"Waky Waky!"

Tuesday, November 24,  2010

The First Sunday of Advent

“Keep Awake”

                Welcome to the first Sunday of Advent, and the beginning of our journey towards Bethlehem. We begin a movement that has a destination, a birth, something new on the horizon.  At Northwood the theme for the season is “Journey toward Bethlehem.” Like most journeys we go on, there is the going there and the getting there. The going there is all about the process, the way. The getting there is all about the arrival, the destination.           My hope is that through this season we can be a people on the way, paying attention to moments in the journey in which we encounter the Holy. I also hope that our journey is shaped by our destination- that the fact that the presence of God is found in a child, born in the backwaters of Judea shapes us.

                The lectionary has us begin this journey not so much with visions of that first coming but with hopes of a second one.

Background on this weeks readings:

Isaiah 2:1-5

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah+2:1-5&vnum=yes&version=nrsv

                The prophets’ hope is ever-present in the season of Advent, so we begin with Isaiah. This is first Isaiah speaking from a time before the fall of Jerusalem but after Assyria has taken over control of the northern kingdom of Israel. So clearly they were living in the shadow of potential impending disaster.

                Isaiah speaks to the dreams of the people for restoration. But it is not exactly harkening back to glory days here, but rather a dream of a time when God will teach the people, and adjudicate their differences. Jerusalem will not as much be a seat of power for Israel but a seat of justice and reconciliation for God. And because people will submit their quarrels to God’s judgements, the instruments of war will become the instruments of re-building (swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks).  Not a bad place to begin the Advent journey.

               

Romans 13 :8-14

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Romans+13:8-14&vnum=yes&version=nrsv

                Paul is speaking clearly from a place of expectation that Christ will return at any moment. So it makes total sense that if the end of the present age is about to take place and a new age is about to dawn in which everything will be changed, then be in the moment. Be ready. Be awake. This was no philosophical or spiritual practise of “living in the moment.” No this was rooted in the expectation that something really big was about to change everything.

                I am struck by his use of “stay awake!” Wakefulness is a very active posture of expectation. There is a sense of alertness here that I believe leads us into Advent well. Are we really awake to God’s imminent presence, an in-breaking of love and hope at any moment? Or are we more asleep than awake?

Matthew 24 :36-44

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+24:36-44&vnum=yes&version=nrsv

                Picking up on the awake theme, we have Matthew’s version of the apocalyptic expectation that God is about to bring in the new age. Be awake. Be ready. The new age is about to dawn.

                These are startling images in understanding how God makes God’s way from the background to the foreground of our lives. There is no gentle dawning here. This is Noah waiting for the clouds to tear open and all heaven to fall. God is pulling a break and enter on our lives. I am thinking that perhaps these less gentle approaches to jostling us out of our habitual busyness and over-consumption may be exactly what is needed today. Happy advent folks! Are you catching the good news in this?

               

Some thoughts

                I have never found the apocalyptic expectations within the gospels to be very compelling during Advent. Expecting the incarnation, the birth of God in this world, and expecting the second coming, whatever you think that might mean, are very different things. However, the eagerness and even edginess of the call to wakefulness is compelling to me. I think we in the comfortable western church don’t actually expect much. We might even hope not much will happen. Another  Christmas. Same old same old. So we start to fall asleep to the wonder of God in the world. I was talking to someone today who finds the church really frustrating because people don’t engage. People have such low expectations of the church and the faith.

                What would it look like for us to wake up? What would be different if we honestly woke up to the very real presence of God? And what would it take to wake us up?

Further explorations:

Here’s a youtube clip for the Advent Conspiracy for this year.  These always jostle us awake a bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3Wllpq0wBU&feature=fvst

No pot luck conversation today

For those of you interested in coming to the face-to-face gathering over supper tonight, it has been cancelled. I am home sick today. I'd love to hear your thoughts though, so post away.
Peace, Will

Nov. 18, 2010

Wednesday,  November 17, 2010

                It would appear that preparing a post for Monday or even Tuesday is a challenge. Sorry for the lateness this week. We are preparing at Northwood to wind up our 5 week focus on Stewardship with our Celebration Sunday. We have not followed the Ecumenical Lectionary this week but instead have chosen two readings that draw our attention to the way we receive and the way we give.

Background on this weeks readings:

Micah 6:6-8

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Micah+6:1-8&vnum=yes&version=nrsv

                The prophet Micah lived in that prophetically rich time period after the fall of the Northern kingdom of Israel to the Assyrians, and before the fall of the Southern kingdom of Judah to the Babylonians. He had watched as the previously rich Israel crumbled. His is a voice speaking from the margins of Judean power in the rural area southwest of Jerusalem, speaking to the centre of power in Jerusalem. He, along with Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah, fiercely challenges the steady drift of the social and economic order within the nation mostly revolving around the temple. In today’s reading the prophet lays out an argument between God and the people. “Look back and see all I have done for you, and you simply offer burnt offerings in the temple but miss-treat and neglect the poor. Then we hear what is acceptable worship to God: “Seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.”

Matthew 5:13-16

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+5:13-20&vnum=yes&version=nrsv

                The Sermon on the mount is what John Wesley, founder of called “The Little Canon.” Here Matthew gathers core teachings of Jesus. This is the first of the five sections of teaching in Matthew which are said to parallel the five books of Moses. Jesus, in Matthew, is the new Moses, the new Covenant making prophet.

                We are just reading the first part of the sermon on the mount, the section in which, after the blessings within the beatitude, Jesus turns to his core circle of friends and disciples and says, “You are the salt of the earth…” This feels very personal, very direct, and very challenging. These words echo down the years within the Christian community and call out for a response from us.

Some thoughts and questions

                This being celebration Sunday, the main question is, after five weeks of reflection on the ways that we pour ourselves out for the sake of the gospel both within the church and beyond its walls, how are we salt? How are we light for the world? In what ways do we practise radical gratitude, courageous giving. How do we shape our lives around these words: Seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. If indeed this is the kind of worship God really wants, what needs to shift in our lives to make it so?

November 9, 2010

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

               

                This week marks the 4^th week of our “Celebrate Stewardship” congregational program. Although I haven’t said much about this here, it has been somewhat of a lens I have brought to my thoughts on Sunday. This week will be no different. We are also coming close to the end of the Christian year, this being the second to last Sunday. The lectionary takes none of this into account. Instead, as we near the end of the year, the lectionary has us contemplating thoughts of the end of things.

Background on this weeks readings:

Isaiah 65:17-25

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah+65:17-25&vnum=yes&version=nrsv

                The biblical text of Isaiah was likely written over about 150 years starting from before the exile in Babylon (700ish BCE), through the time of exile and into the time when the people of Israel returned in around 520 BCE. Scholars talk about three sections with three different corresponding voices within the text. Today’s reading is the latest part (Third Isaiah) written after the people had returned. It is hopeful  as it imagines God performing a great restorations of the fortunes of the people and a time of deep and lasting peace with the nation of Israel leading the way.

                Today we hear the oft-quoted section including “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, but the serpent, its food shall be dust.” This echoes an even more familiar section of Isaiah, chapter 11. I love the vision, although a practical side of me resonates with Woody Allen who once said, “It’s one thing for the lion and the lamb to lie down together. It’s another thing to get the lamb to stop shaking.” Still, a hopeful vision for a people trying to rebuild their lives and their nation.

2 Thessalonians 3 :6-13

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=2+Thessalonians+3:6-13&vnum=yes&version=nrsv

                Speaking of the practical side, in 2 Thessalonians we hear a very stern Paul talking to the practical realities of the church. The theological side of the question is, “If Jesus is coming back momentarily, then why do we have to weary ourselves with work? Sit back and relax. The end is coming. Yet, somebody has to do the dishes. Somebody has to put food on the table. I am guessing Paul got some complaints from those who were keeping things going on a practical level, that others were sitting back expecting it all to be over soon. Paul’s response: Yes, Christ is coming soon, but you also have to keep living in the meantime.     

Luke 21:5-19

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+21:5-19&vnum=yes&version=nrsv

                We have been following Luke’s version of the story of many weeks now and we are nearing the end. In this little section of Luke, referred to as “The Little Apocalypse,” Jesus is moving through the streets of Jerusalem predicting its ultimate end. Written as Luke was, after the fall of the second temple in 70 CE, the original readers of Luke would have found some comfort in these words based so thoroughly on Mark’s gospel (Mk. 24:1-3).

                The apocalyptic view of the world expects the end of the present age and the creation of a new world order in which the corrupt present rulers are overthrown and God takes charge. But once again, in practical terms, that process of the end of one age and the beginning of another is a messy one. When empires crumble, it is messy. Jesus’s words reflect this, and the faithful are called to hold on, bear witness to the good news and know that “by your endurance you will gain your souls.” When all hell breaks loose, it is not cleverness, creativity, popularity, strength, but endurance that matters.

Some thoughts

                I am not totally Trinitarian about things, but three themes emerge for me in these readings. First, I think about the interplay of a vision for life, and the practicalities in which we live. In Isaiah it was a glorious vision of peace, but like in Haggai last week, the reality was somewhat less than glorious. The temple just didn’t compare to the previous version. Crops were hard to grow after all this time. The people were not cohesive like they used to be. It was tough to hold on to the vision while bearing the realities. In the early church, you had the great hope of Christ’s return and the practical realities of living. And in the gospel reading, the foundations were shaking. How to hold on to hope in the midst of Roman rule.

                Which brings me to the foundation shaking that goes on in Isaiah, Thessalonians, and in Luke. Actually in today’s world. I believe we live in a time of huge foundation shaking. Institutions like the church are shaken to the core these days, but in a bigger way too. Global warming, the end of fossil fuel abundance, the ever growing disparity between rich and poor, the rise of the information economy, she shakiness of global capitalism among other things.  I heard one scholar say that Jesus did not try to bring down the Roman empire. He was all about trying to live faithfully in the midst and despite it. Maybe that is our task as foundations shake. Living faithfully while the foundations shake.

                Finally all three readings give the sense that the vision of God (peace, community, the Kingdom of God) has already come but is also not yet here, and we live with both realities. Here in Surrey, I see both the green shoots of inter-racial, inter-cultural community all around me and the joy of that reality. I also see gangs, drugs, poverty, homelessness, and racial and cultural divides that have yet to be bridged. The endurance Jesus calls for is both an endurance of vision (keep your eye on the prise) and a practical endurance (put one step in front of the other).

               

Starter questions:

1.       Am I right about the foundations shaking? Where do you see this?

2.       I am curious if my read on Jesus not taking aim at the Roman Empire is actually right, or whether I come to that after 47 years of not making headway against the empires of this world. Thoughts?

3.       Where is the crossing points of vision and practice in your life?

November 2, 2010

“Hope Behond History”

Background on this week’s readings:

Haggai 1:15(b)-2:9

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Haggai+1:15-+2:9&vnum=yes&version=nrsv

            After the time of exile in Babylon, and after the King of Babylon, Cyrus, allowed the Jewish people to return to their land, they returned. Cyrus had also encouraged them to re-build the temple, and following on the words of prophets like Isaiah, they had great hopes for a complete renewal.

            They returned, and their land, their capital, Jerusalem, and their nation were in ruins. The rebuilding did not go easily. It was hard work, and the results were not what they had dreamed. They was discouraged.

            To them, Haggai speaks a word of encouragement.

2Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=2+Thessalonians+2:1-17&vnum=yes&version=nrsv

            A main theme within of both first and second Thessalonians is the question, “why is it taking so long for Christ to return?” The early Christians believed that a new day was to dawn upon them with the return of Christ in which the present powers (namely Rome) and the religious underpinnings of it would be banished. This was expressed in a variety of ways, and in Thessalonians, it has an apocalyptic flavour. Christ will return after great suffering and a new just and peaceful day will begin.

            So the church was stuck in between. Christ had not yet returned but they believed it was imminent. So how do you live a “normal” life in the meantime? And why is it taking so long? Paul had explained that Christ would return and given then some tips on how to live in the meantime, but as time went on, they doubted, and they listened to others saying he had already returned and they had missed it. In this part of 2 Thessalonians, Paul reiterates his main point, Christ will return, and urges them to hold fast to this hope, and live well in the meantime.

Luke 20:27-38

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+20:27-38&vnum=yes&version=nrsv

            Over the last number of weeks we have been following Jesus as he makes his way toward Jerusalem, teaching and interacting with people along the way. Now he has arrived and is teaching in  the temple in Jerusalem- the religious, social and political centre of Jewish life and teaching. He has just driven the sellers and money changers out of the temple area and the religious and political leaders are looking for a way to dispose of him. The air is charged.

In today’s reading the Sadducees (pronounced “sad-you-sieze”) take a run at him around teachings of resurrection. They offer an absurd scenario about a woman whose husbands die successively seven times. The question they pose is “in the resurrection, whose wife is she.”

To be clear, the resurrection is not the same as the modern idea of the afterlife. In Jewish mythology, we live in the present age, and at some divinely appointed day, a new age would be ushered in, and the dead would be raised. As with the modern ideas of afterlife, not all Jews imagined this the same way, and the Sadducees didn’t believe in it at all. But clearly, they are trying to trip Jesus up. This is partly about the teachings around resurrection, which Jesus addresses. More importantly in Jesus’ mind, this is about who is in charge when we enter the mystery of life beyond this life. Here Jesus speaks clearly: “God is God not of the dead but of the living, and for God, they are all alive.”

Some thoughts

                My mind goes down two paths as I reflect on these readings together. Firstly, when things are not what we had hoped they would be, when “things just ain’t what they used to be, or ain’t what they ought to be”, where do we find strength, courage and hope. For the returning exiles, the glory days of the previous temple are clearly over and they don’t have the resources to rebuild to the same extent. The early Christians were hanging on hoping for Christ to return and a new age would dawn. But it was taking so long!

            Our neighbours to the south head to the polls today in mid-term elections and the great hopes that Obama would usher in a new day are flagging along with the economy. There is disappointment, sometimes bordering on disillusionment. Things ain’t what they used to be nor are they what they ought to be. These readings speak to this situation in life. What do they say to you?

            I also have in mind that Remembrance day is coming up and in church on Sunday we will remember those past and present who have offered, risked and given their lives so that their families, friends and nations could have a lasting peace. They went into the chaos and fear of battle trusting that it was for a greater cause. Along with their gear they were issued bibles. There is a sense in which they all knew that they faced uncertainty and they would be relying a greater help to get them through. When the foundations are shaking, when life is in the balance, where do you reach for something spiritually solid?

            I struggle with notions of an interventionist God, one who will swoop in and change my life arbitrarily, especially if I have asked for it. That feels like a Santa Claus notion of God. Yet I also believe God cares about what happens in life, in the course of history. God to me is both in history and beyond it, somehow.

               

Starter questions:

1.      Where have you found sources of strength when things have not worked out the way you had hoped? What has helped you to “stand firm and hold fast?”

2.      When the foundations are shaking, when life is in the balance, where do you reach for something spiritually solid?

3.      How do you make sense of a God who cares about life and the course of history when things are not unfolding in life-giving ways?