Happy New Year!   No, I'm not five weeks early. According to the Christian calendar, the first Sunday in Advent is New Year's Day.  As we begin this new church year we will be finishing a sermon series on the six great ends of the church. This week's topic, appropriately, is "the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world."   During Advent we prepare to celebrate the Incarnation, or "becoming flesh" of God in the person of Jesus. But Jesus only walked on this earth for a little over 30 years. During those brief years, he showed us, through word, deed and manner of life, what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. And then he left. He ascended into heaven and promised to return at some later date.   For 2000 years the church has been waiting, watching and longing for that day to come, and Advent is a time when we focus on that waiting, watching and longing. But before Jesus was taken to heaven, He made it clear that the incarnation did not end with that event. Indeed, Jesus Himself would be present on earth, not in one particular body occupying one place in space and time, but in another kind of body, His new body, one that would cover the earth and continue on from one generation to the next. That body is the Church.  It is through us – through Christ's Spirit in us – that God is "incarnate," or bodily present in the world today. It is Jesus' intent that through the Church the world will be able to see what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.   Advent is indeed a time of watching and waiting and preparing – both for the day we celebrate the coming of Jesus, and for the day when He will return. And it is also a time to examine what it means for us to be part of the Body of Christ in the mean time. What does it mean to be people charged with the "exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world", and what exactly are the characteristics of this kingdom? As you prepare to worship God on Sunday, please read Luke 22:24-27 and Matthew 5:14-16 and ponder these questions.   What qualities does Jesus point to as being characteristic of the Kingdom of Heaven in these passages?   How did Jesus model servanthood in his life and ministry?   How does the world tend to treat servants?   How do you respond to the idea that Jesus says we are called to serve?