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A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him? the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD? and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth Isaiah 11:1-4

There is a corner of my basement where there are a number of broken or no-longer-useful items which I just haven't thrown out yet. Usually they are not easily disposed of. I have a scanner that just quit but haven't thrown out.. I have no idea what quit on it. Maybe its just a broken wire, or maybe its a failed chip. Who knows?, but there it sits and will until I figure out how to dispose of it. I just discovered an old printer too. It just quit and I found an inexpensive replacement so it just sits gathering dust. Electronic equipment is especially vulnerable to that kind of obsolescence. Computer chips become dated or too expensive to replace.

How many of you remember the movie "The Homecoming"?  It was a made for TV movie that was the prototype for the series, The Waltons, though with a largely different cast.  The story is about a depression era rural family. The father has gone away to find work but he has promised his family he will be home Christmas eve. The day comes when the family are expecting him home. It  is snowy and the family wait expectantly to see if he will make it safely. He is late in arriving and the family fear the worst. But he makes it, and in spite of their poverty, they celebrate Christmas as a united family.

Advent is in some ways about a homecoming. It's not Jesus' homecoming, though we wait in anticipation for the arrival of . . .

Ever go Christmas caroling--on a BUS? I remember bundling up, climbing aboard a church bus and trailing around the town--stopping at homes, gathering on front porches, singing our hearts out to happy listeners, climbing back on the bus and back to church for our well-deserved earthly reward--FOOD, of course! Whew! Long sentence--and lots of fun memories!

Then there was the morning I had my own personal, special delivery SOLO carol - placed in my heart by the Holy Spirit, who knew I really needed a song! It wasn't a Christmas carol you'll find in your hymn book...but turn back a few pages to "The Name of Jesus." THAT's the song the Holy Spirit placed deep within . . .

It's that time of year again, the time when we begin asking one another, ?What do you want for Christmas?? My daughter asked her dad that question the other day and his answer was predictable. ?Well, I could use a pair of gloves, maybe some socks and a tie.?
Meagan groaned. ?I don't want to get you the same old things, Dad,? she complained. 'that's too boring.? Spence tried to come up with something a little more interesting, but so far, gloves and socks are still at the top of the list.

This is also the time when we begin hearing all the same old Christmas carols, receiving all the same old cards, seeing all the same old decorations, baking all the same old cookies and even pulling out the same old (plastic) Christmas tree. Same old, same old. It can all seem so familiar that . . .