Advent Week Four - The Big Event "Restore!"
This Sunday is the 4th Sunday of the Season of Advent . It's the last Sunday before Christmas Eve, and the end of a long season of expectation. The passage of scripture that I am preaching from this week is from Psalm 80. I don't often get the chance to preach from one of the Psalms, so it's kind of a treat. I have a BA in English Lit, which I don't get to use a whole lot in my current gig. But when I dig my hands into the Psalms--which are essentially poetry--it really gets me going and brings out my inner Bible/Lit geek. There's a refrain in Psalm 80 that is repeated throughout the psalm in one form or another. It goes something like this: "Restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine on us that we may be saved." As I read that refrain and the rest of the psalm as well, I found myself asking a question: "What does it mean to be "saved?" I mean, it's obvious that being "saved" is pretty important to the author...