Our world today attempts to make us self-sustaining (at least in a way). At one point, you had a “milk man,” now you pick up a carton at Wal Mart, and check-out without aid of a cashier. Once upon a time you had a banker, now you have an ATM. Once there were secretaries, now there are cell phones and email systems. Travel used to be planned through agents, now there is a website.
These steps towards autonomy are convenient, enabling us to take care of most items OUTSIDE of “normal business hours.” Technology is helpful … until it isn’t.
When was the last time you needed some help accomplishing a task. The shelves are empty in the grocery store refrigerator … and you look for an employee to assist, can you find them? You have a question about a charge on your debit card, and you call a 1-800 number to find yourself stuck in a web of automated artificially intelligent, yet often circular menus. You need to change a reservation and wonder which of the rebooking options are best, yet the options on the screen don’t understand the specific challenges you will have navigating a 30 minute layover in Atlanta with a 3 year old!
When we find ourselves in need, I mean when we REALLY are in need, we don’t just want an FAQ page or a robot voice. At some level we know that our need is not just a WHAT (a goal) or a HOW (a plan) but ultimately a WHO (we need a rescuer, a helper, a hero): Someone wiser than us, that we can trust to get us where we need to go.
We are familiar with this dynamic on the small scale of every day tasks, but this dynamic is even MORE TRUE on the cosmic stage. Is there a solution to the darkness of the world around us? Is there any hope for our weary souls?
We need more than a task or a plan, we need a Savior … we need a Messiah … we need God.
This Sunday at Wildwood Community Church, we will be in part 2 of our “Light of the World” Christmas sermon series. In this prophetic passage written 700+ years before Jesus was born, the solution to the darkness problem is not met with an automated menu or a self-help book … but with a Sovereign Savior coming to radically change our reality. We will look at this on Sunday, December 3 before celebrating the Lord’s Supper together. Hope to see you Sunday in our 8:30, 9:45, or 11:00 services … and bring friends!
