This beautiful Advent season calls us to not only fill our stockings and homes with presents, or to only busy our lives with activities and events...but to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. Actually, two "comings". To ponder once again at the wonder of the Word made flesh. The Christ of the manger. AND the second coming of Christ...which may seem a little more mysterious and obscure. When will that be, we ask? Many have tried to figure that out. Perhaps we should be asking instead, "what are we to be doing in the meantime?" Pastor Russ gladly filled in for Pastor Diana on this first Sunday of Advent and shares his thoughts.
Our worship for Sunday, November 23 was a bit out of the ordinary. We still had three readings: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Revelation 1:4-8; and John 18:33-37 but beyond that, things were a little all over the place. As this is the last Sunday of the Church year it was a little like New Year's Eve so we walked our way through a standard church year, both so that we could remember the year gone by and look forward to the rhythm of the year to come. But since the church year doesn't quite flow like a standard church service things felt a little out of sorts. The gospel came before the second reading, communion came before the offering, there was NO SERMON, and we sang more hymns than we would sing on a month of Sundays, but it was all for a good reason: it helped us keep our eyes on the story of God.
Our readings for Sunday, November 16 are: Malachi 4:1-2a; Psalm 98; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19.
The end is nearer than it has ever been and the times are scary. There is no doubt about it. The warnings are dire. The tone of today’s texts seems ominous. But the baptized know how to live in the meantime. The baptized are strengthened for the living of these days in word and sacrament and community. The baptized rally around the invitation of the apostle: “Do not be weary in doing what is right.” We live as the people of God, witnessing to the goodness that has been shared with us.
Our readings for Sunday, November 9 are: Job 19:23-27a; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17; Luke 20:27-38.
Our reading today from the gospel of Luke sounds particularly interesting to our 21st century North American ears and sensibilities, but different cultures had rules and laws that were appropriate to them. Reading about a culture where the concept of eternal life was granted not through God but through male children who would carry on their father's lineage takes a bit of clarifying to understand. The Sadducees were using what they understood as a newfangled understanding of eternal life as a way to trick Jesus into denigrating other factions of Jewish religious hierarchy. But Jesus didn't fall for it. Instead, he revealed to the Sadducees and those around him that the reality of life eternal in God was so much deeper and fulfilling than even our best, most transcendent experiences here on earth! No one owns anyone but instead we live in love, grace, and peace.
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Our readings for All Saints Sunday, November 2 are: Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18; Ephesians 1:11-23; and Luke 6:20-31.
In holy baptism God makes saints out of sinners. In holy communion God forgives the sins of all the saints. In worship today we give thanks for all the saints “who from their labors rest.” In the same breath we petition our God for the strength to hear and to heed the admonitions of Jesus in today’s gospel. Sealed by the Spirit and sustained by the Savior’s body and blood, we live with joy as God gives us breath, to the praise of God’s glory.
