Advent 1 C - Texts for Worship -

December 3, 2006

@ FVPC

HOPE

The texts for this next Sunday - the first in Advent - are Jeremiah 33:14-16, Psalm 25:1-10, 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 and Luke 21:25-36.

The four scriptures for Sunday all talk about Judgement. The more-than-four-letter-word that strikes a chill in us at its hearing and motivates some in their violent striking-out against others. What is Judgement? Linguistically the words means more or less to separate, to sift, to distinguish one from another. Philisophically it's not a word that evokes images of dancing devils with pitchforks, planes crashing into skyscrapers, or the "righteous" celebrating at the downfall of the "heathen."

Judgement Day is a moment in time in which things change. The Jeremiah passage talks about it as a great HOPE, a redefining and redeeming moment to come. The Psalm talks about the steadfast faithfulness of God, and the poet's desire to grow spiritually in wisdom, practice, and godliness. 1 Thessalonians talks with hope about the coming of the Lord. While Luke portrays more of an end-of-the-world perspective to the Day of the Lord, urging us to stay alert, or remain awake so that we might not live our lives in a passive slumber, but rather in a pro-active, participatory path of faith, peace, and mission. So this first Sunday of the Christian Liturgical year begins in HOPE, rather than the regretting-the-past New Year's Resolutions that we promise to uphold on January 1st each year.

So what is judgement day? What do you think? Is it literal? Is it a metaphor for something else? Why do we begin Advent - the Christmas Season - with such a depressing and dark topic? Do you like to talk about it? Why or why not?