Ponderings from the front porch of the parsonage on a crisp fall evening...

Picture submitted by Ken Waclo

When you live along Harpersville Road long enough, you learn certain exhausts go with certain cars or motorcycles. Even ambulances have different horns from different stations. So while I was sitting on the porch the other night, I saw the usual cars and trucks go by, but what struck me was how fast everyone was driving. Officially, the speed limit on Harpersville is 35 mph. It is a law often broken. The picture to the right is the best of my blurry photos from that night. Everybody was a blur. Everyone was in a hurry.

I get it. We all have somewhere we need to be. We don't have the time we need to get things done. We are a hurried culture. Harpersville Road serves as a metaphor for our hectic pace. For NASCAR fans, it could serve as a fix until February! I do wonder about each car. What is the hurry? Is there an emergency? Late for a meeting? Late getting home? Tired of the day? Maybe not even realizing how fast they are e zooming by? I wonder.

Then I begin to wonder what slowing down would look like? Life has taught me this year to slow down, mostly because my body just doesn't move fast anymore, but the interesting thing is once I slowed down, I wonder why I hadn't done it before. By slowing down, I experience less stress, and I notice more. I see more people around me, I listen better, and I don't have to be at the next place. I find I am content just being where I am. Our former District Superintendent once said I was born without a brake pedal.

True, but not now. Now I am content to slow down. So why am I talking about all of this in a December newsletter article? Good question, and thank you for asking. We are in the season of Advent. Society has already rushed us to underneath the Christmas tree. But in the church, we GET four Sundays to slow down and wait for Jesus' birth. We hear stories from the prophets, and we experience Joseph and Mary as they prepare for uncertain times. We get a sense of a chaotic world, and a sense of what the world was yearning for back then, and then apply that lens to our world and ask What does our world need today?

The answer is the same, we NEED a Savior! We need to consider our relationship with Jesus and what his birth means to us. And we can't be so hurried that we don't experience this Holy season to prepare for his birth in our hearts. We need to slow down and see the sights, listen to the messages, talk with people, and be present in this season of expectation. Let's not be in such a hurry that we forget to experience the precious present, and come Christmas Eve, welcome the Savior again in our hearts. It is Advent, a joyous season of waiting. Let's wait, and joyous season of waiting. Let's wait and experience the season together.

Blessings, 
Pastor Ken