WEBVTT 00:00:01.290 --> 00:00:04.030 Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night? 00:00:04.450 --> 00:00:06.910 Needing to go to the bathroom, and you didn't 00:00:06.910 --> 00:00:11.009 want to turn on the light You know that feeling 00:00:11.009 --> 00:00:14.210 it's waking up at 2 30 in the morning making 00:00:14.210 --> 00:00:19.109 a quiet deal with yourself I'm not turning on 00:00:19.109 --> 00:00:23.649 the light because you know the rules If the light 00:00:23.649 --> 00:00:27.510 goes on, your eyes sting, your brain kicks into 00:00:27.510 --> 00:00:30.210 gear, your body thinks it's morning, and suddenly 00:00:30.210 --> 00:00:33.490 you're awake. When all you wanted to do is just 00:00:33.490 --> 00:00:37.189 stay half asleep and get the job done. So you 00:00:37.189 --> 00:00:41.189 shuffle in the dark, eyes half closed, hand on 00:00:41.189 --> 00:00:44.429 the wall like a sleepy zombie. You're trying 00:00:44.429 --> 00:00:47.969 not to wake up, trying not to see too clearly. 00:00:48.350 --> 00:00:51.670 trying to stay inside the comfort of drowsiness 00:00:51.670 --> 00:00:53.909 where the dark lets you pretend you're still 00:00:53.909 --> 00:00:57.990 asleep. You tiptoe through the dark, hoping the 00:00:57.990 --> 00:01:01.950 night can just keep lulling you along and hoping 00:01:01.950 --> 00:01:05.829 that you are not nearly as loud as Pastor Jason 00:01:05.829 --> 00:01:09.989 stumbling in the dark. Sometimes we avoid light 00:01:09.989 --> 00:01:13.049 on purpose because if we turned it on, if we 00:01:13.049 --> 00:01:17.250 really saw things, we'd have to be awake. And 00:01:17.250 --> 00:01:21.200 being awake It's inconvenient. It demands something. 00:01:21.859 --> 00:01:26.079 It breaks the spell of comfortable sleep. Turning 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:30.400 on the light forces awareness. Once the light 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:34.060 is on, you must face the reality that the night 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:37.620 is over, that you're awake, and that you must 00:01:37.620 --> 00:01:41.760 act. We live in a world that constantly lulls 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:46.200 us into sleep. Sometimes it's the literal sleep 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:51.120 of the night. But more often, it's the moral, 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:54.959 spiritual, and ethical sleep that quietly sets 00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:59.879 over our hearts. We like it that way. Darkness 00:01:59.879 --> 00:02:03.159 can be comfortable. It keeps us from having to 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:06.599 face truths that we'd rather ignore. It allows 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:09.159 us to postpone uncomfortable conversations with 00:02:09.159 --> 00:02:15.039 ourselves, with others, with God. Darkness is 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:19.120 seductive. because it allows us to stay unexamined, 00:02:19.539 --> 00:02:22.439 unchallenged, unaccountable, and the same is 00:02:22.439 --> 00:02:27.219 true morally and spiritually. We can live, speak, 00:02:27.340 --> 00:02:30.599 and act without fully seeing ourselves, without 00:02:30.599 --> 00:02:33.919 being fully honest with God or our neighbors. 00:02:34.860 --> 00:02:37.159 But the moment light shines, whether through 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:43.180 conscience, scripture, God directly, we can no 00:02:43.180 --> 00:02:48.310 longer pretend. The night is over. The dawn is 00:02:48.310 --> 00:02:53.289 near. Paul captures this urgency in Romans 13, 00:02:53.370 --> 00:02:57.389 11 through 14. He writes, the night is far gone. 00:02:57.650 --> 00:03:02.030 The day is at hand. So let us cast off the works 00:03:02.030 --> 00:03:06.449 of darkness and put on the armor of light. We 00:03:06.449 --> 00:03:10.090 cannot pretend that moral sleepiness is harmless. 00:03:10.469 --> 00:03:14.719 The night is ending. The light is coming. We 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:17.840 often prefer spiritual drowsiness because if 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:20.539 the light comes on in our lives, we might have 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:24.500 to admit something. If Christ's truth shines 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:29.560 on our words, our habits, our excuses, our compromises, 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:32.840 we'd have to acknowledge what's really there. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:36.280 If we step into the light, we can't keep pretending 00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:39.400 that everything is fine. We don't want to see 00:03:39.400 --> 00:03:41.639 the mess on the floor, the clutter in the corner, 00:03:41.780 --> 00:03:45.639 the things that we've tripped over. a dozen times. 00:03:46.379 --> 00:03:50.379 Darkness lets us stay numb. Light forces us awake. 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:54.379 And there are parts of us, the resentments, the 00:03:54.379 --> 00:03:57.400 prejudices, the hidden sins, the comfortable 00:03:57.400 --> 00:04:03.180 habits, that would rather we stay sleepy. Just 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:07.159 like that 2 30 a .m. bathroom trip when we sometimes 00:04:07.159 --> 00:04:10.960 whisper to our souls, don't turn the light on. 00:04:11.419 --> 00:04:15.550 Don't wake up. Don't look too closely. Let me 00:04:15.550 --> 00:04:18.089 stay in the half darkness just a little longer, 00:04:18.089 --> 00:04:24.209 but Advent says Wake up The dawn is here Christ 00:04:24.209 --> 00:04:27.370 is shining the light has already risen. You've 00:04:27.370 --> 00:04:31.730 just been keeping your eyes closed Consider the 00:04:31.730 --> 00:04:34.769 darkness that grows when no one is paying attention 00:04:34.769 --> 00:04:38.189 For years here in Houston it appeared executives 00:04:38.189 --> 00:04:41.129 were running a perfectly successful business 00:04:41.529 --> 00:04:44.089 climbing to unprecedented financial heights, 00:04:44.410 --> 00:04:47.370 but behind the scenes, accounting tricks, manipulation, 00:04:47.529 --> 00:04:50.810 and deception were running unchecked. They created 00:04:50.810 --> 00:04:53.290 shell companies to hide losses. They shifted 00:04:53.290 --> 00:04:56.430 debt off their books so it wouldn't be noticed. 00:04:56.970 --> 00:04:59.449 They reported profits that weren't profits at 00:04:59.449 --> 00:05:03.149 all. People trusted the numbers because they 00:05:03.149 --> 00:05:06.209 wanted to believe everything was fine. Darkness 00:05:06.209 --> 00:05:08.629 thrived because people didn't want to look too 00:05:08.629 --> 00:05:11.509 closely. They didn't want to turn on the light. 00:05:12.569 --> 00:05:15.149 The consequences were devastating, not just for 00:05:15.149 --> 00:05:17.850 the Enron executives, but for the employees, 00:05:18.170 --> 00:05:21.370 the retirees, the investors and the communities 00:05:21.370 --> 00:05:25.490 who trusted the company. Jobs evaporated overnight. 00:05:25.949 --> 00:05:29.149 Life savings disappeared. Families were uprooted. 00:05:29.470 --> 00:05:33.009 Communities were shaken. The name Enron became 00:05:33.009 --> 00:05:36.600 a bad word. all this because darkness had been 00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:39.259 allowed to grow unchallenged, because people 00:05:39.259 --> 00:05:43.300 had been lulled into ethical sleepiness. And 00:05:43.300 --> 00:05:45.980 the strange thing was, many of the people involved 00:05:45.980 --> 00:05:49.600 weren't villains in their own minds. They weren't 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:52.220 waking up each morning thinking, how can I be 00:05:52.220 --> 00:05:58.079 evil today? Mwa ha ha. Most of them were simply 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:01.779 operating in what had become business as usual. 00:06:02.430 --> 00:06:05.870 That's how darkness works. It doesn't show up 00:06:05.870 --> 00:06:09.649 wearing a dastardly cape. It shows up disguised 00:06:09.649 --> 00:06:15.269 as normal, maybe as smart. And because so many 00:06:15.269 --> 00:06:17.810 people were spiritually and morally sleepy, because 00:06:17.810 --> 00:06:21.129 they were used to the dark, they kept walking 00:06:21.129 --> 00:06:24.329 forward without ever turning on the light. But 00:06:24.329 --> 00:06:26.470 we don't have to look at corporate America to 00:06:26.470 --> 00:06:29.230 see the same patterns. Think about churches, 00:06:29.790 --> 00:06:33.089 communities, families, when trust is misused 00:06:33.089 --> 00:06:36.649 when authority is wielded irresponsibly. When 00:06:36.649 --> 00:06:40.670 darkness thrives in silence or in secrecy, the 00:06:40.670 --> 00:06:44.529 damage is real. People are hurt, faith is shaken, 00:06:44.649 --> 00:06:47.850 hope is diminished. Darkness thrives where no 00:06:47.850 --> 00:06:51.949 one dares to look. Do we really think that the 00:06:51.949 --> 00:06:56.089 things listed in Romans were things that people 00:06:56.089 --> 00:06:59.129 went in thinking, I'm going to do something evil 00:06:59.129 --> 00:07:04.120 today? Or was it in a world where slowly it became 00:07:04.120 --> 00:07:08.399 comfortable, normal, and not really all that 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:12.339 bad? We've all seen the news lately about a large 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:15.600 prominent Houston congregation where leadership 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:18.879 structure was upended in a massive internal shift. 00:07:19.620 --> 00:07:22.680 Decisions made behind closed doors, authority 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:25.259 redirected in ways that many members didn't fully 00:07:25.259 --> 00:07:28.600 understand. and people suddenly feeling as though 00:07:28.600 --> 00:07:31.639 trust had been broken because they discovered 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:35.860 they had no say in their own church. Even churches 00:07:35.860 --> 00:07:38.680 can drift into a kind of organizational darkness. 00:07:39.560 --> 00:07:42.720 Secrecy, power struggles, defensiveness, fear 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:45.660 of the light. And the damage always spreads. 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:48.579 People become disillusioned. Young adults walk 00:07:48.579 --> 00:07:52.540 away. Members feel unseen or unheard. Communities 00:07:52.540 --> 00:07:56.399 fracture. Darkness? even when it feels safe, 00:07:57.379 --> 00:08:01.620 always costs more than we think. And Advent calls 00:08:01.620 --> 00:08:05.399 us out of that. Do all prep businesses have to 00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:09.100 act this way? No. There are examples of people 00:08:09.100 --> 00:08:11.180 and groups who choose to walk in the light even 00:08:11.180 --> 00:08:14.740 at great cost. Companies and leaders who refuse 00:08:14.740 --> 00:08:17.680 to hide behind darkness and instead act with 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:22.439 integrity, honesty, transparency. Johnson & Johnson 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:28.110 in 1982. Seven people died after cyanide -laced 00:08:28.110 --> 00:08:31.550 Tylenol capsules reached the market. The company 00:08:31.550 --> 00:08:34.190 did not hesitate. They recalled every single 00:08:34.190 --> 00:08:37.230 Tylenol bottle in the nation, over 31 million 00:08:37.230 --> 00:08:41.690 bottles, at a staggering cost, before the government 00:08:41.690 --> 00:08:46.509 demanded it. They acted transparently, sacrificially, 00:08:46.950 --> 00:08:49.669 decisively. The light was turned on and they 00:08:49.669 --> 00:08:53.159 chose not to hide from it. Or Patagonia. running 00:08:53.159 --> 00:08:56.059 a full -page ad on Black Friday of all days saying, 00:08:56.360 --> 00:09:00.080 do not buy this jacket because they realized 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:03.539 the manipulation, the guilt, the pressure that 00:09:03.539 --> 00:09:06.399 is on us all during the season. They invited 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:08.419 customers to consider whether they truly needed 00:09:08.419 --> 00:09:11.620 a product to act thoughtfully and if they chose 00:09:11.620 --> 00:09:14.039 to buy to trust that their money would be used 00:09:14.039 --> 00:09:17.440 responsibly. Like a church suggesting that people 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:20.480 give their tithes to other groups if so inclined. 00:09:21.560 --> 00:09:24.580 Patagonia's model respected freedom, integrity, 00:09:24.740 --> 00:09:28.539 and conscience. Or CVS, which stopped selling 00:09:28.539 --> 00:09:33.019 all tobacco products in 2014. Because they wanted 00:09:33.019 --> 00:09:35.379 to align themselves with healthcare rather than 00:09:35.379 --> 00:09:38.779 addictive substances, they began losing $2 billion 00:09:38.779 --> 00:09:43.759 in lost revenue every year, every single year. 00:09:44.860 --> 00:09:47.139 And even now, they've had to close over a thousand 00:09:47.139 --> 00:09:50.220 locations over the last few years. Ten percent. 00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:54.009 of their locations, for the sake of continuing 00:09:54.009 --> 00:09:56.529 a mission of doing what's right for the community. 00:09:57.549 --> 00:10:00.789 There are plenty of large -scale examples of 00:10:00.789 --> 00:10:03.730 countering the darkness with light, but Scripture 00:10:03.730 --> 00:10:08.210 talks about darkness also not just in regard 00:10:08.210 --> 00:10:11.929 to dramatic sins or obvious rebellions, but more 00:10:11.929 --> 00:10:14.950 often with the stuff that we've stopped noticing, 00:10:16.070 --> 00:10:19.450 the habits that we excuse. the patterns that 00:10:19.450 --> 00:10:22.970 we justify, the sharp words that we shrug off, 00:10:23.110 --> 00:10:26.629 the grudges we quietly feed, the sins that we 00:10:26.629 --> 00:10:30.549 rename so we don't feel convicted, the things 00:10:30.549 --> 00:10:33.169 we keep in the corner because we hope God doesn't 00:10:33.169 --> 00:10:36.210 bring them into the center of the room. Darkness 00:10:36.210 --> 00:10:38.629 allows us to say, I don't want to deal with that 00:10:38.629 --> 00:10:41.509 yet. I don't want the light to expose that. Let 00:10:41.509 --> 00:10:45.049 me stay comfortable. But the longer we stay asleep, 00:10:45.070 --> 00:10:48.019 the more damage we do to ourselves, and to those 00:10:48.019 --> 00:10:51.460 around us. Darkness may feel comfortable, but 00:10:51.460 --> 00:10:55.740 it's not the same thing as truth. It's like when 00:10:55.740 --> 00:10:58.399 having a terrible dream one night as a child, 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:01.279 I began screaming bloody murder to the point 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:05.580 where my dad jumped out of bed, ran down the 00:11:05.580 --> 00:11:10.340 hallway, slipped on a dryer sheet, pinball bounced 00:11:10.340 --> 00:11:13.860 around the hallway between the walls, and then 00:11:13.860 --> 00:11:18.289 finally jumped up on my bed to protect me. I 00:11:18.289 --> 00:11:21.470 didn't want the lights to come on because I didn't 00:11:21.470 --> 00:11:25.009 want to know how beat up my dad really was. I 00:11:25.009 --> 00:11:29.009 didn't want to see, but the only way that we 00:11:29.009 --> 00:11:31.309 could put ice on his bruises and make sure he 00:11:31.309 --> 00:11:34.470 didn't have anything broken was to bring up the 00:11:34.470 --> 00:11:37.950 lights. Because you can't fix the brokenness 00:11:37.950 --> 00:11:41.950 in the world or inside yourself without allowing 00:11:41.950 --> 00:11:45.070 the light to come flooding in and show you what's 00:11:45.070 --> 00:11:49.179 happening inside so you can change. Yet as Matthew 00:11:49.179 --> 00:11:52.740 reminds us, better ethical behavior and vigilance 00:11:52.740 --> 00:11:56.139 are not enough. The wake -up call is ultimately 00:11:56.139 --> 00:12:00.200 about the Christ. Advent introduces us to a child, 00:12:00.419 --> 00:12:04.200 a child who steps into the world when we are 00:12:04.200 --> 00:12:08.179 unprepared, vulnerable, and still half asleep. 00:12:09.340 --> 00:12:11.320 Children have a way of revealing what we would 00:12:11.320 --> 00:12:15.320 rather hide. They ask questions we cannot ignore. 00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:20.259 What's up with your hair today? Why is it that 00:12:20.259 --> 00:12:24.000 you walk like that? Have you always had a stutter? 00:12:25.419 --> 00:12:29.120 They notice, though, the inconsistencies in our 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:33.759 behavior, our speech, our ethics. They challenge 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:36.740 us with moral clarity that we often lose as adults. 00:12:37.820 --> 00:12:40.740 We know this from our own lives. When we were 00:12:40.740 --> 00:12:43.360 children, someone taught us honesty, fairness, 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:46.559 compassion, justice. We were instructed not to 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:49.580 cheat, not to deceive, not to take shortcuts, 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.840 not to talk behind people's backs. But somewhere 00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:57.200 along the way, adulthood gave us permission to 00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:00.600 forget them. We rationalized compromises. We 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:03.500 found ways to hide darkness instead of shining 00:13:03.500 --> 00:13:06.559 light on it. And then we look at the next generation 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:09.440 and wonder why they seem to prioritize career 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:13.419 advancement over integrity. Why ethical action 00:13:13.419 --> 00:13:16.789 in these TikToks And every other video seems 00:13:16.789 --> 00:13:21.389 optional, why the world feels so fractured. As 00:13:21.389 --> 00:13:23.490 the words in Cats in the Cradle would remind 00:13:23.490 --> 00:13:26.250 us, I'm gonna grow up to be just like you, Dad. 00:13:26.909 --> 00:13:30.870 You know I'm gonna be like you. The children 00:13:30.870 --> 00:13:34.330 imitate what they see. They learn from our actions, 00:13:34.629 --> 00:13:39.169 our compromises, our attitudes, and yes, our 00:13:39.169 --> 00:13:42.500 failures. The parent who works too hard often 00:13:42.500 --> 00:13:44.980 has kids who work too hard. The parent who takes 00:13:44.980 --> 00:13:47.879 the easy way out in life often has children who 00:13:47.879 --> 00:13:51.159 cannot handle life either. The parent who has 00:13:51.159 --> 00:13:54.679 habits that no one would want to know about has 00:13:54.679 --> 00:13:59.299 children who follow the same habits. But here's 00:13:59.299 --> 00:14:03.840 the good news. It's never too late to model the 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:07.779 right way. No matter our past missteps, we can 00:14:07.779 --> 00:14:10.980 begin today. We can choose honesty, integrity, 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:15.399 light. The children will notice. We can choose 00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:17.460 to live as children of the day and in doing so 00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:21.299 give them a different example. But sometimes 00:14:21.299 --> 00:14:24.820 the light comes in unexpected, almost inconvenient 00:14:24.820 --> 00:14:29.559 ways. Whether tiptoeing through the dark and 00:14:29.559 --> 00:14:32.759 stubbing our toes so many times because we cannot 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:35.980 see. Or when our dad is injured in the hallway, 00:14:36.200 --> 00:14:39.379 keeping the darkness doesn't help him at all, 00:14:39.799 --> 00:14:42.460 and only light shining on it can really help. 00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:46.399 But you see, even at the times when it's unexpected, 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:49.679 the truth is always better than the fear that 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:53.039 we may imagine. The darkness can seem protective, 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:56.799 but the light, it ultimately restores trust, 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:02.259 safety, hope. The child of Advent, the Christ 00:15:02.259 --> 00:15:06.039 child, works in the same way. He exposes darkness, 00:15:06.299 --> 00:15:10.879 not to condemn us, but to redeem us. He illuminates 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:14.159 our shortcomings, our ethical lapses, our moral 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:17.759 sleepiness, and offers grace, forgiveness, the 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:21.159 opportunity to start anew. The light does not 00:15:21.159 --> 00:15:26.379 shame, it heals. The light does not punish, it 00:15:26.379 --> 00:15:30.590 restores. The child comes for sleepy, morally 00:15:30.590 --> 00:15:35.350 tired, and ethically distracted people. Whether 00:15:35.350 --> 00:15:40.549 we like it or not, the child comes for us. The 00:15:40.549 --> 00:15:44.070 ethical life is not just about business or personal 00:15:44.070 --> 00:15:47.809 morality. It's our community, our family, our 00:15:47.809 --> 00:15:51.529 legacy. Our children, our nephews, our nieces, 00:15:51.649 --> 00:15:55.659 our students, our neighbor's kids. paying attention 00:15:55.659 --> 00:16:00.379 to whether ethics matter in real life, in our 00:16:00.379 --> 00:16:04.259 life. If they only see compromise and self -interest, 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:07.899 they will follow. If they see integrity and courage, 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:12.120 they'll be inspired to walk in the light, because 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:14.960 they are inheritors of the world that we have 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:19.159 built. Advent invites us to give them a faith 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:23.590 that is awake, a church that is honest, community 00:16:23.590 --> 00:16:29.009 that welcomes the light. Romans 13 urges us to 00:16:29.009 --> 00:16:31.210 put on the armor of light and to live as children 00:16:31.210 --> 00:16:34.470 of the day. This looks like truth -telling when 00:16:34.470 --> 00:16:37.590 it's uncomfortable. Fair treatment of others 00:16:37.590 --> 00:16:41.590 refusing to exploit or manipulate. Generosity 00:16:41.590 --> 00:16:45.990 giving freely and honestly. Forgiveness and patience 00:16:45.990 --> 00:16:49.610 both toward others but also toward ourselves 00:16:49.610 --> 00:16:53.759 when we've fallen short. daily choices to resist 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:58.440 the darkness. See, Advent is the season when 00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:02.220 the church stands between darkness and daylight. 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:07.980 The early morning rise, whenever the sky is starting 00:17:07.980 --> 00:17:11.940 to turn blue, but the sky is not filled with 00:17:11.940 --> 00:17:15.759 the sun yet. The thing about the sunrise though, 00:17:16.619 --> 00:17:20.549 you can't stop it. You can't close the blinds. 00:17:20.549 --> 00:17:23.549 You cannot bury your head under the pillow. You 00:17:23.549 --> 00:17:25.890 can't pretend it's still the middle of the night. 00:17:26.930 --> 00:17:31.470 The dawn keeps coming. Jesus says He will come 00:17:31.470 --> 00:17:34.509 at an hour we do not expect, which is exactly 00:17:34.509 --> 00:17:38.849 why we must be awake. But this is not to be harsh. 00:17:39.630 --> 00:17:42.269 It's not meant to humiliate. It's not meant to 00:17:42.269 --> 00:17:46.809 be a gotcha moment. The light comes so we can 00:17:46.809 --> 00:17:51.170 finally see. so we can finally walk forward, 00:17:51.190 --> 00:17:55.250 so we can finally be healed. Because the bruises 00:17:55.250 --> 00:17:58.990 that keep coming in the darkness, they are avoided 00:17:58.990 --> 00:18:03.009 when we become children of the day. And this 00:18:03.009 --> 00:18:07.049 is what Advent invites us into. We do not wake 00:18:07.049 --> 00:18:10.549 ourselves up by sheer moral effort. We don't 00:18:10.549 --> 00:18:13.990 become spiritually alert by tightening our fists. 00:18:14.009 --> 00:18:18.849 We wake up by turning toward Christ. the light, 00:18:19.930 --> 00:18:25.250 the dawn. As when Jesus filled your vision, everything 00:18:25.250 --> 00:18:31.269 else finally begins to fall into place. We can 00:18:31.269 --> 00:18:37.930 offer forgiveness, correction, grace, a new beginning. 00:18:38.569 --> 00:18:41.349 Just because we haven't always acted ethically 00:18:41.349 --> 00:18:44.390 in the past, just because we're sitting here 00:18:44.390 --> 00:18:46.910 this morning knowing which things that we are 00:18:46.910 --> 00:18:51.039 avoiding thinking about. It doesn't mean we can't 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:54.660 start today. Just because we failed to model 00:18:54.660 --> 00:18:57.960 integrity before doesn't mean we cannot begin 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:04.119 now. Because that forgiveness, grace, that new 00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:11.460 beginning is ours today. So today, the alarm 00:19:11.460 --> 00:19:14.940 is going off. The curtains are opening. The horizon 00:19:14.940 --> 00:19:18.849 is glowing. The question of Advent is not, is 00:19:18.849 --> 00:19:22.329 the light coming? We know that it is. The question 00:19:22.329 --> 00:19:26.930 is, are we willing to wake up? Because the day 00:19:26.930 --> 00:19:31.890 is at hand. The day of the Lord is here. The 00:19:31.890 --> 00:19:36.029 light is shining. It's time for us to show the 00:19:36.029 --> 00:19:40.190 ultimate light, Jesus Christ, the baby in the 00:19:40.190 --> 00:19:45.410 manger, the Son of God, in our lives. in all 00:19:45.410 --> 00:19:48.289 that we are. Thanks be to God.