This Sunday is pageant Sunday. There are 30+ involved, between 8 youths, 4 infants, 18 kids, and many adults, it is going to be a lot of fun seeing them retell the story of Jesus' birth. Kids' pageants aren't just a lot of fun, but they are important reminders of how God might be seen and shared no matter who we are or how capable we are.

For the kids' talk, which will replace our sermon time, we will be exploring Moses and the Burning Bush. That essential moment when the power of God dwelled in a weak and fragile thing, that bush, but also Moses. This is a seemingly impossible reality and yet it is God's very purpose and work to dwell in creation and to empower it to be more like him. We see this in Moses, in these kids and especially through the presence of God born to us in little baby Jesus.

You might not have realized it yet, but I am a bit of a dreamer. I love to imagine possibilities and look for the unimaginable. It is definitely one of the things I love about God so much, because God continually expands my perspective and shows me things that would have seemed impossible to me before. Its also one of the things I love about learning in community, because all of you help in that as well.

The interesting thing about our dreams though is that they don’t always lead us well. We can see too many people today and through history that have done horrible things in pursuit of their dreams. Through the story of Joseph the dreamer, we see this as well. Joseph is mistreated by his brother, Pontifar, his wife, even the cupbearer, because they point their dreams and longings to something that isn’t true or from God. Yet, when Joseph allows God to interpret his dreams and longings, we can see the bounty, love and even salvation that results.

Last week, we learned about our longing for eternity, paradise, and to be like God. A longing that is ingrained into every part of our created being. Now the question persists, how do we ever get back? For Abel and Noah, much like ourselves, we see that they were surrounded by a world that was broken and evil. When we get to Abraham we see that God has blessed someone to create paradise wherever he goes, just like we are meant to. Yet as much good as Abraham does, he also falls disastrously short of his calling. He does not trust God enough to live up to His promises and so God time and time again has to step in. Join us this Sunday when we explore the story of Abraham and how we need someone to faithfully obey God, while also needing God himself to step in.

This Sunday we begin Advent, a season of waiting and longing. In this season we will be taking some time comparing our longing and hope, with the longing and hope that lead to Christmas, when God Himself would be horn as a human baby in this world. God uses our lives and the lives of those that came before us to show us what we really need, so that we might be able to see him when he comes and prepare the way.

Our Advent and Christmas sermon series is called “Precursors to Christ”, looking at hose people and situations that especially showed us and pointed the way to Christ: Adam and Eve, Abraham and Isaac, Joseph, Moses, King David, the Word and King Solomon. This Sunday we also get an immense gift as Florence Thompson and Blessington Velagapalli will tell us a little bit about how God has worked in their lives, we call these testimonials and I hope we will get the opportunity to hear many more throught the next few months and years.

I hope through all of these stories we will gain a better understanding of our longing and hope, while also exploring the way in which God is answering them.