charlene
11-29-2010, 02:19 PM
A lovely piece of writing:
http://endlessfalling.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/alarm/
Alarm | November 29, 2010
But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
Alarm
Let us pray:
We wait Lord, but not patiently!
There is too much to be done
And we desire it to be done now
On our schedules
In our lives
But then you remind us that time
All of time
Is caught up in you
In your love
In your time
And so we wait
Not patiently, but we wait.
Aid us in this waiting
In the name of the promised one
Jesus the Christ
Amen.
I hate my alarm clock.
I hate it with the fire of a thousand suns.
The very sound of it fills me anxiety. This loud, crass, rude noise interrupting the beautiful peace of night’s slumber. And it’s especially taxing now that the weather is colder and I much prefer being under the covers than exposed to the winter chill that my alarm clock forces me into.
That winter chill is something I dread each morning, and because I’m a very heavy sleeper, I must put my alarm clock all the way on the other side of the room or else, in my sleep, I’ll slap it and sleep right through…
This caused me many problems in college. I was blessed to have a very understanding roommate throughout my college career and, as college boys do, we thought it would be funny to put a strobe light that we had found and connect it to “the clapper.” The problem with this is that ANY noise would set that strobe light off, and in the morning as I slapped my alarm clock to turn it off the noise of the whomp I delivered would set off the clapper, which would set off the strobe light which would inevitably cause us to face that winter chill to turn it off.
And yet, I need my alarm clock. It’s the only thing that can force me to face that winter chill some mornings.
And today’s readings sound very much like that alarm clock, like that warning that says, “You’ll sleep through it all! You won’t be prepared! You must wake up to get a start on things!” A strobe light of words blinking brightly. Do not fear. This is not some verse about some “rapture.” If you participated in the Revelation Bible study held here at Luther some years ago, you already know this…
Instead, these verses begin our Advent journey as a sort of warning sign, or guidepost. It yells, screams, blinks, “Stay awake! Be awake!”
Awake for what?
For life. For the in-breaking of God that happens in this world.
We are called, today, to step out into the winter chill of our lives for just a moment of examination. While the Holiday Lite station continues to play songs about a jolly overweight elf, we come here to be reminded that this season of Advent is not only about celebration, it’s about anticipation.
Growing up my father had a Gordon Lightfoot cassette tape, “Gordo’s Gold,” it was called. I listened to it until the ribbon wore through and it would no longer wind. His voice spoke something in me.
And I listened to it so much that I knew each song in order to the point that, before the next song in the playlist would come up, I’d be singing it.
When I went off to college, my parents bought me a similar CD. The line-up was almost identical…until you arrived at track 7. There it went into some obscure song from Gordon that I didn’t know, and didn’t care for, and it threw off my whole listening experience.
Here was something I thought I was familiar with, I thought I knew, and it turned out to be subtly different…but different enough to drive me to distraction.
This season of Advent should be, for the Christian, much like that experience. Much like the workers in the field who are one moment here and another moment gone, this season you are invited to distraction.
And this is different than the distractions the world offers. While the world is trying to distract you with pretty lights, with shiny toys, with things that announce how many more shopping days you have until judgment day, we’re invited into a totally different space.
Today you are invited to the distraction of an alarm clock, of a strobe light, of something that gets you so by surprise you stop and look around.
A distraction that compels you to leave the warmth of the traditional Christmas routine that you have become accustomed to and delve into the chill of unfamiliarity.
Jesus is coming.
Not has come, is coming. Now, today. Here, in bread and wine. There, in someone you don’t recognize but can see is full of God’s goodness.
Soon, in the sweet sleep that follows the last breath.
But we miss it, too often, because we are attached to our playlists…we are not disrupted enough.
This last Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I was leaving the office with a thousand things on my mind and a thousand things to do…but with no gas.
As I was filling up at the Shell station, a man walked out of the autobody center holding something in his hands. What he was holding, I have no idea. All I know is that it belonged in a car. He turns to me and says, “Hey buddy, want to make 5 bucks?”
Now, normally I wouldn’t accept a gas station proposition like that. But he looked as if he needs help, and so I said, “Sure, hop in.” “Take me down to the Auto Zone down the street here, I have to get this thing replaced.”
And as we began to drive he was chatting away, peppering his language with a good bit of cursing and obvious irritation. Which is fine because I understand cursing; sometimes its all you can do. And then he turns to me and says, “What do you do?”
Now, I don’t know his background, I don’t know his familiarity with this side of religious line, so I simply said, “I’m a priest.” To which he replied, “Oh sh…”
“Well,” he said, “I have to confess two things Father. First, I’m unhappy. Second, I like to curse.”
“Let’s work on the first one,” I said.
And he told me how he had had an apartment a month ago, and had lost it and was now living in his car. A car which he couldn’t turn on, and therefore was freezing each night with no heat. He had two jobs, working them both, and needed his car to get there…
One moment he was in the field of success: stability, job, and all that comes with it.
The next moment he was gone.
One moment there are two workers in the field, the next there is one.
And in those few moments that we spent together, I felt an intense feeling of God being present, having arrived in my car, disrupting my playlist. But had I stuck to my play list, I would have missed it, and I suspect this man would have as well.
As we pulled up to Auto Zone, he turned to me and said, “Will you wait for me?”
“Sure, I’ll wait.”
Because in Advent we’re called to wait…to wait for God.
You see, Jesus is coming. And today you are invited to take stock. Before we get too caught up in buying gifts, let’s become distracted in giving thanks for the gifts of this life. Before we get too caught up in singing songs about elves, let’s sing a song of praise to the God who gives imagination and delight. Before we get too caught up in baking cookies, let’s give thanks to the God who gives grain from the ground, who comes in simple bread and wine, who appears at each feast when we gather with friends.
Be awake; awake! The alarm is sounding. It forces us into the chill of self reflection!
But that’s important. It’s important to do…because we don’t know. We live in uncertainty. One moment we’re here, the next we’re not. One moment we’re stable, the next we’re off kilter. One moment we’re in wonderful, life-giving relationships, and the next we’re standing amongst the rubble of relationships that have fallen apart.
So today Jesus invites us to reflect, to rewind, to not get too comfortable with what surrounds us. And it is only when we pay attention that we can truly give thanks with awareness…
Jesus is coming again. What wonderful news! So rise, awaken yourself, don’t get bogged down in shopping and humming carols. Oh yes, we will shop. Oh yes, we will hum. But don’t get attached to that playlist. (And believe me, this is difficult for someone like me who loves to sing Christmas carols any time of the year!)
But the invitation is clear, the alarm is loud.
So instead, give thanks to the one who provides the breath to hum, who provides the means to give. You’re invited to distraction…and it is only in distraction that we truly pay attention.
The alarm is sounding.
Amen.
http://endlessfalling.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/alarm/
Alarm | November 29, 2010
But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
Alarm
Let us pray:
We wait Lord, but not patiently!
There is too much to be done
And we desire it to be done now
On our schedules
In our lives
But then you remind us that time
All of time
Is caught up in you
In your love
In your time
And so we wait
Not patiently, but we wait.
Aid us in this waiting
In the name of the promised one
Jesus the Christ
Amen.
I hate my alarm clock.
I hate it with the fire of a thousand suns.
The very sound of it fills me anxiety. This loud, crass, rude noise interrupting the beautiful peace of night’s slumber. And it’s especially taxing now that the weather is colder and I much prefer being under the covers than exposed to the winter chill that my alarm clock forces me into.
That winter chill is something I dread each morning, and because I’m a very heavy sleeper, I must put my alarm clock all the way on the other side of the room or else, in my sleep, I’ll slap it and sleep right through…
This caused me many problems in college. I was blessed to have a very understanding roommate throughout my college career and, as college boys do, we thought it would be funny to put a strobe light that we had found and connect it to “the clapper.” The problem with this is that ANY noise would set that strobe light off, and in the morning as I slapped my alarm clock to turn it off the noise of the whomp I delivered would set off the clapper, which would set off the strobe light which would inevitably cause us to face that winter chill to turn it off.
And yet, I need my alarm clock. It’s the only thing that can force me to face that winter chill some mornings.
And today’s readings sound very much like that alarm clock, like that warning that says, “You’ll sleep through it all! You won’t be prepared! You must wake up to get a start on things!” A strobe light of words blinking brightly. Do not fear. This is not some verse about some “rapture.” If you participated in the Revelation Bible study held here at Luther some years ago, you already know this…
Instead, these verses begin our Advent journey as a sort of warning sign, or guidepost. It yells, screams, blinks, “Stay awake! Be awake!”
Awake for what?
For life. For the in-breaking of God that happens in this world.
We are called, today, to step out into the winter chill of our lives for just a moment of examination. While the Holiday Lite station continues to play songs about a jolly overweight elf, we come here to be reminded that this season of Advent is not only about celebration, it’s about anticipation.
Growing up my father had a Gordon Lightfoot cassette tape, “Gordo’s Gold,” it was called. I listened to it until the ribbon wore through and it would no longer wind. His voice spoke something in me.
And I listened to it so much that I knew each song in order to the point that, before the next song in the playlist would come up, I’d be singing it.
When I went off to college, my parents bought me a similar CD. The line-up was almost identical…until you arrived at track 7. There it went into some obscure song from Gordon that I didn’t know, and didn’t care for, and it threw off my whole listening experience.
Here was something I thought I was familiar with, I thought I knew, and it turned out to be subtly different…but different enough to drive me to distraction.
This season of Advent should be, for the Christian, much like that experience. Much like the workers in the field who are one moment here and another moment gone, this season you are invited to distraction.
And this is different than the distractions the world offers. While the world is trying to distract you with pretty lights, with shiny toys, with things that announce how many more shopping days you have until judgment day, we’re invited into a totally different space.
Today you are invited to the distraction of an alarm clock, of a strobe light, of something that gets you so by surprise you stop and look around.
A distraction that compels you to leave the warmth of the traditional Christmas routine that you have become accustomed to and delve into the chill of unfamiliarity.
Jesus is coming.
Not has come, is coming. Now, today. Here, in bread and wine. There, in someone you don’t recognize but can see is full of God’s goodness.
Soon, in the sweet sleep that follows the last breath.
But we miss it, too often, because we are attached to our playlists…we are not disrupted enough.
This last Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I was leaving the office with a thousand things on my mind and a thousand things to do…but with no gas.
As I was filling up at the Shell station, a man walked out of the autobody center holding something in his hands. What he was holding, I have no idea. All I know is that it belonged in a car. He turns to me and says, “Hey buddy, want to make 5 bucks?”
Now, normally I wouldn’t accept a gas station proposition like that. But he looked as if he needs help, and so I said, “Sure, hop in.” “Take me down to the Auto Zone down the street here, I have to get this thing replaced.”
And as we began to drive he was chatting away, peppering his language with a good bit of cursing and obvious irritation. Which is fine because I understand cursing; sometimes its all you can do. And then he turns to me and says, “What do you do?”
Now, I don’t know his background, I don’t know his familiarity with this side of religious line, so I simply said, “I’m a priest.” To which he replied, “Oh sh…”
“Well,” he said, “I have to confess two things Father. First, I’m unhappy. Second, I like to curse.”
“Let’s work on the first one,” I said.
And he told me how he had had an apartment a month ago, and had lost it and was now living in his car. A car which he couldn’t turn on, and therefore was freezing each night with no heat. He had two jobs, working them both, and needed his car to get there…
One moment he was in the field of success: stability, job, and all that comes with it.
The next moment he was gone.
One moment there are two workers in the field, the next there is one.
And in those few moments that we spent together, I felt an intense feeling of God being present, having arrived in my car, disrupting my playlist. But had I stuck to my play list, I would have missed it, and I suspect this man would have as well.
As we pulled up to Auto Zone, he turned to me and said, “Will you wait for me?”
“Sure, I’ll wait.”
Because in Advent we’re called to wait…to wait for God.
You see, Jesus is coming. And today you are invited to take stock. Before we get too caught up in buying gifts, let’s become distracted in giving thanks for the gifts of this life. Before we get too caught up in singing songs about elves, let’s sing a song of praise to the God who gives imagination and delight. Before we get too caught up in baking cookies, let’s give thanks to the God who gives grain from the ground, who comes in simple bread and wine, who appears at each feast when we gather with friends.
Be awake; awake! The alarm is sounding. It forces us into the chill of self reflection!
But that’s important. It’s important to do…because we don’t know. We live in uncertainty. One moment we’re here, the next we’re not. One moment we’re stable, the next we’re off kilter. One moment we’re in wonderful, life-giving relationships, and the next we’re standing amongst the rubble of relationships that have fallen apart.
So today Jesus invites us to reflect, to rewind, to not get too comfortable with what surrounds us. And it is only when we pay attention that we can truly give thanks with awareness…
Jesus is coming again. What wonderful news! So rise, awaken yourself, don’t get bogged down in shopping and humming carols. Oh yes, we will shop. Oh yes, we will hum. But don’t get attached to that playlist. (And believe me, this is difficult for someone like me who loves to sing Christmas carols any time of the year!)
But the invitation is clear, the alarm is loud.
So instead, give thanks to the one who provides the breath to hum, who provides the means to give. You’re invited to distraction…and it is only in distraction that we truly pay attention.
The alarm is sounding.
Amen.