November 12

This is my children's message for tomorrow.

In the Old Testament, God gave his people a calendar that celebrated his gifts to them, and foreshadowed Jesus’s salvation, through a series of feasts through the year. Since then Christians have developed a liturgical year, which shows us and reminds us of God’s work in the world, through the birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and second coming of Jesus. The Liturgical year reminds us that all of life is about Jesus.

Our celestial year starts on January 1st, but the Liturgical years starts on the first day of Advent (in two weeks), which means the current liturgical year ends next week on Christ the King Sunday.

During Advent and Christmas, we celebrate Christ’s coming to earth as a baby. Epiphany celebrates the revealing of Jesus to all people, not just the children of Israel. Lent celebrates Jesus’s life on earth - where he laid down his glory as God, becoming human, our God with us. Holy Week celebrates his sacrificial death for our sins. Easter celebrates his miraculous resurrection. Pentecost celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the beginning of the church as a group of people who are going to follow Jesus with their whole selves. Then as Advent approaches again, we celebrated Jesus’ second coming, especially with Christ the King Sunday which reminds us that someday everyone will know that Jesus is the King of everything.

I wanted to review all of this to remind us of the liturgical significance of today’s passage as it talks about Jesus’ second coming. The disciples wanted to know the signs that Jesus is about to be recognized king over all the world. They wanted to be ready and they wanted to be a part of it. Jesus’s answer was that before he comes again, there is going to be a lot of trouble and hardship. But even in hard times, they could stand firm in their faith because he would be right there helping them.

Jesus is going to come again. I don’t know when. I don’t know exactly what it will be like. But I know he is going to come. And because of Bible verses like the verses that we read, I know life isn’t going to be easy and lots of bad things are going to happen. But I also know, just like the first disciples, the way we can be ready for his return is by standing firm in our faith, no matter what happens. And that we can stand firm because through his Holy Spirit, he is right here with us, helping us, supporting us, loving us, even if we can’t see, hear, or feel him. That is what faith is, the assurance of what we cannot see.

Jesus is coming. Remembering that, let’s bow our heads and ask Jesus to help us live what we believe: that he is with us now. In this world we will have trouble, but take heart, Jesus has overcome the world.