Let us pray: Open us, O God, to the unfolding message of Advent – a message of hope and peace, a message of the importance of waiting – for the things that it can teach us, for the ways in which your presence is experienced and observed, for the beauty that can be revealed when we take a moment of reflection in the midst of the frenzy of preparation and getting ready. May these words and images be a reflection of your presence which is both here and anticipated. Amen.

Last week we were introduced to two twenty-somethings separated by about twenty centuries. There was Benjamin, a goat herder in the first century middle east, whose life was occupied by the demands of the time in which he lived – a time which required a good deal of the day to be dedicated to finding food to keep his family healthy and secure. In the little bit of time he had for reflection, he was awed by the presence of night and the incredible light that shone for him from the darkness – the shimmering blanket of stars and the changing face of the moon – made so much more prominent for him by the absence of any kind of added light, save the odd warming fires of fellow goat and sheep herders that could be seen on the horizon. Benjamin's life was hard.

Richard's life was also hard and from more than one perspective it was nothing like that of Benjamin. Rich was a member of the millenial generation, a connected, citizen of the universe. So called because his sphere was much larger than just a planet. He was in touch with friends around the world through smartphone and facebook. He had been to all the places where his friends were now living – whether in Asia or the east coast of Canada. Richard's life was hard not because of an individual struggle to survive but because the world, from his perspective, was in peril. There were so many ways that he could see it headed on a course of destruction. But Rich also believed in the power of individuals when combined in a common cause to make a difference.

Yes their lives are vastly different even though they were both characterized as being hard. These two young men whose lives in some ways seem very distant from each other – are separated by only twenty centuries. When I introduced them last week I alluded to the fact that the difference between them is highly contextual. If modern day Rich was born in an African sub-saharan village, a southern Mexican village or a remote section of Papua-New Guinea as only three examples of what could be many more, the differences between him and Ben would not be as great.

But Ben and Rich share something else – the journey of life – which despite being almost completely incomparable in so many ways – is also marked by some of the very same characteristics – and these characteristics could well be the most important ones – questions about meaning and existence. Both of them were occupied with the desire to live and to live well. For Ben it meant struggling to have food. For Rich, food was troubling only in that it was so plentiful and easy to find, but existence was very much a question.

Today I would like us to imagine these two twenty-something men sharing a journey together – a journey in Advent. What common questions, characteristics, and concerns mark the journey? Could it be that they share more in common than we might guess?

With those considerations in mind, I want to share with you this film that is very close to us here in Yellowknife. It was made by France Benoit. It is titled Hand to Toe and it speaks for itself, but I also want to have you consider the journeys of Richard and Benjamin and how the themes explored in this film, help to connect them across time, for of course, we too are connected across time with Benjamin and Richard and the themes explored in their compared journeys and in the themes and discoveries that the film depicts.