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There will be signs

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Advent 2019: December 6

Luke 21:25-33

Jesus said: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

sea and waves

This sounds pretty scary. Something like some of the climate changes that we are seeing now. This could be a projection from the climatologists. For many centuries there have been prophecies about the end of things. Many have come and gone. We are still here.

The people of Jesus’ time expected him to return in their lifetime. That didn’t happen. Will it happen? We don’t know. We can only live in our belief that he will come in glory. Whether we will see it in our time no one knows. It doesn’t matter. The point is when He does come it will be a time for rejoicing. He will come again.

 

Go and do!

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Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.                          Saint Augustine

we-rise-by-lifting-others-robert-ingersoll-always-be-kind-13113374

We can pray to God and know that he will hear. We can depend on God. But we can’t sit back and do nothing. We are God’s hands and feet. Jesus didn’t just sit and expect people to come to him. He traveled, he reached out to the homeless, the downtrodden, the sick. He couldn’t have done that sitting in his home. He had to go out. We have to do the same. Sitting in the pew in church is a good thing to do but that is not our major task. We have to go out of the door and follow the steps of Jesus as he walked among the people.

Remember

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Today was All Saints Sunday….celebrated on Sunday although the day was actually November 1st. All Saints is a day of remembrance. Remembrance of all the saints who have gone before both those with a capital “S” as well as a small “s.”

In the Episcopal Liturgy we use the words from the Bible where Jesus asked the disciples to take the bread and the wine in “remembrance of me.” The earlier term for the is from much further back: Anamnesis

From Ancient Greek ἀνάμνησις (anámnēsis, “remembrance”), “call to mind”).

anamnesis

  1. The ability to recall past events; recollection.
  2. (medicine) The medical history of a patient.
  3. (rhetoric) The mention of the past; quotation of exemplary authors from memory to establish one’s authority.

I have always felt that those who have gone before us are still with us. They are present in memories, in places that we visit, and other ways. I have been in churches where a strong sense of those who were there in the past is present.

souls

We take this moment to think about all those whose lives have shaped ours.

Sing a new song

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Colossians 3:16

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

SING TO THE LORD

Today I’m reminded of how important it is to be grateful for everything that you have. God has given us so much. Many of us have so many things that we don’t appreciate. Many of us need to remind ourselves that we have a roof over our heads, food to eat, family and friends and lots of other things. Do we remember each day to thank God for those gifts? I don’t think we do. Somehow we spend time praying for other things. The things we pray for may not be bad. We may be praying for others which is important. But let us not forget each day to thank God for the gifts that he has given us.

The passage from Colossians reminds us to sing hymns songs from the spirit and sing our gratitude to God. St. Francis says that those who sing pray twice. So if you can sing songs of gratitude to God

Light/Darkness

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light shines

 

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.   Charles A. Beard

This quote reminds me of one from my journal of saved quotes.

Now that my house has burned down I can see the moon more clearly.  From the movie Hiroshima

Both of these quotes remind us that light penetrates darkness. In the worst of times there is hope.

Hope

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Every thing that is done in the world is done by hope.     Martin Luther

hope-bible-verses-860x450_c

Hope is a gift given to us by a loving God. When we are drowned in anxiety and fear hope pulls us up. God’s presence in our lives is the best hope of all. Never forget God’s love and live with hope.

Trust God

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Psalm 4:6-8 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

6 There are many who say, “O that we might see some good!
    Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!”
7 You have put gladness in my heart
    more than when their grain and wine abound.

8 I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.

trust God storm

“O that we might see some good!” This really hits home right now. The world is in a precarious place. Terrorist killings, immigrants are seeking shelter, the financial world is uneasy, crime and shootings abound. Things are not any better than when the psalmist wrote. There is good new though. God is there and cares about us and the psalmist is sure of it. In spite of all the problems we can lie down and sleep knowing that all will be well.

God cares. Put your trust in God and “lie down in safety.”

We have it backwards

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Psalm 9: 1-2

1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;

    I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

2 I will be glad and exult in you;

    I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

When things are going badly we call on God for help. When we are afraid or ill or in danger we Immediately pray for help. When we don’t talk to God is when everything is going well. We just don’t think about it. We are too happy and satisfied.

Psalm 34 4

Somehow I think we have it backwards. When things are going great we need to thank God. We need to jump up and down for joy and sing aloud songs of praise.

I can just imagine the expressions on the faces of those around us. This is not something we see often. Maybe if we did that we would bring more people to our God. At least they would know that we counted on God for good things. Then they would understand that we belong to a God who is alive and well and present in our lives. Someone else may want that.

Good? Friday

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He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.               1 Peter 2:24

Good-Friday

I can’t imagine what it must have been like. The fear and disbelief of the disciples. The grief of the mother of Jesus. The pain he felt. The effort of dragging the cross. It is all beyond my experience. I don’t know where I would have been in that scene. Would I have believed in him or been part of the angry mob? Where would you be?

 

I do know that things have been different ever since.

 

God does laugh

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“To listen to some devout people, one would imagine that God never laughs.” Anon

Praise-God-for-His-Sense-of-Humor

Have you met Christians ready to pummel you with their God? Or the one for whom anything to do with God is a totally serious business. They never laugh when they are talking about him To them, God is a wrathful, angry God. One from only the Old Testament. Jesus taught us about another God. The God who wants us to have a cheerful face.  The New Testament God is the one I follow. Christ didn’t have a grumpy face.  He went to parties. He drank wine. His face was full of love.

 

 

Prayer: Intimate God, let us show a cheerful face to others that we might draw them to you. Help us to teach them about Jesus. Amen

 

 

 

 

Prayer: Thank you loving God for continuing to give us a chance. We just don’t seem to learn. Forgive us our sins. Amen