Fourth Sunday of Advent - A

Theme For The Day
The eschatological teachings of scripture are meant to instill comfort, not fear.

Old Testament Lesson
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

Today we are going to talk about one of the biggest puzzles in the study of the Bible. What can we believe about the end of time? For Paul and the early Christians in Thessalonica that was no puzzle at all. They knew exactly what they believed about the end of time. "The Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever" (vv.

Do you remember the generation gap that existed between you and your parents when you were a teenager? Do you sense the same kind of gap widening between you and your children?

What is one of the most foolish things you have ever done? Pay good money for a suit or dress that you never wore? Buy a car that turned out to be a lemon? Invest your savings based on good advice, but end up losing it all? Have an affair that you thought would be brief and secret, but turned out to bring havoc on everything?

But who likes to be reminded of one's foolishness? What is one of the wisest things you have ever done?

Today's parable is commonly known as the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. Some years ago a minister asked a mountaineer of Virginia if he knew the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. After thinking a while, he replied, "I didn't know there were five foolish Virginians in the whole state."

The word, "virgin," is used by the King James Version. Since there are not that many virgins in today's society, later translations wisely use "bridesmaids," "maidens," or "girls." In today's culture unmarried women are not necessarily virgins.

As best I can remember it, the comment came as part of a discussion about the media frenzy immediately following the capture of the two suspected snipers in the Washington, D.C. area. It had troubled some of the participants in the discussion that before these suspects had even gotten charged, before these presumed innocent until proven guilty people had even had a jury trial, there was this zeal on the part of every talk show to get the trial in the place where the death penalty was most severe.

Call To Worship
One: If we will but listen,
All: God will speak to us in parables;
God will tell us stories lived out by our grandparents.
One: If we will but remember,
All: we will discover all we have heard and known;
all the wonders God has in store for us.
One: If we will but share,
All: we can tell our children and grandchildren --
even those not yet born --
the glorious stories of our God.

Prayer Of The Day
We stand at the crossing,
Holy God,
arms, hearts, souls,

Gathering
Begin with a choir anthem this morning, as an element of surprise, creating a sense that things will not always be the same. If possible, have the choir sing from a different place in the sanctuary.

Prayer Of The Day
P: O God of mercy, our hope is in you. Open our ears, that the proclamation of your coming kingdom may rouse us from our complacency, so that we would be ready to greet you when you come in glory, our Savior and our Lord.
C: Amen.

Offertory Prayer
A: Let your gifts be gifts of love;

One thing about live theatre which you don't get with television, is the hush of expectancy when the lights are dimmed. As the theatre moves from light into darkness, the audience settles back and prepares for entertainment and enjoyment. But the entertainment only starts when the curtain rises on a lit stage. Because the audience remains in darkness, it is able to see the stage perfectly no matter how gloomy the lighting, so the atmosphere can be suggested right from the beginning of the show by the relative brightness of the lighting.

Contents
"The Bubble" by Keith Hewitt
"Tell Me a Story" by Craig Kelly


* * * * * * * *


The Bubble
by Keith Hewitt
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

Contents
"Keep Your Eyes Open" by Frank Ramirez


* * * * * * *


Keep Your Eyes Open
by Frank Ramirez
Matthew 25:1-13

Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
-- Matthew 25:13

On July 6, 1054, an awe-inspiring sight appeared around the world, an overwhelming light burst into the night sky.

If the pitcher spends too much time fingering the rosin bag or peddling the dirt on the mound or looking in at the catcher and shaking off signs, the batter is likely to ask the umpire for a timeout. Some of that is just gamesmanship, of course. At the same time, however, the batter may genuinely need to step out of the batter's box for a moment. It is, after all, a difficult thing to maintain for a long time the intensity of waiting for a pitch.

Good morning! This morning I brought a medicine bottle with me. Probably all of you have these medicine bottles at home and they are probably in a place that is hard to reach. That is on purpose. Why do you suppose parents put things like medicine bottles in hard-to-reach places? (Let them answer.) To keep them out of reach of very young children. Very young children sometimes put anything in their mouths, and many medicines can be very harmful and dangerous to people who don't know what the medicine is or how much to take or who can take it.

Note: This craft uses candles and is probably best suited for older children.

Materials
Clean glass jars (medium-sized like mayonnaise or pickle jars)
Tissue paper in a variety of colors
Water
Glue
Markers
Baby food jar lid and votive candle or tea light candle
Small paintbrushes
Margarine tubs

Instructions
1. God always wants us to be ready for him, to be a "light for Jesus." Let's make a candle holder to help us keep that in mind.

Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (v. 13)

Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we are going to talk about the Boy Scouts. How many of you have heard of the Boy Scouts? (allow answers) The Boy Scouts of America is an organization for boys that started in the year 1910. That's over one hundred years ago! Wow -- that's old! Boys who are in the Boy Scouts learn how to do things like start campfires, cook outdoors, tie ropes, and do other outdoor and camping activities.