12/02/2018
Luke 21:25-36
Chris Breslin
(Bumper music:Because the Night is Long by Music from the Gathering Church (2010))
“Advent is not for the faint of heart.” – Fleming Rutledge
“[The writer] may well be forced to take ever more violent means to get his vision across to this hostile audience. When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal ways of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock — to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.” -Flannery O’Connor
“Kairos. Real time. God’s time.
That time which breaks through chronoswith a shock of joy, that time we do not recognize while we are experiencing it, but only afterwards, because kairoshas nothing to do with chronological time. In kairoswe are completely unselfconscious, and yet paradoxically far more real than we can ever be when we’re constantly checking our watches for chronological time.
The saint in contemplation, lost to self in the mind of God is in kairos. The artist at work is in kairos. The child at play, totally thrown outside herself in the game, be it building a sand castle or making a daisy chain, is in kairos. In kairoswe become what we are called to be as human beings, co-creators with God, touching on the wonder of creation.” -Madeleine L’Engle
Dear Christian Radio: I Love/Hate You(Missio Alliance post)
It’s the End of the World(Music Video by R.E.M.)
Scripture
This Sunday’s Songs
Open Up by Gungor/Arndt
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus by Wesley/Prichard
Canticle of the Turning by Cooney
The Advocate by Baltensperger
Why So Heavy? By Caswall/Wells
O Come Emmanuel by Traditional
Doxology: O Come All Ye Faithful by Wade
Further Reading for Advent
Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany edited by Sarah Arthur
Bearing the Wait: An Advent Companion (Evangelical Covenant Church resource)
Cardiphonia Resources for Advent compiled by Bruce Benedict
God is in the Manger by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Oak Church Advent Resources compiled by Chris Breslin
Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God by Bobby Gross
Mary Had a Baby: An Advent Bible Study Based on African AmericanSpirituals by Cheryl Kirk-Duggan & Marilyn Thornton
Song of the Stars: A Christmas Story by Sally Lloyd-Jones
Silence and Other Surprising Invitations of Advent by Enuma Okoro
Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge
Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas by Ann Voskamp
Advent Calendar (poem) by Rowan Williams
God With Us edited by Gregory Wolfe
