There is the classic image of the Christian fanatic, wandering the streets of London, wearing a sign, "the end of the world is nigh!" This I think is the image of the sixties, where the threat was the cold war and the H-bomb and overpopulation. In the seventies it was pollution and MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction, the eighties, AIDS and Starwars. Now in our more enlightened times, the threat is from global warming. (and the Y2K bug).

Significantly, each generation finds with in itself the signs of destruction and those who would preach doom and gloom. Indeed every generation raises up a set of prophets who pour over the book of revelation to identify the signs and determine that these are the end times.

The Antichrist has been identified as Hitler, Stalin, Gudafi, Ayatollah Homani, Sadam Hussein and Idi Amin in this last century, and no doubt it will be convenient to name a few more. But perhaps we should note that there also seem to be enemies of either Israel or the USA. Political perspective seems to aid the discernment.

But yet, they are not wrong - for the signs of the end are all around us. Our understanding is that we who live now, live in that special time between the Cross (and Resurrection) and the Parousia (a Greek word to describe the Second Coming of Jesus - his appearance). We live in the knowledge that Jesus has defeated evil and death and that there is the expectation that this will come to completion even when evil and death still abound around us.

Our mistake is trying to predict the end - rather than living in the expectation of the end. What do I mean? Perhaps if I can put it this way. What if I was to tell you that Jesus would come on January 6 next year. Given the understanding that at his coming, he will ask each of us to give an account, how would you alter the way you live.

We did this on one youth camp - and it was interesting that many would take up witnessing to their friends - even going door to door, and they would go to church each Sunday, and perhaps a number of other opportunities as well. They would read their bible and pray daily. Literally they would focus their lives on working for Jesus.

The speaker then made the point that there was no way the he knew that this would happen, nor that it would not happen on this day and that our call was live in the expectation that it might. It is a bit like when the motorist coming the other way flashes their lights at you. You respond and change your behaviour. These signs that are all around us are a warning to expect that Jesus will come again and to live accordingly.

So to the onlooker, there should be a sense of urgency about our lives; and a sense of purpose. One of the marks of the Christian Community should be it overwhelming passion to preach and proclaim the message of the good news. But don't get me wrong, I am not about to organise a campaign of street evangelism, or door knocking. Our lives as God's people should be the message that proclaims the meaning of Jesus life, death and resurrection. The powerful testimony of a life changed through an encounter with Jesus will do more than any sermon or other words.

Evangelism and proclamation of the Gospel is not about trying to persuade others to believe what I do, but confronting them with an alternative that they can't refuse. Christians are called to infiltrate the world and bring God's love wherever we go. We are not about teaching people jargon, or putting them through programmes, but about loving them as individuals as God loves them. I am not to tell them that they should be like me, but to live in such away that they want to be like me, or at least to have what I have.

So we start evangelism with our own personal relationship with God. Where is God in your life? Is he a part of the way you and I live? Has Jesus made us different from the world, and is that difference apparent?

It is as we begin to ask ourselves these questions and to answer them that we can start to see how much our faith will influence others. Do not get me wrong, there are times in which we need to speak, but more often we need to live. Conversion is not about the head, but about the heart.

So our challenge is to live so that others are challenged. This Christmas season is a good opportunity, because in the midst of all the hype, there is that sense that the child in the manger means something. We have an open opportunity to enter into to issue of faith with others, and we will see many people come through the church doors that would not normally be here. As Anglicans, we have a huge advantage, as we do not insist on anything more than the desire to be recognised as Anglican to belong. All Christians in general and in particular all Anglicans belong, but many do not know that yet. Perhaps we should take time to invite the less regular and ensure that they feel a part of the group. Look around and see who God has given you to invite.

We have in our Parish, 1,419 people whom God wants to hear the message of the Gospel and 564 Anglicans to draw into our fellowship.

This advent, let you and I take up the sense of urgency that the season implies and not put off sharing God's love with our neighbours. You never know, the doomsayers may actually be right.