12/  3/ 2000  Worship service            
         
I once read an interesting article in a magazine.  A 45 year old man named Gary Priddle, who lived in the province of British Columbia in Canada, was arrested for assaulting another man's dog in a pickup truck.  Gary Priddle was driving behind this pickup truck when the driver of the pickup truck stopped in the middle of the highway to let a flock of ducks cross the road.  Gary Priddle became highly irate at the fact that he had to wait.  Unable to control his temper and suppress his rage, Gary Priddle got out of his car, grabbed a golf club from his car, and started to pounce on the Austrian shepard that happened to be sitting in the bed of the pickup truck.  

Another similar story involves a 50 year old woman named Judith Rethof, who lived in Westmont, New Jersey.  This woman was arrested for repeatedly colliding into a New Jersey transit bus with her sports car.  Judith Rethof has had a long history of hatred against transit buses--her reasoning was that every time she got out on a road, a bus always made repeated stops in front of her, delaying her commute.  One day, sure enough, another bus stopped in front of her because of a red traffic light.  The enraged woman blew her lid, and repeatedly collided into the rear of the bus with her car--five times.  When a patrol car dispatched to the scene, and a police officer approached her car, she put the car in reverse and hit the patrol car with her side view mirror.

Living in this complex and busy world makes us impetuous and rash.  It makes us anxious.  That is why we see so many people unable to control their temper today--easily angered and responding in a very irrational manner.  A man named Richard Foster once said that the greatest threats to people today are noise, hurry or haste, and crowdedness.  Therefore, tranquility--or calmness--is that state of mind that God gives us, and complication is the state of mind that the demons inject into us.
The four week period starting today, and ending on the Christmas Day on the 25th, is called Advent.  Advent means the period of waiting--waiting for the birth of Christ.  Streets are lined with decorated trees and lights; shopping malls are vibrant, anticipating the busiest shopping season of the year.  During this busy period, we Christians must calm and relax our minds, and reflect on the true meaning of this holiday period.  

There is a fly.  It is extremely difficult for this fly to go from Killeen, Texas to the Big Apple--or New York City, New York--on its own strength.  However, if this fly latches onto a back of a person who is driving to New York from Killeen, the fly can make this trip very easily and effortlessly.  Likewise, we cannot go to heaven on our own.  However, no matter how far heaven is, if we ride on the back of Christ, I believe we can get there easily.  Seeing that we could not find happiness, gratefulness, hope, tranquility and peace on our own, Jesus abandoned his seat alongside God and came down to earth, to help us find the way.  He reduced Himself--both in physical size and stature, to go into a womb of a Virgin--to be amongst us.  Therefore, the birth is Christ is a truly momentous occasion, where God has allowed His Son to help us attain salvation, happiness, hope, tranquility, and peace.  I hope that this Advent becomes a spiritually meaningful period in which we all experience the abundant grace and love of God and eagerly await the Anniversary of the Baby Jesus.  

I would like to make a special request to all of you.  Starting this Monday, 4th of December, until Christmas morning on the 25th, I would like all of you, who were not able to make the morning prayer service, to come each morning and wait for the birth of Christ through prayer.  Up until now, about 40 of us gathered each morning to offer prayer and have yearned for the grace of God.  But I hope that during this Advent, those of us who could not make morning prayer services before join us for prayer.  

Rather than continuing with the First Book of Corinthians as we have done previously, I would like to shift our focus to Advent-related scripture and gospel for the upcoming prayer services.  I would like to celebrate this Christmas with good preparation and prayers.  For those of us who had many difficulties and tribulations over the past year, the morning prayer services during Advent would be a good opportunity to come out and receive the abundant grace of God.  

"Computer illiterate" refers to people who cannot use, or even know about, computers.  The bigger problem facing today's societies may not be the illiterate--those who cannot read nor write--but the computer illiterate.  Our society--and by extension, our generation--has become an era of great technological advances, where one cannot function effectively without knowing how to use computers or browse the Internet.  The greatest fear among computer and Internet users is computer virus--man-made programs or glitches that can erase the stored data in our computers, and in some cases, incapacitate our computers.  In this day and age, not only do people get vaccinated against organic viruses, but computers have to get vaccinated--through virus scanners--in order to protect from computer viruses.

In general viruses--whether it be organic or computer--are harmful to us.  However, the Advent Virus that I would like to talk about today is beneficial to us.  What are the symptoms when one contracts the Advent Virus?  Those who are afflicted suffer from and overflow with hope, peace, tranquility, happiness, love, and gratefulness.  Those who find their hearts race and feel genuine excitement at the thought of the birth of Christ are the ones afflicted with the Advent Virus.

To describe in detail, those with the Advent Virus have the following symptoms.  First, rather than taking a calculated action based on past experiences or fear, they think and do things spontaneously--out of pure happiness and gladness.  Second, they lose interest in berating and judging other people.  

Third, they lose interest in creating conflicts and instigating fights or arguments with others; rather, they concentrate on understanding and embracing their neighbors and those around them.  Fourth, they stop worrying about trivial things and refuse to get discouraged; their scope and view widen, and they do not expend any energy on trivial matters.  Fifth, they become very grateful, even over little things.  Sixth, they exhibit contagious smiles all this time--the type that can easily spread to others.  To sum it up, minds and hearts of those afflicted with the Advent Virus are full of peace, happiness, gratefulness, and hope.

The virus that brings flu and the virus that mess up our computers are bad.  However, the Advent virus is good.  I hope that each and every one of us contract this Advent Virus, and that this Virus spread throughout not only Killeen but the rest of the country.  

Then how can we confirm that fact that we have indeed contracted this virus?  
In looking at verse 3 of today's scripture, John, who is imprisoned, sends his disciples to ask, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"  "How can we be sure that it is indeed you who we are looking for?"  When Christ comes to John to be baptized, in Matthew chapter 3, verse 14, John tries to prevent Him from doing so, saying "I have need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"  

However, when he falls out of favor with the King of Heorot and becomes imprisoned, the Advent fever of John cools, and he requests to see and hear the evidence that Jesus is indeed the Son of God.  In response to John's requests, Jesus replies in verse 5, "the blind receive their sight and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them," stating that these are evidences which prove that Jesus is the Messiah.

Just looking at these facts should be enough to convince us that Jesus is the Son of God, and is the Messiah.  Do you want to contract the Advent Virus?  There is a simple way:  Expose yourself to the virus that you want to catch!  If we desire the Advent Virus, then all we have to do is expose ourselves to this virus.  

What does a mother, who has many children, do when her first child comes down with the chicken pox?  Does she separate the afflicted child from others, so that the disease does not spread?  She does the exact opposite.  She sleeps all her children together, regardless of the fact that one of them might have the chicken pox.  She has them play together in one room and has them watching TV together, so that when one child comes down with the chicken pox, all of them can contract it, and the disease will pass--while all of her children develop immunity to it.

Do you want to contract the Advent virus?  Let yourselves be exposed to the happy fact that Jesus came to this earth.  And show up to places where people who already contracted Advent virus gather.  Converse often with them, meet them often, and share the joy of Christmas and its meaning.  Just as one can come down with the flu by being in a room full of flu patients, one can contract, and spread, the Advent Virus to others.  

And the place where these people gather will become a place where the Advent Virus spreads to all four corners.  Believe, and confirm, in the fact that our church is a holy place where people with Advent virus congregate.  During the upcoming Advent, let's all show up to not only weekly services, but to morning prayer services as well, and contract the Advent, the Christ's Virus.  Amen!
The Advent Virus.  The Messiah Virus.  Catch it and spread it out!