First Thursday, Friday, Saturday of Advent (2014 Year B)

I missed the daily preparatory readings for this Sunday, so I am reading them now.

Thursday's Readings
Friday's Readings
Saturday's Readings

So, honestly, as someone raised UU, I can't see most of these readings as anything but anger and looking for revenge. In fact, they make Saturday's readings about false prophets ring particularly loudly. If the end of our faith is hatred or death for those who are not of it or do us wrong, we will have a never ending cycle of violence. This is not in line with the received teachings of Jesus.

I guess in summary, we should be very cautious when someone tells us they are speaking for God. Also, anger is okay, though I don't think we should always act on it. Maybe praying for God to dispense the revenge we want is one way of stepping back so we act in a more useful way.

First Tuesday of Advent (2014 Year B)

Today's Readings

Somewhere this morning (before I'd had enough caffeine to realize I should mark it) I saw a comment that Advent is a time for Christians to focus on justice and waiting for Divine Justice. I am a great believer in the "God helps those who help themselves" school of thought. I am also not a believer at all in the definition of justice described in today's readings where "justice" means killing, punishing or otherwise damaging those who have hurt you. It is certainly tempting (and my first gut reaction in many cases), but it just tends to lead to escalation.

First Monday of Advent (2014 Year B)

Today's Readings  (Ooooh! I finally found an example and place where you can just take the books and verses you want and make a url!)

The heading for the Micah reading I have is listed as "Peace and Security through Obedience" which I find ironic, because I don't really see where the obedience comes in as much as a prediction that God will come in and make optimal decisions for the people of the book. I don't think "obedience" or respectability politics have worked for anyone anywhere long term. (Although short term they can be useful by putting people off guard.) This is the discussion we are having right now on a national level, particularly with regard to all the young black children (mostly) being shot for nothing or almost nothing. And about the behaviour of the #Ferguson protesters. The excuses that I've heard over and over when the scriptures tell us to love our neighbor and turn the other cheek and not to judge.

Also, this section of Micah has the overused "Swords into plowshares" line. Everyone seems to forget Joel 3:10

Beat your plowshares into swords,
    and your pruning hooks into spears;
    let the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”

 Sure we'd all love to see an end to war, but we have to remember that there is a time to fight too.

Advent 2014

Obviously, I post on this blog very irregularly and when I do it tends to be during advent. I think this is probably more out of an idea of beginning at the beginning (Advent being the beginning of the church year), rather than Advent itself - although Advent is a good story, nice and safe and happy with the donkey and the barn and the sheep and the angels.

Sheep!!!

As Christians we talk about Advent as being a season of waiting - waiting for the birth of christ, waiting for the second coming, waiting for the fun of Christmas (Ok, I don't think the later is actually approved theology.) I'm not entirely sure I buy into Advent as a season of waiting - preparing maybe is better in line with my beliefs. And I'm way more interested in Jesus as an adult than celebrating his birth or waiting for him to return (if he will or hasn't already.) That said, I am in a period of waiting right now. I'm waiting to see if the current medication dosage makes me better (actually, I think we figured out it doesn't), waiting to see what my doctor's next plan is, waiting because I'm really not well enough to do much else, waiting for the one or two activities a week I can really engage in and enjoy.  Yesterday I wondered, what would it mean to me if I engaged with the daily lectionary every day for Advent. (Engage = force myself to do more than skim over it in a haze, although some days a mental haze is as good as it gets.) Technically, I've already missed a few days, as the lectionary week starts on Thursday, but shrug. So I'm going to try, even if that means no more than posting a verse that seems important or meaningful to me every day.

First Sunday of Advent 2014 (Year B)

More important than anything I have to say about this Sunday is Austin Channing's No. Read that if you read anything.

The verse that stuck out to me from this week's readings was
Isaiah 64:6:

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

I always like reminders that we are all imperfect (because of course, we are all imperfect), but this seems particularly important on a day when I heard of pulpits preaching that Mike Brown's death was due to his sin. Who hasn't? (Presumably these sermons are an attempt to accept or justify the lack of a grand jury indictment for Darren Wilson.)

Isaiah goes on to ask the lord to remember and forgive us. Remember that we are weak and forgive us for our weaknesses. He doesn't say, oh, forget what we did and forgive us. I think there is an implication for restorative justice there that I can't pinpoint. But noting and paying attention is important too, which perhaps is why this week's readings end with Mark's exonerations to keep paying attention.

Second Sunday of Advent - Year C

This week's Lectionary readings are:

• Baruch 5:1-9 or Malachi 3:1-4
• Luke 1:68-79
• Philippians 1:3-11
• Luke 3:1-6

I find these readings to be much less troubling than last week's. The idea of being forgiven and going forward in righteousness and peace is wonderful. The idea that love should lead us to learn to be (and act) more righteous, again, wonderful. I will say that I am generally of the "God helps them who help themselves school", but I do believe that when it comes to saving us from our enemies, we should let God help us and not take things into our own hands past the point of resistance. One of the biggest things that leads me away from faith is what other people do in the name of faith - wars, genocide, etc.
Image Source:
Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55233 [retrieved December 9, 2012].

First Sunday of Advent - Year C

This week's Lectionary readings are:

• Jeremiah 33:14-16
• Psalm 25:1-10
• 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
• Luke 21:25-36

This week marks the beginning of Advent and the beginning of a new Christian / Lectionary Year. This year's readings focus on the Gospel of Luke.
Advent is styled as a time of waiting, but not waiting for the birth of Jesus, rather waiting for the return of Jesus. Personally, I find most focus on the idea of the Second Coming to be problematic. To me, the really amazing thing about Jesus is how he lived his life, feeding the hungry, comforting the sick, etc; not the fact that at some unknown time in the future ("no one knows the day or the hour" - Matthew 24:36) he will return. Now, admittedly, if we are following his example, we would be ready for that return, but that isn't usually the focus.
This week's reading from Luke, is a perfect example of what I find problematic - a focus on the signs. And I particularly dislike the people who think they can control the Second Coming by making the things mentioned as signs happen - that way leads to nothing but behavior Jesus would disapprove of - war, killing, etc.
Photo Credit: Piper, John, 1903-1992; Reyntiens, Patrick. Tree of Life, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. [retrieved December 9, 2012].