A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

Miscellaneous Advent notes

Sunday, as we all know, was the first Sunday in Advent, a season of penitence and hope as we await the coming of the Lord. This has dual connotations in that the coming of the Lord can refer both to the Nativity and to the Second Coming, which is why you get apocalyptic texts like last week’s Gospel reading in Advent. In church on Sunday we got to process not once, but twice! The second time was out into the churchyard to mark the parish’s Feast of Title & Dedication. I really like when we process in church. No larger point there.

Also, and I hope I don’t get flogged by the Advent Puritans for this, we put up our Christmas tree on Sunday. I briefly wondered if it’s appropriate to have both Holy Family ornaments on your tree and Darth Vader and Yoda ornaments (The Darth Vader ornament plugs into a light and says “The Force is with you, young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet” when you push its button), but I like to think of Yoda as a kind of honorary wise man.

I also just joined one of our parish’s local community groups where small groups meet during the week to study and discuss the Gospel text for the coming Sunday. Last week was our first meeting, and my takeaway point was that people (including your scribe) have trouble with apocalyptic texts like the aforementioned one from Luke. No surprise there, I guess. I think many mainline churches are so afraid of sounding like devotees of Left Behind that they tend to ignore those passages. But this leaves their members not really knowing what to do with them.

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4 responses to “Miscellaneous Advent notes”

  1. d.klein

    Bring frankincense I will

    Reply
  2. Thuloid

    That’s an interesting (and I think common) worry about apocalyptic texts. The trouble is that the usual approach (gloss over the passages) ends up making the unfamiliarity, and thus the discomfort worse. Certainly Luther was right that this is dangerous territory–but it only becomes less dangerous by insisting on its proper use, which is impossible if we try to ignore it. Apocalyptic passages aren’t going to just disappear from the Bible one day.

    Perhaps mainline churches could use a renewed emphasis on the study of apocalypse. Nothing dramatic–just a quick tour through the Bible, starting with bits about the Day of the Lord in the prophets, with increased focus on Ezekiel and then Daniel. Some basic historical awareness is an absolute must for this (e.g., that the visions in Daniel are set during the exile and refer to events under Antiochus Epiphanes). Perhaps a glimpse at some non-canonical apocalyptic works, just to become more familiar with structure and general themes and symbols (and to point out that this was an established genre, its peculiar conventions understood by its intended audience). Finally a look through the New Testament with attention to connections between these apocalyptic passages and the earlier ones. I think there’s little danger of sounding Left Behindish with this kind of an approach–if anything, what’s likely to happen is churchgoers will become increasingly aware of how grotesquely those books (and the theology behind them) abuse Scripture.

    Reply
  3. LutherPunk

    re: ornamentation

    I have a light-up Millenium Falcon that hangs in peaceful co-existence with Larry Bird, a University of Florida ball, and my religious ornaments. Christmas trees are fun in that way: they remind us of the simple joys of life as well as Christ’s presence.

    Reply
  4. Joshie

    I was going to say something, but thuloid stole my answer.

    Reply

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