Greetings all! It was good to see so many of you in class today. For those of you who had other commitments, you were greatly missed.
Today we began our Advent series on Bonhoeffer and the Christmas story. We are using Bonhoeffer's Christmas sermons as a guide through the Advent season, and specifically through the Christmas story as foreshadowed in the Old Testament and as told in the gospels. We are hoping for a couple of guest speakers in December on the subject. We shall see what we are able to do in that regard.
For those of you who missed today, we introduced Bonhoeffer. For a quick two minute introduction to Bonhoeffer, see this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHp0c49ql5s. You might find these additional clips interesting as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F_Bxi-l8fc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAmAQEATxSg&feature=related
There are others out there, some better than others, but you get the idea. For those of you interested in the article about Bonhoeffer that I used today during the class, here is the link.
http://escholarship.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=scjr
The featured topic from that issue was Bonhoeffer. Here is the rest of the journal.
http://escholarship.bc.edu/scjr/vol2/iss1/
We looked at the Christmas story as told in Matthew and in Luke, and also mentions of it in Isaiah 7 and Micah 5. For next week, we encourage you to think about the things you are thankful for as we look to Thanksgiving, and to read Isaiah 7 along with the Christmas sermon we will be e-mailing around this week.
We closed today with a brief introduction to the coming season of Advent. Advent, we learned, is about waiting. We wait expectantly for the coming savior. If you remember how eagerly you anticipated Christmas morning as a child, perhaps you can begin to think about what Advent is really all about. We wait patiently for the savior, but patiently does not mean without real longing and real emotion. Sometimes our souls cry out for the touch of our Lord and we wonder why there is no response. Bonhoeffer lived in this world, where God was mysteriously present and yet absent.
For now, let's close with Bonhoeffer's belief in the power of prayer. For Bonhoeffer, who fought against the Nazis in Germany, prayer was resistance. It wasn't a way to prepare to resist. Think of this as you talk to your Father in heaven this week. Resist the urge to despair. Resist the urge to give up hope, for hope is the essence of real longing. We hope that the savior will come. We long for his touch in our lives.
Peace to you this week.
Bryan
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
November 9, 2008
Greetings all. It was good to see those of you who attended class today. For those who could not, you were greatly missed.
We completed our series today on Faith and Politics. Most breathed a great sigh of relief. Over the next few weeks, we will be entering a time of focusing on the Advent Season, and the Christmas story as revealed in the Gospels. We will also be looking at the Advent Season through the eyes of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and a collection of his Christmas Sermons.
As you go into this week, I hope that you will carry with you the expectation and anticipation associated with the coming Advent Season. Bonhoeffer writes that "Celebrating Advent means learning how to wait. Waiting is an art which our impatient age has forgotten. We want to pluck the fruit before it has had time to ripen. Greedy eyes are soon disappointed when what they saw as luscious fruit is sour to the taste. In disappointment and disgust they throw it away. The fruit, full of promise rots on the ground. It is rejected without thanks by disappointed hands. The blessedness of waiting is lost on those who cannot wait, and the fulfillment of promise is never theirs. They want quick answers to the deepest questions of life and miss the value of those times of anxious waiting."
We are as a nation in a time of anxious waiting. We look forward to the coming year as a time where everyone, regardless of whether we voted for one candidate or another, anticipates a better time. We look forward to restoration and the fulfillment of promises made. The question is, are we willing to both be patient for the fruit to ripen and to do the hard labor of picking that choice fruit when it is ready? We should all be a little more attentive to the times and to our role in society today as people of faith. Judgment is not our vocation; rather, we are to love and to wait patiently for the coming Savior. We are to pick the fruit from the highest branches and help those who cannot reach it. In short, we have great responsibilities as people of faith who live in great abundance in a community of faith.
God bless you all this week.
Bryan
We completed our series today on Faith and Politics. Most breathed a great sigh of relief. Over the next few weeks, we will be entering a time of focusing on the Advent Season, and the Christmas story as revealed in the Gospels. We will also be looking at the Advent Season through the eyes of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and a collection of his Christmas Sermons.
As you go into this week, I hope that you will carry with you the expectation and anticipation associated with the coming Advent Season. Bonhoeffer writes that "Celebrating Advent means learning how to wait. Waiting is an art which our impatient age has forgotten. We want to pluck the fruit before it has had time to ripen. Greedy eyes are soon disappointed when what they saw as luscious fruit is sour to the taste. In disappointment and disgust they throw it away. The fruit, full of promise rots on the ground. It is rejected without thanks by disappointed hands. The blessedness of waiting is lost on those who cannot wait, and the fulfillment of promise is never theirs. They want quick answers to the deepest questions of life and miss the value of those times of anxious waiting."
We are as a nation in a time of anxious waiting. We look forward to the coming year as a time where everyone, regardless of whether we voted for one candidate or another, anticipates a better time. We look forward to restoration and the fulfillment of promises made. The question is, are we willing to both be patient for the fruit to ripen and to do the hard labor of picking that choice fruit when it is ready? We should all be a little more attentive to the times and to our role in society today as people of faith. Judgment is not our vocation; rather, we are to love and to wait patiently for the coming Savior. We are to pick the fruit from the highest branches and help those who cannot reach it. In short, we have great responsibilities as people of faith who live in great abundance in a community of faith.
God bless you all this week.
Bryan
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