The beginning of Advent marks the new year in the Church liturgical calendar so what better time to begin a new thing, a blog that shares some of my thoughts about the upcoming lectionary texts and allows others to share their thoughts and questions? Hopefully this will allow you to be involved in the sermon even before you hear it on Sunday and thereby give you a more full experience as you hear and respond to the biblical texts. Hopefully it will allow me to respond to your thoughts and questions in crafting a sermon for Sunday and thereby make me a better preacher. Who knows, maybe you'll provide me with great material for my sermon, though I would not identify the source of anything shared here without the writer's approval. I'm always on the look out for wisdom and insight. So here goes.
At no time does the Church seem more out of kilter with the world than during Advent. Everyone around us begins celebrating Christmas on the day after Thanksgiving (sometimes before), while the Church begins celebrating Christmas on Christmas Day (sometimes Christmas Eve) and throughout the two weeks of Christmastide. By the time we start celebrating Christmas, the culture around us has stopped and moved on (usually about Dec. 26).
Case in point: Our lectionary texts for last Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, were all apocalyptic in theme. Who wants to hear "there will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves Luke 21)" or sing O Come, O Come, Emanuel when one has been shopping among Santa Claus and Christmas trees while listening to White Christmas? And this Sunday we'll still not get to the main characters of the birth story like shepherds or even Joseph and Mary, but rather we get prophets, plenty of prophets. The shepherds are so harmless and cuddly, but no, we get the refiner's fire spoken of by Malachi (even his name is scary) and that wild-haired cousin of Jesus, John the Baptist.
In your Bible, read Malachi 3:1-4 (I tied to paste the text here but haven't figured out how to do that yet). Then read Luke 3:1-6.
What are you initial reactions to these readings? Do they seem incongruous with the "holiday" season? Do they disturb you or encourage you?
More on these texts tomorrow. Have a great, or perhaps I should say penitential, week!
Malachi 3:1-4
ReplyDelete[1] "Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. [2] But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? "For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; [3] he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to the LORD. [4] Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.
Luke 3:1-6.
[1] In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiber'i-us Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturae'a and Trachoni'tis, and Lysa'ni-as tetrarch of Abile'ne, [2] in the high-priesthood of Annas and Ca'iaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechari'ah in the wilderness;
[3] and he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
[4] As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
"The voice of one
crying in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
[5] Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be brought low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
[6] and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."
Thanks, Alan.
ReplyDeleteWhen visiting the soup kitchen today, I noticed the people who shared a meal of Thanksgiving turkey and trimmings seemed to have more of something. Sharing all that they have with each other. The group I was sitting with said they share their food stamps with each other as they get them at different times of the month. Many faithful have served these guests for years sharing so much of their time. One guy has moved up from living in his RV on the streets of Phinney Ridge to living in an apartment. He gave his RV to other homeless people and has opened his apartment to others who don't have as much a place to stay. This reminded me of the woman who gave all she had - a few coins... . The valleys felt filled today. These people know how to live! They depend on each other and have faith that they will have enough. Meanwhile (it's Cyber Monday) others are at their computer feeding their insatiable appetites.
ReplyDeleteWe usually think of Lent, when we are preparing for Easter,as the season for self-examination and penitence, yet our texts this week clearly call us to this cleasing process in preparation for Christmas(eg,Malachi's images of refiner's fire,fullers' soap and John's baptism for repentence). What sins do we need to recognize? Our "insatiable appetites" and the consumermism it engenders? Our treatment of the dispossessed? Our sending of an additional 30,000 troops to Afganistan along with an additional billions of dollars? Did John address any of these?
ReplyDeleteBy having these verses of Malachi and Luke side by side will invite plain text interpretations of the prophesies of Jesus' coming. If you follow Borg & Crossan in the The First Christmas, that we studied last Advent, Luke could be viewed as a document to show believers of Greco-Roman deities, that Jesus is more convincing as the Son of God, rather than Caesar Augustus. The other interesting possibility that those authors discussed was the nativity story as a parable for the rest of Luke's Gospel. That blog is still available at wppcfirstchristmas.blogspot.com/
ReplyDelete