Advent

You’ll remember, I trust...I HOPE you remember that the overall theme we’re following during this Advent season has to do with paradoxes. A paradox, of course, is a truth which may seem at first to be contradictory, to be at cross purposes with itself, to contain two elements which sound like they would cancel each other out, but which, may, in fact, find resolution when lifted to a higher level.

The theme for today, this 2nd Sunday in Advent is HUMILITY. It’s a good theme for any time of the year, for any season, but maybe especially for this season of Advent, as we try to get ourselves ready for the surprising, unexpected, and still, even after 2000 years of familiarity, STUNNING modesty of the ambiance in which the Savior of the world was born. What a paradox!

Is there a writer in the Bible, is there a writer anywhere, whose poetry is more lilting, more soaring, more ecstatic and more exquisitely tender than that of the person we know only as the unknown prophet of the Exile?

There may just be an Advent theme here, lurking around, if we can break it loose, and polish it up. I grant it’s not the usual emphasis we think of when we think of an Advent theme--- it’s not the traditional emphasis---STILL, it’s part of the picture, and maybe, in a way, the foundation for all the rest.

Talk about two different views of the future... talk about black and white---what a contrast in our readings for today. Both are Biblical; both are legitimate; both are looking ahead to what may be out there... but what a divergence in what they see.... Old Testament----New Testament, Isaiah----------Matthew; Promise-------Threat; Hope-------Warning; Anticipation----Apprehension... you might almost characterize it Good News/Bad News... a sharply, vividly drawn contrast.

Do you know what I think? There may just be an Advent theme here somewhere, lurking around in the shadows. It’s not an Advent story, I know.... certainly not traditional Advent story, this passage from Mark...and yet, I wonder. I wonder if this simple incident from the Gospels doesn’t contain an idea very closely related to what Advent---getting ready for God’s giving---is really all about.... namely, THE DIFFERENCE IT MAKES... THE LIFE-GIVING DIFFERENCE IT MAKES WHEN YOU KN

December 1, 1991 Something rather startling to realize because we don’t usually think of it is how close together in a way Christmas and...

Here’s something embarrassing to me, at least modestly so, and the Lectionary reading for this Sunday forces me finally to come to grips with it. I realize with a sense of chagrin that I have never before preached a sermon on John the Baptist.

Two down and 2 to go in this series. Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent, and next Sunday is Christmas Day. We’re looking this year at the Incarnation as seen through the eyes and pens of those who first wrote about it.

During the Advent season this year, we’re taking a look, I hope you’ll remember, at the birth of Jesus through the eyes of the people who first wrote about it.