When was the last time you were surprised? I wonder whether there's something popping into your mind straight away or whether like me you've found that a tricky question to answer quickly. I've been trying to think of surprising things all morning, and it's funny but I find it much easier to remember the disappointing events than the positive and exciting surprises! For example the migraine that prompted my last blog post was a surprise in the sense that I had no prior warning, but I think I'd definitely call it a disappointment, not a surprise... Interestingly enough, according to thefreedictionary.com surprise is from the french roots sur and prendre, which I think translate as 'on' and 'take', but prendre is from the latin 'prehendere' meaning 'seize', so the etymology seems to carry a more unpleasant weight than we use today - neither being 'seized on' nor 'apprehended' sound like fun do they? Still, today I think we tend to use it in a more pleasant way by default. Surprise feels like it ought to be a positive word, so something like winning a prize in a competition you forget you have entered would fit nicely. The passage from Matthew 24 at the top of this post will be preached from in Anglican churches all over the world this weekend. It's a passage where Jesus is talking about his second coming, but on the first Sunday in Advent we can't help but make its application a bit wider than that. In my sermon I'm going to suggest there are three things to think about: