{"id":1152,"date":"2012-11-29T08:47:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-29T15:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?p=1152"},"modified":"2012-11-29T08:47:00","modified_gmt":"2012-11-29T15:47:00","slug":"its-a-mad-world-a-video-and-sermon-helps-for-advent-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2012\/11\/its-a-mad-world-a-video-and-sermon-helps-for-advent-01.html","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a Mad World \/ A Video and Sermon Helps for Advent 01"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/iframe>\n<\/p>Advent season is arriving, which means that many of us who do not follow the lectionary in ordinary time begin to sync back up with it. Each week I\u2019m going to try to put together a few thoughts to help provoke those pastors, students, and theological nerds (meant to be a term of endearment), as they consider the text for this week. The first text comes from Luke 21-25-36<\/p>\nVideo\/Art<\/strong>: \nI love the idea of showing the above video, then reading the text. I think it would make for a provocative opening to a sermon. I would probably cut the video at 1:52, right before the commercial at the end, just to leave it more open to personal interpretation.<\/p>\nMining for Tension:<\/strong> \nWhen we leave the prophetic passages to what one of my seminary professors called \u201cthe charts and graphs folks,\u201d \u2013 meaning those who are sure that the prophetic office is about reading the tea leaves, predicting the future, and warning of the end times \u2013 we lose the rich tradition of prophetic literature in the Bible. If the first line of the website is \u201cBible Prophecy,\u201d then we all know what kind of church it is, and many of us will be unlikely to play along. Yet for many of us the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Here\u2019s another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2012\/09\/tuesdays-with-walter-part-02-how-to-become-a-prophet-in-two-simple-steps.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">article that might help describe the role of the prophetic office<\/a>.<\/p>\nIf this text doesn\u2019t bother you, it should. Jesus says, \u201cTruly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place.\u201d It\u2019s natural to look at this text and be troubled by it. The plain sense of the text seems to be contradicted by history. The natural tendency is to simply not deal with it. When I looked at the lectionary for this week my first thought was to see what was happening in the Old Testament passage or the epistles. I didn\u2019t want a piece of this gospel text. Pastors need to dig into these troubling passages, learn all we can, and give a rich nuanced reading of the text that doesn\u2019t shy away from the obvious issues.<\/p>\nInsights & Understandings:<\/strong> \nV. 25-28<\/em>; When is there not distress? Name an epoch which was distress free. It can\u2019t be done. When are people not fainting from predictions of calamity? Is there a time when there were no prophets of doom and gloom? When are the heavens not shaken with the cataclysmic explosions of a billion burning suns? These are always the case, as they were when the writer of Luke penned these words. So what do we do? Heed the instructions: we stand up, lift up our heads, and look to the redemption which is drawing near.\u201d<\/p>\nV. 29-33<\/em>; The fig tree is typically a symbol for Israel. V. 32 is likely a reference to the sacking of Jerusalem which had either just happened, or was about to when Luke\u2019s gospel was written. In that sense the generation did not pass away before Jerusalem was \u201cjudged\u201d by God and Israel scattered.<\/p>\n\u201cThis generation,\u201d could mean Israel, the wicked, all of humankind, or something else. The prophets always speak with the voice of expectation. It\u2019s likely that the prophets, Jesus, and Luke expected the end of all things to come before their own generation passed. Still the fact that history continues has never invalidated the words of the prophets, and it doesn\u2019t invalidate Jesus here. The warning of judgment on the wicked, or assurance of redemption for those who are faithful is the central idea of the text. Why? Because it is a mad world.<\/p>\nV. 34-36<\/em>; It\u2019s a mad world, and every life comes to an end. The ungodly resolve to make the most of every moment with out reference to their neighbor, or to the common good. They live for the moment; they live for themselves. In our day this is typically done in the name of freedom, personal rights, and enlightened thinking. The obvious problem is that this kind of life has a sense of meaninglessness. It lacks a sense of transcendent purpose. On the other hand, the Godly resolve to make the most of every moment not in order to please themselves, but to please their Father in heaven and to live in Jesus\u2019s name. The Godly resolve to love their neighbor and seek the common good in the name of Jesus. This kind of life has a profound meaning, discernable both to the person living this life, and to the community at large. It is not only how we experience a rich, deep, full, abundant life, but it is also how we bear witness to the ultimate lordship of Jesus.<\/p>\nThe point of the passage isn\u2019t to read the tea leaves and predict the date of the second coming. That misses the point entirely. The point of the passage has much more to do with the way that we live our lives right now. \u201cStand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near\u2026Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life\u2026 Watch and pray,\u201d this is the life of the disciple. Do this \u201cthat you may be able to stand before the Son of Man,\u201d when your life, when all of life, finds its culmination in God. Do this and your lives will bear witness that the kingdom of God is a kingdom of love, a kingdom of joy, a kingdom of peace, and a kingdom of hope.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Advent season is arriving, which means that many of us who do not follow the lectionary in ordinary time begin to sync back up with it. Each week I\u2019m going to try to put together a few thoughts to help provoke those pastors, students, and theological nerds (meant to be a term of endearment), as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[236,235,234,82,237],"class_list":["post-1152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-advent","tag-advent-c1","tag-luke-2125-36","tag-prophet","tag-sermon"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>It\u2019s a Mad World \/ A Video and Sermon Helps for Advent 01<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Advent season is arriving, which means that many of us who do not follow the lectionary in ordinary time begin to sync back up with it. 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