Have there been times when it felt like your life was on cruise control, when everything was business as usual, when ordinary, everyday life, lulled you to sleep? Good thing for us, Advent is a season of waking up. It interrupts our usual patterns and calls us to get ourselves ready for the coming of God’s Son. However, I think it’s more than just getting ready to welcome Jesus or celebrate his birth. I think it’s recognizing and participating in the future that Jesus offers and makes possible to us. And I think that future both offers us something and asks something of us. What would it mean and what would it look like for you and me to wake up? I don’t want to sleep my life away and I don’t believe you do either. So, my friends, what will it be – will you choose to hit the snooze button, or will you wake up and begin living the life God intended for you? Welcome to Advent.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.