Tuesday, December 5, 2023

2nd Sunday of Advent


Our readings for the 2nd Sunday of Advent are:
  1. Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11
  2. Psalm 85: 9-10, 11-12, 13-14
  3. 2 Peter 3: 8-14
  4. Mark 1: 1-8
                • Leading with care
                  • My father-in-law was in the hospital recovering from a heart valve replacement.  They were trying to get him to walk and he was reluctant.  Mark, his son, positioned himself a few feet away and said "Dad, you just have to get to me, that's all."  His father started slowly moving towards Mark.  Meanwhile, Mark cleverly starting walking backwards.
                  • How has God led you in times past in your life?
                  • How is God's leadership of His people similar to some of the really great leaders that we have, or have had in our midst?
                  • How is God's leadership different?
                  • Do you think that all leadership should be godly?
                • Too many voices
                  • Our culture tells us that if you are doing just one thing at a time, you are wasting your time.  Far more efficient to multi-task.  Single mindedness is for sissies.
                  • What are some of the voices in your life?  They could be articulate: the news, your friends, family, things that you read.  Those voices could be memories that you have growing up, values and virtues that you have learned.  Those voices could be instincts that you might not even know where they came from.
                  • Do you give equal weight to all of those voices?
                  • Which one/ones of them can God speak through?
                  • How do you focus on God in all of the chatter of your life?
                  • When do you focus on God?

                • Spiritual beings having a physical experience
                  • I love the original Karate Kid just because the master, Mr. Miyagi, teaches his pupil in the most mundane and repetitive tasks.  If we're open to it, there is always more going on than meets the eye.
                  • What do you think that you are learning, how are you growing, from some of the experiences that you are going through right now?
                  • Do you think that you would grow as well if you were not facing those challenges?
                  • What do you think God is going to do with those new virtues that He is building in you?
                  • Does it matter what use He's going to make of those virtues, of you?

                • New beginnings
                  • Everything is so abrupt in Mark.  "John appeared in the desert" makes it sound as though the space was empty, and then suddenly, John was there.
                  • Do you think that God's revelation is still ongoing?
                  • Do you think that renewal, reform, transformation within the Church is going on to this day?
                  • What do you think God is asking of us in that ongoing renewal?
                  • How can we be more ready for that ongoing renewal?
                • Preparation for Reconciliation
                  1. Where might God be calling me to lead?
                  2. Where is God speaking that I'm not hearing?
                  3. Where has God offering me graces today?
                  4. Where is God gently leading us today as a family, community, Church?

                  Now What?

                  There was a certain fiery majesty about John.
                  Utterly focused on the message he was proclaiming.
                  Utterly sure of the transformations that lay ahead.
                  Utterly confident that God was on the move.

                  Each of us and all of us there that day
                  Felt as though John was speaking to them especially.
                  No matter who you were, John had a word for you.
                  Soldiers, Scribes, wheelwrights, it didn't matter.

                  All of us had room to reform, all of us need to repent.
                  Our collective sin made a sorry community of us.
                  Each of us looking at each other with new eyes.
                  Realizing that we have all fallen short.

                  This baptism of John's was meant to be crossing the Red Sea.
                  Leaving certain slavery behind -
                  Along with predictable meals and shelter -
                  And embarking on a journey full of uncertainty and freedom.

                  I look upon the family farm that I inherited differently now.
                  I know that we are feeding the hungry, giving hope to the hopeless.
                  Our hired hands are God's children just as much as my family.
                  The very land a daily gift from God to be nurtured, not raped.

                  And I am afraid.
                  Afraid that I will not live up to the calling that I heard so clearly that day.
                  Afraid that life will, bit by bit, erode into just getting by again.
                  Afraid that all that I will have is jagged memories and regrets.

                  You can only cross the Red Sea once in life.
                  John's baptism is not a gate that you can go through time and again.
                  This change in me, these new eyes, these transformed hands -
                  Demand faithfulness, perseverance, resilience of me and my family.

                  And I don't know where we're going to find it.
                  John told us that he was making the way for this Jesus.
                  I just have to hang on to those desert dreams and passions until Jesus arrives.
                  I just hope that I recognize Him when He comes.
                   
                  Shalom!

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