Edgy Advent

Here we are again at the edge of Advent.  Like a power point on loop or your favorite song or album on repeat, the story of the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth is beginning.  Again.  Decorations go up and come down.  There is a parable or two, a beatitude, a great commandment, a meal.  Hope races toward Good Friday and a garden where there is an open tomb when Christ is proclaimed.  Rather than epiphany, Jesus’ story can become background noise that is sentimental, but not transformative.  Maintenance medication for the symptoms of all kinds of “isms” that will not go away no matter the execution of the cure.

Tense, nervous, irritable, unable to relax all describe what it means to be “on edge.”(1)

On edge.  That describes my observation this year of our culture, our body politic, my neighborhood, the world, and my brand of Christian witness, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  I don’t think your politics, theological, or ideological perspective matter.  Little has felt “normal” and maybe that is not a bad thing.

I am re-reading Borg and Crossan’s, The First Christmas.  This quote has captured my attention.

The imperial kingdom of Rome — and this may indeed apply to any other empire as well— had as its program peace through victory.  The eschatological kingdom of God has as its program peace through justice.  Both intend peace — one by violence, the other by nonviolence.  And still those tectonic plates grind against one another.(2)

I’ve been thinking that Advent is a bridge of some kind that spans a chasm from one kind of living to another kind of neighborliness, compassion or grace.  You no doubt have better words that describe what the other side of Christmas is or is like.  For me, Advent has become a bridge conceptual understanding of the great commandment (or Golden Rule) to a practice equipped for a diverse, pluralistic and simulcast connected/disconnected 21st century.

I know you will, as best you can, actively travel through Advent, winter Solstice, and the shopping season to go and see this thing which God has made known to you.  I trust you are surprised by the Messiah that is birthed in your life.

Me?  I need a daring, provocative, or trend setting “edgy” Advent experience of hope, peace, joy, and love this year.(3) 

That’s the character of Jesus I read about in the gospel narratives and the good news of God that Jesus proclaimed.

 

 

Notes

  1. on edge. (n.d.) Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. (2015). Retrieved November 30 2017 from https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/on+edge

  2. Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Birth. HarperOne (New York) 2007. p 69-70.

  3. edgy. (n.d.) American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. (2011). Retrieved November 30 2017 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/edgy

 

 

, 12/01/2017. Category: Culture, Michael D, Theological Rant.

Simple Table Prayer

We pause, O God, to pray for those with no place to be, no meal to share, and no family to hug.
 
We pause to celebrate blessings and recognize new chapters of our lives.  
We pause to remember family stories, to give thanks for time together and for a table of abundance.
 
When tomorrow comes, give us opportunities to be a blessing to those that wander into our lives so that your light, your love and grace will be more present in the world through us.  Amen.

One of the things I get asked to do is pray.  Though all are capable, it’s kind of a minister’s thing.  I’ve prayed at hospital bedsides for the healing of life and death.  I’ve prayed at weddings, funerals, and other life ceremonies.  Sunday morning worship is filled with different kinds of prayer, styles really, based on the moment: invocation or pastoral prayer.  A few times I’ve offered prayer for people sitting next to me on the plane at the end of a conversation that begins, “What do you do for a living?”

I’ve ‘said the blessing’ for meals at many different tables: fellowship dinners, small gatherings and family gatherings.  It’s this last, family gatherings, that has been most difficult for me for a long time. Difficult? That quivering lip, voice altered trying not to weep emotion that bubbles up from somewhere just when I’m supposed to be doing the most natural thing that people in my vocation do.  I’m not entirely sure why the moment becomes awkward to manage.  Maybe the passage of time has worked on me in mysterious ways.  This year, though, I know it is a gratitude and a fear.  One of my parents had quadruple bypass during the summer.  It was unexpected.  It was a blessing that the blockages were discovered before a heart attack happened.  I am certain the emotion I experienced this day was that of gratitude that my parent was part of the circle today. I am certain the emotion I experienced was a fear of what I accept.  Death is part of the life cycle of mortals.  Grief, like joy, is experienced by all human beings in unexpected places and ways.  So, today I offered the prayer above as clearly as I could as my companion did her best to assure and distract.  My gratitude for her presence in my life can no longer be adequately articulated with the written or spoken word.

, 11/24/2017. Category: Michael D.
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