A brand new pastor, fresh out of seminary, was preaching his first sermon in his first church. In seminary he had been taught to repeat his text numerous times for emphasis, and to pound on the pulpit occasionally. His text happened to be that promise of our Lord: "Behold I come quickly." At the beginning of the sermon he slammed the pulpit rather smartly and declared, "Behold I come quickly." Then about five minutes into the sermon he did the same thing. About ten minutes into the sermon he did it again. And then as he was winding it all up, he repeated that text again-- "Behold I come quickly" and slammed his fist against the pulpit.

In fact, he hit it a little too hard. The pulpit toppled over and the preacher fell with it. He found himself in the soft lap of an upper middle-aged, motherly type of saint. The preacher began apologizing profusely, but she cut in and said, "Forget it, son. I should have been expecting you. You warned me four times you were coming."

The key word for this second Sunday of Advent is expectancy. Read the Christmas stories of Matthew and Luke and you will find this truth: Most people in first-century Palestine missed the first Christmas. Why? They weren't expecting it. The persons who experienced Christmas, whether wise Men or shepherds or others, were expectant people.

My theme this morning was taught to me by two lovely senior citizens whom we meet in the second chapter of Luke's gospel. Simeon and Anna could be called godparents of baby Jesus. These two retired folks spent much time around the Jerusalem temple, praising God, constantly praying for and expecting the Messiah to come. Anna was an 84-year-old widow. It's interesting to me that Luke was able to discover Anna's age. You know, women are usually more secretive about their age than men. From 39 to about 75, it's top secret. But after about 75, most women and men take some pride in their age. That is, unless they are in politics. Evidently, Anna was up front about her age. She must have known the truth expressed in the lyrics of that country song: "The older the violin, the sweeter the music."

Anna had had only seven years of married life before her husband died. She spent all those others years as a widow. You will recall that a widow in the first century was virtually a welfare case. Yet she was not bitter. Trusting in God she lived faithfully and expectantly.

Anna was a prophetess; that is, God sometimes spoke through her. The people recognized that she was inspired by God.

Simeon was a devout layman, filled with the Holy Spirit. He had been told by the Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah for whom he had prayed so long.

Then Mary and Joseph arrived at the Temple carrying Jesus, an 8-day-old baby. They came to have him circumcised and to offer a gift to God for him, as the Jewish law required.

I don't know how the Holy Spirit made it clear to Simeon and Anna that this particular lower-class couple from a hick town like Nazareth were carrying the Savior of the world. But I do know that the expectancy of Simeon and Anna was vitally important. If they

had not been expecting the Messiah, they would never have met him. Feeble old Simeon lifted the baby in his arms and declared, "Lord, now I can die content, for I have seen the Savior of the world."

If you want to experience a magnificent Christmas, you must be expectant. Here is where children have a real advantage over us adults. They are naturally expectant during this season. Oh sure, much of it has to do with presents they hope to receive, but that's not the whole story. Children expect Christmas to be bigger than real life. They have that special spiritual imagination which allows them to almost span the centuries and revisit the Bethlehem manger.

One day a letter written in a childish scrawl came to the post office addressed to "God." A postal employee, not knowing exactly what to do with the letter, opened it. This is what it said: "Dear God, my name is Jimmy. I am six years old. My father is dead and my mother is having a hard time raising me and my sister. Would you please send us $500? Love, Jimmy."

The postal employee was touched. He showed the letter to his fellow workers. All decided to kick in a few dollars each. They were able to raise $300 which they sent to the family. A couple of weeks later they received a second letter from Jimmy, addressed again to God. It said: "Dear God, thanks so much for the money. But next time please deliver it to our house. If you send it through the post office, they take out $200." I like Jimmy's expectancy. He had enough faith to believe that God would deliver what he asked, and in the full amount.

By contrast, we adults have a touch of Ebenezer Scrooge in us...no nonsense, humbug on mystical matters, read the bottom line, Christmas is a big hassle. No wonder Christmas doesn't mean as much to some of us as it did when we were children. When we eliminate expectancy, we close the door to the Christ-child as surely as did the Bethlehem innkeeper.

One of the things that helps me become expectant is hearing Handel's Messiah. Do you realize that virtually all of the words of the Messiah are from the Old Testament prophets? Most of them lived 700 or 800 years before Jesus. Even that far back a wave of

expectancy was building.

Then turn to the very end of the Bible--Revelation 22--and what do you find? The last word of the Bible is that great Christmas word for expectancy---"Maranatha" which means "Come Lord Jesus."

The last word of the Bible is designed to launch us into an eternally expectant life style. We are supposed to live on tiptoe as it were, because the Bible promises that God is always doing some new thing.

For some, the Messiah may come this Christmas as a healer of strife-torn homes, or as relief from some anxiety or pressure or stress. The Messiah may come to help you handle grief or to assist you in finding the right job or to help you manage the pain of arthritis. The Messiah may come with a call to duty, beckoning you to stand up for him and his principles. The Messiah may call you to respond to someone's need or to straighten out the priorities in your life. For some the Messiah will knock at the door of the heart, asking to be invited in as Savior and Lord. I don't know the form your Christmas visitation will take. But I am completely sure that Christ will visit you if you are expectant.

Allow me to make a few suggestions for increasing your expectancy (and you may wish to make a few notes on this). First, schedule one evening between now and Christmas when there will be no parties or special events. Take the phone off the hook for about an hour. Turn off the TV. Spend about an hour as I am about to suggest. If you are a household of one, invite a friend over to share this evening. Turn on some Christmas music rather low and let it play in the background. Read the Christmas story from Matthew or Luke. Talk about the best Christmas you can remember and what made it so good. Inspect the ornaments on the tree. Some of them will trigger special memories or will remind you of treasured people. Talk about that. Then hold hands and have a prayer, lifting up people you know who need God's special assistance. In that prayer ask God for a special visitation from the Messiah this Christmas.

The second suggestion is for each person individually. Ask God for something you need that only he can give. Then write down that prayer request and keep it in some private place. Writing it down will trigger your gratitude when God's good answer comes.

The third and final suggestion is to find some person or family to help this Christmas. You could provide a gift for a child of a prison inmate. We have information on 195 children as part of our Angel Tree project. Just see Diane Hall today in the hallway in front of the church offices.

In cooperation with the Salvation Army and the united Methodist Neighborhood Center, we can link you up with persons who need help. On any given day, there are 10,000 homeless persons in Memphis and Shelby County. Of that number, about 3000 are women and children. Over 60 percent of those children are under age 6.

Our missions office can assist you with other helping projects: like taking snacks and drinks to the waiting room of a hospital on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and offering a prayer for those families. Or you could rake the leaves for an elderly or sick neighbor. Or you could visit a nursing home after Christmas. They have lots of visitors until Christmas. But afterward, there are few. Or you could bring a friend or neighbor with you to worship on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Just call our missions office here at the church if you need help in finding a need.

If you want this Christmas to be extraordinary, learn from two ancient examples of expectancy--Simeon and Anna. Our expectation is God's invitation. There are certain Christmas stories for children, suitable for adults too, that should be told every Christmas. One of them is that classic by Leo Tolstoy entitled "The Cobbler's Christmas Guest." It illustrates exactly what I have been saying about expectancy.

Many years ago there lived in a small village a shoemaker by the name of Conrad. Though alone and poor, this kindly old man always had friendly and consoling words for everyone. One Christmas morning, some neighbors decided to visit their friend since he had no family. To their amazement they saw that his wrinkled old face was radiant. His humble cottage was decorated with holly and evergreen, and the table was laden with delicacies. "Who is coming to visit you?" they asked. Conrad replied, "Last night the Lord appeared to me in a dream and told me that he wanted to be my guest on Christmas Day. I am all prepared for his arrival."

After the neighbors had left, Conrad sat waiting for his hallowed guest. While he waited, a beggar passed his window, ragged, and half starved. Conrad called him in, fed him and gave him shoes for his nearly frozen feet. After the beggar had left, an old woman hobbled by carrying a sack of wood. Conrad served her dinner, let her rest before the fire, and then helped her on her way. Again, he sat by the window waiting for his important guest. Suddenly, he heard the sobbing of a child. When he opened the door, he saw a frightened, cold youngster. After some warm milk and soothing words, he reunited the child with its worried mother.

Once more he returned to his vigil, but night was falling fast. Where was the promised guest? Anxious and weary, Conrad dropped to his knees. "Oh Lord," he pleaded. "What has delayed you?" Then out of the silence came a voice: "Conrad, be not dismayed, for three times I came to your friendly door, three times my shadow crossed your floor. I was the beggar with frost-bitten feet, I was the woman given food to eat, I was the child in the lonely street."

Blessed are the expectant, for they shall see the Lord.