Light a candle of hope and peace...

Scripture: Isaiah 64:1-9  • Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19  • 1 Corinthians 1:3-9  • Mark 13:24-37

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, and the first Sunday of Lectionary Year B. We light a candle with readings of hope and peace as we wait the coming of the Christ child, and Christ's coming again. What are called to do, as we wait? In what, or in whom do we hope? What are our expectations about the coming of Christ? Why does Kathleen Morris call her article "Apocalypse Now?"

In "Advent Alchemy," John Stendahl urges us not to choose indifference or resignation in the seasons of our lives as we take care to note the shape of the darkness in which our candles burn. Instead prepare for the Lord's coming by anticipating the good which will come, and shining when and where the light is most needed.

Finally, consider two short readings about Advent Candles, Melissa Banes Sevier's "One Candle," and The Rev. Eric J. Liles, "Why Blue for Advent?"

Sheep and Goats - justice, relationship, reconciliation

Scripture: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 and Psalm 100  • Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 and Psalm 95:1-7a  • Ephesians 1:15-23  • Matthew 25:31-46

As we end Lectionary Year A on Reign of Christ Sunday, we also finish up Jesus' apocalyptic, or, as Paul Tillich and Rudolph Bultmann characterize it, his eschatological vision and fulfillment in Matthew 25. For Bruce Epperly, Christ turns us toward justice and relationship. God experiences the world and responds to bring about structures of justice and reconciliation. Enjoy reading the dynamics of the loving Creator God, in relationship with his Creation in his "Adventurous Lectionary- - The Reign of Christ."

The Rev. Kate Matthews always brings so much to the discussion. In her Reflection on The Reign of Christ,Christ is With Us, she considers, along with the authors she cites, judgment, freedom, and the "sheep and goats" of Jesus' parable. As Barbara Brown Taylor writes, "We are called to look at each other and see Christ."

 

What Counts? Who's Counting?

Scripture: Judges 4:1-7 and Psalm 123  • Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18 and Psalm 90:1-8, (9-11), 12  
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11  • Matthew 25:14-30


This week we have scripture and lessons concerning time and how we should meaningfully use that time. The Greek language has two words for time, Καιρός (kairos) and Χρόνος (chronos). In rhetoric, Καιρός means the passing instant when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved. In Christian theology, Καιρός means "the appointed time in the purpose of God", the time when God acts. Καιρός is timeless, eternal, whereas Χρόνος is "chronological," and is pictured in Greek mythology by Cronos  who represented the destructive ravages of time which consumed all things, a concept that was definitely illustrated when the Titan king devoured the Olympian gods — the past consuming the future, the older generation suppressing the next generation.

The Psalmist says, "Teach us to count our days, that we may have a wise heart." In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul tells us to be alert, to have no concern about the seasons, but to prepare for the day of the Lord's coming, building up and encouraging one another, and to have faith, love and hope.

Jesus's parable of the talents tells us that the King entrusts his servants with talents, goes away for a long time, and returns to see what they have done with their talents. Talents are not what we might think. What does Jesus mean when he uses the words talents? Is God keeping score, or time? See The Rev. Charles Hoffacker's "Trust, not Fear."  The Rev. Canon Frank Logue also discusses talents, and taking risks. See his "Love is Risky Business."

What are we to do with our time? See Enuma Okoro's "Discerning the Days," in his "With the Eyes of Our Heart," Series in November 2011 edition of Sojourners.

What are we to do with our "talents"? See Steve Goodier's "All Used Up."

The Wise and the Foolish...

Scripture: Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25 and Psalm 78:1-7  • Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16 or Amos 5:18-24 and Wisdom of Solomon 6:17-20 or Psalm 70  • 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18  • Matthew 25:1-13

In the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids, we are tempted to read it in such a way as to bolster ourselves and our thinking as being wise. What is it to be wise? It also is written in an eschatological sense - the meaning of existence and things to come, such as "the kingdom of heaven." What is the meaning and hope of things to come? Consider "Wisdom and Folly," by Debra Dean Murphy.

Ruminating on the declaration of Joshua, "... choose this day whom you will serve [other gods, idols] ... but as for me, and my household, we will serve the LORD," Professor Walter Bruggemann reviews Israel's history and choices, and Christ's feeding of the multitudes in "The Liturgy of Abundance, the Myth of Scarcity," and invites us to change our public life.

"Whether we are liberal or conservative Christians, we must confess that the central problem of our lives is that we are torn apart by the conflict between our attraction to the good news of God's abundance and the power of our belief in scarcity -- a belief that makes us greedy, mean and unneighborly...

Wouldn't it be wonderful if liberal and conservative church people, who love to quarrel with each other, came to a common realization that the real issue confronting us is whether the news of God's abundance can be trusted in the face of the story of scarcity? What we know in the secret recesses of our hearts is that the story of scarcity is a tale of death. And the people of God counter this tale by witnessing to the manna. There is a more excellent bread than crass materialism. It is the bread of life and you don't have to bake it. As we walk into the new millennium, we must decide where our trust is placed... It has nothing to do with being Republicans or Democrats, liberals or conservatives, socialists or capitalists. It is much more elemental: the creation is infused with the Creator's generosity, and we can find practices, procedures and institutions that allow that generosity to work. Like the rich young man in Mark 10, we all have many possessions. Sharing our abundance may, as Jesus says, be impossible for mortals, but nothing is impossible for God. None of us knows what risks God's spirit may empower us to take. Our faith, ministry and hope at the turn of the millennium are that the Creator will empower us to trust his generosity, so that bread may abound." - Walter Bruggemann.

 
 

All Saints - Who are the Godly?

Scripture: Joshua 3:7-17 and Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37  • Micah 3:5-12 and Psalm 43  • 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13  • Matthew 23:1-12

As we read the regular appointed for this Sunday, we also celebrate All Saints. The articles for reading ask about what is godliness, holiness? What are the characteristics of the saints? Who have been saints in your life? 

Michael Anthony Howard, in his "Saints in the hands of a humble heaven," contrasts the saintliness and holiness portrayed in Jonathan Edwards' "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" with a God who finds us worthy of salvation, and who comes to dwell among us - who chooses to be in the midst of us, in humility and love - not an "over-and-above holiness," but an "under-and-in-service holiness. 

Bob Stuhlmann, helps ground our conceptions of "godliness" and saintliness" in his "Humility Against Despair," Stories from a Priestly Life, drawing on Thomas Merton's Seeds of Contemplation, and learning godliness and saintliness from the words of the Rt. Rev. Mark Evans given to him when his son, Christopher, was born with Downs Syndrome. See "A Place to Call Home."

Living The Great Commandment

Scripture: Deuteronomy 34:1-12 and Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17  • Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18 and Psalm 1  • 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8  • Matthew 22:34-46

This week Jesus teaches us the "Great Commandment" which is a combination of the first part of Israel's great Shema (Hear): "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." And from Leviticus 19, 1-2, 15-18, particularly: "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD." 

Professor Alyce MacKenzie tells us in "Reality-Show Jesus: Reflections on Matthew 22:34-46," that Matthew's gospel account has Jesus teaching the Great Commandment after he was tested  by and confronted the religious leaders of his day by overturning the tables of the money changers, telling the parables of the vineyard and wedding feast, and after answering those who seek to entrap him with the question of whether it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar.

What is Jesus teaching us about the Great Commandment? About Love? See MacKenzie's article (above), The Rev. Canon Frank Logue's "Everything Hangs on Love," in which he describes what it means to be committed in loving another more than ourselves (agape love - ἀγάπη),  and The Rev. Sharron R. Blezard's "Living the Gospel of Love." What does living The Great Commandment mean while living in community? For us in our parish? See The Rev. Anjel Scarborough's "The Benedictine tradition of community." Laying down our egos, our long-nurtured grudges and resentments, and seeking the way of love is the way of the cross through which we find fullness of life in Christ.

 

Can you feel the tension?

Scripture: Exodus 33:12-23 and Psalm 99  • Isaiah 45:1-7 and Psalm 96:1-9, (10-13)  • 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10  • Matthew 22:15-22

The Gospel this week is the account of Jesus telling religious leaders wishing to entrap him to give to Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God that which is God's. In "God in the Heartbeat of Life," and in her Reflections on the passages from Exodus and 1 Thessalonians, The Rev. Kate Huey asks "Can you feel the tension?"

Tension between a transcendent, Other, Holy God in all his glory, and God who is immanently present. In our soft and ego-centric, self-help culture, with all the hypes and distractions, have we lost a sense of awe and the sacred? Have we made a God, projecting on God our wants, needs, and desires for prosperity, seeing what we want to see, hearing what we want to hear? Are we shopping for a church which satisfies our consumer appetites, or one which nurtures, feeds and gives away what we have? Can you feel the tension?

In our desire for material things, objects and objectivism, have we lost the ability to see beyond what we expect to see? Were the Israelites the chosen people because of their own "specialness," or was it more than themselves? Relationship building between a holy God, Transcendent and yet present, and us. Can you feel the tension?

This week's scripture is full of the glory of God, his awesomeness, and yet we see God's presence in Jesus being tested by religious authorities. Can you feel the tension? We are soon approaching Advent, and what Rudolph Bultmann calls "History and Eschatology: The presence of eternity" (the meaning of history), as the sacred breaks into our humanity in the coming of the Christ (the eschaton) ... as a helpless child, needing human sustenance to live, and live as one of us. Can you feel the tension?