Who can forget the old Coke commercial with all those children holding lighted candles and singing their desire for perfect harmony throughtout the world?
How many of us have seen those streetside memorials to a victim of crime with teddy bears and candles for remembering?
Who wouldn't like to participate in a candlelit dinner for two with a beloved one?
Candles are universal ways to mark significant times - times of celebration, times of remembrance, times of deep emotion.
So clearly Christians didn't invent the idea of candles to mark time, in particular, the time of Advent. But they are effective tools for us to remember and hope while we wait and watch for the coming of Jesus.
Candles offer to us the opportunity to use this familiar part of our faith life to build even stronger faith bonds within families, between couples, maybe even for folks who are unknown.
We are singing Light one candle to watch for Messiah as we light the Advent wreath.....and I would suggest that you do just that. Light a candle and watch.
Create a space in time once a week and a space in your home for a simple ritual of lighting a candle and looking for God to come into your life. Call this 'sabbath' time; call it a new holiday tradition but do it. Make it up as you go along - but take the time that is given to us in Advent to pause and think and maybe even talk about what the coming of God in Jesus means to you. Help your children talk about God too.
Share how you have seen God active in the world - your world - your work - your family - even during a shopping trip. Share acts of kindness and forgiveness that you have witnessed. Share acts of charity and generosity that you know of. Share the story of the guy who let someone get in front of him in line!
And keep watching for ways in which God keeps breaking out and breaking into our world during this time of waiting and watching......and while you are at it, light a candle - all together as a family.
peace
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Guess who's coming to dinner?
John the Baptist!
He always shows up at Advent, the time of waiting and watching, preparing for the coming.....of what? End times? The birth of Jesus? Is it possible that John the Baptist is proclaiming the coming of both of these things at the same time?
Standing in the wilderness (for Israel, the wilderness is a fertile place - a place of relationship building with YHWH) John tells us that one is coming. For the writer of Mark, it is important to recognize John as Elijah returned to earth. Notice all the detail about how John is dressed - that old prophet costume is intended to bring Elijah back to mind. There is a teaching in the Old Testament that Elijah will return to announce and prepare the way of the coming Messiah (God's anointed one).
So now we have "Elijah" John out in the wilderness proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. Which coming? I think the answer is "both". That might not have been the answer in 1 AD when John was out there in his crazy costume - but I believe for us today - John is holding us in that critical time between the birth and the second coming.
But then I am not talking about chronological time, I'm talking about God time, Spirit time, faith time. Coming to terms with the birth of Jesus (God in the flesh, a baby who could have picked up diptheria, a crucified Messiah) is an every day - or maybe every other month event. What does the birth of Jesus mean to me today? in this situation? at this juncture in my life? Do I really believe this? How much?
At the same time, we are challenged to embrace the future of God - (a changed world, a new kingdom, a coming of glory, a time of justice) and where we might fit into all that. Where do our loved ones, now departed, fit into all that? What could it mean for how I live my life? Will it hurt when it all comes into being? (the Bible's answer to that question is Yes). Do I really trust in this vision?
So every Advent John shows up to help us re-orient our lives, our thinking, our doing. And he comes right in the midst of the craziest time in American society - the run up to Christmas. This is exactly why I continually suggest that families deliberately take time to slow down and focus on the Jesus message that comes to us in Christmas.
but that will be my next post.
peace
He always shows up at Advent, the time of waiting and watching, preparing for the coming.....of what? End times? The birth of Jesus? Is it possible that John the Baptist is proclaiming the coming of both of these things at the same time?
Standing in the wilderness (for Israel, the wilderness is a fertile place - a place of relationship building with YHWH) John tells us that one is coming. For the writer of Mark, it is important to recognize John as Elijah returned to earth. Notice all the detail about how John is dressed - that old prophet costume is intended to bring Elijah back to mind. There is a teaching in the Old Testament that Elijah will return to announce and prepare the way of the coming Messiah (God's anointed one).
So now we have "Elijah" John out in the wilderness proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. Which coming? I think the answer is "both". That might not have been the answer in 1 AD when John was out there in his crazy costume - but I believe for us today - John is holding us in that critical time between the birth and the second coming.
But then I am not talking about chronological time, I'm talking about God time, Spirit time, faith time. Coming to terms with the birth of Jesus (God in the flesh, a baby who could have picked up diptheria, a crucified Messiah) is an every day - or maybe every other month event. What does the birth of Jesus mean to me today? in this situation? at this juncture in my life? Do I really believe this? How much?
At the same time, we are challenged to embrace the future of God - (a changed world, a new kingdom, a coming of glory, a time of justice) and where we might fit into all that. Where do our loved ones, now departed, fit into all that? What could it mean for how I live my life? Will it hurt when it all comes into being? (the Bible's answer to that question is Yes). Do I really trust in this vision?
So every Advent John shows up to help us re-orient our lives, our thinking, our doing. And he comes right in the midst of the craziest time in American society - the run up to Christmas. This is exactly why I continually suggest that families deliberately take time to slow down and focus on the Jesus message that comes to us in Christmas.
but that will be my next post.
peace
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
End times......what do we do with this?
Life has been a little hectic for me these past months. I can't believe it's been 3 months since I posted on this blog, but I think that many of you who take the time to read it understand the 'hectic' issue.
Because of the planning that is needed in my job, I am caught between the rich gift of Advent contemplation (to come) and the craziness of End Times pentecost (the present). My life feels much that way as well.
I long for the quiet of an evening with candles burning and no one, absolutely no one, expecting my attention. Time for reading a book, sorting through the papers that seem to multiply on my desk, cooking up some soup or baking some cookies. Time that isn't crammed full.
The truth, however, is that life looks much more like the End Times that we are hearing so much about in the lessons these weeks. Jesus points us to a time of accountability - and with it there are pictures of skies ripping in two and fire coming down from heaven and well, general chaos. For two more weeks we will be hearing about this time when Jesus comes again - in glory and in judgment, and 'what we have known' will be no more.
I think we have 3 general responses to these scriptures. #1 we ignore them (because they are fantasy, or ridiculous or impossible) #2 we are frightened of them (because we don't measure up, because we don't know what Jesus/God expects of us, because we have read too many Tim LaHaye novels) #3 we get smug (because we are the chosen, the experts, and all those others are going to get theirs).
Here is another possibility. What if, in order to get to that place of quiet contemplation, of pleasures for all the senses and a sense of well-being or shalom.....that we will need to go through the end times first. First the chaos, turning upside down all that we know and then the glory ......giving us a new life in Christ.
What if this turning upside down chaos was not just ONE moment in time, but a whole series of moments, calling us again and again to true life and light in Jesus? What if the End Times were a portion of every time - which, of course, implies that Living in the Glorious Light of Jesus Christ can be a portion of every time as well.
May God help us find our way through the chaos and into the light. AMEN
Because of the planning that is needed in my job, I am caught between the rich gift of Advent contemplation (to come) and the craziness of End Times pentecost (the present). My life feels much that way as well.
I long for the quiet of an evening with candles burning and no one, absolutely no one, expecting my attention. Time for reading a book, sorting through the papers that seem to multiply on my desk, cooking up some soup or baking some cookies. Time that isn't crammed full.
The truth, however, is that life looks much more like the End Times that we are hearing so much about in the lessons these weeks. Jesus points us to a time of accountability - and with it there are pictures of skies ripping in two and fire coming down from heaven and well, general chaos. For two more weeks we will be hearing about this time when Jesus comes again - in glory and in judgment, and 'what we have known' will be no more.
I think we have 3 general responses to these scriptures. #1 we ignore them (because they are fantasy, or ridiculous or impossible) #2 we are frightened of them (because we don't measure up, because we don't know what Jesus/God expects of us, because we have read too many Tim LaHaye novels) #3 we get smug (because we are the chosen, the experts, and all those others are going to get theirs).
Here is another possibility. What if, in order to get to that place of quiet contemplation, of pleasures for all the senses and a sense of well-being or shalom.....that we will need to go through the end times first. First the chaos, turning upside down all that we know and then the glory ......giving us a new life in Christ.
What if this turning upside down chaos was not just ONE moment in time, but a whole series of moments, calling us again and again to true life and light in Jesus? What if the End Times were a portion of every time - which, of course, implies that Living in the Glorious Light of Jesus Christ can be a portion of every time as well.
May God help us find our way through the chaos and into the light. AMEN
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