{"id":1711,"date":"2017-12-03T11:00:47","date_gmt":"2017-12-03T16:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=1711"},"modified":"2019-09-22T13:36:32","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T17:36:32","slug":"the-adventure-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2017\/12\/03\/the-adventure-of-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventure of Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click here to listen to the full service<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong>Click here to listen to the sermon only<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong>Prophetic Vision\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

The adventure of faith is a shared adventure of a common faith.<\/p>\n

We today enter Advent, a season of preparation, in which we celebrate, and share the adventure of faith.\u00a0 A shared adventure, a common faith.<\/p>\n

A prophetic vista\u2026<\/p>\n

The world can work.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 64 shows us a post-exilic communal conflict. 587bce. Now 510 or so bce.<\/p>\n

They returned from exile with the Bible.\u00a0 Exile can be uncannily, eerily, unexpectedly fruitful.\u00a0 Keep that in mind for a decade or so.<\/p>\n

Visionaries and realists, dreamers and doubters.\u00a0 Realists.\u00a0 Visionaries.\u00a0 Zadokites.\u00a0 Levites.\u00a0 Justice. Temple.<\/p>\n

Visionaries:\u00a0 like those in 2 Isaiah, Levitical priesthood, those \u2018left behind\u2019 in Judah.\u00a0 Utopian vision.<\/p>\n

Realists:\u00a0 Zadokite priests who control temple now.\u00a0 They want to repair the roof and boiler.\u00a0 Restoration, for them, means restoration of the temple.<\/p>\n

Hope in this bitter conflict gets unhinged from history. Visionaries and realists separate, as prophecy applies less to daily politics, hope takes flight from history.\u00a0 This is the Dawn of Apocalyptic.<\/p>\n

See Paul Hanson\u2019s old work from across the river.<\/p>\n

We know this kind of trouble.\u00a0 Not just from the ferocious inter and intra party conflicts in 2016.<\/p>\n

See Mark Lille, The Once and Future Liberal.\u00a0 Academic liberal failures: forms of identity politics that are broadly off-putting; nearly complete absence from actual political activity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A communal connection\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Cor:\u00a0 53\/ethical pastoral\/work with nascent congregation\/first urban Christians.<\/p>\n

Every heart has secret sorrows.<\/p>\n

My November Guest.<\/p>\n

Royal Couple:\u00a0 is he kind?<\/p>\n

R Scroggs, Paul for a New Day.<\/em><\/p>\n

There is no substitute for gathering in the same space (house of cards).<\/p>\n

Our endless celebration of the petty narcissism of small religious differences.\u00a0\u00a0 Post-modern politics of differences.<\/p>\n

Shared adventure.\u00a0 Common faith.<\/p>\n

Ease of anonymity to power of connection.<\/p>\n

Humanity and technology:\u00a0 Hillary and E-mail; Donald and Twitter; German Right and Facebook (350,000); North Korea and Cyber Theft.\u00a0 Two hands clapping out a sorrowful beat.\u00a0 One of the forces normalizing hatred on a global scale.<\/p>\n

Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird<\/em><\/p>\n

And what would Paul say to the famous, many religious, gentlemen, who are accused of harassment and abuse?\u00a0 Where is the influence of the Christian Gentleman today?<\/p>\n

Lillian Ross (b Syracuse 1918): the act of a pro is to make it look easy.\u00a0 Fred Astair didn\u2019t groan when he danced to let you know how hard it is.<\/p>\n

Many helpings of faith, first helping.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Apocalyptic Admonition\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

A \u2018little apocalypse\u2019<\/p>\n

Mark 13:\u00a0 its history\/70ad\/cataclysm like that of 3 Isaiah\/never rebuilt<\/p>\n

New religions, Judaism and Torah, Christianity and Church.<\/p>\n

We are not the first generation in faith to face cataclysm, in this looming decade of humiliations.<\/p>\n

In which there arises the temptation to substitute political opportunism for moral judgment.<\/p>\n

The cataclysm of:<\/p>\n

Distortion of Truth<\/strong> and Falsehood<\/p>\n

Mocking of Nuclear<\/strong> Opponents<\/p>\n

Hideous Anti-Muslim<\/strong>, meaning anti-religious, videocasts<\/p>\n

Mistreatment of women<\/strong> with impunity<\/p>\n

Disdain for diplomacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Indirect discourse of racism<\/strong> (sometimes not even indirect)<\/p>\n

Daily Presidential\\Journalistic game of go-fetch<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watch.\u00a0 From eschatology to ethics, here.\u00a0\u00a0 You know neither the day nor the hour.\u00a0 You watch.\u00a0 You keep your chin up.\u00a0 You keep your head high.\u00a0 You keep faith in relationship, in worship, in stewardship (your body, your time, your money).\u00a0 Beware a growing accommodation of totalitarianism.<\/p>\n

Three plural imperatives (shared, common)<\/p>\n

Nightime arrival.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Danger of eschatological slumber.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be caught napping at the Parousia.\u00a0 Eyes open, eyes open.<\/p>\n

On the day the world ends<\/em><\/p>\n

A bee circles a clover<\/em><\/p>\n

A fisherman mends a glimmering net<\/em><\/p>\n

Happy porpoises jump in the sea<\/em><\/p>\n

By the rainspout young sparrows are playing<\/em><\/p>\n

And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be<\/em><\/p>\n

The voice of the violin lasts in the air<\/em><\/p>\n

And leads into a starry night<\/em><\/p>\n

On the day the world ends<\/em><\/p>\n

-Cselaw Milosz<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Coda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sawdust Trail Altar Call<\/p>\n

Ye that do truly and earnestly repent<\/p>\n

We believe in God<\/p>\n

– The Reverend Doctor, Robert Allan Hill, Dean.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click here to listen to the full service Click here to listen to the sermon only Prophetic Vision\u2026 The adventure of faith is a shared adventure of a common faith. We today enter Advent, a season of preparation, in which we celebrate, and share the adventure of faith.\u00a0 A shared adventure, a common faith. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1711"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1828,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711\/revisions\/1828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}