With respect to Advent Scripture referencing the Second Coming of Christ, William Barclay says Advent is a space to never become so immersed in time that we forget eternity. It seems impossible to even picture a world without time.  I describe myself as someone with the problem of being habitually early to everything. Other people have the opposite tendency, I know.  Our culture is so timely that Advent can seem almost impossible to enter. How can we wait for something (and actually someone) that has no timetable, no ETA, no reserved spot in the calendar?  And ironically, that's how we try to handle this "time" of Advent.  We give it four weeks, a season. We put it on the calendar when that seems to be the opposite of what it is about. Yet, Christ calls out, "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Matthew 24:36). It’s because we humans are trapped in time, morality, beginnings and endings, and we can't fathom … [Read more...]

During this season of Advent, we are waiting. I am personally waiting for calm, for a sense of peace in our world that surpasses all of our understanding. Most importantly during this increasingly divided time – when racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, gun violence and so much hate fills our lives – I am waiting for Mary’s yes. I am waiting to join in Mary’s Joy Revolution. I am waiting to join in the song. We wait for Mary’s song of joyful participation of the holy becoming manifest in her life. Mary’s song is a song of resistance against what we think we know. We wait for Mary’s song of hope. Mary’s song is a song of resistance against social order. Mary says, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). She gladly and joyfully accepts this honor. Mary chooses to say yes. Mary’s song is her acceptance of the divine, and as much as God chooses Mary, Mary chooses to say yes to God and to Jesus. Mary believed, and … [Read more...]

This Advent, I’m centering myself in Isaiah 30:15: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” What God asks seems so counterintuitive. Not in productivity or control, not in strength or giftedness do we find success or even find God. We encounter God in returning and rest, quietness and trust. These words signal to me surrender: to cease resisting God and to trust God with whatever is before me. What is before me is waiting; how fitting that it’s Advent, a season of preparation and waiting. Some of the things for which I wait seem cliché in the Christmas season — I’m waiting for God to make things right in the world, I’m waiting for justice and peace, for wholeness and a world shaped by love. These are real hopes for which I wait, and for which I actively wait, as I work for justice and peace. But some things are nudging me to surrender to the wait, without working for that which I seek.  For nearly two years, my husband and I … [Read more...]

During this Advent, I am reading through the Book of Revelation every week. Sure, it’s a helter-skelter time for a pastor, but I can manage three chapters every morning, sipped with my coffee. Of course, my reading is hardly the stuff of a peaceful daily devotional. Dragons and beasts and plagues, oh my! For insight into this cryptic book of the Bible, I lean on the scholarship of Brian Blount, president of Union Presbyterian Seminary. Though Advent entails waiting, a key to Brian’s exegesis is the role of an active witness. The word “martyr” originally meant “one who witnesses.” This double-meaning of martyr calls to mind those whose lives were lost at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, those who died al-Kiddush Hashem — sanctifying God’s name. One of these martyrs is named Rich Gottfried. The story goes that, last winter, he slipped on the ice and broke both his knees; yet he was soon back at shulin his leg braces and continued to lead the chanting of the Haftara. My Hebrew is not … [Read more...]