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<DIV><FONT size=4>The warnings in 21:34-36 easily transfer into the contemporary
setting. We may not be weighed down with drunkenness and debauchery, but our
self-indulgence and the vested interest in sustaining our lifestyles at the
expense of peoples trapped in poverty lives itself out in equal irresponsibility
- both locally and on a global scale. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/LkAdvent1.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/LkAdvent1.htm</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>William Loader</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4> When we recall that the sun was the symbol of Rome
itself, while the moon and the stars represented the empire's client kings
clustered around it, we can better understand that, when Luke is talking about
the "powers of the heavens" being shaken, it's a kind of code: "It is not the
end of the cosmos, as Mark has it, but the shaking of the earthly principalities
and powers that is referenced here," William Herzog writes in <EM>New
Proclamation 2006.</EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT size=4><></FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Richard Swanson reminds preachers that there are children in
our congregations (and <EM>not</EM> there, too) who know well what it feels like
for "the sun and the stars" to fall from the sky because of parental abuse and
neglect; in their small worlds, their parents are the sun and the moon and the
stars (<EM>Provoking the Gospel of Luke</EM>). </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>For further reflection:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT size=4>Georgia O'Keeffe, 20th century: <BR>No one sees a flower, not
really. To look at a flower takes time, like having a friend takes
time.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Jürgen Moltmann, 20th century: <BR>I tried to present the
Christian hope no longer as such an "opium of the beyond" but rather as the
divine power that makes us alive in this world.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4>Augustine, 5th
century: <BR>God without us will not; we without God cannot.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=4></FONT> </P></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/november-29.html"><FONT
size=4>http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/november-29.html</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Kate Huey </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Too many preachers waste time in the pulpit trying to counter
this cultural tide. Arguing against the Christmas shopping schedule or radio
stations playing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” up until Christmas and then
playing no Christmas songs during the actual twelve days of Christmastide is
spitting into the holiday wind. Instead of either/or, preachers need to help
congregations experience both/and. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Two types of sermon strategies that present this type of
theological claim come to mind. Both begin by contrasting (not criticizing) the
difference between the sounds and looks of secular Christmas in the mall and
liturgical Advent in the church. In the first approach, the preacher plays up
the contrast as if the mall is behind the times. The world is starting Christmas
while the church is already celebrating the New Year. This twist can be used
then to back up to Advent beginning at the End.</FONT>
<DIV align=justify><BR><FONT size=4>In the second use of the contrast, the
preacher might even seem to favor the already-ness of the secular Christmas in
the beginning but move to a “but this can’t be all there is” stance to finally
defining Christian hope for “more.” In other words, the sermon can move from
bemoaning (not too strongly) the already to celebrating the not-yet in true
eschatological fashion. Hope for things given and received under the Christmas
tree is nice enough, but hope that the whole world will have food to eat,
clothes to wear, safe environments to live in, meaningful relationships in which
to participate, and a sense of God’s grace in their lives is something else
altogether.<BR><BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.goodpreacher.com/shareit/readreviews.php?cat=28"><FONT
size=4>http://www.goodpreacher.com/shareit/readreviews.php?cat=28</FONT></A></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>O. Wesley Allen, Jr.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Apocalyptic is a style of literature that tends to
flourish during difficult times. In the ancient near east, the heyday of
apocalyptic was between 300 BC and AD 100, which were times of particular
turbulence in Israel. In 300 BC, Israel was dealing with the "culture
war" brought on by the spread of Greek culture in the wake of Alexander's
conquest. By AD 100, a subsequent occupying army had destroyed the holy
city of Jerusalem. In between were all manner of rebellions, terrorism,
and war.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4> I was once at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, held each
summer in my fair city, and noticed a street preacher at the corner of 3rd and
Milwaukee. His exhortations were to get right with God because Jesus was
coming soon. An old man was walking by about this time, walking with a
cane and moving slowly. When he heard the message of the street preacher,
he straightened up and said, "What in blazes are you talking about? He's
already here."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com/progressive_involvement/2009/11/quote-of-the-day-1.html"><FONT
color=#000000 size=4>Quote of the Day</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV class=entry-content>
<DIV class=entry-body><FONT size=4>In 1987, at a White House dinner hosted by
Ronald Reagan, Miles Davis was seated next to a Washington matron who asked him
what he had done that was so special. Davis replied, "Well, I've changed
music five or six times. Now tell me, what have you done of any importance
other than be white?" </FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=entry-body><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com/progressive_involvement/2009/11/lectionary-blogging-luke-21-2536.html"><FONT
size=4>http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com/progressive_involvement/2009/11/lectionary-blogging-luke-21-2536.html</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>John Petty, 2009 </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>