Year A, Lectionary 7
Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: Advent • Deaf • Desert • Disability • Doubt • Environment • Expectation • Focus • Healing • Hear • History • Hope • Incarnation • Inclusion • John the Baptist • Joy • Judgment • Justice • Mercy • Patience • Peace • Power • Prepare • Prophet • Question • Relationship • Seek • Sight • Speech • Struggle • Unity • Welcome •
“what James is doing, he's just drawing on the fact that if the prophets of the Old Testament could wait their entire lifetime and then even beyond their lifetime...for the fulfillment of their prophecies to take place then how much more should we Christians be patient as we wait for the fulfillment of the prophecies of Jesus”
“at the end of the book of Malachi it also says that God's going to send his messenger to prepare his way. So here Jesus identifies John as the messenger...a lot of times Christians assume that he's just talking about the coming of the Messiah but...it says something about the coming of the Lord”
“When John inquires about Jesus he does not respond theoretically but Jesus points to the things that are already happening. Mainly that God is making people whole.”
“Christ wants you to make a space, to create a place so that Christ can come and visit the world again. He's calling on you to play the role of Mary and Joseph, to create a space for him to come. Your body is the new Bethlehem, your soul is the new manger which will hold Christ for the world”
“when Jesus says 'the lepers are healed' that's another suggestion that he's responding to John's statement by pointing not just to his identity as the Messiah but his identity as the divine Messiah, as the God-man”
“Whatever we are going through now may not make any sense to us at this moment but God is at work in each one of us. It is okay to raise questions but we must be attentive to the answers that come from God.”
“Our treasure - the God whom we seek and his kingdom - is already present in our midst, but so often unrecognised. We search far and wide for that which is already before our eyes. We look there for what is here. So, be attentive, look around you, circumspice!”
“This Advent when we're lighting candles and singing songs about waiting, patience, perhaps we should remember our prophets: John the Baptist, Jesus, Martin Luther King, and Amos, and Sr. Thea Bowman and pray to be patient like they were”
“Indeed, where anyone is absent or excluded from our assemblies it is there that our joy will be incomplete. All are called to something different, that is, through the joy in the world as a whole that may only be realized when inclusion prevails.”
“Do you believe in a God who so lavishly loves you just for being you? Is unfailing in God's love for you? And if that answer is yes, can you let yourself be a blessing to others? Be hope for others? Ultimately this day of rejoicing is about celebrating what is good in order to fix what is wrong.”
“It's the reality that war is sin and sin is expressed in warring ways...the only way out of war is peace and it's a peace this world can't give and the world can't take away. It's the peace that only comes from Jesus”