Twitter

____________________

LENTEN DEVOTIONALS

As part of our Lenten journey together as a church to Easter, we will be posting Lenten reflections and practices from a variety of sources.

To read a devotional, please click a link below.

____________________

Covenant

Welcome to Musings! As participants in the conversations on this blog, we covenant together that we will maintain a spirit of good will, of openness to each other, and of mutual respect in our discussions; that we will listen to each other and endeavor to understand each other, especially those whose views differ from ours; and that we will remember that we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

Why Musings?

  • The Musings Page will be a place to consider thought-provoking, evocative, sometimes polemical but not overtly political, writings, quotes, ideas, and poetry on the Christian life in all its facets: spiritual, religious, ethical, and practical.

Lagniappe

____________________

Musings

First Sunday in Advent November 27, 2011

posted on November 27, 2011 by Musings

First Sunday in Advent – As we wait for the coming of the one we call Lord

“And what I say to you, I say to all: Keep awake.”

Mark 13:37   (Read the full lectionary passage: Mark 13:24-37)

Advent is an odd time of year.

It is full of odd hymns, odd Bible passages, and odd expectations.

Right smack in the middle of KVKI’s Christmas Music Extravaganza, the holiday shopping list, and the fun of following family traditions come characters like John the Baptist and the visions of the prophet Isaiah and the hard-to-sing melody of “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.”

And most odd of all – even while we visualize the infant baby Jesus in his manger – is this talk about the second coming of Christ.

Yet it is the second coming for which we wait.

“He will come again to judge the quick and the dead…”  We say it every Sunday that we recite the Apostle’s Creed.  Jesus talked about the coming of the Son of Man continually in all the gospels.  In the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving during communion, we sing “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.”  The fancy theological name for it is “parousia,” from the Greek, meaning “personal presence.”

My guess is that we have ceded all the “second coming talk” to the folks we consider to be the religious crazies.  Our more rational, sophisticated brand of Christianity doesn’t deal with prediction about the end of the world, and we don’t succumb to fear-based tactics to communicate the Good News of the gospel.

But I have another guess, too.  That is: most of us have it pretty good in this life.  So good, in fact, that we don’t relish the idea of Jesus coming back and upending the things we have all learned to rely upon and leverage to our benefit.  Because however you slice it, the Second Coming means change.  The first will be last.  The last will be first.  The humble will be exalted.  The poor will be lifted up.

Odd, indeed.

So it is that you and I are called to use this time ahead of Christmas for preparation…and reflection…and in faithful repentance – as we wait for the coming of the one we call Lord.

Today’s reflection was written by Pen Peery, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Shreveport

Join the Conversation (No Comments)

Filed under: