Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 22nd, 2019

Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 22nd, 2019

In the First Chapter of St. John's Gospel, we hear the encounter between St. John the Baptist and the priests and the Levites from Jerusalem.  You see, these priests and Levites were sent specifically to question St. John the Baptist to find out exactly who he was.  And they began to ask him specific questions as to who he really was.  "Art thou Elias?"  "Art thou that prophet?"  To both these questions he answered "No."  Then they finally asked him, "Well, who art thou?"  It is a profound question when you get right down to it.  "Who are you?"  If someone asks us who are you, we would typically tell that person our name.  Or we were sent by another department at our job we may tell someone what department we are from or that our boss sent us.  But who are we, really?  Going back to the encounter between the priests and Levites with St. John the Baptist, when they finally got to it and asked, "Who art thou," you may notice that he did not answer their question by telling them his name.  He answered their question by describing what he did.  "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness . . . "  We tell the world who we are by what we do and the things we do.  St. John the Baptist was indeed the "voice of one crying in the wilderness."  Everything he did in life was centered on God.  Everything in his life was done in preparation for the Coming of the Messiah. He made God his focal point.  He judged everything according to that.  What is our focal point?  Are we focused mainly on our job or career?  Are we focused on having a relationship with a certain person?  Are we focused on obtaining a certain item that we want for Christmas?  In our modern society, I would dare say that we have many priorities in life.  We have our jobs which we need to do.  We have our homes that we need to take care of.  We have our personal relationships such as our family and loved ones.  But the main focus in our life should always be our relationship with God.  And as long as we make this our main priority, all the other things just mentioned will fall into place.  Similar to St. John, if we make God the top priority in our life, we will soon point others towards God not only by our words but also by our actions.  The way we treat people .. . . we love we show towards others . . . . we will continue to show others how God is working in our life.   So as we are in the final few days before we celebrate Christmas, let us prepare our hearts for the Coming of Christ.   Let us make God the true focal point of our life.  

St. Margaret Church gathers every Sunday morning to hear the Word of God and to worship Our Heavenly Father.  We are a traditional church.  We use the King James Version of the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Mass begins at 9:30 AM.  We celebrate at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Please join us and dedicate an hour of your week to God.  Return home to Him, the God Who waits patiently for your return.