1st Sunday in Advent - Be Ready for Messages - November 27,2022

Bible Study “First Sunday of Advent - Be Ready for Messages”

Share:  Your highs (something that made you happy) and lows (something that made you sad) this week with others around you or write them down.

 

Happy New Church Year! The Gospel according to Matthew will be our main guidebook through Year A.  Matthew appears to have had a hunch that the Son of Man’s expected return just might be taking a bit longer than expected. Matthew helps us figure out how to live — as we celebrate the birth and life of Jesus and await his coming again.  One thing Matthew is very clear about: be ready!

The school year began months ago; New Year’s Day is over a month away. Yet here we are, beginning our new Church year with the First Sunday of Advent.  Advent invites us to risk pushing on through the world’s weariness to expectant hope.  Something’s coming we proclaim! Immanuel: God With Us in the form of an infant. We celebrate what happened 2000 years ago while we look to the promise that Jesus will come again.  We are also called, as we live in this parenthesis time, to look for messages God continues to send: what has happened, and will happen again, is also happening now: right here.

Keep awake, for you do not know when Jesus is coming back. This message is not intended to cause us to cower in fear.  Fear provides a useful warning signal, but it can also have the potential to paralyze us.  Instead, we are called to the opposite of fear; we are called to faith.

You are going to be noticing ways messages are sent and received.  Think about ways we get messages to each other today (examples might include phone, cell phone, FAX, e-mail, web page, blogs, mail, packages sent by UPS or FedEx, iPods, radio, TV, movies, videos, CD’s, DVDs. etc.)

 What did people do to send messages 100 years ago? (Mail, telegram, teletype, morse code, packages sent only by mail – no UPS, a very few “Victrolas” [to play 78 speed records], a very few telephones, etc.)

 Do you know of anything before that? (Pony Express, runners, smoke signals, etc.)

What does God use to send us messages? (People, events, angels, etc.)

Can you speculate about what might be available in the next 50 to 100 years for messages (cell phones implanted in our ears, ability to receive TV signals on our bodies, etc.)

 

Opening Prayer:  Thank you, God, for all the ways we have to send and receive messages.  Help us to be alert to messages you are sending to us. Amen   

Please open your Bibles to Matthew 24:36-44 and read or read the scriptures below.

Matthew 24:36-44 

The Day and Hour Unknown

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[a] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Questions:

  • If Jesus is the messenger in this passage: what would you say is the message?
  • Do you think any parts were scary?  (The possibility of Jesus coming back and only some people noticing. A house could be broken into by thieves, if no one was watching.)
  • What do you understand Jesus to be saying about our being “ready?” (Pay attention to what is important and don’t get bogged down with stuff that is not important.)
  • What things are you doing that you think Jesus will think are important? (Taking care of our bodies, eating food that is healthy, doing our best at school, looking out for people who need our help, etc.)

 

    

Click here for the young learner’s lesson

 

Videos (Click on url)

Matthew 25:31-46 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sDWuzUe78Y

Activities:

Advent Wreath Make an Advent Wreath with your family.  Click on Advent Wreath to see what it looks like.   

Supplies needed to make an Advent Wreath.

  • Metal bundt pan
  • Floral foam blocks
  • Assorted holiday greenery
  • Pinecones
  • Advent Candles (3 purple, 1 pink taper, 1 white - center)
  • Hot glue, glue gun

The Advent wreath is a wreath, or circle, of evergreens, made in various sizes. It is placed on a table. The devotion is usually incorporated during the family meal, or during family night prayers.  Fastened to the wreath are four candles standing upright, at equal distances. These candles represent the four weeks of Advent.  Three of the candles are purple, reminding us of the penitential nature of the season.  A rose or pink candle is lit for the Third Sunday of Advent.  The wreath should be in a circle, a symbol of eternity, and a reminder that God has no beginning nor end. The evergreen is a symbol of eternal life and a reminder that God is immutable or unchangeable.  The first candle is hope or prophesy, second candle is Peace or Bethlehem, third candle (pink) is Joy or Shepherds, fourth candle is Love or Angels and fifth candle (white) is the Christ candle.

For more information, check the following website https://confessionsofanover-workedmom.com/easy-advent-wreath-craft/

 

25 Days of Christmas Activities

 

Messages - Looking at other messages you know about by reading the Bible.  Pick two of the passages below and write it on sheet of paper.  Read the Bible message and then draw or write who the messenger is or what the message is. (The answers are below)

  • Genesis 9:12-13  
  • Genesis 18:1-2  
  • Exodus 3:2  
  • Exodus 16:4  
  • Judges 6: 37-40  
  • 1 Samuel 3:4  
  • Luke 1: 11  
  • Luke 1:26-27  
  • Matthew 1:20

 

 

Ready for His Return Crossword: https://sermons4kids.com/ready_for_his_return_crossword.htm

Ready for His Return Decoder:  https://sermons4kids.com/ready_for_his_return_decoder.htm

Word Search: https://thewordsearch.com/puzzle/4357506/be-ready-for-messages/

 

Prayer: Thank you, God, that angels usually come as a surprise. Thank you that you send angels to help us be who you call us to be. Amen.    

 

 

  • Genesis 9:12-13 (the rainbow);
  • Genesis 18:1-2 (the three “men” who came to tell Abraham his wife would have a baby)
  • Exodus 3:2 (the angel of the LORD appearing in the burning bush);
  • Exodus 16:4 (manna in the desert)
  • Judges 6: 37-40 (Gideon’s fleece that receives dew and then is dry when all else is wet);
  • 1 Samuel 3:4 (God calling to young Samuel);
  • Luke 1: 11 (Angel appears to Zechariah);
  • Luke 1:26-27 (Angel appears to Mary);
  • Matthew 1:20 (Angel appears to Joseph).