Skip to main content

First Advent

This week begins with the First Sunday in Advent; the underlying theme of the week is that of being awake and ready for the Second Coming of Christ. It is a matter of being truly awake. Being awake is not something that can be compartmentalized. If one is awake in one thing, one should be awake in all things.
Being awake is something I hear about often. An irreverent countercultural dictionary called the Urban Dictionary defines being awake (or the past tense, woke) as a reference to how people should be aware of current events using the example, “While you are obsessing with the Kardashians, there are millions of homeless in the world. STAY WOKE.” Being awake in Philadelphia in 2017 has so many levels. Current events are one thing, but there is so much more to being awake in God’s eyes. Being awake in God’s eyes includes everything. It includes all the gifts that God has given us that we know about, and those we don’t because we do not see because we do not see as God sees.
We cannot begin to see as God sees; think about the planet as God sees it; think about our role in it. We drill down into the depths of the crust and extract tremendous quantities of, well, whatever. And then, we process whatever we take out, mix it up, in some cases make it unconscionably dangerous.
Think about water, and how we are so comfortable simply turning on the faucet and taking whatever we need. Folks the world over have chosen to live near water sources and routinely, in ignorance, or full knowledge of the damages, people dump in water. What is it that we dump into the water cycle?
Now, let’s think about our human interactions. How we treat each other is important? Deacon Phil often points out things I need to read and this week he reminded me that our American Exceptional-ism is not of God, but of man. What we do to the least of these, we do to Jesus. What we do to the least of these, we do to God. And the Disciples asked of Jesus and is recorded in Matthew 25, beginning at verse 34: “Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

Enough said?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

And so the Spirit Speaks

Earlier today, February 21st, I opened my Daily Office book for an inspiration for me to "share the message" as my Baptist brother calls the role of preaching for our Wednesday morning joint worship event with Oxford Circle Baptist Church; I call it preaching. I opened to the reading for today and found 1 Corinthians 2:1-13, which I've printed a portion of below. After a long day, the reading kept haunting me, as the Scripture is known to do. I opened the Mission St. Claire website and they had published the wrong lesson, 1 Cor 1:1-13, which I have never found them to do before today. So, what was the Spirit trying to convey to me? I think it means that the Spirit wants me to pay extra attention to today's lesson(s.)  I have been following posts on the Facebook site of the Third Order Franciscans for years. I have the pleasure of working with a Third Order Franciscan and so I sought out the group. There has been a running discussion over the past few days abou...
Post a Comment
Read more

Getting ready for Lent

Lent is a special time for me. It is a time of introspection and mathematics: As I look inwardly at myself, I often add and subtract a few necessities. It kicks off with Ash Wednesday, a solemn day for me and my denomination and it will end on the eve of Easter. Deacon Phil and I will - on Ash Wednesday - be making ashes available at the north end of the Frankford Terminal beginning at 6:00 am for the early morning commuters. Ash Wednesday is an opportunity for those who are separated from the Christian Church to return. The forty days of Lent are days of introspection when we delve deeply into ourselves through subtraction by fasting and rest, as well as days of addition, when we add study, service, and prayer specific to the season to our spirituality. I read, and pray the Daily Office every day, which guides me to lessons which focus on the Lenten themes of the church; in theory, as I pray the Daily Office, I am praying alongside Christians of every denomination, but especial...
Post a Comment
Read more

What it is to be a Christian

A mini statement of religious instruction used during our worship in the Episcopal Church when we baptize new members can act as a mustard seed, upon which to build our faith. The Baptismal Covenant contains five questions regarding how we, as Christians, are called to live out our faith. And where we, as the beloved children of God that we are, can find help. The answer from our worship is:   I will, with God’s help.   Our help comes from one place and one place only, and that is God. Our Baptismal Covenant concludes with five questions. 1.    Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers? 2.   Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? 3.   Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? 4.     Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? 5.   ...
Post a Comment
Read more