Joy Lutheran Church Ocala, Florida

They say that Advent is all about waiting. Waiting for the coming of the Promised One. Promised eons ago, to the people who wandered in the desert looking for a homeland.  

We are more fortunate than the people of old. We know the Promised One is Jesus the Christ, born in a Bethlehem manger, worshipped by shepherds, gifted by wise men and kings from far lands and sent to set us free from the bonds of sin and death. 

Wow! What a gift! What a special treasure! What a reason to annually re-enact the waiting for His birth; to take the time to contemplate what this gift means to us in our lives.  

Add to this list of generous reasons the fact the little baby Jesus loves us all unconditionally and has from the beginning of time and we not only have a profound reason to wait, but a marvelous reason to celebrate once the wait is over.  

Always, always remember that God loves you unconditionally. Happy Advent! 

Terri 

The week before Christmas was a joyous madness in my youth: Sunday School Christmas program, choir rehearsals, decorating the tree, preparation for Christmas dinner. As an adult it was just as mad, but not as joyous. For me for years there was not only preparations for Christmas Eve services, but rushing to grade tests and papers for the classes I taught at the university, and the dread of walking into Zayres with the insanity of shoppers running havoc through the store.

What was it like for Mary and Joseph making their way to Bethlehem without a place to stay?  A favorite painting of mine is the Census at Bethlehem (1655) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

It’s set in a 16th century Flemish village in winter near sundown. All sorts of activity is going on including a pig being slaughtered as people pay taxes to a representative of the Habsburg emperor. In the midst of the chaos are Mary and Joseph. Can you find them? They are just right of center near the bottom of the picture. Nobody is paying attention to them. 

This painting captures the way Jesus came into the world–unexpected, barely noticed, with the hubbub of ordinary life buzzing everywhere. I sometimes feel that’s Christmas today–a (sometimes joyful) madness with little attention to Jesus. Pray that it might be different.

Savior of the nations, come:
virgin’s son make here your home.
Marvel now, O heaven and earth.
God has chosen such a birth.

Ambrose of Milan and Martin Luther

Read Revelation 22:20 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne

This 2025 Christmas season my wife, Paulette, and I both feel very blessed; we’re in fairly good health, busy, and involved in interesting activities.  As usual for Christmas time there are too many events squeezed into too short a period; nevertheless, we’re enjoying every single one of them. We were very blessed last Christmas as well, but the circumstances were very different.

            I had knee replacement surgery on December 23, 2024 (when there’s a surgical opening, you take it).  The next morning, a nurse came into my room and said, “Is your wife in room 5112?”  What a surprise! I learned that the evening before Paulette had experienced intense abdominal and chest pain. She had called 911 and had been taken to the hospital in an ambulance with what turned out to be an intestinal blockage; she would be in the hospital for the next five days.  As a result, we both spent last Christmas day in the hospital.  Today, we’re both doing well, and we’re very grateful to all the doctors, nurses, aides, and the loving God who cared for us.

            Our real Blessings last Christmas, however, came through the actions of other people.  On Christmas morning, and then again in the afternoon, nurses wheeled each of us to the other’s room so that we could spend Christmas together. It wasn’t the way we planned, but it was wonderful to spend Christmas together.  On Christmas Eve my surgeon came to my room. He expressed concern about our situation, and after warning me about the risk of a fall, he said that he was going to let me go home (instead of a rehab facility) even though I was going to be home alone.  His office had arranged for a nurse to visit daily, until Paulette returned home. Because of our situation, he had already ordered another day in the hospital for me. Our neighbors, Larry and Debbie, came to take me home, but Larry measured and found that I wouldn’t fit in his car with my leg in an immobilizer from ankle to thigh. They went ahead and prepared the house and walker for me, and left some food. Fortunately, the nurses were able to find a medical transport company available to take me home on Christmas night. I couldn’t leave the house, but our friends Carol and Randy visited Paulette in the hospital, took her home five days later, and also left some food.  What a fountain of Blessings!

            I think this story is typical of the way God shows His unconditional love for US by giving us His Blessings. They are often delivered by others! In return we need to be open to his urging and be responsible for seeing that others receive His Blessings through us.

Jim

We don’t send Christmas cards any more. Cost and time are the biggest factors. That, and in a world of instant, on-line social media communication, it just seems too dated and slow. I am an old soul in many things, but not when it comes to Hallmark and “snail mail”.

I do hope and pray that we will never give up on the printed, written word. Like God’s Holy Word. Yeah, sure, you can get a Bible app for your phone. A pretty cool, world-changing thing. You can even read the words of the prophets in the palm of your hand. It’s a true blessing of the Advent season to get these long-distance, ancient words from Hebrew scripture that connect verbatim with the Greek New Testament.

Promise fulfillment. Hope and anticipation. Advent and the waiting for the Christmas event excites me perhaps even more than December 24th-25th. Reality crashes in with the pressure of leading and putting on the “perfect” Christmas Eve service, hoping that the gifts you got your relatives will be the right size or something they will actually use. The stress of strained relations that you try to put the best face on.

Do yourself a favor and read Isaiah 40, Micah 5:2-4, John 1, Luke 1:46b-55.

Christmas cards, they are. They will pick up your beleaguered soul. Filled with promise of what is to come. More importantly, who is to come. Our Hallmarks and Daysprings bring glad tidings, but nothing compares to the unconditional love that springs from the Good News of great JOY! That is ours in Christ Jesus.

Pastor Art

 “In deepest night Christ’s coming shall be,
when all the world is despairing,
as morning light so quiet and free,
so warm and gentle and caring.
One without voice breaks forth in song,
a lame one leaps in wonder,
the weak are raised above the strong,
and weapons are broken asunder.*“

He comes!   So warm and gentle and caring!

We know all about dark nights and a despairing world but hear the good news.  He comes!  So warm and gentle and caring!  Now that’s good news!  That’s cause for celebration!

Marty Haugen describes the festivities.  The voiceless shall sing!  The lame shall leap!  The weak are raised above the strong!  And weapons are broken!  

How do we celebrate his coming, since celebrate we must.  Whether our hearts are heavy or our bodies wracked with pain, his coming is cause for us too to lift up our hearts and sing!   When I ponder his sweet and sacred coming, I cannot help but feel a very special joy. 

Truly he comes!  To borrow a favorite carol, O Come Let Us Adore Him!

Judy

*Stanza 3, Awake! Awake, and Greet the New Morn, text & music by Marty Haugen

We are already in the church season of Advent. Advent season prepares us with expectation, mindfulness, and preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ birth. It is easy to forget the “reason for the season,” and get caught up in shopping and baking and decorating. Even shopping from your phone, online, just add to the “cart” and press ORDER, can over take your day.

It is up to you to be a part of ADVENT and find time to quiet your mind and anticipate. Visualize. Look at your creche. Allow your thoughts to take in Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem, the arrival of their new Son, the visitors. Think about our Savior’s arrival and our gift of Him.

Celebrate with holiday family gatherings, with favorite food, with festive decorations, quiet time to enjoy the season, Advent calendars to mark the countdown…BUT know the REASON for the season. Experience His unconditional love for us. May your Advent season guide you to His arrival celebration.

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Jill

Only thirteen days until Christmas Day! The anticipation of this special day is so much
different for me as an adult than when I was young. As a child I loved being in the
church Christmas program and we usually had a secular Christmas play in our school
too. The music of Christmas filled my heart with joy. Even growing up in a Christian
home, we couldn’t wait for Santa to come, however. The excitement of waking up on
Christmas morning and running to the Christmas tree to find the Santa gift was
palpable.

As an adult, I still revel in the Christmas season, but for different reasons. Giving gifts to
my loved ones and helping others who are less fortunate brings me much greater joy
than receiving gifts. Because God gave us His greatest gift…His son…Christians,
including myself should see this season as a time to mirror that generosity. Acts and
gifts of love become a reflection of Christ’s unconditional love for us.

We prepare ourselves for this season by decorating the tree, wrapping presents, baking
those extra special treats and cooking a giant festive meal. While those things are not
wrong, they are not the real reason for the celebration of Christmas. This and every
Advent season we should enjoy the spirit of expectation, looking not only to the
celebration of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem but also to His promised return.

As we focus on preparing for Christmas, as believers we need to slow down and realign
our hearts with the true meaning of this special day. Jesus is the reason for the season!
Thanks be to God.

Patty

I can still remember the excitement in our large household at the arrival of the winter edition of the mighty Sears Roebuck Christmas Catalog. Crowded with just about anything your heart could desire, our catalog became jammed with tiny alphabet letters indicating to Santa which prize was wanted by which child.  

My poor (literally) parents! How to decide on which special gift to give or just ignore that catalog. My siblings and I would spend hours pouring over that advertisement miracle. We would spend most of the time in the toy section, looking at the dolls, the toy kitchens and special gimmicks for that year. We would show the little boys the trucks and shovels and soldiers and guns. We were kids in the 50’s.  

During my tomboy stage, I marked almost every piece of football equipment that I was sure would make me as good as the boys at tackle and passing. When my mother noticed these wishes, she gently told me that these gifts would never appear for me and why. I trusted and loved my mother so much that I never questioned her wisdom in certain areas.  

Now, lest you think that we were a bunch of little heathens, we did know about Jesus and His love for us. We prayed “Good Night, Sweet Jesus” every night before bed with Mom. We attended mass every Sunday morning, usually at 6:30 AM-all of us. We went to the parish school and had catechism lessons every day.   

However, we did not have the knowledge that comes from experiencing the action of Christ in our lives. We were not aware that we already had the greatest gift that could be given. We are the children of God. We have the purposeful sacrifice of Jesus Christ to redeem us from everlasting death. We have the unwavering support of God, who loves us, each and every one of us, unconditionally forever. We do. 

How about you?  Are you aware that you have already been given the greatest gift that you could ever receive? Thankfully, we do not need a Sears Roebuck Catalog. And it’s a good thing, because they are no more. You need not worry about God going out of business. Amen! 

Terri 

I always thought it might be nice to have Martin as my middle name–after Martin Luther, you know. I sort of got a chance to do that when I became a Benedictine oblate. First some explanations. The Order of St. Benedict or Benedictines are a monastic order with roots in a monastery established by Benedict of Nursia in Monte Cassino, Italy in the sixth century. An oblate is a person associated with a Benedictine monastery, and who lives according to Benedictine principles and spirituality. In the U.S. most Benedictine monasteries receive Protestants as well as Catholics as oblates. I professed as an oblate at St. Leo Abbey in 2000.

When I became an oblate I was allowed to pick a patron saint. I chose Martin of Tours. And thus I became Wayne Martin of Tours Kofink. I know it’s not the Martin I wanted, but Martin Luther was named Martin because he was baptized on December 11, St. Martin’s Day.

Who was Martin of Tours? He was a native of Pannonia (present day Hungary), born probably around 336. While Martin was a Roman soldier in the Roman in Gaul (modern-day France), he had a vision. One day he met a beggar. He cut his cloak in half to share with the man. That night, Martin dreamed of Jesus wearing the half cloak. Jesus said to some angels “Martin, who is still a catechumen, clothed me with this robe.” Martin was baptized, became a monk and was eventually made Bishop of Tours in France.

I like Martin as an example of generosity.

Read Hebrews 13:2 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne

One of my favorite scriptures, Joel 2:28-32, is often read during this Advent season, for it foretells the coming of the Messiah. That is enough reason to like it, but I also like it because of its beautiful poetry. I especially like verse 28: “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophecy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.”  It’s especially moving when read aloud, and you might try doing so to see what I mean. Not only is this verse poetically pleasing, it also causes you to think about what it describes. Since I’m not so young, I can see myself as one of the old men having dreams, maybe the Messiah promised by God, and then living to see the dreams come true. The dreams and visions are an Old Testament reference to God speaking to man.

I’m not the only one who liked this scripture. The apostle Peter quotes it in its entirety in his great Pentecost day sermon that is found in Acts 2:17-21. He does make a small, but meaningful change. Instead of “And afterward” (or “after these things” which is probably how he knew it from the Greek Septuagint), he says “In the last days”. This emphasizes that the Messiah that Joel spoke of has arrived. With the Holy Spirit we have the promised communication with God. In these meditative moments prior to Christmas, we should be like Peter and note that the little baby of Christmas is really the promise of Easter – and Pentecost.

Please read Acts 2:17-21 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim