[Propertalk] Quotes for Luke 21:25-36 for 1 Advent - Part 3

[Joe Parrish]

The purpose of these sayings of Jesus is not so much to prompt a reading of signs, but rather a renewing of faith. There are a number of motivators for the Christian life, and the return of Christ is one of the more powerful.
      The danger we face in our Christian walk is that of secularization. Both the believer and the church can get caught up in the "anxieties of life." This is particularly so today for the church, faced as we are with declining attendees and constricting budgets. It's very easy to rely on pragmatics rather than theology, easy to rely on marketing and management programs rather than faith in God's sovereign grace.

http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/advent1cg.html

Bryan Findlayson
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-Praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, We Christians are people of prayer, praying for the strength to be alert and not weighed down by the anxieties of life. We also pray for strength and patient endurance to handle the nastiness of life. 
-And to stand before the Son of Man.' Someday, we will also face the final judgment. The Son of Man is coming to judge the living and the dead. This is the issue. This is the last statement of Jesus in Luke's little apocalypse. We are all going to stand in judgment before the Son of Man. In Jesus' previous teachings during his lifetime, we repeatedly heard that the Son of Man was coming at the End of history to judge. After the Second Coming, we will finally stand in front of the judge, the Son of Man.

http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_eschataological_discourse.htm

Edward F. Markquart
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Hands up, who spent today expecting, anticipating, being alert for the coming of the Son of Man? Being alert for the fulfillment of God's promises? For the coming of God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven?
Hmm. I wonder what it means when many, perhaps most, of us no longer live in anticipation of the fulfillment of God's promises in our lifetime? But this is precisely the God-sized anticipation that the Season of Advent calls us to re-new and rehearse.

http://www.holytextures.com/2009/11/luke-21-25-36-year-c-advent-1-sermon.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+typepad/davidewart/textures+(Holy+Textures)

David Ewart, 2009
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"Be alert at all times."  Be alert.
But to what?

The reading seems to focus on the big stuff, the signs of the end time - and we don't suffer from a shortage of signs in 2009.

In fact, two of our global issues are far larger than what Hardy terms "the familiar vicissitudes of history".  I'm thinking of the growing environmental crisis, and continued nuclear proliferation.  Either has the potential to end life as we know it on this planet; and both are wholly of human making.

http://gospelforgays.com/?p=607&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+GospelForGays+(Gospel+For+Gays)

Jeremiah Bartram, 2009
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..."be alert"; these are not merely bits of
moral advice from a great teacher. They are God's word to all to whom the promises have been
given, to encourage us to hope, prayer, endurance, testimony, and faithful obedience in the
knowledge that our lives have a place in the cosmic purposes of God as those have been
decisively worked out in Jesus Christ. The birth of Christ in itself never saved anyone, but in the
whole career of Jesus-his birth, teachings, deeds, crucifixion, and resurrection-the God of
heaven and earth has drawn near to redeem us, and this work is being carried to completion even
now.

http://www.luthersem.edu/word&world/Archives/11-4_Confirmation/11-4_Kolden.pdf

Marc Kolden, 1991, Page 417
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Kolden: Bonhoeffer writes that Advent is like sitting in a prison cell waiting for someone
to open the door, waiting for the word which will release you from prison.

http://www.luthersem.edu/word&world/Archives/8-4_Feminism/8-4_Grindal.pdf

Gracia Grindal, 1988
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