Sunday November 16, 2008

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