The Lord Called Me.

There are two beginnings to the narrative of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. There is story of his birth in Bethlehem. And there is the beginning of his ministry. Two of the four Gospels in the New Testament begin with variations of the story of his birth in Bethlehem and

A month or so ago, I told you about the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple at the hands of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. This happened about 600 years before Jesus was born. His armies crushed the defenders of the city and forced 10’s of thousands of her people to live in exile in a place we now know as Iraq. The good behavior of the people left near Jerusalem was guaranteed by continued health of the exiles, hostages really, in Iraq. This was a terrible period of history for the people of Israel – was God still their God – where they still the chosen people God sent the prophet Isaiah to the people in Iraq, and gave him the words to say to them. As we listen to the words from Isaiah, I invite you to picture the heat of the Iraqi sun, and the miles of sand, and dessert that separate the exiles from their homes. Let’s listen now for a Word from God from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 35:1, 5-10 The Return of the Redeemed to Zion The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing.

My name is Laura Tuach, Community Minister here at First Church. I am one of five in this community who is ordained or preparing for ordination. We root ourselves here and doing our work out in the world, I’m at Harvard Divinity School helping prepare students for ministry. It’s good to be together today on this Second Sunday of Advent. Advent marks the beginning of the Christian liturgical year and while we watch and wait and prepare the way for the mystery that is the birth of Jesus, at this time of year, we also prepare to encounter the whole drama of the Jesus story again.

Advent is a word derived from the Latin word for “coming” or “arrival” and the four weeks of Advent are a time of preparation for the arrival of the Christ Child.

We stand on the threshold of Advent; next Sunday starts our journey towards Bethlehem. On this Sunday, the last Sunday of the church calendar, we also have come to the end of our sermon series on the person and mystery of Christ. Appropriately, this Sunday is set aside as Reign of Christ Sunday, or Christ the king Sunday. Six weeks ago Rev. Judy Brain started the series with the image of Jesus as the one who is sovereign in our lives. Thematically we have come full circle.

Over the past month or so, we have encountered Jesus in different ways.

Our scripture reading today is from the Gospel of Luke, it is the Parable of the Ten Pounds. A pound is a sum of money worth about 3 month’s wages for a laborer. Instead of giving a preamble or setting any context, we are going to go right to the text.

Today we continue our sermon series on the person and mystery of Jesus Christ by asking the question “what is he doing?” Our scripture reading from the Gospel of Luke provides an answer to that question. But before we get to the scripture, to help set some context for the reading, and perhaps to scare you a little -- it is Halloween after all -- I want you to imagine something with me.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;