2nd Sunday of Advent

Our readings for the second Sunday of Advent:

1. Isaiah 11: 1-10
2. Psalms 72: 1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
3. Romans 15: 4-9
4. Matthew 3: 1-12

• Making all things new
• God's action in our world seems to be about making all things new, rather than making all new things.  He's never started over, but always seeks to transform, to reinvent, to bring new life to what already is.
• Have you ever had a resurrection experience?  When something in your life gave way to something even better?  Maybe it was a child leaving home to begin life as an adult, or a relationship maturing to a new level, loss of a job to make room for a new career or a new take on work itself.
• How did you gain the courage to make that transition, cross that threshold?
• How did you come to realize that it was all for the best?
• Where was God in all of that? 

• Bringing God's justice, bringing God's kingdom
• Do you think that true justice has to happen for God's kingdom to be present?
• Do you think that God's kingdom on earth is the same as true justice?
• How would you define justice?
• What can we do to help bring that justice about? 

• Welcome one another
• I remember John Flaherty talking about the welcome that newcomers get at a church that he attended.  Newcomers would see a sign at the entrance to the parking lot "turn on your headlights if you are new here".  The newcomers each got a dedicated guide who would accompany them throughout the service so they felt welcome.  I love that.
• Welcoming can be hard.  Is there any one that you would have a hard time welcoming into a community that you are a member in?
• What about that person makes you uncomfortable?
• What does that say about you?
• What does that say about your community? 

• Bearing good fruit
• Richard Rohr frequently observes that Jesus never said "believe the right things about me."  Instead, He always called others to "follow me", which Rohr takes to translate to "do the things I do in the world."
• Who is someone close to you that has been fruitful for God?
• What are some of the fruits of their life?
• What of their attitude, approach, practice do you think that you could adopt so that you might become more fruitful? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where is God renewing me?
• What does God's justice mean for me?
• Where is God calling me to greater generosity?
• Where might God be calling me to be more fruitful? 

Get Me to the River

I can hear the labored breathing of my friends as they bear my litter.

Even in my wasted condition, I am quite the burden, today and always.

 

I too was once straight and strong,

Clear of eye and bold of bearing.

 

But age has taken its relentless toll,

And I lie here at the threshold of eternity.

 

When I heard of this cry in the wilderness,

This ringing invitation to awaken,

 

I begged them to bring me to the river.

That I might be baptized into greater awareness. 

 

I realized that old age has not brought me comfort,

But it it has given me occasion to reflect.

 

To ask whether the world is better for my passing through,

Whether I have given more than I have taken.

 

And I realized that I have never asked the important questions:

Why am I here?  What is my ultimate calling?  Where is my true home?

 

And I realized that this preacher offers the answer.

Not in words so much as in awareness.

 

Awareness of how content I have been to let others suffer.

Telling myself that it was no concern of mine how they chose to live.

 

Awareness of how much I have been given all these years.

And what a gift I could be to those around me.

 

I only hope that in this, the twilight of my existence,

I might burn just a little brighter than before.

 

Help others to find their way here, to the burning sands of the desert.

That they might find their own flame, though flickering.

 

That they might find the heart of their maker

Beating within their own breast. 

 

Shalom!