There are so many things that I love about Central Wisconsin. During the Winter Hoar Frost is definitely one of my favorite things to love about Central Wisconsin.
Hoar Frost
Prepare the Way
This week Pam wanted me to read this article concerning the biblical phrase “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” I have never spoken concerning the passage in Matthew or from the passage from Isaiah from which Matthew is quoting and she wondered what I thought of Diane Butler Bass’s thoughts. I really liked them. I would encourage you to read her article. I think it is quite good.
To quote Dr Butler Bass.
By the time of Luke, however, anyone reading the passage would have been thinking of Roman roads.
And how roads were essentially the pathway of Caesar’s “glory” — the wealth of empire, the army traveling, the rich and nobles and governors moving to newly colonized places.
I tend to think of Roman roads as the Ancient Near Eastern equivalent of aircraft carriers during the Cold War or probably drones during our own time. When I graduated from the University of South Alabama with my undergraduate business degree I began working at Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. While I was there we worked on LHD class naval ships. The LHD is basically a small aircraft carrier. While we worked on those (ok others worked on them I was a workman’s compensation adjuster) one of the naval officers there described aircraft carriers as extensions of American power. When an American aircraft carrier was in a region that region was suddenly controlled by America because the force that an aircraft carrier was able to exert was that impressive. Ancient Near Eastern roads did the same thing.
As Dr. Butler Bass pointed out when God calls for “the way to be prepared” it is a statement of the extension of God’s rule into the world. I would add that this is both individual and corporate. Dr. Butler Bass described how her past was limited to a “spiritualized” internal understanding version of preparing the way and she now understands the call of preparation of “rebellion” “of political liberation”. I tend to think it is a both/and situation – that God calls us to prepare the way both within ourselves and within our world.
I think this is one of the things that I like about Advent Conspiracy, it is corporate and individual at the same time. I believe it encourages us to celebrate our Lord’s incarnation in such a manner that it leads to us preparing the way both in our hearts and our world.
Prepare the way of the Lord, you children of God!
Jesse Tree Week #3
Here is this week’s Jesse Tree ornament for Tapestry‘s worship gathering this week.
Wellington Place Basket
A few months ago we as a church started going to Wellington Place just to hangout with the residents. Conor H was the one who spear headed this whole thing and it has been wonderful. The Wellington Place staff asked Conor if we would like to a basket for their resident raffle. Today Conor and I went to buy some things to put into a basket but there is still room for more. I mentioned this to the church this Sunday. This Sunday please consider bringing popcorn, candy, candles, and anything else you think would be good in a basket for the residents at Wellington Place.
Goading Hope
Sunday was the Hope candle (or in our case Hope lamp) in our advent wreath. I spoke briefly about Christian Hope being an invasion of the future into our present. Thus I really like this quote from Dr. Moltmann.
“Those who hope in Christ can no longer put up with reality as it is, but begin to suffer under it, to contradict it. Peace with God means conflict with the world, for the goad of the promised future stabs inexorably into the flesh of every unfulfilled present.”
Jürgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope, p. 21.
We get our English word “advent” from the Latin “adventus” which means “arrival”. We prepare to remember the Lord’s arrival and a large part of that preparation is hope, because hope leads to action. Wishing may be passive, but hope is active.
Hope welcomes the stranger in because we know that when Jesus arrived another world was made possible. Hope takes care of the widows and the orphans because as followers of the incarnate Messiah we can’t live in a world that doesn’t. Hope pushes for justice in this world because we are “goaded” to by a God Who is just. Hope is active.
SIDE NOTE – When Pamela says “I need to grade tonight so watch something I won’t be interested in”, it means it is time to watch “The Outlaw Josey Wales” once again. This is going to be a good night. 🙂
Bama/Georgia Bedtime Story
Eve & Mary
The Terrell Family Message Thread as an Example
Recently while talking with a group of guys that I regularly meet with to discuss our faith we broached the following question.
What example would you use for your relationship with God as it is right now?
Now the pastor in me wanted to discuss the two biblical examples that God Himself uses again and again for His relationship with us. These are:
- The relationship of a spouse with another spouse
- The relationship of a parent with a child
Over and over again God uses these examples. For example, you can interpret the Song of Solomon as a love song between God and His people, much like a love song between two lovers. Smoother example is quite possibly Jesus’s most well known parable, the parable of the prodigal son (which is really more about the Father’s love than the son). In this parable God is described as a father who runs to his son who has left him home but now begun to return. You will see examples all throughout scripture of these two analogies for God’s relationship with us. These are main interpretive motifs for me for understanding what God says through scripture, He talks as a spouse and as a father.
Still neither the relationship of spouses nor parents and children were initially what came to me when I thought of what my relationship with God was at present. Instead I thought of the Terrell Family Facebook Message Thread.
I’m not sure when we started our family message thread, which Noah renamed “The Terrell Girl Squad!” in a nod to Strong Bad‘s “Teen Girl Squad” (which we as a family love). I assume it started when Adam went to college as a way for our family to talk throughout the day, but the message thread is so long that I’m having a hard time finding the end of it. I know it goes back at least 4 years – I stopped going backwards after that the fourth year.
We use this thread to talk about what we are experiencing around us, to get each other’s opinions and wisdom concerning subjects, to share info, to raze each other a little, and to talk about serious and deep subjects throughout our day. I’ve never tried to average how many messages we exchange a day but it is 11:52 a.m. as I am writing this and we have sent 45 messages (many of them very brief – one or two words) thus far today. This message thread shapes how I experience a large part of my day. I get excited about sharing parts of my day within the family message thread and hearing about what has happened around my family. I interpret much of my day based on the conversations that happen in this thread.
- If a project I have been working on gets a little closer to fulfillment, I look forward to sharing it with the Terrell Girl Squad. (For example, we added Christmas wreath lights to the house today and the family had input into what color these should be – the answer is boring white.)
- If I read something interesting, I look forward to sharing it with the Terrell Girl Squad.
- If I just saw WISCONSIN MAN (a guy in our neighborhood who always dresses from head to toe in Wisconsin Badger gear and we shout in heroic voices “WISCONISIN MAN” whenever we see him), I look forward to sharing it with the Terrell Girl Squad.
- If I have a question that I am struggling with, I look forward to sharing it with the Terrell Girl Squad.
- Etc., etc., etc.
My family, through the constant conversation of the “Terrell Girl Squad” message thread, shapes how I experience and understand my day. It is like my family is with me throughout my day. This is why it helps me to understand my relationship with God.
Paul encourages us to “pray continually“. I believe part of praying continually is this ongoing dialogue with God concerning what is happening in our days.
-
- Jesus, I just read this fascinating statement in the book “White Trash” that states that national myths don’t develop without us forgetting parts of our history. What parts of my life have I turned into myths and what parts have I forgotten.
- Jesus, I’m feeling pretty (insert emotion here). Why is that and died it mean anything?
- Jesus, I haven’t seen WISCONSIN MAN in a long time. I hope he’s ok.
- Etc.., Etc., Etc.
In such a way we begin to be see and interpret our day through Christ. We recognize that God is involved in all that is going on around us and we see things through His eyes.
Thus my family’s constant conversation through a Facebook message thread is helping me to understand how my relationship with God should be. Who says Facebook is good for nothing. 😉
The Hum of Friendship
First, At the moment I’m having a hard time not broadly smiling and thereby looking a little creepy. I’m at Emy J’s finalizing my message PowerPoint slides for Tapestry tomorrow while listening to a Christmas playlist that Noah put together. Over the Sinatra influenced playlist I can hear the constant hum of indistinguishable conversation between friends. Tomorrow I am talking from the Creation story about us being created in the image of God (the Imago Dei), and I am convinced that the Image is that we were created for community by the God Who is community in and of Himself. Therefore, friends smiling, talking, and laughing together is a pretty good soundtrack for finalizing thoughts on a message related to the Imago Dei. I am sure that the music of the domain of God will be praise directed toward our Creator, but I tend to believe that the background Muzak of the presence of God will be a steady hum of loved ones talking and laughing together. I think that sound makes God smile.
Second, there is a young lady here who is wearing a fanny pack.
Advent Conspiracy Resources
Advent Conspiracy puts out resources every year to help prepare for Christmas. Here are a few of the resources they have put out this year. Obviously these are for any age but I appreciate that they have tried to make resources for kids in particular.