MID -WEEK CONVO: Advent Series Roundtable Discussion, Week 3 - "It's Time to Name our Holy Discontent"

In the wisdom of the church throughout Christian history, Advent has been set aside as the first season of the Christian liturgical calendar.  Derived from the Latin word "adventus" and the Greek word "parousia," it means "coming" and refers to the coming of Christ.  Christians recognize the four weeks of Advent as a time to anticipate the birth of the Christ child and the second coming of Christ, as well. This Advent season, as we anticipate the coming of God made flesh in Christ Jesus, we dare to relinquish control of our planned timelines, over-scheduled calendars and daily trappings and habits of life.  We accept the invitation to ponder, behold, listen, dwell, abide, trust, wait and watch as God's life-altering activity of the redemption of the world takes place again in real time and space. Each week, Pastors Ray, Theresa, Luis, Kelly and Andy will unpack these themes in a roundtable discussion format.  These are supplemental to the sermon series, “Watching and Waiting” and will run for the four weeks prior to Christmas Day.   Week 3 - Scripture Anchor: Jeremiah 33:14-16   Synopsis: Watching and waiting on the fulfillment of God's promises are hard.  Especially if you have been watching and waiting for so long and see all of the chaos around you in the world.  Jeremiah's promise of the coming of the Messiah happens in the midst of chaos, turmoil and upheaval.  Our holy discontent is seeing what the Lord has promised He will do and looking around at the current state of the world and our lives.  The Psalmist refrain of "how long, oh Lord?" is an honest response to our holy discontent.  When will the Lord make things right?  When will God deal with sin, injustice, chaos, tyrants, war, disease and death?  Our holy discontent is perceiving the gap between what is and what is promised...and so, we cultivate a posture of trusting the Lord while we watch and wait for the fulfillment.  "The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight."