Advent: Week 2

December 5 is the second Sunday of Advent. Lectionary readings:
Isaiah 11:1-10
Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19
Romans 15:4-13
Matthew 3:1-12
You can read them here.

Advent-ure

Pastor Bob

Bob Luhn commented recently that "Advent" is the first part of "adventure," which so beautifully describes this season.  A bit skeptical, I looked it up in an online dictionary to see if there really is a linguistic connection, or if it's more of a coincidence.  I like what I found there.

As it turns out, both words do originate from forms of the Latin advenire and its French relatives.  Adventure speaks of "what must happen," and its meaning has shifted some over the years to suggest risk/danger and "a novel or exciting incident."  This whole progression makes sense to me.  The future is always unknown, which carries with it a sense of risk.  We respond to risk quite naturally with a measure of excitement.

And Advent?  Advent is about the coming of Jesus.  God had been saying for years that the Messiah would come.  It was risky in many ways, but it was how He would save us from ourselves.  During this season of Advent, we wait with intention and faith, imaginatively pondering what it was like for God's people to wait those many years without knowing when the Messiah would come, or really even how he would appear.

There is something else here, too.  Though Christ did come two thousand years ago, Advent reminds us that we still wait for his return.  As God's people waited and did not know the details of Jesus' coming ahead of time, so too we wait with longing and hopeful expectancy for his Second Coming.

Advent is a time of adventure, waiting for what must happen, recognizing risk involved, and sensing the excitement of what will be.  Like any good adventure, I want to be sure I am fully alert and ready as the future comes.

-- Debi

One Candle, for Now

It doesn't happen very often, but I occasionally have the urge to assemble a jigsaw puzzle.  I like bringing order to a Big Box o' Disordered Pieces, and find that the process sometimes helps bring order to disordered thoughts, too.  Puzzles often come together in sections -- the sky, perhaps, or an animal, or a section of red flowers.  Finishing sections builds anticipation of the moment when the last piece is put in place.

We had a Hanging of the Greens service at church this evening.  The process of decorating was mixed with explanations of symbolism and songs related to meanings.  The part that most caught my attention on this particular day was about the Advent wreath:

"Something is happening, and something more is still to come."

This morning, Parker lit the first of five candles in the Advent wreath because today is the first Sunday of Advent.  That one burning candle represents light of God coming into our world.  It is a reminder that, in the midst of what often seems so ordinary, God is at work.  He always has been.  Though we may not always see it, something is happening.

As the one candle burned brightly, the other four remained dark and cool.  Those are a reminder of what is yet to be.  We don't usually know quite what it will look like or how it will unfold, but we can be confident that God is already in it, that He is faithful to bring about good.  Whatever the future holds, we know that something more is still to come.

The season of Advent is not just the Pre-Christmas Season.  It is its own time, traditionally marked by a sense of longing expectancy, of not yet experiencing fulfillment of promise but waiting for it with faith and hope.  I choose in this time to celebrate what I see already happening, and to wait patiently for what is still to come.

-- Debi

Advent: Week 1

November 28 is the first Sunday of Advent. Lectionary readings:
Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 122
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:36-44
You can read them here.

About Time

I have been pondering the concept of time today. We're coming up on the season of Advent, which marks the beginning of a different kind of year...

The "liturgical calendar" began in the early centuries of the Church, marking time and story particularly through the story of Jesus Christ. The rhythms and traditions of the seasons settle the Story more deeply in our souls, reminding us throughout of who God is, of who we are, and of who we can be.

I received an interesting calendar a few years ago. Rather than printing one calendar month on each page, it divides time by the liturgical seasons. It invites us to flex a bit with how we experience time. I am not planning to give up my electronic calendar anytime soon, but I do intend to focus more on the seasons this year than on the calendar months. Lectionary readings are listed, too. I am planning to use this as a reading (and writing) guide during the upcoming year, and invite others to join me in this.

In this time of transitions, I look back over the past year and forward toward the next. I wonder what will happen, and who we will become, and especially who we will become together.

-- Debi

Thanks-Giving

I was in a conversation recently with a grateful fellow. He detailed many reasons he was thankful, just from the previous day or two, and smiled, "What more could I want?" He thought about it a moment, then followed up with "Well, I need a new [major internal organ], but that'll work out okay." He pondered this a moment, then returned to expressing his gratitude.

It made me smile, and it made me think. How often am I distracted by the rather small things which sometimes inconvenience my life, and miss the many good things that come my way?

-- Debi

Altars and Monuments

In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border.  Isaiah 19:19

Life has a need for both altars and monuments - places to worship and to tell stories.  The problem comes when we get the two confused.   We must worship at the altar and tell stories at the monuments.

I have been very intentional lately about telling my son stories from when I was his age.  While I know these stories can be met with the rolled eyes that typically accompany "when I was your age" stories, He seems to be very interested in them.  I credit his interest to the fact that the stories haven't focused on me or any uphill walk to school (both ways).  I've made the stories focus on God and what he was doing in my life as an 8 year old.  Worship is a keystone for our family, but we must not forget to tells the stories of God's faithfulness.

- Joel