Keeping Awake (42)
Lectionary, Year A, Advent 1
Christopher B. Harbin
Matthew 24:36-44
We tend to think of Advent as preparation for celebrating Jesus’ birth. The Lectionary texts, on the other hand, have a different focus. The Bible as a whole gives little attention to Jesus’ birth. Mark does not mention it, John only references it as God’s Word creating flesh to live among us, and the Epistles make no mention of it. The Advent texts are more concerned with preparing us to serve Jesus in light of the full reality of where God’s Reign would take us. This is preparation to live under God’s Reign and give evidence to the world of the transformation God would enact within us. When will we awaken to the task set before us to live out the full reality of God’s Reign?
Life moves by at its frantic pace. Linda shared a glimpse this week into the realities of working in retail as people go about shopping with little thought to how a big box store works and how employees on the floor have no say over what items are in stock or how prices are set. Shoppers wash over those realities, focused on their own cares. The wrong conversations are had with the wrong people over and over. The decision makers sit in offices far removed from the customers on the floor. If we want changes, we have to speak to the right people. If we want to understand who those people are, we have to ask different questions. Rather than address reality, we remain oblivious to what influence we might have if we took our concerns to the right places.
It’s not exactly misdirection. It’s more a case of not paying attention to a deeper reality. It’s being oblivious to how the world functions around us. It’s ignoring some things we should know as we go about what feels pressing. Get the shopping done! Get those gifts wrapped! Mark a few items off the To Do list, so we can get some other things accomplished. Maybe, if we have time left over when we are done with our headlong rush, then we can tackle ...
Lectionary, Year A, Advent 1
Christopher B. Harbin
Matthew 24:36-44
We tend to think of Advent as preparation for celebrating Jesus’ birth. The Lectionary texts, on the other hand, have a different focus. The Bible as a whole gives little attention to Jesus’ birth. Mark does not mention it, John only references it as God’s Word creating flesh to live among us, and the Epistles make no mention of it. The Advent texts are more concerned with preparing us to serve Jesus in light of the full reality of where God’s Reign would take us. This is preparation to live under God’s Reign and give evidence to the world of the transformation God would enact within us. When will we awaken to the task set before us to live out the full reality of God’s Reign?
Life moves by at its frantic pace. Linda shared a glimpse this week into the realities of working in retail as people go about shopping with little thought to how a big box store works and how employees on the floor have no say over what items are in stock or how prices are set. Shoppers wash over those realities, focused on their own cares. The wrong conversations are had with the wrong people over and over. The decision makers sit in offices far removed from the customers on the floor. If we want changes, we have to speak to the right people. If we want to understand who those people are, we have to ask different questions. Rather than address reality, we remain oblivious to what influence we might have if we took our concerns to the right places.
It’s not exactly misdirection. It’s more a case of not paying attention to a deeper reality. It’s being oblivious to how the world functions around us. It’s ignoring some things we should know as we go about what feels pressing. Get the shopping done! Get those gifts wrapped! Mark a few items off the To Do list, so we can get some other things accomplished. Maybe, if we have time left over when we are done with our headlong rush, then we can tackle ...
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