Mark 1:1-8

Advent 2 - Year B

 

 

How do you react to these two ways of coming at things?

"John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." [NRSV]

"John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins." [The Message]

There is a sense in which the first posits forgiveness first and baptism in response while the second is the act of baptism that enters one on the path to forgivenss.

There are even overtones of being forgiven in the first and forgiving in the second.

A part of our work of openness is to see the way in which these elements are polarities that weave back and forth between one another. The strength is in the warp and woof together, not one or the other.

So how does it happen in your life? Do you honor anyone who came through the other tradition? How do you parcel out baptism/forgiveness recommendations to the various people in your life who have experienced neither? To whom would you recommend the first and to whom the second?

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/december2002.html

 

 

Word should have arrived in parishioner's homes yesterday that I have been reappointed to an 18-month interim ministry beginning the middle of January.

That news will be a real piece of coal for some and the best gift ever for others.

A part of the work on Sunday will be a recognition that the work I have done here is preparatory work for someone else who will be able to do that which I have been incapable of doing - turning around a 40+ year pattern of straight-line numerical decline.

It is appropriate that what will be remembered from my time is the pain associated with repentance. Pastoral sexual misconduct from 40+ years ago that was dealt with by simply moving the pastor on has festered. We finally recognized that we have been trying to control pastors and parishioners through conformity to civic religion of external behavior. Perhaps by confessing our response-to-betrayal of trying to wash away differences as a compounding of the sin, we can be ready for the grace of the Holy Spirit and to grow through difference.

To forgive the offender, to forgive the church-at-large for its past inability to deal with the offense by other than covering it over, and to forgive ourselves for our response to betrayal by over-control rather than by gifting all (active and passive betrayers) with a Holy Meal -- may be all that can be done right now.

O G*D, we have felt all too worthy to bind the feet and journey of others. Help us untie the sandals we have too tightly bound on others by forcing them to walk in one-size-doesn't-fit-all shoes. It is time to dance barefoot with one another.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/december2002.html

 

 

The presenting issue for which the good news of Jesus Christ is appropriate is that of injustice.

Although attributed to Isaiah the first writing reinterpreted by Mark is from Malachi. Hear Theodore W. Jennings reflect on this reality in his book, The Insurrection of the Crucified:

"....Justice has been perverted, turned upside down. Indeed two ways of perverting justice are indicated here. One is the provision of a religious sanction for injustice; the other is the cynical dismissal of the relevance of calls for justice. In other words, the one known as Malachi accuses his audience of legitimating injustice in both religious and secular terms. The prophet is concerned, on the one hand, with those who use the name of God to legitimate their oppression of the needy, and, on the other, with those who calculate that no God of justice will be able to interfere with their exploitation of the needy. The collusion of these forces is as common today as it was in the time of Malachi or Mark...."

As we listen in to this issue that will crop up in each season, a question must be asked about the ways in which we have been co-opted by these colluding forces. Do we stand with John in speaking truth to power (not to the needy or Gentiles, but to the religious and political powers of every time)?

Richard W. Swanson, in Provoking the Gospel of Mark, writes:

"The promises that the storyteller calls into the story are thus tense promises, promises that remind the audience that there are promises that God has not been so good at keeping. To call such a situation to mind at the beginning of the gospel of a messiah creates a strange tension in the room. Is this going to be a story that settles old scores and finally makes good on old promises? Or is this going to be a story about how things come up just a little short yet again? Do not assume that you know the answer just because you are a Christian or because you believe that Jesus is the right answer to every question, whether in Sunday school or out."

Swanson goes on to ask, "How would the story be told if it were a story of deferred promises that will be deferred yet again? Explore this narrative arc carefully. The standard telling of this scene bubbles with joy and demand. The standard telling is worth exploring, too, but it is easy. There are more surprises in exploring the deferred promises?"

So what promises are you expecting that should have been completed by now? Does this say more about the promises or your expectations? Because of the deferment are you ready to settle some scores? Just how difficult is this getting ready and waiting going to be?

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/december2005.html

 

 

As we look ahead to Jesus' baptism we might understand that Jesus was baptized with a Holy Spirit and there is a hint there about our baptism in a Holy Spirit.

Hint number one, Holy Spirit baptism has to do with assurance, not repentance. I, you, anyone is directly related to GOD, to all that is, to the unity of life. This relationship is where we find our wellness. Now, whether one needs repentance before assurance or assurance to leap into repentance is an eternal question that seems only knowable in particular instances where for some it is one way, for others another, and for yet others is either simultaneous or extraneous.

Hint number two, Holy Spirit baptism has to do with a willingness to be led into the deep parts of life where temptations are real and where one needs to rely upon a humility gained by repentance and an openness to a larger picture grown from assurance of place and self. Now, whether temptations to narrow life down to one's own comfort and power can be faced down by humility or openness is basically a question of preferred spelling.

Hint number three, Holy Spirit baptism has to do with building new relationships, neighbor to neighbor, not just with GOD. Friends, sometimes called disciples, become part of our ongoing life. This is not a baptism for self alone.

Hint number four, Holy Spirit baptism has to do with the healing power of repentance and assurance for others. These qualities of deep living are not for self alone, but build community as we mutually heal, now needing healing, now offering healing, now claiming the power of healing, now releasing the power of healing.

Hints will go on but this promise of baptism with/in a Holy Spirit is grounded in experiences that expand the meaning of baptism and Holy Spirit and GOD and repentance and assurance and in expansion bring us to imagining a new creation and living its possibility today.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/december2005.html

 

 

Cry out!
What shall I cry?
Here is G*D
. . . a shepherd.

What a let down.

Still want to hear what this shepherd G*D has to say? It won't be doctrinal, but will place us smack-dab in the middle of the realities of life.

Enjoy being between:

salvation and fear
faithfulness and righteousness
waiting for and hastening
waiting for new heavens and earth and striving for peace
time not being slow but patient

Of such matters do shepherds have the time and space to contemplate what it means to both have a penalty paid and to yet be preparing a new creation in a wilderness all too present.

Non-shepherds keep trying to resolve these matters and lose the spark of life they set off when they come in contact with one another.

This is not as high flown as Year A, not as packed. Slow enough to appreciate waiting for the pieces to come together.

- - -

Lift up your voice - with strength
Baaaaaa!
We will be fed, gathered, carried, gentled.
Aaaaaaa!

Aaaaaaa! Baaaaaa! Baaaaaa! Aaaaaaa!
What a rhyme scheme - Abba

Pieces -
faithfulness
righteousness
- Peace is

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html

 

 

A changing of one's ways based on forgiveness would seem to be pretty strong stuff. And yet there is even more change on the way!

The Isaiah passage can certainly apply to John in relation to Jesus.

Imagine, though, how it might apply to Jesus in relation to you.

Isaiah, John, Jesus, and more have prepared a way for you. It has been smoothed and opened – for you.

Hmmm. What could that mean? Only you know.

Following this line, if John brings Water (perhaps changing folks from the outside in) and Jesus brings a Holy Spirit (perhaps changing folks from the inside out) what do you bring?

Advent is not just waiting, but a taking of that next step toward a larger life. A way is open so – on your mark, get set, Step.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html

 

 

See, I am sending Advent ahead, to prepare a way;
Advent announces in a wilderness:

          Prepare honest paths.

Advent can be personalized. In the past it was a camel-haired John. Today it is a honey-eater you.


You are not announcing for the honor of imitating John, but an internal necessity to announce we are not yet at the pinnacle of success, no matter how it might be measured. You are simply kneeling to teach tomorrow how to tie its shoe laces that it might walk among the shards remaining from yesterday and onward to a next level of integrated community.

Can’t you hear people calling after you now, “Hey, Advent, What gives! and Who do you think you are?” Pay no heed, you have work to do today to prepare tomorrow’s infrastructure.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/11/mark-11-8.html

 

 

See, I am sending Advent ahead, to prepare a way;
Advent announces in a wilderness:

          Prepare honest paths.

Advent can be personalized. In the past it was a camel-haired John. Today it is a honey-eater you.


You are not announcing for the honor of imitating John, but an internal necessity to announce we are not yet at the pinnacle of success, no matter how it might be measured. You are simply kneeling to teach tomorrow how to tie its shoe laces that it might walk among the shards remaining from yesterday and onward to a next level of integrated community.

Can’t you hear people calling after you now, “Hey, Advent, What gives! and Who do you think you are?” Pay no heed, you have work to do today to prepare tomorrow’s infrastructure.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/11/mark-11-8.html