Marginal Christianity

The Meaning of Advent Micah 5:2-5a / Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 80:1-7 / Hebrews 10:5-10 / Luke 1:39-45, (46-55) Now we move to the end of Advent, threshold of the arrival of the Christ-child, the God who comes. With him comes the fulfillment of God’s plans and purposes. Source of unending joy and delight. Joy itself is the hallmark of God’s presence and power. Joy attended all Israel’s expectations and anticipations of this fulfillment. Yet when the Christ-child comes history does not end, everything is not brought into alignment with God’s design, sin is not abolished, nor are heaven and earth fully and finally harmoniously reunited. Instead, Jesus engages and defeats the powers of Sin and Evil in a battle climaxing in his resurrection from the dead. His victory accomplished, God’s Israel on this side of the cross lives out that victory going forth to spread and implement its fruits in reconciliation and new life. Christ will return to finally and fully put heaven and...

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 / Psalm 126  or  Luke 1:46b- 5 5/                            1 Thessalonians 5:16-24/ John 1:6-8, 19-28 This week’s readings are full of expectation, anticipation, and the sighting of buds and blooms of nearness. Appropriate texts for this Sunday in Advent, I think. We’re zeroing in on the figure of the Messiah. Last week we talked about the kind of waiting required of us, that paradoxical “waiting that hastens the Day of the Lord.” This week we look at waiting itself. We live between God’s acts in the past and what he will do in our future. Psa.126 captures this perfectly. The first three verses celebrate the Lord’s past actions for his people; the last three anticipate his actions in restoring their fortunes. Isa.61 looks forward to the coming of a Spirit-anointed one who will bring healing and justice. Lk.1, Mary’s famous “Magnificat” looks forward to the great reversa...

December 3, 2014 | By: Mark Moore 0 Comments     What do you think? Advent is a special time of the year in which we (are supposed to) slow down and reorient our lives to Jesus during this season of expectation and hope leading up to the celebration of his birth.   Having grown up in a non-liturgical tradition, I have really come to appreciate the Christian year calendar and the rhythms it gives me by which to live my days. These various seasons allow me to live into the Christ story for the sake of my own formation.   Each week of Advent is marked by the lighting of a different candle around the Advent wreath. The four candles around the wreath are representative of hope, peace, joy, and love. In the middle of the wreath stands a lone white candle, larger than the rest, which represents Christ. The Christ candle is lit on Christmas Day, or Christmas Eve, and signifies the end of waiting, the realization of expectation.   While thi...

Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b, 64:2-7 Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13:33-37 Advent’s familiar themes of waiting and hopeful expectation have a different ring this year. “Waiting” works if you live in a world where you know that a little more patience generally would do you good. “Hopeful expectation” has a pleasant enough sound if your life is going reasonably well at the moment. But how do these admonitions sound–“wait!” “be patient!”–in a context of violence and despair, of deprivation and gross inequality? What does “hopeful expectation” sound like, look like in places where justice has long been delayed, meaning, of course, that justice has been denied? What if you’re sick of waiting? What if your patience has run out? What if you have no hope? Is it possible that affluent churches in nice neighborhoods (or even churches of modest means in safe communities) often make of Advent an aesthetic :   a ...