{"id":3579,"date":"2023-12-03T11:00:36","date_gmt":"2023-12-03T16:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=3579"},"modified":"2023-12-06T15:42:26","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T20:42:26","slug":"communion-meditation-december-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2023\/12\/03\/communion-meditation-december-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Communion Meditation- December 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

Mark 13:24-37<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear just the sermon<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Come, thou long expected Jesus<\/em><\/p>\n

Born to set thy people free<\/em><\/p>\n

From our fears and sins release us<\/em><\/p>\n

Let us find our rest in thee<\/em><\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s strength and consolation<\/em><\/p>\n

Hope of all the earth thou art<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear desire of every nation<\/em><\/p>\n

Joy of every longing heart<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our gospel guides us forward this first Sunday in Advent, regarding ancient persecution, conflicts today, and apocalyptic attentiveness.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come.<\/em><\/p>\n

The earliest church was born in persecution, was born under the burden of persecution.<\/p>\n

After that tribulation\u2026the sun will be darkened\u2026the stars of heaven shall fall<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

Those hearing, reading and writing and hearing, Mark 13 in its inception, could nod their heads, could feel the force of the words.\u00a0 They were coming to faith, and coming of age, in and through persecution at the hands of the Roman Empire, and at the hands of the Roman Emperor Domitian.\u00a0 So, hence, the power of these lines was, for the first hearers, a validation of their predicament.\u00a0 So hence, the power of these lines was, for the first hearers, a deliverance from their predicament.\u00a0 The darker things got\u2014Peter to the lions, Paul to the lions, others to the lions, the edict to choose between Caesar and God, the edict to say that either Caesar was Lord or Christ was Lord, and to live with the consequences\u2014the darker things got, the direr the need for the fig tree promise that summer is near, hang on.<\/p>\n

Largely without exception our life in the community of faith is free of persecution, at least of the final, ultimate sort.\u00a0 So, the apocalyptic language and imagery of these words aside, the force of the Gospel, come Advent each year, is alien to us, or largely so.\u00a0 We can come to worship, receive communion, hear the music and words, and return to our routines, without the threat or burden of persecution, of empire wide persecution of those who would not bend the knee to Caesar, for whom Christ not Caesar was worshipped, Christ not Caesar was God.<\/p>\n

But our existence, if not our faith community, our physical life, if not our religious life, our bodily life, if not our confessional life, we yet know, is fragile, and ultimately frail, and finally mortal, finally to be extinguished.\u00a0\u00a0 Here, it may be, the Advent gospel touches us.\u00a0 With and when there is a quickened sense of our mortality, our own undatable but unavoidable death, then\u2026He is near.\u00a0 At the very gates.\u00a0 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.\u00a0 So. Mortal. Watch.\u00a0 So. Mortal.\u00a0 Watch.\u00a0 Those who had staked their faith and their lives on Jesus, at the possible cost of persecution, at the possible cost of the lions\u2019 den, could hear these words.\u00a0 They are likely not the words of Jesus.\u00a0 But they are surely words about Jesus that carried power for those who were his people, given as Jesus\u2019 words to save Jesus\u2019 people, in extremity.<\/p>\n

It is mightily humbling to recall, to realize, that the faith we share was, at first, in the first century, lived out and so preserved but many who suffered for righteousness\u2019 sake.\u00a0 So, the saying, \u2018the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the faith\u2019.\u00a0 A great dear treasure, our own basis for meaning and belonging and empowerment, the faith once delivered to the saints, and through them to us, was galvanized in the heart of persecution.\u00a0 In the dark of December, it brings a ray of light.\u00a0 Others have known, and in far sharper relief and detail, something of what in our own corners of life we also know, the cost of discipleship.<\/p>\n

The earliest church was born in persecution, was born under the burden of persecution.<\/p>\n

Keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come.<\/em><\/p>\n

Through this autumn, in the preaching and hearing of the Gospel, we have had in mind, tried to keep in mind, \u00a0the tragic conflicts today around the globe, and particularly in the middle east.\u00a0 We listen with care for the word of truth, some word of truth, in earshot of harm, of warfare, of death, of forms of persecution.\u00a0 We take a step, one step, then another.\u00a0 Week by week.<\/p>\n

October 15: Elie Wiesel over four decades here at Boston University did so much (for us, saying): \u201cThe opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it is indifference.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

October 22: For those more on the left, a question today, and be careful how you answer, will be, first, and last, do you believe and affirm that Israel (in the Middle East, as a Jewish democracy) has and must have a right to exist? For those more on the right, the question, and be careful how you answer, will be first, and last, do you believe God is Lord of all life, all human life, not narrowly divine only to one perspective, one tradition, one religion, one sacred book?\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

October 31: Those hunting for a sermon on Christian teaching regarding pacifism and just war both, are referred to the sermon from this pulpit February 12, of this year, \u201cWith Malice Toward None\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

November 5: Our culture languishes in the doldrums of a pervasive malaise, not unrelated to our fear of freedom, and its demands, and its rigors, and its openness to human flourishing.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

November 19: \u00a0Faith does not exclude us from calamity, but faith prepares us to fight it.\u00a0 Faith does not give us the capacity to understand, but it does give us the courage to withstand.\u00a0\u00a0 Faith is not an answer to every question, but it is a living daily question of ultimate concern.\u00a0 Faith in God is faith in God, not in another creaturely being.\u00a0 Faith does not protect us from calamity, though it does weave us together into the shared human experience and history of loss.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

November 26:\u00a0 Any manner of bigotry deserves to be met by condemnation, contempt and resistance.\u00a0 We have plenty of work to do, and let us not grow weary in doing it.\u00a0 We will want to sharpen our understanding of the requirement in just war theory of proportionality, of response that is proportionate to the provocation, proportionate to the needed defense, proportionate to the given situation, and those, especially women and children, potentially harmed therein.<\/em><\/p>\n

Keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come.<\/em><\/p>\n

Apocalyptic theology in the New Testament, like our Holy Gospel from Mark 13 today, is a language of hope lifted in the face of death, a language of hope lifted in the face of death.\u00a0 Apocalyptic followed the prophetic hope for justice on earth, and preceded the late platonic hope for life in heaven, building on the former and preparing the way for the latter.\u00a0 We need them all, to some degree.\u00a0 The prophets hoped for a righteous earth.\u00a0 The Gnostics hoped for a glorious heaven.\u00a0 In between, the apocalyptic hope in the face of death is hope \u2018on earth as it is in heaven\u2019, a hope for the apocalypse of heaven on earth.\u00a0 As Paul wrote, \u2018Hope that is seen is not hope.\u00a0 Who hopes for what he sees?\u00a0 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience\u2019. (Rom.8)<\/p>\n

For the gist of today\u2019s gospel is clear enough.\u202f We cannot see or know the future.\u202f We ought to live on the qui vive<\/em>.\u202f Health there is, to be sure, and succor in a full acceptance and recognition of such a humble epistemology and such a rigorous ethic.\u202f Let us admit to the bone our cloud of unknowing about the days and hours to come.\u202f Let us live every day and every hour of every day as if it were our last.\u202f Which it is.\u00a0 Song and Scripture, sermon and prayer, they will guide us along this very path come Sunday morning, come this very morning.\u00a0 We shall want to be attentive to attentiveness.<\/p>\n

One wrote recently: The lament is as old as education itself: <\/em>The students aren\u2019t paying attention.<\/em> But today, the problem of flighty or fragmented attention has reached truly catastrophic proportions. High school and college teachers overwhelmingly report that students\u2019 capacity for sustained, or deep attention has sharply decreased, significantly impeding the forms of study \u2014 reading, looking at art, round-table discussions \u2014 once deemed central to the liberal arts. <\/em>(D.G. Burnett, et. al., NYTimes Op Ed 11\/24\/23)<\/p>\n

Love, faith and hope all include.\u00a0 Let us be attentive.<\/p>\n

Most of us need more reminder than instruction.\u00a0 Let us be attentive.<\/p>\n

Wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Let us be attentive.<\/p>\n

Do not remember our iniquity forever.\u00a0 Let us be attentive.<\/p>\n

Restore us O Lord God of Hosts.\u00a0 Let us be attentive.<\/p>\n

Be careful, nostalgia, said Dr. Walton, can eclipse curiosity.\u00a0 Let us be attentive.<\/p>\n

The prerogative of care is love.\u00a0 Let us be attentive.<\/p>\n

Our students are becoming not just intelligent people, but also people who will make the world a better place.\u00a0 Let us be attentive.<\/p>\n

Yet our cyber world and devices are driving addictive behavior.\u00a0 Let us be attentive.<\/p>\n

Covid, Dean Galea just wrote this week, taught three lessons:\u00a0 the marvelous power of vaccines, the pervasive inequality of and in public health, and, now, the broad pervasive and tragic distrust of institutions.\u00a0 Let us be attentive.<\/p>\n

Look north in New England and see gun violence in Lewiston and Burlington.\u00a0 Let us be attentive.<\/p>\n

We shall meet violence with patient justice, one leader once said.\u00a0 Let us be attentive.<\/p>\n

Born thy people to deliver<\/em><\/p>\n

Born a child and yet a king<\/em><\/p>\n

Born to reign in us forever<\/em><\/p>\n

Now thy gracious kingdom bring<\/em><\/p>\n

By thine own eternal spirit <\/em><\/p>\n

Rule in all our hearts alone<\/em><\/p>\n

By thine all sufficient merit<\/em><\/p>\n

Raise us to thy glorious throne<\/em><\/p>\n

Click here to hear the full service Click here to watch the full service Mark 13:24-37 Click here to hear just the sermon   Come, thou long expected Jesus Born to set thy people free From our fears and sins release us Let us find our rest in thee Israel\u2019s strength and consolation Hope of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3579"}],"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=3579"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3580,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3579\/revisions\/3580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}