Are you familiar with Edgar Degas’ famous painting (housed at Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum) entitled Waiting. It’s a striking portrayal of two people who, on the surface, are very different. Because of that, many have called it a study in contrasts. One is old and the other is young. The athletic dancer dressed in a dazzling costume seems to reflect the glamour of the stage, while the shabbily dressed, bent old woman seems represents the drabness of everyday life.

But, look again. You’ll see that it’s not so much a study in contrasts as it is a study in how very, very different people (on first glance) share something in common. Degas is calling us to see something that unites us as human beings in a very deep and personal way. Both of these women were, as Degas called the painting, waiting. The painting powerfully calls us to ask what the women are waiting for. For both of them, something is missing. A verdict from a dance competition? A boyfriend or family member who had not shown up? Had either given up hope? All we can see is that both are sitting on a bench apparently exhausted, with heads down and shoulders stooped. They are waiting – waiting for something – or someone -- to come and change things. Something is missing.

Don’t forget that painting this morning. Degas has visually portrayed the issue we seek to experience at Advent – the longing our world had for a Messiah, i.e., a difference-maker to come into the world and provide a rescue from the sin and boredom and purposelessness of this world. The biblical writers wrote about it. The fisherman Peter said, “Concerning God’s salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing...”

Carol writers have recognized the centuries of waiting for God to come into this world – “Come, thou long expected Jesus. Born to set thy people free.” “Come desire of nations, come…” “O come, O come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.”

This Advent Season we will celebrate the fact that the one for whom the world was waiting – did come. This first weekend of Advent, that we call prophecy weekend, we will face head on something that we often forget to address, i.e., even though the one for whom the world was waiting has come, the majority of people in this world are still waiting. Some sociologists are telling us that although there are many things that divide us in this world – cultures, languages, ethnicities, etc. – this “waiting for something” is a part of all people’s experience. Some call it an inconsolable longing. Others an underlying disappointment.

This disappointment is coming out in a host of ways in our world. In the Middle East and across northern Africa, it comes out in political rebellion against the dictators who have not carried through and left people oppressed. In cultures with strong extended family relationships, it comes out in a rejection of family ways and values and a longing for liberation from the ways of the past. In a consumers’ culture like the US, it comes out in an “Occupy Wall Street” as people cry out in unfocused ways against systems that leave them feeling left out of the joys of material success. And, then, we look at the lives of those who have all that people are clamoring for – the political power, the fame, the financial success – and what do we find? They too are waiting for something – something to come and end the disappointment. Those of you who are my age may remember the rather profound song by Pink Floyd, Comfortably Numb (1979):

When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse, out of the corner of my eye.

I turned to look but it was gone. I cannot put my finger on it now.

The child is grown, the dream is gone. I have become comfortably numb.

The Bible gives us an explanation for this. The Bible explains us to us! Simply stated: The Bible’s explanation for our “inconsolable longing” is that human beings were meant to find our identity, purpose, meaning, and shalom in relationship to God.

This honest recognition of the longing is what eventually brought CS Lewis to faith in Jesus. He wrote about it in Mere Christianity: “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

In his letter to a great church he had not founded, the Apostle Paul addressed this issue. This Advent 2011, we will ask that letter to the Colossians to be our Advent guide. Paul had heard through a man named Epaphras that the believers in Colossae had received God’s “good news” (gospel). The one to whom that news pointed (Jesus) had filled their “inconsolable longing” – had been just what they had been waiting for.

Let me tell you something about these people in Colossae: the culture these people were living in would have agreed with what I’ve been saying in this sermon. Some of their “thinkers” taught that we were made for more than what we’ve experienced. These religious philosophers said that people were looking for something to bring meaning to their lives. And, then they said, “We have found the mystery that will explain it all. Only a few of us have been given the honor of seeing into that mystery,” they would say. But, Paul said no to them. Paul declares unashamedly in Colossians that God’s good news has now been made known to all -- that what people have been looking for has been made known. Paul declares the “good news” is that the long awaited Messiah has already come into the world. He is ready to fill our souls. The mystery (1:27) is “Christ in you, he is the hope of glory.”

We will ask God to speak to us about who Jesus is and how he fills our lives throughout our Advent 2011 here at LAC. I hope you will not miss one week. But today, I want to make several quick points and then ask us to have an initial response to God’s Word.

Point 1: A fact about all of us -- We are formed by the influence of authorities in our lives.

Few people will dispute how much authorities like our kindergarten or first grade teachers influence us. My first grade teacher was Mrs. Legg. I know my love of learning was shaped a lot by her. But, what really surprised me in my many years in higher education is how much we continue to be shaped by our teachers in graduate school. We never stop being formed by people in this world.

Fred Rogers, aka, “Mr. Rogers”, was often asked to give speeches in influential places – including the White House. He would frequently ask the people of power gathered there to take a minute and think of someone who had made a difference in the person they had become. (Why don’t you do that right now!) People almost always thought of parents, grandparents, teachers, or good bosses. At one White House briefing, an Army General stopped him on his way out and said, “Thank you for that, Mr. Rogers.” The general was weeping. He said, “In the minute I had to think of who had influenced me, I suddenly remembered my grandfather’s brother. I was only seven when he died but he loved me. Before he died he gave me his fishing rod. Maybe that’s why I like fishing so much and my I keep showing the kids in my neighborhood about it.” Authority figures influence us.

Of course, you might say, “Pastor Greg, the authorities in my life haven’t usually been healthy ones. “ Simply looking at family life, I imagine some of us here have parental authorities who have chosen not been involved in our lives. Garrison Keillor, the storyteller, always jokes in his stories about how all the world’s problems stem back to a distant father. Others may say, “My parents have been the opposite. They’re too controlling!” In most of the world – including the worlds of Jesus and Paul – it was a controlling family that made it hard for people to follow God’s call. If that’s true of you, you may feel you live your whole life just trying to gain the approval of those parents – and you may feel it’s impossible.

Here in the USA, many have fled that kind of family control and run to individualism and self-control saying, “I’ll run my own life. I’ll be my own authority.” But what kind of life is that? The result of that way of life is what we see in our society, i.e., people finding it hard to make lasting commitments to others – blaming others if they experience emptiness in their lives

So, when I speak of us being formed by authorities in our lives, I know many of those authorities are dysfunctional. But, I think my point still stands: we are shaped – for better or worse – by the authorities in our lives. We are made that way – all of us. We know we need healthy mentors.

But, I am convinced that no temporal authority in this world can prove to be adequate to shape our lives – no matter how healthy or positive he/she may be. The very best human authorities will ultimately disappoint us. We imperfect human beings will always be imperfect to one another. You and I have been made for more than anything this temporary world can fill. And, I add: We are created to be shaped by more than any person can fulfill – except one person.

Point 2: Another fact about us all -- All of us were created to have God as the central authority in our lives.

Colossians 1:5 speaks of a life of faith and love and hope. It sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? And the fullness of that life, according to 1:28, will not be complete until God is done with us and we are in his presence. Paul refers to the news about this life as the “word of truth”, which is another word for the gospel. The Bible lets us know that what we have been longing for, the person who alone can fill our longing, has come into this world and has been unleashed to bring hope to a world made up of people who, as Degas painted, are Waiting.

You see, the Bible teaches a powerful truth – something true of each and every human being: We were made in God’s image. We were made to have God as the one whose presence shapes our lives into something satisfying and beautiful – what the Jewish people call shalom, meaning peace, flourishing, purpose… This is what Col. 1:5 refers to as a life of faith, love and hope.

But the Bible also asserts that we have all turned our backs on God’s authority. It began in Genesis 3 when the first people disobeyed God and ate the one fruit he had forbidden. The problem was not the fruit but the choice they made. They put their own authority over God’s authority and the whole course of human history has an unfolding of this tragic choice.

But there is good news. Jesus, the one who is in very nature God, has come to change things. He is ready and able to forgive our pasts and come into our lives – to bring God back into our lives. This is what the world had been longing for. This is what the carol writer was referring to when he wrote, “Long lay the world in sin and error pining – ‘til He appeared! A thrill of hope – a weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees!” And this brings me to the third point.

Point 3: Our only hope -- Jesus came to make it possible for God to come into our lives.

Jesus was and is the one the whole world has been waiting for. According to the Bible, the only way to deal with the inconsolable longing and the unending disappointment is to come to Jesus. “To all who receive him – receive him --, he gives the authority to become children of God (Jn. 1:12).” This is said in many, many ways in the New Testament. For example, the NT says that when we receive Jesus, we receive eternal life, meaning life that God alone can give; life that is the only true life for those made in God’s image; life as God meant for those made like him to experience; life that cannot be stolen from us by anything in this world. Another time, Jesus sometimes called it abundant life – life to the full.

It’s what both women on Degas’ bench were waiting for. In Col. 1:6, Paul declares that it is a life available to people all over the world. And, truthfully, we have two “living letters” of that life in Col. 1:

Illustration #1 of Paul: In v. 1, Paul identifies himself as “an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.” But he wasn’t always that. He had been Paul the scholar – the rabbi – the rising star in Jewish religious circles – the persecutor of the “nuts” who were following Jesus.

Paul had been living life waiting for God’s deliverer to come. He knew the promise that a Messiah would come who would bring his people shalom. But Jesus didn’t fit Paul preconception of the Messiah. Just like many people in our world today, Paul had a complete misconception of who Jesus was and what would happen in our lives when we follow the Messiah. In fact, Paul thought that these followers of Jesus might keep the Messiah he expected from coming at all. So, Paul was trying to wipe them out. Bottom line: Paul was a true and outspoken anti-Christian who was still waiting – waiting for Messiah..

But, then Paul met Jesus. Suddenly, everything about everything had to be re-thought. (Make note – that’s what always happens when we truly meet Jesus and surrender to him.) For the rest of his life, Paul had to reorient his entire life around the lordship of Jesus. When he did, he found life. Do you remember Paul’s living letter in Philippians 3:8-10: I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ… I want to know Christ. I want to become like Christ.

Illustration #2: The Jesus-followers in Colossae – Paul hadn’t founded the church in Colossae but he had heard about them – and what he heard convinced him that they too had received Jesus. He heard that they had faith, that they loved one another, and they were filled with hope. The church in Colossae was a group of diverse individuals who through faith in Jesus had become one loving family even though they had come from across many social and ethnic boundaries. It was a miracle really. The ordinary ways that society was carved up had been “uncarved” in the church. Slaves and free, Jew and Gentile, immigrant and citizen, wealthy and middle class and young and old were pulled together by the fact that they now had the same central authority in their lives . Jesus was the head of the church and he had reconciled them to God and to one another (1:18-20). In other words, everything changed about them because Jesus was now their Lord.

This was the way things were meant to be before sin entered the world. So, what was happening in the Colossian church was evidence that the one the world has been waiting for had indeed come.

Point 4: Broadcasting the News: We become both the evidence and the bearers of God’s good news to the world.

I will be saying much more about this in future weeks. But, what is written about the church in Colossae should be written and said about us because Jesus is our Lord too, i.e., We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.

So the gospel had come to them. Witnesses other than Paul had carried the message to them. People cannot believe unless someone carries the word of truth to them. And, the evidence that they had received it was that they began to be shaped by Jesus. That’s the way it was. That’s the way it’s always been. So, Paul would call them to “proclaim Christ” so that the world might believe and so that each one might become complete in Christ (1:28) – because that is what everyone in this world has been made for. That’s what they had been waiting for.

And the task isn’t done yet. Let’s remember Degas’ painting. Do you know of people in your circle of relationships who are waiting – waiting for the only One who can end that waiting, i.e., for Jesus. You and I, as those to whom the message has come, must carry the good news to them. So, now I will ask you to respond in a very simple and practical way to this message. I want you to identify 1-3 people in your circle of relationships who need to be transformed through meeting Jesus. Pull out the card that was put in the Worship Folder so I can lead you through it.

It may be that you are aware of the fact that the place in your life that should be filled by God is still not filled. Or you may think that you have surrendered your life to God but you still feel something is missing. Do you know the classic U2 hit “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. I’m sure many of us know it: I believe in the Kingdom Come -- then all the colors will bleed into one. But yes I’m still running. You broke the bonds. You loosened the chains. You carried the cross and my shame. You know I believed it but I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. (1987)

My guess is that you may have been holding on to something that must be given to him – but still, I know many church people still experience disappointment and still have times of “inconsolable longing.” You may want to put your own name as one name on the card. We will join you in prayer throughout this Advent Season that you will find your identify – your life – your shalom in Christ.