approached the airport, the road took you through a tunnel under the main runway, and as you entered the tunnel there was this large airport notice on the side of the road – “WATCH FOR THE SIGNS.” We used to laugh because this road sign sounded so much like an apocalyptic warning, such as we hear during the season of Advent.

In this second of our Advent preaching series, the word I have been given to reflect on, is the word watch. It is amazing how often this word comes up in Scripture, and it is clearly one of the main characteristics of a faithful Christian disciple, that we WATCH. So why watch? What does it mean, to watch, and why should we watch?

To watch is not the same as to look, or to see – it is rather, looking attentively for something – keeping alert and awake so as not to miss it – like watching for the signs for Terminal 2 at the airport. Watching is hard – it takes effort. If you remember driving to Logan Airport during the Big Dig, when every week the layout seemed to change, keeping your eye on the road and watching for the signs to your terminal was extremely difficult, and you really had to be alert – or you would miss it. So watching demands attention, focus, being awake, keeping alert.

To keep reading go HERE.

0 comments:

Post a Comment