WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
November 30th 2008
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Hoping for a Tear”
First Sunday of Advent Meditation
Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13: 24-37
There is a bit of hope in the air these days. But, there is also a good bit of anxiety. What is going to happen? We wait, and watch for the signs. Every year we do the same routine. We wait and watch for this signs. Will this ‘black Friday’ save the economy for another year? I know that sounds funny but the truth is that Advent and the Holiday shopping season are both times of waiting. In our consumer culture the season of advent, the season of waiting, can get lost with all the shopping hype. Fortunately, both texts from this morning provide us with a good way to deal with this tension.
“In those days” and “In the days to come” are words of longing, desperation, and hope. In Isaiah the longing is rooted in the exile, a living hell, where God seems all but absent. For the readers of Mark’s gospel, they are living at a time when the Roman occupation had become particularly difficult. The revolutionary fervor was high because the Roman surge was at unprecedented historic levels. Suffering, pain, and uncertainty were the order of the day. It is out of this trouble that our advent texts were birthed.
At the heart of these passages is a longing for change in the current arrangements. Because the people speaking these words are not the ones in power they must use symbolic language. So when we read about the powers of heaven, or the sun, moon, and stars, know that this is a way to talk about a change in the current arrangements without risking charges of sedition. ‘Oh that you would tear open the heavens and come down…’ is a charge which could be labeled seditious by those wedded to the status quo. So the prayer goes up to God hoping that the sky will open and the ‘mighty mountains’ of this world will learn that they are not god.
Advent is a strange season for those who are the ‘mighty mountains’ and others who benefit from the current arrangements. This is probably why many Christians in North American have difficulty relating to Advent. If we dig deep enough Advent is a time when those pleased with the status quo are asked to imagine that things should be different. ‘Tear open the heavens and end the current arrangements,’ is not a prayer in most of our prayer books. It is much easier to focus on the cute baby in the manger. It is at times like this that I did wish we did not always follow the lectionary calendar. So, at this time of year when we come face to face with the hard reality of Advent what are we going to do?
The truth is that Advent is the time of year when we can finally get honest about things. It is the time when we are allowed to name that which is just not right. We can say that trampling a store clerk to get a cheap price on the season’s latest gadget is a societal sickness. It is when we can say that killing in God’s name is wrong and that people matter more than profit. It is a time when we can say that illness and suffering is never God’s will. We can and must say that God is not pleased.
This is a strange practice for most of us. That is why it is a good thing that we have a great cloud of witnesses who have come before us. They have showed us how to survive in a world that needs to be torn apart. It is that time of year again. And so for the duration of advent, what I am calling the ‘Waiting Wall’ will be placed here in the sanctuary. On that board I have placed some headlines from different newspapers in the last week. During advent you are invited to place your own headline, or concern, that you want to lift up to God. It will become our own prayer to God of what needs to be ended in our time. So let us reach back and take the banner from those who have gone before us. Let us prepare our hearts to cry out: “Oh that you would tear open the heavens and come down… and consider that we all are your people.” Amen? Amen!
November 30th 2008
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Hoping for a Tear”
First Sunday of Advent Meditation
Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13: 24-37
There is a bit of hope in the air these days. But, there is also a good bit of anxiety. What is going to happen? We wait, and watch for the signs. Every year we do the same routine. We wait and watch for this signs. Will this ‘black Friday’ save the economy for another year? I know that sounds funny but the truth is that Advent and the Holiday shopping season are both times of waiting. In our consumer culture the season of advent, the season of waiting, can get lost with all the shopping hype. Fortunately, both texts from this morning provide us with a good way to deal with this tension.
“In those days” and “In the days to come” are words of longing, desperation, and hope. In Isaiah the longing is rooted in the exile, a living hell, where God seems all but absent. For the readers of Mark’s gospel, they are living at a time when the Roman occupation had become particularly difficult. The revolutionary fervor was high because the Roman surge was at unprecedented historic levels. Suffering, pain, and uncertainty were the order of the day. It is out of this trouble that our advent texts were birthed.
At the heart of these passages is a longing for change in the current arrangements. Because the people speaking these words are not the ones in power they must use symbolic language. So when we read about the powers of heaven, or the sun, moon, and stars, know that this is a way to talk about a change in the current arrangements without risking charges of sedition. ‘Oh that you would tear open the heavens and come down…’ is a charge which could be labeled seditious by those wedded to the status quo. So the prayer goes up to God hoping that the sky will open and the ‘mighty mountains’ of this world will learn that they are not god.
Advent is a strange season for those who are the ‘mighty mountains’ and others who benefit from the current arrangements. This is probably why many Christians in North American have difficulty relating to Advent. If we dig deep enough Advent is a time when those pleased with the status quo are asked to imagine that things should be different. ‘Tear open the heavens and end the current arrangements,’ is not a prayer in most of our prayer books. It is much easier to focus on the cute baby in the manger. It is at times like this that I did wish we did not always follow the lectionary calendar. So, at this time of year when we come face to face with the hard reality of Advent what are we going to do?
The truth is that Advent is the time of year when we can finally get honest about things. It is the time when we are allowed to name that which is just not right. We can say that trampling a store clerk to get a cheap price on the season’s latest gadget is a societal sickness. It is when we can say that killing in God’s name is wrong and that people matter more than profit. It is a time when we can say that illness and suffering is never God’s will. We can and must say that God is not pleased.
This is a strange practice for most of us. That is why it is a good thing that we have a great cloud of witnesses who have come before us. They have showed us how to survive in a world that needs to be torn apart. It is that time of year again. And so for the duration of advent, what I am calling the ‘Waiting Wall’ will be placed here in the sanctuary. On that board I have placed some headlines from different newspapers in the last week. During advent you are invited to place your own headline, or concern, that you want to lift up to God. It will become our own prayer to God of what needs to be ended in our time. So let us reach back and take the banner from those who have gone before us. Let us prepare our hearts to cry out: “Oh that you would tear open the heavens and come down… and consider that we all are your people.” Amen? Amen!
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