Ps 89 for Advent

 Maybe the preacher could take on the role of Ethan the Ezrahite. It could be useful to think of him within the words given us, or the entire corpus  of the psalm. It ends book 3 of the Psalms (a la Leviticus???).

Our broken selections start out with the steadfast love (hesed) /loyalty/fidelity of God. Later the psalm struggles with the seeming end of the promise, given the demise of the monarchy.

Clearly, well to me at least, this psalm is a pastiche of different materials from different times that then serve to ask deep abiding questions about God’s engagement with our lives and times. In that sense it is a great Advent selection.

Son of God had a royal referent to the king as God’s representative, or image, on earth in the Near East. How well do we capture it with Christ the King? 

How could we continue to use this idea of divine representative to examine Jesus Christ? See Douglas John Hall on Christ as representative in the 2nd volume of his trilogy, Professing the Faith.

This psalm refers to the national trauma of the fall of Jerusalem. Much work has occurred in trauma studies and good be a good entry point for this psalm, including the virus.

The father son language could be explored. While I concur with our current look for other divine role relationships and divine metaphors, we may well be in a time to assess this language in light of new conceptions of fatherhood. Clearly our psalm does not consider a biological relationship. So, what would be some  good ways to explore Jesus Christ as Son of God?

One could examine the ways that we could read Christ into the words of the psalm that we have been assigned, in both sections but especially lining it up with the gospels.

I would think a Lutheran would be able to use this to discuss theology of glory and theology of the cross.

At v. 19, we have a good deal of disagreement in translating faithful one/holy one or faithful people.

The creation v. chaos material on river and sea could be an allusion to Christ on the sea.

One could also explore this element of the mythic background of the OT, as other nations employed similar notions.

2 Samuel 7 for Advent 4

 Messianic promise in 2 Sam 7 Just a note on the hope here. We do not know how much hope was placed in a new David, a Messiah over the years. Our passage goes back 1000 years before the birth of Christ. If Luke is using it, others must have continued to hold the promise dear for many years.

Qumran had a dual messiah, a priestly one to reform the temple and a political one. Indeed some  more mystical Jewish sects had a deep messianic expectation of their leader just recently in New York. Followers of Moon see him as a new Christ  figure. 

From the reading on David, we get a good sense of how expectations can change over time. the word messiah and therefore Christ means anointed one. In Reformed tradition we notice that priests, prophets, and kings were anointed. 

This is a good Advent text as it links, past, present, future. I like how God, with a moreover, reverses David’s request and decides to be the giver, not receiver of gifts. Again, the issue of giving or receiving gifts is a good piece for spiritual growth.

The promise fell with the temple and the monarchy, no? It took some real interpretive magic to recast the messianic hope.

God treads lightly here with David’s desire to link church and state as a legitimation tool. If one feels bold, the right wing church embrace of the president fits into this passage.

God prefers the nobility of the tabernacle. One could work with this image as Jesus himself is a mobile tabernacle of divine presence.

One could go further and link God’s mobility to Emmanuel quite directly. The evocation of God’s solidarity offer  a great way to mention current events and seek  the divine presence within them, or over and under them

Ps. 126 for Advent 3

 Psalms of ascent may have been recited one at a time on the Temple steps. They may also be examples of internal steps within a psalm, perhaps as an aid to memory.

James L. Mays sees the psalm as “joy remembered and joy anticipated.” It is a psalm perfect for Advent in a tension between past and future.

The translation of restoration/release from captivity/returning are nettlesome and depend on which verb we are using from Hebrew. (see working preacher 20  ).

The alarm goes off. You murmur to yourself, but I was having such a good dream. (I won’t dream of going into any detail about the content of an especially good dream for some of us) Ps. 126 imagines what it would be if life could look like a Christmas dream. (A Christmas dream could make for a good sermon).

This is a dream not only of the future but one that would make up for a missed past, for the hurts, wrongs, pain of the past. It imagines a great reversal where tears are replaced by laughter. Instead of being paralyzed by fear, they act to do one of the great acts of confidence in a future to be willing to go out and sow seed., like contemporary farmers facing the crop for next year.

We try to decorate our lives now with so much tinsel, to act as a cover for troubles. Sometimes I think we want a white Christmas to cover over our sins and disappointments with a holiday that cannot bear the weight we place on it. 

It may take the position that the future  has happened in the first verses, but then pleads for change at the end. I like that perspective on prayer that one day a better future will be our past.

The emphasis here of the joy of a dream come true is linked to the English etymology of rejoice where re may have been an intensive for joy. See McCann’s refections in the NIB.

He also finds a link to Joel that never occurred to me

Is. 61 for Advent 3

I'm not going to judge if this is indeed a different section following 40-55, in making clear demarcations in the edited book that is the final form of the prophet. It clearly is in deep conversation with those preceding chapters. If you see this as separate in 3rd Isaiah, then this section speaks to people disappointed that the Promised Land being returned is a not an Eden.

This forms most of the "mission statement" of the inaugural sermon of Jesus in Lk. 4

The Spirit is allied with the servant, (see 42:1-4). Anointing has messianic meaning for 

many, as the word itself attests.. Priest, prophets, kings were anointed-anoint is related to the noun, messiah/christ/anointed one. repair and restoration key words at v. 4. this is a joint project. they act because they are empowered by the spirit.

Look, at this season, to whom the work is directed. It is not destructive work but healing and liberating work. Oppressed=anawim that could also be afflicted or quite simply the poor. Release can't help but bring up thoughts of Jubilee (see the Mary Chapin Carpenter song) from Lev. 25.

The year of the Lord's favor could be directed to this or to 49:8 that the time of favor/grace has come. In v. 4, it seems to lead to rebuilding, but notice the sense of age, many generations-the year of the Lord’s favor could be jubilee. the word vengeance could also be rescue perhaps?

 

All of the recipients are in trouble. Most of them are political/governmental victims, but brokenhearted stands out to me. It reminds me of Lincoln speaking of binding up our nation;s wounds. This is a hard time of year for the grieiving-look at what is offered them in this passage. We want the holidays to be free from trouble and grief, a vagrant hope certainly. Notice how mourning takes up vv 2,3. On the other hand, v. 3 and 10 have decorations of the heart and spirit for the season don;’t they?

 

I like this phrase-oaks of righteousness-especially when we recall that it is a relational word more than following strictures.  

 

The lectionary then skips, for some reasons, but one can always restore the verses, to v. 8. Textual issues it could be wrongdoing or it could be robbery with an offering, that would be a nice entry into worship v. social justice. Also God loves justice. Note the word, not charity, but justice.

Shame is a sense of public exposure, so it is being transformed by public acclaim.

v.10 If one wants to talk about holiday spirit, the sense of one's whole being exulting is a good place to start. Clothing image in v. ten is often picked in the NT as baptismal imagery. This reflects bridal imagery of ch. 52.

We have a natural image of new growth, a victory garden (see William brown in his cosmos book) Please note the agricultural metaphor in v. 11. In v. 3 we have plantings. This is a victory garden, see Brown's Ethos of the Cosmos

Christians are wearing our baptismal robes of the new self. Here the servant/prophet is clothed in salvation and righteousness. These are not burdens but festive garments.

 

Please note the agricultural metaphor in v. 11. In v. 3 we have plantings. This is a victory garden, see Brown's Ethos of the Cosmos

Now we have a great reversal. I am not sure who the object of derision is foreign oppressors alone or maybe internal tricksters. Notice the character of God here loving justice, hating wrongdoing.

We may be unfaithful. God remains faithful. The God of creation is continuing to be creative and will continue to pay attention to getting people back on their feet to exercise power for themselves.

Mark 1:1-8 notes

 

1.  Mark does not mess around. He announces good news/gospel. One could easily focus on needing good news in the face of lies and fake news and propaganda.

2. With son of God and no birth story, I assume he is working off the OT images in Ps, 2, 89, 110 of a representative, an image of God in our world.

3. Messiah=anointed=Christ. Calvin points to the anointed tripartite office of priest, prophet, king.

4.  The quote attributed to Isaiah is a composite quote from the Septuagint. Regard well the dirty little secret that the NT usually quotes the Greek OT, not the Hebrew. Mark uses Both Ex.23 :20 and Mal. 3:1 to create the first passage (for this see Hays in Echoes....in the Gospels: ). Both of these passage offer hope for a better future after judgement is threatened or occurs. This may be a touch on what some see as the new exodus theme in Isaiah, although this has been questioned. Mark slightly alters the Greek text to allow him to link the Lord with Jesus, but also continuing the promise of the presence of God through the wilderness.To what extent can the gospel be ready as amplifying the liberating and comforting concerns of Is. 40? The promised deliverance is not embodied in Jesus.

II Peter 3:8-15

 I just read a piece in working preacher that does not see this as apocalyptically charged. I don’t buy it, but I do agree that it touches on moral life in the long interim between the two advents of Jesus Christ. Rather, the writer here has an intersection between apocalyptic and moral life. The time gap between the promise and its fulfillment of God’s agenda is to give us time to live properly in anticipation and embrace of God’s way in the world. In that way, it has a sense of Judaism that we are to practice tikkun olam, the healing of all to make the world ready for Messiah.

I see this as an apocalyptic text since it uses elements of it to alert the reader to the oncoming, onrushing new age. 

At the same time, it may be adopting Stoic ideas and transforming them into the emerging Chrsitan context. (Some date this letter as late as 140-160). They held, after all, that the worlds begin and end in a cycle of fire. Indeed, they also linked ethics and physics into a system.

Advent is a reflection on time, and we get a vital one here on God’s sense of time (and timing) in relation to our own. Adopting Ps. 90, it shows that the divine conception of time differs from ours. If one is feeling ambitions, one could go into chronos v. kairos times a la Tillich.

Here we get some Advent virtues to live pure, blameless, peaceful lives. One could put some meat on those bones and make a fine ethical sermon for this time of year.

Is. 40 in a Viral Year

 1) Calvin noticed that a difference in tone starts here in the book. Most of us think that much of the next chapters reflect an exilic promise, far removed from the earlier material’s major concern.

Not only that we are in a sort of choral back and forth with different voices. We appear to be in another throne room scene as in Is. 6. We may well be in a meeting of gods, or demigods, if you prefer, with God as the CEO of the meeting. It is not clear to me how Isaiah is there, in a vision or some other form of transport. Hanson does a good job with this in his Interpretation commentary.

2) Comfort (nhm) here is a verb, an imperative plural verb. I guess it could be directed to a group in heaven.  Could it be to all of the people, if directed to the prophet as a representative of the people>? To whom would you direct it now? Notice the imperative to speak tenderly.

3) The response is one of resignation. Why bother? Life is transient.

4) Mark uses some of this material to introduce the gospel and the Baptist. How can you weave it into Advent? Many churches may have Communion this Sunday-how does that affect your reading?

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5) Double for her sins. The punishments were more than condign, they exceeded a proper sentence. Is this not more than tough love? For me it has the sense of enough is enough, or more than enough. Does this aid you in preaching with those who see the virus as divine punishment, and they know precisely what the punishment is for? What highway for God’s help do we need right now? What would make it easier travelling?

6) When God promises to be the shepherd, it is a swipe at the failed human leaders/ shepherds. Is it an admission of divine failure, of misplaced  confidence in human leaders? 

7) Does the statement about the transitory nature of life, as in the flower fades, get a satisfactory resolution or response, or did I miss it? How do you find comfort over that point, or as Bruce Springsteen says, “everything dies, baby, that’s a fact.” Yet, instead of nurturing the breath/spirit removes life (7). What word, which word stands forever?

8) If I remember correctly Lee Michaels had a hit with a song that started out, it's been 40 days, in Do You Know What I Mean, and Art Garfunkel had a song 99 miles. both deal with yearning on the road. Maybe that would be a good entry point to consider the King’s highway on this passage.

The roadway image has an apocalyptic element, certainly, but doesn’t it have a sense of obstacles being removed along with its natural upheaval?

9) Don;t let it slip by you in the rush to finish. There it is again: do not be afraid/do not fear.

Notice how far we are from the divine warrior in v. 11. Now reward comes and recompense. It has elements of a maternal image as well. Notice that the imperatives hide the last phrase of gentle leading.

A look at Is. 64:1-9

 

Some hold that we are in a new section of Isaiah from chapter 56. With a book that mixes so many periods and images, it is hard to tell. If they are correct, we are dealing with the disappointment of the returned exiles that everything is not perfect, but so difficult. Returning home is fraught with peril.

This section is a counterpoint to preceding material.

1) The writer yearns for the active presence of God, as we all do, at least at times. We do not enter into the presence of God as much as God moves toward us. For Advent this makes it a verb, as in a God who arrives, who makes an entrance. It wants signs and wonders, as in the old days. When Jesus is baptized, the heavens indeed split open.

2) If I understand v. 5 (NRSV) correctly, they see God hiding and this pushed them into a complacency that allowed sin. In other words God has some responsibility for the sin of the people with the seeming deafness. While ch. 40 has voices of heaven, no one calls here in the awful silence. Seitz (NIB:529) sees this as the cry of the servants who suffer.

3) It seems to me that “yet” means that in spite of God's hidden quality, God is still a father. We have a good example of father language here  as our, not my; a sense of God, the creator of all. All Israel begs for help. Here is an interesting way to take the chosen and still make a universal claim.

4) Do I detect, in v. 7, at least a hint that people do not call on God because not only is God not seen, but God doesn't listen anyway? These are people tired of waiting and waiting, yet are told that God works with those who wait and hope. Qavah has a sense of gathering, of expecting, so God’s act was unexpected in v.3.

 

5) We move from a desire for the power of God as of old to an image of God as artisan. As we know from Jeremiah, the potter clay image is a powerful one. Here it has a sense of God molding us through adversity as well as success. It has a sense that our spiritual life is molded even when we may be unaware of the processes shaping us. I would hasten to add that the metaphor breaks down a bit when we consider that we, the clay, have some hand in shaping ourselves as well.

In our time, we are always looking for signs of divine favor. Here we could prize being an artistic creation, or it may lessen our arrogance if we see ourselves as rather inert raw material for the creative acts of God.

Maybe God has frustration in working with us that would be similar to my unmechanical skills trying to put together a crib or setting up a new device, or heaven forfend reading some assembly required for a special toy. 

On the other hand, this prayer sounds a challenge. What does God expect of us; God made us with these limitations and weaknesses.

 

6) This silent God, this invisible, this hidden God is a deep well. It is a healthy reminder that spiritual life is not dealing with an easy God. One could go in a mystical direction in pursuit of the silence. Hanson in his Interpretation commentary has a good section on this covenantal, relational God.

7) If you are unaware workingpreacher has nice commentary material that easily translates into sermonic material. Christopher Davis has a good, new view of waiting in his piece for this Sunday.

8) For those who see God as punishing us with the virus, the end of this passage is a moving prayer.