{"id":826,"date":"2012-12-11T10:24:21","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T16:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/?p=826"},"modified":"2012-12-11T10:26:41","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T16:26:41","slug":"the-advent-of-my-radio-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/","title":{"rendered":"The Advent of My Radio Career"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I was sitting at my desk in my home office yesterday morning working down my things to do today list.\u00a0 Job #1 was finishing the syllabus for a course on storytelling I\u2019m teaching next semester. To my usual at home outfit of jeans and t shirt I had added a blue snuggy and an afghan. My attire fit the Advent season. I was swaddled. This because the sudden onset of winter weather in Texas was apparently too much of a shock to the heating system in my home. It decided to take the day off.<\/p>\n

Despite the winter chill, I was enjoying the morning. I love those rare days when you have several hours devoid of meetings and appointments and can really tear through that things to do list. Then came an email from John Hall. He is co host of a radio talk show in Pittsburgh with Kathy Emmons. It\u2019s called the John and Kathy show and it airs on WORD-FM. They wanted to know if they could interview me on air at 4:40pm Eastern Standard Time about an Edgy Exegesis column I wrote back on August 12, 2012 on John 6:51-58. Edgy Exegesis is a weekly column I write on the gospel lectionary text. I could have said no, but I was curious as to why they picked this entry out of all the others to have me talk about at Advent when the lectionary texts during December are from Luke. There went my carefully planned schedule of accomplishing the things on my list.<\/p>\n

I had to put preparing for the 15 minute radio interview at the top of my list. I don\u2019t do well without preparation, and if I stumbled over my words on live radio, I would bring shame to all those who bear the McKenzie name, both in this country and in Scotland. Besides I had no memory of what I had written back in August or concept of how it related to people\u2019s faith at Advent.<\/p>\n

My August 12 \u00a0column was called \u201cLiving in Jesus\u2019 Heart.\u201d It began in this way:<\/p>\n

As a child in Sunday School I sang the song \u201cInto My Heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInto my heart, into my heart.<\/p>\n

Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.<\/p>\n

Come in today, Come in to stay<\/p>\n

Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

It went on to say\u2026<\/p>\n

Our passage this week promises that Jesus will abide in those who \u201ceat his flesh and drink his blood.\u201d(Jn 6:56) So inviting him in is an excellent first step. It\u2019s a good lesson for children to sing and remember.<\/p>\n

The verb here translated abide<\/em> (meno<\/em>) occurs 40 times in John and 29 times in the Johannine letters. It means to remain, stay, abide, live, dwell, last, endure, continue. The noun mone<\/em> means a dwelling place, room or home.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

John\u2019s Gospel emphasizes that we are to invite Jesus to live in or abide in us.<\/p>\n

John also highlights the bigger picture- that, as Jesus abides in God, so we already \u201cabide in Jesus.\u201d We live in Jesus\u2019 heart.<\/p>\n

As Paul tells the Athenians in Acts 17:27-28 \u201cGod is not far from each of us. For \u2018In him we live and move and have our being.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

We live in Jesus\u2019heart and Jesus\u2019 house. In the first chapter of John, Jesus sees some disciples of John the Baptist following him. He said to them, \u201cWhat are you looking for?\u201d They said to him, \u201cRabbi\u201dwhere are you\u00a0staying<\/strong>?\u201d He said to them, \u201cCome and see.\u201d They came and saw where he was\u00a0staying<\/strong>, and they\u00a0remained<\/strong>\u00a0with him that day. (Jn 1:38-39)<\/p>\n

In my Father\u2019s house there are many\u00a0dwelling<\/strong>\u00a0places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?(Jn 14:2)<\/p>\n

We are used to thinking about Jesus living in us and inviting him into our hearts. We are not so accustomed to meditating on the reality that we already live in Jesus\u2019 heart. The recognition that we live in Jesus is both comforting and challenging. It\u2019s comforting because we don\u2019t have to do everything. When our personal lives are chaotic or disappointing, when our society is polarized and violent, we remember that we live and move and have our being in Jesus. That is our context. It is a context of judgment but also of hope.<\/p>\n

As I read through the words I\u2019d written in August, hugging my snuggy around me, I thought, \u201cOk, I think I see why it caught their eye. It does relate to Advent and Christmas.<\/p>\n

I practiced making the following statement for my on air debut later in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Christmas we are constantly being told to make room in our hearts and homes for Jesus. We are exhorted to spend more time in prayer to prepare the Inn of our hearts for the baby. We are encouraged to decorate our homes beautifully with lights and a tree and ornaments and maybe get out that set of Christmas dishes so we can invite Jesus for a meal. \u00a0We are to invite our harmonious family and abundant friends into our home for festive cookie swaps with egg nog. I have nothing against any of this. But what if half the lights are burned out on my tree and I don\u2019t have a harmonious family or many friends? Then I will find comfort in knowing that Christmas is not just about inviting Jesus into our hearts and lives.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about realizing that all year long we live and move and have our being in God. We live in Jesus\u2019 heart. Christmas is about facing into the reality, whether the world believes it or not, whether we feel it or not, Jesus is our context. God becoming Incarnate is the air we breathe.<\/p>\n

We are guests in Jesus\u2019 heart, beloved inhabitants of his house.<\/p>\n

Jesus abides in us, but this Christmas, let\u2019s remember that we abide in him.\u201d<\/p>\n

I practiced it 3 times, then put on makeup, combed my hair, and added a festive scarf to my snuggy\/afghan ensemble. Just because it\u2019s radio doesn\u2019t mean one shouldn\u2019t still take some pains with one\u2019s appearance.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, John and Kathy called me at 4:40 Eastern Standard time. They were very gracious radio hosts, and my preparations were definitely a good idea. \u00a0I still managed not to say some things quite as clearly and sharply as I had planned to. Also, I kind of wish I hadn\u2019t been convinced to \u00a0 sing \u201cInto my heart,\u201d at the end of the interview. But I guess it doesn\u2019t matter that much. At that time of the afternoon, their audience is only about 50,000 people.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n

[1]<\/a> Out of 120 occurrences of the verb meno<\/em> in the New Testament, <\/em>69 come from the Johannine tradition. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was sitting at my desk in my home office yesterday morning working down my things to do today list.\u00a0 Job #1 was finishing the syllabus for a course on storytelling I\u2019m teaching next semester. To my usual at home outfit of jeans and t shirt I had added a blue snuggy and an afghan. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Advent of My Radio Career<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was sitting at my desk in my home office yesterday morning working down my things to do today list.\u00a0 Job #1 was finishing the syllabus for a course on\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Advent of My Radio Career\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was sitting at my desk in my home office yesterday morning working down my things to do today list.\u00a0 Job #1 was finishing the syllabus for a course on\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Knack For Noticing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-11T16:24:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-11T16:26:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alyce McKenzie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alyce McKenzie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/\",\"name\":\"The Advent of My Radio Career\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-11T16:24:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-11T16:26:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/#\/schema\/person\/0ecf0acc853ed24cbbb812bc2486f745\"},\"description\":\"I was sitting at my desk in my home office yesterday morning working down my things to do today list.\u00a0 Job #1 was finishing the syllabus for a course on\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Advent of My Radio Career\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/\",\"name\":\"Knack For Noticing\",\"description\":\"With Alyce McKenzie\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/#\/schema\/person\/0ecf0acc853ed24cbbb812bc2486f745\",\"name\":\"Alyce McKenzie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a2dd1754843e91a3b86fb2144fc3187?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a2dd1754843e91a3b86fb2144fc3187?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alyce McKenzie\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/author\/alycemck\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Advent of My Radio Career","description":"I was sitting at my desk in my home office yesterday morning working down my things to do today list.\u00a0 Job #1 was finishing the syllabus for a course on","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Advent of My Radio Career","og_description":"I was sitting at my desk in my home office yesterday morning working down my things to do today list.\u00a0 Job #1 was finishing the syllabus for a course on","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/","og_site_name":"Knack For Noticing","article_published_time":"2012-12-11T16:24:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-12-11T16:26:41+00:00","author":"Alyce McKenzie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alyce McKenzie","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/","name":"The Advent of My Radio Career","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-12-11T16:24:21+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-11T16:26:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/#\/schema\/person\/0ecf0acc853ed24cbbb812bc2486f745"},"description":"I was sitting at my desk in my home office yesterday morning working down my things to do today list.\u00a0 Job #1 was finishing the syllabus for a course on","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/2012\/12\/the-advent-of-my-radio-career\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Advent of My Radio Career"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/","name":"Knack For Noticing","description":"With Alyce McKenzie","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/#\/schema\/person\/0ecf0acc853ed24cbbb812bc2486f745","name":"Alyce McKenzie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a2dd1754843e91a3b86fb2144fc3187?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a2dd1754843e91a3b86fb2144fc3187?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Alyce McKenzie"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/author\/alycemck\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/knackfornoticing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}