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Mark 11:1-10 - Lectionary for Advent 1B

11/30/2017

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11/30/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Our Gospel reading this week strikes some as a surprise. People who are not in a fairly liturgical tradition would likely not expect this reading until about a week before Easter. In it, Jesus enters Jerusalem, recognized as the king. Surely this is a misplaced reading?

In fact, it is not misplaced at all. It’s quite deliberate. As we have entered the time of Advent we are looking to the coming of Christ. In the prophetic readings the various comings of Christ tend to be collapsed in on one another. The disciples expected a Messiah to come as a king who would usher in the end of the world immediately. In practice, Christ seems to have several different comings. In his first coming, he was born. Fully God and fully Man, Jesus was born of a virgin, under the law, to redeem those under the law. Some thirty to thirty-three years later, Jesus came into Jerusalem. He entered as the king who would spread his reign to all his subjects. This is the image we find in Mark 11. The king of peace comes seated on a donkey. The people prepare his way and recognize him. They ask for God’s salvation to be on their people and God’s blessing to be on their king. What of the future? At some point in the future, a time which we do not know, Jesus will come to gather his people to himself. It wil all happen. It’s just taking more time than we might have thought based on the Old Testament.

Jesus is the one who comes riding on a colt of a donkey. This is no war horse. This is the move of a king who comes in peace. May the peace of the Lord be with you in this Advent season.

By the way, Advent is maybe a little vague and difficult to put on the calendar. There are a variety of traditions. However, most Christian traditions start the season of Advent on the Sunday closest to November 30. Therefore, it can start as early as November 27 or as late as December 4. It has four Sundays. The last Sunday of Advent is the Sunday immediately before Christmas. Advent calendars normally start on December 1, so they may start a few days early or late. November 30 is the day of Saint Andrew, the first disciple of Jesus. He heralded the coming of Christ to others, so the timing of his day leads to the period of Advent. Advent is a time set aside to look forward to the coming of Christ. It is historically a time of fasting and prayer, combined with eager anticipation of Christmas, which begins on December 25.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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1 Corinthians 1:3-9 - Lectionary for Advent 1B

11/29/2017

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11/29/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Our theme this week is of God coming to visit his people. In 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 we read about the results of God’s visitation. What does happen when Jesus is among his people? His people are enriched (v. 5). The Word of God dwelling in us can change our speech. He changes our way of looking at the world, so as to adjust the way we use our knowledge. His message of resurrection and life strengthens us. The hope we have in eternity gives us an eagerness about his coming. Even while we are waiting, we find that we have all the spiritual gifts we need. Particularly, we find ourselves in fellowship with Jesus.

Our greater culture insinuates that Christians are of no use. We don’t always seem politically active, at least not in the ways which are approved by the majority political agenda. According to this passage, Christians certainly will not look at the world of politics as a savior. That isn’t going to be our ultimate hope. Our hope is found in the Lord of the resurrection.

Again, this doesn’t mean that we let all of creation fall apart and hurry it along its way. God has still called his people to be stewards of his creation. It just means that we will look to the one who can make us blameless. This is Jesus. As we live in fellowship with him, we can bring others along. He is, after all, the savior of the world.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Isaiah 64:1-9 - Lectionary for Advent 1B

11/28/2017

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11/28/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

I saw a billboard a few years ago. It simply said, “Don’t make me come down there!” - God - big white letters on a black background. There was obviously something wrong with the campaign’s sentiment about God. It pictured God as an angry dad, upset about the way his children are misbehaving, but not willing to help them resolve anything. His whole attitude said the children needed to be quiet. If he had to come down there, he would thrash them into submission. There was no concept of God being the one who has reconciled the world to himself and who works peace among his people.

Our reading from Isaiah this week portrays God very differently. He is the one who is mighty enough that everyone should be paralyzed with fear when he is around. But he is the one who is called upon to come down and be involved in his world. Our world is in turmoil and disorder. Lord, won’t you come down and put it to rights? We realize that time will be the most frightening one we will ever endure. But your presence is what we need.

When we have tried to make reconciliation it has failed. We don’t know how to be reconciled to God. We normally don’t even know how to be reconciled with one another. We need the Lord of all to come down and work in our midst. Thanks be to God, in these last days, he has heard our prayer and answered it through Christ, God the Son. In him, all will be sustained and restored. This is God’s most gracious answer to our prayer.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Psalm 80:1-7 - Lectionary for Advent 1B

11/27/2017

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11/27/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

In our reading from Psalm 80, the Psalmist, speaking for all the people of Israel, call upon God for restoration and care. He addresses God as both the “shepherd” and the “God of Armies.” Both roles are those of protectors. The people need protection and rescue, particularly from earthly enemies. The neighboring people have been mocking Israel. It would seem that they are also mocking the God of Israel, who has set his people part but then seems to be ignoring them.

The Psalmist sees that God is not answering the prayers of his people. This is the sign of his anger against them, spurred on by their neglect of his person and nature. When we consider the troubles Israel faced throughout their history, they coincided with times when Israel developed an opinion that God was someone who needed to act according to their own ideas and plans.

God’s typical response seems to follow this logic. “If you want to believe that I am the God I have said I am, and if you realize that my actions have been consistent with what the Moses and the Prophets have said, you will find that I am the loving, patient, and caring God who will rescue you from every evil. But if you want to re-create me in your image, if you treat me like someone of your own imagination, I will allow you to see what kind of a powerless god that is. I can save you according to my righteousness or I can give you what you actually deserve. It’s up to you.”

Our Psalm, then, calls us back to trusing in God as he has revealed himself. When he seems silent, when our enemies are rising up against us and we don’t have any assurance of his presence or mercy, it’s almost certainly because we are not looking for him in the places and ways he has said he will be present. And that place to find God is not in our own heart, not in our imagination, not in national or ethnic pride. It’s in Word and Sacrament, the places he has said he would be present. If we look there, we will certainly find the rescue we need.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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