As I said our theme for Advent will be “Through the Eyes of a Child”, where we’ll focus on the awe and the wonder.

Because as I listen, I hear a lot of people who are still really struggling in life. We have a lot of grief, whether from a multitude of losses, even just the changes within the church, there’s still this grieving. The way to work with the grief is not to ignore it, but to also focus our minds and our hearts on awe and wonder.

So I wanted to start by getting you to think about the beauty of children. It might be a little easier today since our children’s choir got up for the first time in a long time and sang for us. But before you go to any kind of sentimental thoughts about the children, I want to emphasize a child’s ability to stay in that place of expectation, especially the younger ones, they wake up expecting to have a good day. For the most part, they’re expecting good things to happen, surprises, because they may learn something new that they didn’t know before. They may have an experience they’ve never done before. They live in this perpetual awe and wonder.

But I think as we get older, we lose track of that. And in the NRSV, more than in Peterson’s, what wasn’t there was this word, worry.

The NRSV focuses on our worry and letting go of our worry because that worry gets in the way of seeing the things that God is doing around us. It stops us from being amazed at the wildflowers, as Peterson puts it. Or at the traditional language that you might be used to is “consider the lilies and how they grow” – Luke 12:27

When we’re worrying about whatever, then we miss all the rest. We miss that other part. It gets in the way of our ability to be grateful, to give thanks. So trying to turn our minds maybe a bit towards gratitude, towards what we already have.

So like this person, sitting at their computer and they can’t figure out their password. Sitting with that aggravation. Whereas we should just be grateful that there are such things as computers. Or maybe we should be grateful for ways to communicate other than computers, right? The computer doesn’t have to be the be-all and end-all of our lives.

I read a story this week about a man who came into church and during the songs he got up and started dancing and clapping and singing.

Then during the sermon he continued and during the prayers. People were looking at him because that’s not the way we behave in church. The ushers tried to escort him kindly out of the room. And after church, they did like all good church people do. They had a meeting, a committee. A committee got together and said, “What do we need to do about this man who was dancing and singing during worship?” They decided they would go out and visit him and help him to understand.

When they got there, he was plowing his field. They said to him, “you know, that thing you did on Sunday?” And he said, “Absolutely!” He said, “Look at this land. God gave me all this land to work and provide food for my family and income to help provide for us. I am so grateful. I have so much to be grateful for. Look at my family. God gave me this family and they are wonderful. I am so proud of them. They share so much love with me and I’m able to share with them. I’m just bursting with thanks for God. Where else should I go with that? But to church on Sunday.”

I wonder how we would react if someone started dancing and singing through worship. I’m afraid we might act more like the ushers and elders in the story, more like the Pharisees, maybe of the stories of Jesus saying, “You don’t do that on Sunday.” We want you to be grateful, but not that grateful.

Do we stop people in there having some awe and wonder at the grace, love, and provision of God?

Something to think about, because this scripture (Matthew 6:25-34) was meant to be a blueprint. It was meant to say enjoy life.

This particular little piece is about relaxing and appreciating what you have. Notice it. Maybe even have some fun with it. When was the last time you played dress-up? I don’t do that anymore, except maybe with my grandkids. They’ll get me to act goofy. But we have to remember how to have fun, to relax, and to give thanks.

I learned this week that there is this whole thing called FOMO. I didn’t know that was a thing. That shows my age. So FOMO is the fear of missing out. People have a fear that they’re missing something in life. That might be who we are. We just didn’t know it. We didn’t know it was called FOMO.

But when Jesus was talking to these people, he knew that they lived under the oppression of Rome. He knew that they didn’t have a lot of clothing or food, but they also probably weren’t starving. They knew how to be a community. They knew how to come together and share. So that everyone would have what they needed. That’s what Acts tells us they did in the beginning. So they came together and they shared as every one had needs.

Today, I want to invite you to become like children. And there are two verses that stuck out for me.

In this one from Matthew 5:44, Jesus says, “But I say to you, love your enemies.” This is a really hard one. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. So that you may be children of your father in heaven.”

God wants us to be like children. In Matthew 18:3, Jesus said, “Truly, I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom.”

So an invitation as we get ready to start the advent season, I know. 30 days till Christmas. Today’s the 24th. It did dawn on me that we are a month ahead in planning because we already are planning the music for Christmas Eve this week because we try to stay a month ahead with the bulletins. It is a month from today that will be here for Christmas Eve and that month will go very quickly. This is that time of year when we start focusing on all of the other things, the clothing, the packages, and the food.

I’m going to invite you to stop at least once a day and be grateful. Just stop and take time to breathe and be grateful. All that you already have, all that you already are, and all that we can do together.

This is how I learned about FOMO. This came in my calm app. There’s only one reason why you’re not experiencing bliss in this present moment. And it’s because you’re thinking or focusing on what you don’t have.

So know that here, no one is bad, no matter what. That’s the things that we tell ourselves, or that we tell each other. We have differences of opinions, but All Are Welcome. All are part of us, and we will work through the differences. That’s life. Life never goes the way everybody wants it to. Joys and sorrows are part of life, but we are here so that we can do this together. This thing called life to support one another, to encourage one another, and to remind one another of the love and the grace that we have through Jesus Christ. Our savior. Amen.

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