REPENT! Prepare the way of the Lord! These words of John the Baptist echo down through the centuries…and are as pertinent to us as they were to those who first heard them. John came from the desert crying out to the people, calling them to a moment of “metanoia”…literally meaning “a turning around”. The voice of John the Baptist cries out to us in the midst of the rush and chaos of the Advent season, calling us to a conversion of heart. He announces the breaking forth of the Reign of God in our very midst. The Scriptures for this Sunday speak of a great hope…a new heavens and a new earth. Yes even in the very midst of this pandemic, there is HOPE in God!
Jesus preached the breaking forth of the Reign of God…a new world order that is breaking forth in and through his preaching. In this new world, justice and peace will flourish and the wicked and unjust ones will be banished.
But as we look around it seems as if we are a long way off from the “peaceable kingdom”. Wars rage and rumors of genocide swirl around us like the biting winds of a cold December night. Our sisters and brothers in Syrian, Yemen, Sudan and Ethiopia, the Rohingya in Myanmar and Bangladesh, all of them continue to suffer and it seems there is no end in sight. The Black Lives Matter protesters march and where is racial justice? Where is the Reign of God bursting forth? It is waiting to burst forth from within each one of us!
The Reign of God bursts forth every time we respond to a person or a situation in a Christ-like manner. Christ calls us to “be alert”, to “stay watchful” for we know not the day nor the time of his return. But the time of the Reign of God is NOW, we need to wake up to be the prophets we were anointed to be, to speak up, “to be silence breakers”, to speak out on behalf of all the women, children and men who are sexually harassed and abused. To speak out against racism and bigotry and white supremacy, to speak up for the ones who’s voices are silenced or ignored!
Now is the time!...let us find our prophetic voice, let us not be silent in the face of evil when we see it. Let us prepare the way of the Lord by living prophetic lives that call out injustices, war and evil whenever and wherever we see it! Let us be alert!...let us prepare the way of the Lord…let us lean into Advent, take up our mantle of prophet and put all the abusers and harassers and war mongers on notice and proclaim the Reign of God is bursting forth and speak the truth of the Gospel to power!
Advent Blessings,
Fr. Tim
Jesus preached the breaking forth of the Reign of God…a new world order that is breaking forth in and through his preaching. In this new world, justice and peace will flourish and the wicked and unjust ones will be banished.
But as we look around it seems as if we are a long way off from the “peaceable kingdom”. Wars rage and rumors of genocide swirl around us like the biting winds of a cold December night. Our sisters and brothers in Syrian, Yemen, Sudan and Ethiopia, the Rohingya in Myanmar and Bangladesh, all of them continue to suffer and it seems there is no end in sight. The Black Lives Matter protesters march and where is racial justice? Where is the Reign of God bursting forth? It is waiting to burst forth from within each one of us!
The Reign of God bursts forth every time we respond to a person or a situation in a Christ-like manner. Christ calls us to “be alert”, to “stay watchful” for we know not the day nor the time of his return. But the time of the Reign of God is NOW, we need to wake up to be the prophets we were anointed to be, to speak up, “to be silence breakers”, to speak out on behalf of all the women, children and men who are sexually harassed and abused. To speak out against racism and bigotry and white supremacy, to speak up for the ones who’s voices are silenced or ignored!
Now is the time!...let us find our prophetic voice, let us not be silent in the face of evil when we see it. Let us prepare the way of the Lord by living prophetic lives that call out injustices, war and evil whenever and wherever we see it! Let us be alert!...let us prepare the way of the Lord…let us lean into Advent, take up our mantle of prophet and put all the abusers and harassers and war mongers on notice and proclaim the Reign of God is bursting forth and speak the truth of the Gospel to power!
Advent Blessings,
Fr. Tim
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