Born a Child and Yet a King
I received a concise but thought-provoking email message this past week from LACer Beth Randolf: “I noticed the similarity between Advent and Adventure and thought it fit your sermon Sunday!
I sent Beth a quick off-the-cuff response as I tried to remember what I had learned in my Latin classes in junior high and later with the Jesuits at Marquette University. Then, I planned to forget about her observation. But, I could not.
So, I started digging around. I went first to "Advent"—usually defined as an important or momentous arrival of something or someone long anticipated. It's from the Latin advenire "arrive, come to," which is from ad = "to" + venire = "to come." For well over 1,000 years, the term "Advent" has been used most often in the church and applied to the coming of Jesus the Savior, either his first or the anticipated second.
Then I looked at "adventure"—defined as something that takes people away from the mundane and routine. It's from the Latin adventurus, future participle of advenire (see above). So, its root is the same as Advent! Over years of usage, "adventure" has taken on the meaning of experiencing something that takes us out of the ordinary or that rips us from our comfort zones. (I'm now wondering if anyone is still reading what I'm writing.
So, what does Advent have to do with adventure?
This weekend, we will be thinking about how the first Advent of Jesus provides the opportunity for our lives to be transformed from chaos and disorder to purpose and order. When we surrender to the rule of Jesus in our lives, he directs our walks and holds together (Col. 1:17) those things that formerly seemed to be falling apart. Paul will say we are rescued from lives stumbling in darkness to lives purposefully guided by his light (Col. 1:10, 13). My point will be that the advent of this child born in Bethlehem can have the effect of turning our lives from chaos to order.
But, some might think that an ordered life made possible by Jesus' advent cannot be an adventure. Hmm. Think again. We will see that the path we are placed on when we follow Jesus is one with a certain destiny. When our journey is done, we will be complete in Christ and in the presence of God. But, the path that leads to that destination is...well, quite an adventure.
To God's Glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor
