Gillette on advent

Entering Advent

Advent Christmas New Year
[12-17-09]

Around it comes
the time of light
when we like those of old
are grateful for the
new light / new life .

Around it comes
the Christmas Day
So quickly come- not to stay
Wrapping the year from last to this
life is changing.

Around it comes
the midnight changes
Clean slate start each year
Letting go of chains that bind us.
new life new life.

What was - what is - what is to be
the trinity of time
marked just now
by Jesus' birth
again again here on earth.

Happy Christmas

from Bobbie McGarey

The Rev. Dr. Bobbie McGarey lives in Duncan, Oklahoma, and serves as Interim Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Lawton, Oklahoma. You’ll find her musings on her blog at www.southwestparish.blogspot.com

An Advent meditation:

The Second Coming

by John Shuck, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton, Tenn.
From the church's December newsletter [12-4-09]

Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.

We are in the season of Advent. Advent means coming. This season is one of expectation, longing, anticipation, preparation … hope. For what are we hoping?

Advent anticipates the birth of Jesus and the “second coming” of Jesus. Because popular Christianity has viewed the second coming of Jesus in a superstitious fashion complete with timetables and expectations of “the rapture” and so forth, many of us shy away from this metaphor altogether.

I think the metaphor of Jesus’ return is powerful in a positive way. It captures the feeling that we are not yet what we could be. We are still captive as the Advent carol says, to “our fears and sins.” We have not discovered peace within our own skin. Our civilization is not living in a sustainable way. We take from Earth more than we return. The gap between wealthy and poor is increasing and the number of the poor is increasing. The human impact on Earth is causing the extinction of plant and animal species at rate faster than Earth has known in over 60 million years.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Brief Statement of Faith puts it succinctly:

Ignoring God's commandments,
we violate the image of God in others and ourselves,
accept lies as truth,
exploit neighbor and nature,
and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care.

There is room for improvement.

Not only are we “not yet” as a species, we are “not yet” as individuals. Again, quoting the carol, we long to “find our rest in thee.” We are not at peace within our skin. The Buddha recognized this long ago when he showed us that the cause of dukkha (unrest) is our insatiability.

What might it mean for Jesus to return? The return of Jesus is a powerful symbol of finding rest, peace, justice, and balance in our personal lives and in our interconnectedness with Earth. To sing, “come thou long expected Jesus” is to sing with the expectation of fulfillment for balance and peace.

When will Jesus return?

Today, if we are willing to give birth. If we are willing like Mary when told by the angel that she was to give birth to Jesus, to say:

“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

To be open to the creativity of the Universe, to allow ourselves space to be at peace right now in the midst of life as it is, is what I think it means for Jesus to return.

There is another part of it. To anticipate the return of Jesus is to anticipate an expansion of consciousness or awareness. It is as Joanna Macy calls it, “The Great Turning.”

The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world-we've actually been on the way for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep, to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and each other.

For what are we hoping?

Articulating our hopes is a task for Advent. For what do you hope in your personal life and in our collective life as a human species? When the not yet becomes now what does the now look like? The world is turning or to use Christian terms, Jesus is returning. How might we prepare for that reality today?

Come, Lord Jesus!

Posted By John Shuck to Shuck and Jive at 12/04/2009 09:17:00 AM

Presbyterians' Teachable Moment on December 2^nd, with the beginning of Advent

[11-28-01]

Bruce Gillette shares a thoughtful reflection on the special significance of Advent in this very unusual time, and points to helpful Advent resources.

The word "Advent" means "coming" and the lectionary's gospel text for the First Sunday of Advent every year deals with Jesus' final coming in the future. We begin the Christian year looking not to the past, but to the future. December 2nd is a "teachable moment" for preaching and teaching about Jesus and the end times.

Sadly, many Christians misunderstand the biblical teachings about the future. Friday's New York Times had an article about how lousy theology has been related to September 11th: "Apocalyptic Theology Revitalized by Attack" The article points out the top-selling hardcover fiction book is Desecration by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, the ninth volume in the enormously popular "Left Behind" series. The "Left Behind" books and movie share the misguided, unbiblical beliefs promoted by Hal Lindsey and his bestseller The Late Great Planet Earth. Daniel Migliore, long-time professor of theology at Princeton Seminary, points out the problems with the theology of Lindsey and friends:

"What is wrong with this brand of apocalypticism?

a. It is a crass manipulation of biblical texts. The life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ become quite secondary to Lindsey's arbitrary speculation about the final events of history. Lindsey plays apocalyptic roulette with the Bible, ripping texts out of their historical context and fitting them into his own schema.

b. Lindsey's apocalyptic timetable is highly deterministic. The wheel of apocalyptic destiny spins out of human control. Hence Lindsey's followers have no sense of responsibility for the future. Knowing that they will be exempted from the terrors to come, they can be mere observers of world events and calmly await their rapture.

c. What Christians really hope for in this eschatology is the rapture. Lindsey terrifies his readers with his descriptions of nuclear holocaust, seas of blood running six feet deep, and the like. Then he tells them: "Believe in Jesus Christ and you will be raptured. You will escape all of these horrors." This is nothing less than "apocalyptic terrorism," entirely lacking in any sense of solidarity with creation and with humankind groaning for emancipation from sin, suffering, and death.

d. Lindsey's rendition of Christian hope lacks a theology of the cross. Eschatology and the cross are torn apart. Suffering and hope are severed. The church will be safe in heaven when all hell breaks loose. Witnessing for God on the earth in these coming awful days will be the task of Jews. One can imagine the fully justified sarcasm of death-camp survivors should they be asked to respond to this picture of the future: "The self-centered and complacent church never was around when helpless victims were machine-gunned, men and women gassed, the heads of children bashed in by rifle butts. So it will not be a surprise when this church again is not around when all those things happen once more. Then, as before, faithful Jews and Christians will be left alone to bear a terrible witness to God." The signature of New Testament hope is not the rapture, as in Lindsey's book, but the resurrection of the crucified Jesus.

From "Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology" by Daniel L. Migliore (Eerdmans, 1991, p. 236)

Our PCUSA Theology and Worship Office has a new, helpful online resource "Between Millennia: What Presbyterians Believe about the Coming of Christ"

"There is a Mighty Question" is a hymn text by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette inspired by the biblical texts for the First Sunday of Advent and written to the tune of ANGEL'S STORY 7.6.7.6 D ("O Jesus, I Have Promised") . The hymn reflects a good biblical balance between our ultimate hope in God and our responsibility to be faithful here and now. This hymn is posted on the web site of the Presbyterian Hunger Program: http://www.pcusa.org/hunger/newhymn.html#there is

"Whose Birthday Is It Anyway?" is a wonderful, free resource that helps households and individuals rediscover Advent and Christmas as a joyous and sacred celebration. You can order it (single or multiple copies) for free from Presbyterian Distribution Service, Item # 7436001302, by calling 1-800-524-2612

Grace and Peace, Bruce

Bruce & Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, Co-Pastors
First Presbyterian Church, 305 South Broadway, Pitman NJ 08071 Office Phone: (856)-589-1050
Home Phone: (856)-589-8444
Email: Bruce.Gillette@ecunet.org
Church Fax: (856)-589-1051
Church website: http://www.firstpresby.org/