What I've Been Doing these Past Two Weeks...

Hey Everyone,

So I haven't posted a sermon the last two weeks because we engaged in a more... experiential worship time for the last two weeks of Advent. It was going to be a four-week series, but when James came a little early, he kind of put a damper on my plans, as I hear children tend to do.

I am posting the PDF to the curriculum that I wrote for this Advent season. Like I said, we only ended up doing weeks three and four, but I thought all of my loyal followers--if there are any--might like a chance to look at the whole thing. Maybe next year, you might want to borrow all or part of it for your worship times.

Just click on the link to open it up: Advent through Art

God bless!


-wes

12.9.12--Sermon on Luke 3:1-18

In the summer of 2000, my family took a vacation to a beach house in Port Aransas. This was the first time that we had gone to the beach as a family since we had moved back to Texas from Hawaii, and I have to tell you, I was extremely excited about it. We had a large group of family and friends going with us, and I couldn’t wait to play in the waves, find amazing-looking seashells, and go snorkeling in the midst of all of the beautifully colored fish in the bays.

I kept telling everyone in the car with us how excited I was, talking about all I wanted to do and bragging about my expert-level boogie boarding skills.

I was a mean boogie boarder.

Everyone with us, though, kept looking at me funny, like they were not understanding what I was talking about. My cousins and friends—who had all been to Port A before—didn’t seem to share in my excitement about snorkeling in the clear blue ocean water or about the chance to dive in and out of eight foot waves. I could not understand why they weren’t jumping up and down like I was, how they were able to contain their pent-up excitement so well.

Then we arrived at the beach, and it all made sense.

You see, the Gulf of Mexico is not exactly known for its tubular waves or clear blue waters. It is not known for beautifully-shaped shells or brightly-colored tropical fish. Its waters are more of a brownish color, with breakers rarely peaking over a couple feet, and the most colorful fish you are likely to find are red fish, which are great for fishing, but lousy for snorkeling.

As beaches go, the Gulf is left wanting.

I was so disappointed! My hopes were dashed, and I felt betrayed. The beaches I had grown up around were the tropical paradises of Guam and Hawaii. In my head, all beaches are pristine, beautifully clear, just the perfect temperature, and surf-ready. Port Aransas had none of these things. How could I go from picture perfection to this?!

I spent the first few days that we were there complaining to anyone and everyone around me. While everyone else was enjoying themselves and soaking up as much sun and sand as possible, I was nostalgically and annoyingly reminiscing of the good old days of yore. Finally one of my uncles had enough of it. He called me over and told me stop moping around and go have fun. He said I was ruining the vacation for myself and others.

And he was right.

I had been so wrapped up in the past—so wrapped up in how great and amazing and beautiful things were—that I was missing out on the chance to enjoy and engage the wonderful time of fun and fellowship around me right then.

The beach at Port Aransas was not the white-sanded surf spot that I had grown up loving, but it was full of my friends and family, full of sunshine and water, and had the potential to be an amazing adventure. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was just as amazing for completely different reasons.