The second Sunday of Advent is the Sunday of Peace. I am wondering if people are feeling peaceful these days. The challenge of peace in a chaotic world was also the challenge in the days of the prophet Isaiah. His cry is for God to bring comfort to God’s people. Isaiah’s prophetic voice rings loud and clear for us today. God did not send COVID-19 to test our faith or punish us. God did not send this disease to us. However, God is present in our midst. God has not withdrawn from us. If we are to find peace in this chaotic season, we must be that peace to all. And we might just find that peace as we engage in deeper relationships with one another and with God.
Mark’s Gospel reading for this first week of Advent says, “Keep awake.” Between the pandemic and economic, social, political, and religious turmoil, there are lots of reasons to stay awake. But is anyone really getting a good night’s sleep? Are we awake for all the wrong reasons? Do we keep alert for things that are out of our control? The Gospel challenges us to be on high alert, for God is still at work. This is our promised hope. We need to “keep awake” so we do not miss what God is doing in our lives and in the world.
2020 has been a year that we all might just want to forget. It has been a year of arguments, war, social inequities, racism, political unrest, violence, and disease. It has been a year of the unknown and making up answers as we go. And it has also been a year of new things, new opportunities to be the disciples we are called to be and hope. Together, people of God have sought hope during apparent darkness.
Through David’s Thanksgiving, we see what gratitude looks like and sounds like and how it moves, and we see how God uses it, channels it, and encourages it. We see how God looks into a heart swollen with gratitude and breathes possibility and opportunity and growth. We see David’s Thanksgiving in both 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles. It is repeated. It is emphasized. It’s echoed, because it is essential.
I know, you’ve heard this one a million times: Jesus’s parable about the talents. But it ain’t about money, and talent’s got nothin’ to do with it. It’s all about waiting and weight, and that dude Paul gets it straight. Join me at the mercy seat Sunday, and we’ll build each other up.
The message on Nov 8th is taken from Matthew 25:1-13. It is based on a parable, which is known by several names: The Parable of the Ten Virgins, The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, or The Parable of the Ten bridesmaids. As we will learn, maybe we should call it The Parable of the EMPTY TANK. Is your tank empty or full?
We love to hear about good things happening in our neighborhoods and communities, don’t we? We love to see that folks in our communities see a need and take swift, bold actions. We stand on the sidelines cheering them on, but what if we are the ones that should be the do “good-ers”? What if it is not just enough to like what we hear, but that we are called to do something?
I personally do not remember a time in my life that was this fraught with social and cultural issues. They have always been there of course… manifesting in different degrees depending on who you are and where you live. To some people they have been ever present and have a daily impact on their lives… and to others, they are sort of below the surface… somewhere in the background. I fall into that second category. I knew these issues were not resolved, but I felt for years like they were trending in a positive direction and would fade away eventually.
Now I really wonder.
“Go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you.” Matthew 28:19a,20a
The Bible says we are to teach, but you can’t have all teachers and no students! We must also be willing to listen and learn, no matter how much we think we already know.
Would you decline an invitation by King Friday XIII to attend his birthday party on Friday the 13th in The Neighborhood of Make Believe? And if you accepted the invitation, what would you wear to the royal festivities?
The phrase “one another” occurs over 100 times in the New Testament, and these serve as guidelines for authentic Christian community. They also have a direct impact on our witness to the world. These words and phrases are our instructions of how to relate to one another.
Before you help someone, do you first consider if they are worthy of it? Do you look at their lives and their actions and declare it is worth your time, energy, and resources? I, for one, am glad that Jesus did not consider my wrongs before He did what had to be done to make me right.
I have a cup that sits on my desk at work that gets used for coffee or tea. On the cup there are about 30 names of women who have made history worth remembering because they were willing to stand up for something they believed in. It might not have looked as glamorous at the time as history tells it. They might not have even realized what they were achieving when they made the choice to stand. But none the less, they stood.
What exactly should I say? Will people even listen? Is it going to start a fight? These might be questions you ask yourself before you post something on social media or speak up against an injustice you see taking place. These also can be the very same questions that put enough doubt in your mind to keep you silent.
It goes without saying at this point that we have been faced with challenging times over the year 2020. Not everyone is unfamiliar with challenging times, but this past year has strained the economy, our communities, our relationships, and our sanity. The question that I have loved to hear from so many is, “How do we help others through this time?” This shows that no matter how tough times get, our focus on serving as Christ does not change.
The pastor is only a part of the church. The church is made up of many parts. You are a part of the church. We each have a calling that God has put on our lives to serve the Kingdom of God in a way that witnesses to who Christ Jesus is. The difficult part is figuring out what that call is. Though all our calls might look different, they all have the same starting point. First and foremost, we must believe in who God says we are: beloved, royalty, forgiven, redeemed, God’s!
If I were to sum up my life shaking, chain breaking experience with God, it would be to simply say, “I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.” I believe in God, not because of what others have told me, but because of what I have experienced to be true in my own life. God has pulled me out of the grave and then in God’s crazy ways, decided to call me into service for His church. This is my call…
Church: a dwelling place for God. Over this period of Covid-19, for some of us, our dwelling place has taken on a whole new meaning. It has become our working place, our teaching place, our living, eating, breathing, sleeping, our everything place. To dwell is not to just be in one place, but to completely utilize, maximize, and inhabit that place. That is who the church is. The dwelling place of God, the body of Christ, where God’s functions on earth are worked out through you and me.
The Bible is simply pages with ink upon it until it is written onto our hearts by the Holy Spirit and lived out as a witness to the world of who God is. The Bible is both powerful and powerless.
