New Testament Reading for First Sunday in Advent 2018
Jeremiah 33:14-16; i Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36
Advent 1C
The days are surely coming when struggling with texts most the heavens and world shaking, the sun going dark and stars losing their light cannot be avoided.
Jill Duffield's lectionary reflections are sent to the Outlook's e-mail listing every Monday.
Even as the Christmas lights get up in stores and on homes, we who worship Jesus must talk almost the foreboding darkness constitute in apocalyptic texts appointed for Advent. People will faint from fear, Luke tells u.s.a..
What, really, is the point of this genre of biblical literature? What should these texts describing the end of all things evoke in people of faith? Should we faint with fear or heighten our heads pending the redemption that is most? Luke's Gospel (along with the others) instructs us to be awake, be alarm, be on guard. Our opinion not one of fright, but attentive watchfulness, heightened awareness, prepared readiness to see and run across the Lord.
A cursory read of Jeremiah and 1 Thessalonians and Luke for this first Dominicus of Advent left me scratching my head, equally eschatological passages frequently practise. Roaring seas, nations confused, the Son of Man coming in a cloud. Powers of heaven and earth volition be shaken. Pray to have the strength to escape these things. I kept coming dorsum to the question: Why practise gimmicky Christians demand to hear these stories?
I read once again with that very question in mind. No, with an even more than specific question in mind: Why practise I need to hear these stories?
Through that lens a few things emerged. Kickoff from Jeremiah. The days that surely are coming when God will fulfill the hope. A righteous branch will bound upward for David. Justice and righteousness will exist executed in the state. Judah volition be saved, Jerusalem will live in condom. Equally if in assuming the words righteousness, justice andsafetysprang from the folio of my study Bible.
Then i Thessalonians, that oldest book in the New Testament, so pastoral and practical. How can we thank God plenty for you, for the joy we feel because of you? We pray earnestly to encounter you face to face. May God direct you, may you increase and abound in dearest, strengthen your hearts in holiness, so that you may exist blameless before God and when Christ comes. Gratitude and joy, love and holiness. Bonds of Christian community recognized as precious and life giving. No fear or foreboding here, just hope for reunion with God and one some other.
Finally, Luke in three parts this week: the detailing of signs of Jesus' return, the parable of the fig tree and the exhortation to be watchful for the Son of Human'southward coming. What do I demand to hear here? What exercise those in the midst of our tumultuous world or personal confusion demand to hear? That redemption draws near. That new life is coming — tin't you see the leaves outset to sally from that oh-so-dead-looking fig tree? That righteous branch is growing. God's glorious, merely dominion that brings conservancy and safety is on the horizon. Do not lose eye, practice not get lost in distractions, practise not numb yourselves or believe the falsehood that this is a mean and nasty world. All that God created and called good will non exist abandoned.
What practice I need to hear from Jeremiah, Paul and the Gospel of Luke? I need a word of hope. I need faith, that assurance of things not nonetheless seen. I need to hear of justice and condom, love and joy, new life and the nearness of God to bolster my faith. I practise non hear fright and foreboding, so much as a longing for reunion between God and all creation. Upon closer reading, these texts engender non trembling in the confront of devastation, but excitement at hope of glorious new life in restored, reconciled community.
Jürgen Moltmann, in his volume, "The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology," writes that Christian eschatology is not about "the end." He says, "On the contrary, what information technology is about is the new creation of all things." He goes on to note, "What information technology is I practise not know, butI have conviction that the new beginning will observe me and heighten me upward."
Christian eschatology, Moltmann reminds united states of america is nearly hope in God: "God's glory … the new creation of the earth … the history of human beings in the world … the resurrection and eternal life of man people."
This Appearance, 2018, I demand to hear stories about hope in God for all things and all people and all cosmos. This Advent I invite you to share stories of hope in God, evident in modest acts of kindness, elementary examples of homo connection, slivers of reconciliation among people and nations, tiny hints of dark-green sprouting from branches that stand for justice, righteousness, safety, salvation, joy and beloved.
On ballot nighttime last month, I was flying home and waiting for my connecting flying in the bustling Atlanta airport. I sat alone eating my dinner, watching pundits predict outcomes, seeing the "breaking news" banner when polls airtight. I looked forward to existence obliviously in the air when definitive numbers were appear. I wondered if my promise for a less politically divided life together bordered on delusional. Backside me saturday a woman working on her laptop. A young man in a janitor's uniform came to empty the trash can adjacent to the woman'due south tabular array. She struck upwards a conversation with him. Her accent revealed her home earlier she told him she was from Minnesota. She asked him if he was in school. No. He had to work. He had a son on the way. "How heady," she exclaimed. "Y'all accept no idea how much your heart volition aggrandize." She had an 18-calendar month-one-time at home, she said. They chatted and somewhen she got the beau's proper noun and address and then that she could ship him baby clothes her son had outgrown. "Nothing fancy," she said. "Just good for every day." He thanked her, told her to have a prophylactic flight. She wished him well. They went dorsum to their respective work.
I got upwardly to go to my gate but not earlier stopping to thank the lady with the thick Minnesota emphasis. I told her I was moved by her kindness. She said, "Nosotros need to exist kind to each other." As the "breaking news" boomed near carmine and blue races, I agreed. Neither globe nor heaven shook, nothing went dark, just that small substitution brought about a seismic shift in my mental attitude. Their shared humanity over impending new life bolstered my faith, and gave a glimpse of dear and unity that is too ofttimes unseen. It gave me hope that redemption isn't every bit far away as I feared.
This week:
- When you read these texts, what feelings do they evoke in you?
- Why do you demand to hear stories of the coming Son of Man?
- How are y'all keeping awake and alert? What signs are you looking for or do you encounter that God's kingdom is present and coming?
- Who practise you long to come across face to face? Are there people you lot want to be reunited with this Advent?
- When heaven and world are shaken, what remains steadfast and unchanging?
- Where practise you lot come across leaves sprouting from fig trees? How tin can y'all encourage their growth?
Source: https://pres-outlook.org/2018/11/1st-sunday-of-advent-december-2-2018/
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