{"id":2481,"date":"2010-11-22T12:08:05","date_gmt":"2010-11-22T18:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=2481"},"modified":"2015-03-13T17:00:40","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T22:00:40","slug":"how-long-can-we-keep-preaching-christs-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/11\/22\/how-long-can-we-keep-preaching-christs-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"How Long Can We Keep Preaching Christ's Coming?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Over at The Hardest Question<\/strong><\/a>, a lectionary preaching blog curated by the mischievous, Russell Rathbun<\/a>, is asking what I think is an important and difficult question.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This Sunday marks the beginning of Year A in the The Revised Common Lectionary<\/a>.\u00a0 So here we go again.\u00a0 We get texts from Isaiah and the Gospels, about John the Baptist and the Second Coming.\u00a0 And once again we\u2019ve got to preach the immanent advent of the Christ.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s Coming!\u201d we preach, pray, and sing.<\/p>\n

But is he?<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not really saying that my own personal belief in Jesus\u2019 second coming is in doubt.\u00a0 Anyone who knows my commitment the theological programme of J\u00fcrgen Moltmann can guess that my belief in a concrete eschaton is pretty, well, concrete.\u00a0 What I am asking is, How long will people believe us?<\/em> We preach the advent of Christ every Advent, and I just wonder how long until the parishioners start thinking that we\u2019re the Preachers Who Cried Wolf.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019ll be an interesting conversation at THQ, and I encourage you to tune in.<\/p>\n

This Advent season The Hardest Question <\/strong>contributors will ask: Can we keep preaching these texts, year after year, and expect people to believe he is coming, that peace is ever coming?<\/p>\n

Join the Hardest Question community in struggling with deep and difficult questions at time when we are pushed toward the shallow and simplistic. Add your comments; let us know how you read the text; what you might preach.<\/p>\n

People are waiting for something . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

via thehardestquestion.com \u00bb Waiting on the Felonies of Jesus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over at The Hardest Question, a lectionary preaching blog curated by the mischievous, Russell Rathbun, is asking what I think is an important and difficult question. This Sunday marks the beginning of Year A in the The Revised Common Lectionary.\u00a0 So here we go again.\u00a0 We get texts from Isaiah and the Gospels, about John […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[50,511,555,622],"class_list":["post-2481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","tag-advent","tag-preaching","tag-russell-rathbun","tag-the-hardest-question"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Long Can We Keep Preaching Christ's Coming?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Over at The Hardest Question, a lectionary preaching blog curated by the mischievous, Russell Rathbun, is asking what I think is an important and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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