As we light the first candle on the Advent wreath and open the first window on the Advent calendar, we turn our focus to watching and waiting, expectancy and hope. As we await the coming of the Messiah, we remember that the season of Advent is not simply about readying ourselves for the observances of Christmas but about setting aside time to prepare our hearts and lives to receive the gift that comes to us in the stable. We open ourselves to see the light of the infant lying in the manger and embrace what it means to travel through life guided by the light that darkness cannot overcome. On this Advent journey, we invite you to join with us in using these devotions, written by members of our church family reflecting on the lectionary texts for Sundays, for a daily time of reflection and prayer, and we wish you all the blessings of this season, as together we sing, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

Luke 21.25-36

‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’

Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’

In this text it seems we are starting Advent with lots of chaos. How appropriate! The Christmas season itself can be pretty chaotic, the whole world seems to be a chaotic mess, our culture sure fits right in, even our own lives and relationships. Maybe Jesus is telling us not to get too distracted by all of the anxieties of life. All of these distractions can keep us from God. It seems so ironic to me that in the season of Advent, when the focus is on ‘turning toward God’, I am extra distracted by the very season itself!

Chaos has a lot of power. It’s easy to have a lot of fear. What can we trust in difficult times? The easy answer, of course, is God. The more difficult answer is to always align ourselves with all that is good, work for justice and peace in our own lives and the world, to look for God in all of life. That’s the kind of stuff that takes away fear, brings some order to the chaos and changes us and hopefully the world. Who knew chaos could bring hope?

Nothing says it better than my favorite few Bible verses. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.”

Prayer

God, walk with me in these days of chaos and busyness, that I might see the signs of your coming.  Help me to trust in you with all my heart.

–may the Spirit move through the words of Sally Weller

As we light the first candle on the Advent wreath and open the first window on the Advent calendar, we turn our focus to watching and waiting, expectancy and hope. As we await the coming of the Messiah, we remember that the season of Advent is not simply about readying ourselves for the observances of Christmas but about setting aside time to prepare our hearts and lives to receive the gift that comes to us in the stable. We open ourselves to see the light of the infant lying in the manger and embrace what it means to travel through life guided by the light that darkness cannot overcome. On this Advent journey, we invite you to join with us in using these devotions, written by members of our church family reflecting on the lectionary texts for Sundays, for a daily time of reflection and prayer, and we wish you all the blessings of this season, as together we sing, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

Jeremiah 33:14-16

The days are surely coming, says the Lord,

when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David;

and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.

And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

Promises, promises…we all make them, keep them, and break them.  During Sunday worship in Advent we will be reflecting on God’s promises—promises that are always fulfilled, never broken.  Advent is a time of waiting, a time of preparation, a time of reflection…and also a time of run-up to a major holiday event, with feasts and family and all the drama those entail…and also a time of constant bombardment to buy more, spend more, be more.

Into that tension comes the word of the Lord—a word that promises, a word that promises something new will come, a word that promises something new will come and bring justice and right relationship.   This promise of newness in the midst of the old, of life springing up where death reigned, of relationships made whole even as we have come to depend on the brokenness—this is the promise of Advent waiting.  If only we can see, God will continue to do a new thing, even a shocking thing!  That branch from the line of David was meant to be a warrior king, but God is always re-forming God’s people and so sent us a baby instead.  Righteousness is supposed to be something to work toward, a badge of honor one can earn, but God is always doing surprising things and so has brought right-relationship into our midst, given it freely, and told us we can’t earn it, only live into it…relationship with a person, with The One who not only shows the way but IS the way.

This promise is true, and God’s word can be trusted.  In this season of Advent, let us wait and watch and work together to see what God is doing in our midst even now.

Prayer

God of promise, your word comes in places I least expect it.  Help me to be open to your movement in my life this Advent season.  Amen.

–may the Spirit move through the words of Rev. Teri Peterson

…will we be part of the Advent Conspiracy this year?  It’s up to us.  (learn more at adventconspiracy.org)

does God hate?

We spent quite a bit of time on this question of whether God, who is love, is capable of hate. 

We covered all the usual cliches, (which are cliche for a reason!) such as “hate the sin, love the sinner.”  We talked about how human hate is almost always grounded in fear (acknowledged or unacknowledged) and that 1 John 4 says, right after saying God is love, that “perfect love casts out fear.”

So…hate is grounded in fear, perfect love casts out fear, and God is love.  It would seem that hate is not part of God’s makeup!

But then what to do with all these scripture passages?

Deut. 12.31: You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

Deut. 16.21-22  Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the LORD your God, and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the LORD your God hates.

Psalm 5.5  The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.

Psalm 11.5  The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates.

Proverbs 6.16-19  There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

Isaiah 1.14 Your festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

Isaiah 61.8 For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity.

Amos 5.21 I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.

Zechariah 8.17 do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the LORD.

Malachi 2.16 I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel, “and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,” says the LORD Almighty.

Those are all the instances in a quick search for “hate” that turned up where God does the hating.  There are 118 more that are about people hating each other, hating God, etc.  Using just these passages, “hate the sin, love the sinner” doesn’t seem to completely apply either.  Yes, God appears to hate actions that hurt others and that worship other gods, but the psalmist suggests that God hates the people who do hurt also.  And then there are the “I hate your festivals” which are usually followed up with some variation of “this people honors me with their lips but their hearts are far from me” and then a catalog of social injustices perpetuated even while festivals/sacrifice continue.

So…does God hate?  Can God hate?  Is it possible for perfect love to hate?

It would be hard to argue that God has fear, not only because perfect love casts out fear but also because of the question: of what would God have cause to be afraid?  And we have to acknowledge that, though it doesn’t often happen this way in humans, it is possible for hate to not be rooted in fear.  So there could be hate, it seems.  (we don’t want to go making God in our own image, after all–so it is conceivable that God could hate without fear….and equally conceivable that God doesn’t hate, or that God hates things we would never think of hating.  Anne Lamott says we know we’ve made God in our own image when God hates all the same people we do.)

A new problem:  none of these reference are New Testament.  There’s not a single instance of Jesus or Paul using a word that gets translated as “hate” when applied to God.  There’s plenty of hate going on, as in “the world hates you, but it hated me first” and “no one can serve two masters–he will either hate the one and love the other…” but no instances of God hating anything.  It also does not appear that Jesus hated–he got angry, sure, he was disappointed, sure, he was frustrated or upset or even anxious, but there was no hate.  Even at the last, on the cross, no hate–only forgiveness and compassion.  Since, as Christians, the first place we are to look when we want to know what God is like is to Christ, this seems significant.  God chose to reveal Godself to us in Jesus, and what we see there is love and compassion overcoming hate and fear and death.

So…I’ve not answered a single question, I’m sure.  But what do you think?  Does God hate?  What does God hate?  Who?  Why?  And what does that mean for us?

photo by fr@ns, from flickr

We did it, friends!  Tonight, we discuss the end of the canon, over cake of course.  And to celebrate, here are photos of many of the places we’ve read about…enjoy!

Our focus for October 12 is Philippians 4.1-9:

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

In the Lectionary Study Group (which still meets each Tuesday at noon!) we discussed the idea that it’s difficult to rejoice always, because we tend to be dwelling on (obsessing about?) the past and looking forward to the future, but rejoicing is something we do NOW.  We then thought that perhaps being in the present (instead of dwelling on things we can’t change in either the past or the future) is the key to the peace that passes all understanding.  This also made me think of my time in Egypt, where people add “insha’allah” (God willing) to everything they say–they say “see you tomorrow, insha’allah” and “we can meet on Monday morning at 10, insha’allah”…etc.  It used to drive me crazy, but at the same time I think it might be a helpful reminder that we are not in control of the future, only what we do right now.  And knowing that, we can be at peace and rejoice.  (TCP)

October 5 is World Communion Sunday.  We will hear from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 55:

Ho, everyone who thirsts,
   come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
   come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
   without money and without price. 
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
   and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
   and delight yourselves in rich food. 
Incline your ear, and come to me;
   listen, so that you may live.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
   my steadfast, sure love for David. 
See, I made him a witness to the peoples,
   a leader and commander for the peoples. 
See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
   and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,
   for he has glorified you. 

Seek the Lord while he may be found,
   call upon him while he is near; 
let the wicked forsake their way,
   and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
   and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
   and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
   giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
   it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
   and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 

For you shall go out in joy,
   and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
   shall burst into song,
   and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
   instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
   for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. 

On this day when we look out at the whole body of Christ, which spans both geography and time, we remember that even strangers are welcome at God’s table and that God’s vision for the world may not look like ours but is the better, more excellent way.

In September we will be focusing on the theme of being formed as God’s people, being made into a community in God’s image, and what that means.  This will encompass how God’s people live together, what community means, learning to rely on God and God’s provision, and much more.  The texts for those days are below.

September 7:  exodus 20.1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Then God spoke all these words:

 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work.

 Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

 You shall not murder.

 You shall not commit adultery.

 You shall not steal.

 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

September 14:  exodus 15.1b-11, 20-21

BiND:  Day 75

Today we cross a strange line in our reading.  We finish Luke’s gospel, but instead of going directly to its sequel (Acts), we hop over into John, whose writing and focus and context are very different. 

In the end of Luke we see Jesus again as very human, showing emotions such as sadness, anxiety, and compassion.  We also hear him say, in the face of violence, “no more!”  And then, after the resurrection, we read the stories that in many ways characterize the church today, especially the Emmaus Road story.  The disciples don’t know what’s just happened, and they don’t recognize Jesus when he comes to walk beside them, but at the table they get just a little glimpse before he’s gone—and that glimpse is enough for them to rush back and testify to what they have seen and heard.  Isn’t that just how we are?  We don’t always recognize Jesus even when he’s walking alongside us, but at the communion table we get a glimpse of Christ and of the kingdom of God, and that little taste is enough to empower us to share the story. 

And then we turn the page and find ourselves reading John.  Again, “John” is a name that was attached later to an anonymous writing, and tradition holds to be the name of the “beloved disciple” who is mentioned a couple of times (though never named, and always written about in the third person).  Just as Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote from and to their own contexts, so does John.  We talked about sources:  the vast majority of scholars agree that Mark was written first, then used as a source by both Matthew and Luke, along with a source scholars call “Q”—material found in both Matthew and Luke but not Mark (implying that there must have been a document or a body of work from which they could both draw, since they are often word-for-word the same).  Then both Matthew and Luke had their own sources as well, generally called “M” and “L” (how original).  John, however, is different.  He does not appear to have had any of these sources, and his writing about Jesus overlaps very little with the synoptic gospels.  (synoptic comes from two Greek words that mean “seeing together.”)  So John reads very differently from the first three, and he portrays Jesus differently as well.  John is concerned with refuting Gnosticism (the idea that special secret knowledge is the key to salvation), though in the process he often sounds like a Gnostic himself.  He writes mainly theology, not history.  He presents a Jesus who works few miracles and tells few parables, but spends a lot of time in extended theological discourse.  John is also the most “greek” of the gospel writers—his language use is easy to understand yet sophisticated, his writing style is similar to that of the greek philosophers, and he is pretty clearly writing in the late 1^st century to a community of probably mostly gentile Christians.  He also presents a very high “Christology”—understanding of Jesus—which is primarily about Jesus’ divinity, whereas we saw, for instance, in Mark, a lot of humanity.  This is one of the reasons having all four gospels, all four portraits of Jesus, is important:  we get a balance, a variety of perspectives and vantage points, a variety of understandings, all of which capture part of the story but, because God can’t be captured in words, not all of it.  There are other gospels, mostly written much later, that didn’t make the canonical cut—if you’re interested in reading some, I have a collection in my office, so just ask!

John opens with a beautiful rhetorical move that is beloved by many:  “in the beginning was the Word”—the logos, the divine word/logic.  God’s logic has come into the world.  God’s Word (with a Capital W), has been made flesh.  In the beginning of Genesis, we see God creating with a word, and now the Word is living among us, re-creating.  It’s one of the most beautiful expressions of who Jesus is that we have in our tradition.

You may have noticed that one of the first things Jesus does is have a Temple Tantrum—right at the beginning of his ministry.  In John, Jesus is out and about for three years, whereas in the synoptic gospels he’s out for just one year.  So we have a clue about how John views Jesus, right in the opening pages.  In the other three gospels, the Temple tantrum is the last straw that leads to Jesus’ arrest.  In John, though, it’s just the beginning—an announcement of who he is and what he’s come to do.  (Important note:  Throughout John the phrase “the Jews” comes up over and over.  This has often been used to create and foster anti-semitism, and it’s important to remember that Jesus and his followers were all Jews.  “the Jewish religious leaders” is a better translation in the context of the greek and the socio-political-religious situation of the day.) 

What else did you notice as you finished Luke and started on John today?

photos are:  a 2000+ year old olive tree in the garden of Gethsemane; some friends standing in the “Upper Room” in Jerusalem, wondering if Jesus and the disciples really celebrated Passover in a neo-gothic room built of cement on the second floor of a large building; a page of John from the Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest known manuscript of the Bible–this page is the only one remaining at St. Katherine’s monastery at Mt. Sinai (for which the codex is named) because the others have been taken by the British Museum and promised back but never returned; and a scale model of the Temple, part of a scale model of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus, just outside the Jerusalem city limits.

Friends, I love being in class with you all.  I may have played Buffy Quote Hangman during New Testament Survey in seminary (I read, and I listened…I just also multitasked) but you all keep me thinking and engaged and I love it!  Thank you for being such interesting and engaging people, willing to grapple with tough issues and to be vulnerable about what you think, feel, and believe.  It’s not easy to put out there some of the stuff we talk about, but you do it.  Thanks.

(I loved class tonight, can you tell?  I’m definitely in the midst of an adrenaline rush right now!!)

Jerusalem on the 3rd century mosaic map of the holy land at St. George’s church in Madaba, Jordan (famous for mosaics!).  Notice the Greco-Roman style colonnade down the center–a perfectly straight street running through the city.  cool!  photo by TCP