We are currently in the first week of Advent (last Sunday was the first Sunday of this new church year).
For those who are unaware, the season of Advent marks the beginning of the Western (Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant churches) Christian year. Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve.
From the Latin adventus, Advent means “coming” or “arrival."
Throughout history this season has been observed as a fast, with its purpose focused on preparation for the coming Christ. During Advent, Christians all over the world prepare themselves to receive the newborn in a lowly manger at Bethlehem, to celebrate the birth of Jesus the Messiah - his coming into the world.
In this time, Christians also look forward to Jesus’ coming again and the establishment of God’s new creation.
Throughout Advent, Christians humbly confess their sins, seek God’s forgiveness, and joyfully look to Christ’s indwelling presence through the Holy Spirit. We wait and hope for Christ’s light to break through the darkness of our world. We wait and hope for the revelation of Christ with us, Christ among us.
But we who are members of Christ's body are called to do much more than simply wait and hope. God calls us to action! In Advent, God calls his church to be Christ's light for salvation to the nations. This happens through the redemptive work of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.
During this season we are empowered by God to to enact his peace and justice in the world. We are to cry out on behalf of those who are poor and afflicted, and thus, provide further fulfillment to Jesus' words in Luke 4.18-19: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord!"
After taking some time to chew on the words of Jesus, please also consider these words of Jesse Jackson:
"Let us gather and embrace our families. Let us join together to protect the babies in the dawn of life, care for the elderly in the dusk of life. Let us nurture the sick, shelter the homeless. Stop for the stranger on the Jericho Road. Work for the promise of peace. Surely that is the point of the story [of Advent and Christmas]."
December 4, 2008
November 21, 2008
More on the topic of peace...
I am reading the book Jesus for President - which engages the connection between theology and politics - and I came across a very challenging quote that I feel compelled to share with you...
"Unless we are prepared to risk injury and death in nonviolent opposition to the injustice our societies foster, we don't dare even whisper another word about pacifism to our sisters and brothers in those desperate lands. Unless we are ready to die developing new nonviolent attempts to reduce international conflict, we should confess that we never really meant the cross was an alternative to the sword. Unless the majority of our people in nuclear nations are ready as congregations to risk social disapproval and government harassment in a clear call to live without nuclear weapons, we should sadly acknowledge that we have betrayed our peacemaking heritage. Making peace is as costly as waging war. Unless we are prepared to pay the cost of peacemaking, we have no right to claim the label or preach the message."
- Ron Sider (speaking at the Mennonite World Conference, 1984).
How are we, as followers of Jesus, called by God to be peaceful, political, peculiar, relevant, and radical in our world?
May the church endeavor to consider this question very carefully in our times!
"Unless we are prepared to risk injury and death in nonviolent opposition to the injustice our societies foster, we don't dare even whisper another word about pacifism to our sisters and brothers in those desperate lands. Unless we are ready to die developing new nonviolent attempts to reduce international conflict, we should confess that we never really meant the cross was an alternative to the sword. Unless the majority of our people in nuclear nations are ready as congregations to risk social disapproval and government harassment in a clear call to live without nuclear weapons, we should sadly acknowledge that we have betrayed our peacemaking heritage. Making peace is as costly as waging war. Unless we are prepared to pay the cost of peacemaking, we have no right to claim the label or preach the message."
- Ron Sider (speaking at the Mennonite World Conference, 1984).
How are we, as followers of Jesus, called by God to be peaceful, political, peculiar, relevant, and radical in our world?
May the church endeavor to consider this question very carefully in our times!
November 10, 2008
Remembrance Day
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God!" (Matthew 5.9)
Today we try to remember. We remember the victims of war and all those who have died to help bring freedom and to help make the world a better place to live in. But today is also a stark reminder that our world is deeply broken and divided because of human violence.
For the Christian, Remembrance/Memorial Day also presents a unique opportunity for us to meditate on the way of peace. God calls us to look to Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace.
In the life and teachings of Jesus we see that God establishes peace in his world in an unconventional way. Jesus does not enter into physical battle in order to defeat the enemies of God. Instead, Jesus chooses the way of non-violence. Jesus lays down his life and dies at the hand of God’s enemies in order to defeat evil. Only then does God raise Jesus from the dead in the victory over sin and death. In the person of Jesus we see the perfect example of humble obedience, sacrificial love, and life-giving peace.
With this in mind, Jesus words in John 20.21 come into sharp focus: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” We are God’s sent ones – ambassadors for Christ – commissioned by the Holy Spirit to announce the good news of God’s peaceable kingdom. But what is more, we are called to embody God’s peace in the world. God is leading us to be his peacemakers.
So on this day of “remembrance” let us seize the opportunity and prayerfully take to heart the radical message of the Prince of Peace and follow his way of reconciling love. Let us discern together the ways in which God is calling us to be peacemakers in his world!
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Today we try to remember. We remember the victims of war and all those who have died to help bring freedom and to help make the world a better place to live in. But today is also a stark reminder that our world is deeply broken and divided because of human violence.
For the Christian, Remembrance/Memorial Day also presents a unique opportunity for us to meditate on the way of peace. God calls us to look to Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace.
In the life and teachings of Jesus we see that God establishes peace in his world in an unconventional way. Jesus does not enter into physical battle in order to defeat the enemies of God. Instead, Jesus chooses the way of non-violence. Jesus lays down his life and dies at the hand of God’s enemies in order to defeat evil. Only then does God raise Jesus from the dead in the victory over sin and death. In the person of Jesus we see the perfect example of humble obedience, sacrificial love, and life-giving peace.
With this in mind, Jesus words in John 20.21 come into sharp focus: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” We are God’s sent ones – ambassadors for Christ – commissioned by the Holy Spirit to announce the good news of God’s peaceable kingdom. But what is more, we are called to embody God’s peace in the world. God is leading us to be his peacemakers.
So on this day of “remembrance” let us seize the opportunity and prayerfully take to heart the radical message of the Prince of Peace and follow his way of reconciling love. Let us discern together the ways in which God is calling us to be peacemakers in his world!
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
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