I was seven, maybe eight years old, playing on a summer afternoon. The grass was cool and I lay flat on my belly to examine God’s work close up. There were roly-poly bugs, grasshoppers, and moisture from the afternoon’s rain. The water droplets glistened in the sun’s rays. My vision focused on a single blade of grass and I remember my astonishment as I watched the blade grow.

In every church I’ve served, people have complained about the choice of hymns. It is hard to come to church and sing unfamiliar hymns. And among the most unfamiliar are those darned Advent hymns. Advent is a time when the church sings those somber, slow moving hymns that speak of judgment, expectancy, anticipation and hope; and it helps to be a little depressed to really enjoy them. And now we are halfway through Advent, in the final throes of that somber season and we are singing hymns and carols, we all know and love--Christmas songs, songs even the Easter crowd can sing.

Mark says that the people poured out of the Judean hills and all of Jerusalem to hear John the Baptist. You have to wonder what brought them out in droves to hear him. Maybe the people came to John out of curiosity, maybe something as simple as people saying, “Let’s go down to the river and see what this crazy preacher has to say.” Palestine was an occupied territory; the people chafed under Roman rule. Every day was the same as the day before.

November 20, 2011 Christ the King Sunday Ephesians 1:15-23 Matt. 25:31-46

It was December in 1967. My dad was sitting at the kitchen table when I came in from work. I was on Christmas break from college. He was holding my grade report that had come in the day’s mail.

“Let’s see how you did,” he said.

“Let’s not.”

“Oh, I’m sure you did well.”

He had never taken such an interest in my grades before . . . that was mom duty.

I was surprised.

I said, “Well, I’m sure I did fine. But it’s late. I’m tired . . . going to bed.”

Our Psalm today says “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.” Garrison Keillor wrote that maybe there is only one prayer that we should pray and that is “Thank you, Lord,” for life and everything about life: the sun rising, our child at play, our favorite green shirt—because just to speak a word of thanks reminds us of God’s goodness to us all the time.