HOMILY: 4th Week of Advent

Here we are, already, at the 4th week of Advent.  In our church the keywords for the weeks were:
1st Week: Hope.
2nd Week: Peace
3rd Week: Joy
What will this fourth week keyword  be; maybe Purity or Patience?

It is delightful to see the advent candles lit each Sunday at my church. I really love certain traditions; the
following and celebration of the Seasons is one of my favorites.  

Many of the other religious sites that I have visited have written about patience during this Advent Season.  
As I age, I find that patience sits very nicely at the head of my table.  I'm not so impatient for anything
anymore.  There are so few things that I feel anticipation for, it's ok that some things take a lot of time.  As
my Grandmother once told me, "Don't be afraid that you're going to miss something, 'cause you will!"

In last week's reading of the Torah Parsha Vayigash, Joseph's  brothers rush back to Canaan from Egypt
with the news of Joseph and Jacob comes to Egypt with his sons and their families -- seventy souls in all --
and is reunited with his beloved son after 22 years. Wow, that's a wait! Imagine a father thinking his son is
dead and finds him living and prospering and willing to forgive his brothers for their treachery; for 22 long
years! Jacob lives the final 17 years of his life in Egypt. Before his passing, he asks Joseph to take an oath
that he will bury him in the Holy Land. This wish was fulfilled.

Joseph also dies in Egypt, at the age of 110. He, too, instructs that his bones be taken out of Egypt and
buried in the Holy Land, but this would come to pass only with the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt many years
later.  Genesis ends at Chapter 50:26~~Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they
embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

"So the total time from Joseph’s death to his burial in Canaan was about 179 years."
http://bibleq.info/answer/3182/

Here, again, is another long wait for a patriarch's wish to be fulfilled.  However, his people did not forget
and his bones were interred in Canaan, his final resting place after the Exodus.

Heavenly Father,
As we await another year's celebration of your son's birth, let us remember that your time and our time is
somewhat out of sync.  May we cultivate hope, peace, joy, and patience as we await his second coming
and remember that he said "...how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers
her chicks under her wings..."  Let us be willing to let him lovingly gather us together once and for all and
come straight away to your kingdom.  No more waiting, Lord.  Amen

Respectfully submitted,

J. Sue Gagliardi  

Week 12: Parshah Vayechi - Genesis 47:28-50:26
"May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart be acceptable
to You, Oh Lord, My Rock and Redeemer."
Psalms 19:14




Dearest Lord of my being,
Thank you for blessing me with all that I need
to be the best that I can be.
I am so grateful for your love, light, and peace.
May I always be aware of your presence
and may I love and honor you above all things.
I need you in my heart, in my soul,
and in my life now and forever.
Amen
astrologizing.net
Sabbath Devotionals
Advent Season; Sat. Dec. 18, 2010
BIBLE READING NEW TESTAMENT
Matthew 1: 23

"Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a
son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,"
which means, "God is with us."
BIBLE READING OLD TESTAMENT
Psalm 80: 16

Let your hand be upon the man of your right
hand, *
the son of man you have made so strong for
yourself.