Hope

For the past couple months I have been striving to blog once a week. I spend a good deal of time on the internet and I figured I could dedicate some of that time to something I thoroughly enjoy doing: writing. So often one can get consumed with scrolling through social media and retweeting/posting/sharing everything they seem to agree with. I have noticed a disconnect between how often people post online and how present they are in the lives of people they are with. This is often evident in a family get together during the holidays. After the festivities are over you can look around and see family members gathered around TVs, I Pads, and other devices. I am no exception. Social media is an addicting past-time. So starting on Sunday, December 3rd, 2017, the beginning of Advent, I will fast from social media. I have begun this process already--I have started fasting from social media when I am at home. My goal is to become more present with those around me and less dependent on the internet. I will chronicle my thoughts in a weekly post. Some posts may be about my social-media-free time or it may just be a reflection on the Advent season. My goal is to become more present in my community and to allow those actions to permeate into the rest of my life after this season.

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Hope.

The first candle of Advent is for Hope. It is so fitting that we would end "Ordinary Time" in the Christian Liturgical calendar with a reminder of Christ's call for us from Matthew 25. Now as we begin this new stage of the calendar we are reminded of the Hope that is to come. Of the hope for the coming kingdom. In today's day and age with all the trials, tribulations, and catastrophes, it's always nice to be reminded of the hope we can have in Christ.

This coming Sunday's Gospel reading comes from Mark 13:24-37 which can at first glance seem to be a heavy passage. One can read this and become fearful of what is to come. I, however, would like to point out that sometimes it's the big picture that we should look at not the minute details. The big picture in this passage is that we should be ready; awake and ready. We know that Christ will return to make everything right again and we are called to be ready. That is the hope we are given in the Advent season. There is a hope that it is true that Christ will renew all things and with that hope we can be ready.

So how can we be ready? How can we be awake? What is it that we must do?

Work to help renew the world. Yes, Christ will come to rebuild and renew the whole universe, but until then He has charged us to work towards the Kingdom. We were reminded of this charge just this past Sunday on Christ the King Sunday. We are moving towards this week of Hope with the knowledge of how we can be awake. How we can be ready. Renewing the world is more than just helping people, it also has to do with the actual world. YHWH commanded us to care for the world we are put in. The world is not going to be destroyed, but it is going to be renewed. We were made from the earth and so we must care for it. In the words of N.T. Wright, "Jesus is coming so plant a tree." But in all honestly, that's exactly what we must do. Care for ourselves, others, and the world and together we can help usher in the Kingdom as we hope for the day when all will be restored. 

Grace & Peace.

Resources:

https://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/environment/jesus-is-coming-plant-a-tree 

biblegateway.com 

The Waiting Season

Waiting. Waiting is an element that is pervasive all throughout life. Every human being experiences some form of waiting. There is waiting for the weekend to end and finals to begin. Waiting for my wedding in August. Waiting to finish my current loom project. Waiting to find a job for after graduation. Waiting for the coming of Christ and the day the world will be renewed. There is so much waiting. As I have been sitting in my apartment since 2 A.M., listening to my "Folksy Christmas" Spotify playlist, and looming I cannot help, but think about the advent season that we are in. Advent is a beautiful time to reflect on this idea of waiting. Advent is a wonderful time during the Church calendar that can help us better anticipate the coming kingdom.

As I have been reflecting this evening I have been reminded that waiting does not mean being stagnant. Waiting is about anticipating and preparing for the outcome. I am preparing for finals through studying, planning my wedding by working out the necessary details, anticipating a future job by searching for one, and anticipating the coming of the Kingdom by working to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven on earth in the here and now. As I wait for the caffeine in my system to wear off so that I can sleep I have decided to read the lectionary readings for church tomorrow and reflect on them as I prepare for the second full week of Advent. The Gospel reading comes from Mark 1:1-8, which says,

 "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John the baptizer appearedin the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The other readings (Epistle, Old Testament, and Psalm) go along excellently with this passage which is all about preparing and anticipating for the coming King. In Mark's retelling of this story, we see this radical homeless guy going around and declaring that the Lord is coming and we need to prepare. John is not just sitting around in some Synagogue, but instead he is out in the wilderness baptizing people with water and preparing the way for the coming King. How often do we do nothing when we are waiting? I think the good news of the Gospel this week is that we can do something while we wait. We are called to prepare the way and anticipate. We all can find ways to help usher in the Kingdom as we wait for the Age to Come. This can be done through helping out at your local homeless shelter, helping your elderly neighbor with their groceries, asking for forgiveness, shopping ethically for the holiday seasons, babysitting for those parents that never get a day for themselves, treating the cashiers at your favorite convenient stores with respect and love (as well as those who work at your least favorite stores), getting to know people with developmental disabilities, loving the hard to love and getting to know their stories, and so many more things. There is so much brokenness in this world which means there is so much more we can be doing as we anticipate the day when all things will be made into how they were intended to be. 

May we continue into this Advent season with an attitude of anticipation that is coupled with action.

Hope in the midst of darkness

Tonight I decided to join friends to view the Premier showing of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1 and I was incredibly impressed with its accuracy to the book and its excellent portrayal of the terrors of violence and war. This particular book in the trilogy was always my favorite and I would easily say that this movie adaptation exceeded expectations. There are two particular scenes that really stood out to me in this movie and these scenes are not what people would expect because they were short interruptions into the overall theme. [SPOILER] The first scene took place in the middle of the movie when Gale tells Katniss that they were given permission to go above ground in District 13 to go hunting. In this scene they are preparing to shoot an animal and then notice that the creature had seen them and is not moving for it does not appear scared. Katniss points out that this animal is not scared of them because it had never been hunted before. They then decided not to kill the animal and walked down by the river to sit there feeling the wind on their skin and hearing the water flow below them. This scene was so simple and yet it showed humanity and goodness in the midst of the terrible war going on all around them. While everywhere was chaotic and seemed to have no silver lining, they were able to still value the innocence of this animal and take a few minutes to experience the beauty of nature. The other scene was when they were all taking shelter on the 40th floor of District 13 and Katniss was using a flashlight to play with Prim's cat while everyone watched and laughed. This scene resulted in a revelation for Katniss, but that is not what made me enjoy it. This scene showed once again that in the midst of trials, violence, and destruction the protagonists were able to find joy in a little game. They were able to bring about a few moments of goodness.

So often in our life we get so caught up in the injustices in this world. We see all those people who have been marginalized. We feel the pain that many have felt and gone through. It can be so easy to get caught up in the chaos of life that we miss out on the little events in life. We can miss the good and develop feelings of hopelessness, when in reality there is goodness and hope all around us we just have to find it. This brings to mind something I witnessed at church during the past two weeks. We have recently gained a few younger members to our small congregation of 40 and we have the blessing of worshiping alongside these children. For the past two weeks there was been a toddler who has walked into the middle of the aisle and started dancing to the music. This little boy has no embarrassments or inhibitions, but was simply celebrating through dance. This is something we often neglect because we get caught up in tradition and even the distractions of life, but this little boy brought that into perspective for us. This little boy reminded me of the good news of the gospel. This boy reminded me that is really is GOOD NEWS. This little boy brought goodness into our little church and brought smiles to all in this busy, chaotic world.

But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs" (Matt. 19.14. NRSV).