tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1470115786787140224.post2976282715646819621..comments2023-05-24T04:41:24.313-04:00Comments on heard, half-heard, in the stillness: they shall beat their swords into plowsharessarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796940410833284009noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1470115786787140224.post-51925510361505257222010-12-07T09:46:49.102-05:002010-12-07T09:46:49.102-05:00Ah, the Episcopalians. My parents go to an Episcop...Ah, the Episcopalians. My parents go to an Episcopal church now; I kinda wonder if I would have left Protestantism if I'd grown up in that church. <br /><br />You just paraphrased part of my favorite Eliot poem: "there is yet faith/but the faith and the hope and the love are all in the waiting."sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04796940410833284009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1470115786787140224.post-77348421795199571652010-12-06T15:31:50.238-05:002010-12-06T15:31:50.238-05:00I was going to suggest that you write a book - &qu...I was going to suggest that you write a book - "Sermons For The Literate", maybe - but then it occurred to me that Himself would never use such a thing. Pity, really. On the plus side, I went to my parents' (Episcopalian) church yesterday, and the sermon there was vastly more engaging. So there's hope even in waiting, I suppose.Michael Mockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06233321050691782148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1470115786787140224.post-73337920643216447262010-12-02T14:56:38.034-05:002010-12-02T14:56:38.034-05:00@Michael: *blush* I'll take that as a complime...@Michael: *blush* I'll take that as a compliment. But I don't think the Disciples would have me, mostly 'cause I'm, y'know, Catholic. If I wrote sermons, there would probably be many references to dead writers. Lots of Eliot, Flannery O'Connor, Gerard Manley Hopkins. And Bob Dylan and Seamus Heaney, but they're still alive. <br /><br />My aunt lives in Dallas (well, in Coppell, but close enough), and I've been down there in the dead of summer. I'd rather freeze up here in the winter than be down there in the summer. No offense if you like the heat, of course. I'm just a Northeasterner to the core.sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04796940410833284009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1470115786787140224.post-44597842042304887262010-12-02T14:20:21.840-05:002010-12-02T14:20:21.840-05:00Also... Sarah, can I talk you into taking a positi...Also... Sarah, can I talk you into taking a position as a minister with the Disciples down here in Texas? If I have to go to these things, I'd far prefer to have you writing the sermons. {g} (Actually, my attendance is a lot more voluntary than that makes it sound.)Michael Mockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06233321050691782148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1470115786787140224.post-26130223573062825192010-12-02T14:17:09.404-05:002010-12-02T14:17:09.404-05:00@ Rebecca - you're in Austin? I'm in Dalla...@ Rebecca - you're in Austin? I'm in Dallas. Kudos to your church; helping the homeless has plenty of built-in difficulties, and the Powers That Be seem intent on adding more difficulties as often as they can.Michael Mockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06233321050691782148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1470115786787140224.post-65284442102251758802010-12-02T11:09:20.097-05:002010-12-02T11:09:20.097-05:00@Rebecca: That's very true--I don't think ...@Rebecca: That's very true--I don't think I really meant "the end" as in the complete end when I wrote that. Advent does prefigure the second coming, which is why we don't end with "Christ is risen;" we end with "Christ will come again." The culture I grew up in focused so heavily on Christ's death and what it meant for us (pray this prayer, get saved!) that it often missed everything else. I'm still trying to get away from that.<br /><br />Working with people who are homeless is hard, especially when you realize that you can't do things like provide health care and a good job and income, and that sometimes all you can do is provide a warm bed and a meal. So kudos to your church. That's what we should be doing. The upside-down kingdom is a slow-growing thing.sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04796940410833284009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1470115786787140224.post-84717822626494433832010-12-02T10:50:03.247-05:002010-12-02T10:50:03.247-05:00Except, advent is about awaiting the second coming...Except, advent is about awaiting the second coming through meditation on the first. It's really not about the death and resurrection at all. It's about what comes after and how it's prefigured in what came before. The inherent inversion in the image of the King of Kings, born in a manger pointing to the unique shape of the heavenly kingdom. They will beat their swords into plowshares, study war no more, etc. To focus exclusively on the death and resurrection misses the entire struggle of what Christianity is about at the time of Advent. We wait, hope, and act in a post-resurrection world that is nevertheless still in the grip of sin and death. We don't get to console ourselves with "Well, eventually Jesus is born, dies for our sins, and conquers death" because that's not the end of the story. We are living the end of the story, trying to figure out what it means to follow a resurrected Christ who has yet to return in glory.<br /><br />Incidentally, and on the subject of waiting, that was basically the substance of the sermon at our church this past Sunday: it is important to meditate at this time and reflect, but we must ask ourselves what is the shape of the kingdom of God and what are we doing to live it out? It came complete with a dig at the richest nation in the world being unwilling to provide health-care for its poorest citizens. (Our church is majorly involved in homeless ministry in downtown Austin, but they are not a hospital or an insurance company, before anyone asks what the church is doing to care for our poorest citizens.)Rebeccanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1470115786787140224.post-64625051654568370382010-12-02T09:49:13.997-05:002010-12-02T09:49:13.997-05:00Thanks, Michael. I agree with you on that sermon--...Thanks, Michael. I agree with you on that sermon--while, in a sense, Christ's death and resurrection are the end to which Advent looks, it's not exactly the most appropriate type of sermon. That's what the liturgical year is *for*, dammit. <br /><br />Plus I can't stand overlong sermons. I've become used to the ten-minute homily, which works well in either case--if the priest sucks at homiletics, then you don't have to listen for long. If he's good, well, just more incentive to come back again. The 45-minute sermon that I used to sit through as a teen is just overkill. And half the time it's because the preacher likes to hear the sound of his own voice (ok, maybe that's unfair, but I get grumpy about these sorts of things).<br /><br />I tend to think that all people who work for good are working to bring about the Kingdom, but that's just my perspective. Just waiting for it goes against every bone in my body.sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04796940410833284009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1470115786787140224.post-35818336631766030572010-11-30T16:03:03.567-05:002010-11-30T16:03:03.567-05:00Actually, as a Christmas post, I thought this was ...Actually, as a Christmas post, I thought this was rather nice. (Especially since I went to church with my in-laws last Sunday, and was treated to an overlong sermon about the importance of the death on the cross, and the resurrection... which the pastor prefaced by admitting that it was far more appropriate to Good Friday or Easter. I'm sure I wasn't the only one in the audience thinking, "Dude, then why are you doing this?")<br /><br />And I'm much more comfortable hearing the Meaning of Christmas from people who actively work to bring about the Kingdom, than I am from those who just, y'know, wait for it.<br /><br />So, yeah. Not a Christian; still enjoyed the post.Michael Mockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06233321050691782148noreply@blogger.com