{"id":2892,"date":"2025-11-16T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/?p=2892"},"modified":"2025-12-10T18:25:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T23:25:08","slug":"2nd-sunday-in-advent-a-seven-week-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/2025\/11\/16\/2nd-sunday-in-advent-a-seven-week-advent\/","title":{"rendered":"2nd Sunday in Advent – A Seven-week Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Year C Readings<\/strong>
Malachi 4:1-2a
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collect of the Day<\/strong>
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.\u00a0Amen<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homily<\/strong>
In the Name of the Holy Trinity,
One God, in glory everlasting. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 ON THE MORNING OF OCTOBER 23RD<\/sup>, Elliott\u2014our elder son\u2014walked into the kitchen to find a pile of colorful balloons and wrapped packages covering the breakfast table. There ensued light screaming and tippy-toed dancing. The whole produced an effervescent mood, which continued throughout the rest of the day. Birthday treats\u2014per Elliott\u2019s wish\u2014supplied his second grade class with a festive moment, while a birthday dinner with cousins and Grandma rounded out the day. By supper time on Elliott\u2019s birthday, however, I had already driven to Saginaw for Diocesan Convention and was just sitting down to a plate of enchiladas with the delegates from\u2026Holy Trinity: Lorrie D. and Barb K., and Ascension\/Holy Cross: Gwen H. and Robin G.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was not a small part of me that wished secretly to be at home for my son\u2019s birthday dinner. Knowing me well, my wife, Jessica, kindly sent me a picture of Elliott just at the moment when he had taken a deep breath to blow out the candle on a big number \u201c8<\/strong>\u201d sticking out of a cupcake! Undoubtedly\u2014as is the custom\u2014everyone hollered \u201cMake a Wish!\u201d just before Elliott let fly his breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presumably he wished desperately for a Nintendo Switch and a game called \u201cBoomerang-[Kung] Fu.\u201d I was simply wishing that I was present to witness the joy of one of the people who will always be the delight of my eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wishing, you see, is the emotional DNA of our culture. Cooperate healthcare paid me decently as a chaplain, for instance, but when I became rector of this parish and received an increase in my annual wage, I didn\u2019t complain and had to remind myself that I need to tithe my gross income before I wish to spend money on landscaping\u2026 Because I wish to have a row of holly bushes wrapping around the south end of our house\u2026 because I also have a wish to plant something lovely that the deer won\u2019t treat like a salad bar!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We do this wishing \u201cthing\u201d with the scriptures too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Malachi\u2019s prophecy, he sees a future in which \u201c\u2026all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of Hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.\u201d  I used to hear stuff like that aimed at the congregation in the Baptist church I grew up in, and I still find myself wishing: Gosh, I hope I\u2019m one of the ones who revere the name of the L<\/em>ORD<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when I listen to the Apostle Paul taking those folks in Thessalonica to task for being what he considers to be lazy, no-good, ne\u2019er-do-wells who aren\u2019t worthy of a piece of bread, I find myself secretly wishing that the work I put in on behalf of my two congregations is worthy of the salary and benefits I receive. (Don\u2019t respond to that by the way!! Early days, folks\u2026 early days!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then comes the Gospel reading, and\u2026 well\u2026 oooff! I\u2019m trying to build up<\/u><\/em><\/strong> my two congregations. And I happen to really like these bricks and stones, and all the beautiful, jeweled windows, and the ornaments on the Altar Table\u2026 And I believe that we absolutely<\/em> cannot possibly survive<\/em> without the copier! With all my heart I fervently wish that the copier never falls apart, because we\u2019d have to go back to folding and stapling the bulletins by hand, and well\u2026 ain\u2019t nobody got time for that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will all of it really pass away, as Jesus says? Who will we be without all the trappings of our long and glorious traditions? And if we are ever put to a real test because of our faithfulness to Jesus, don\u2019t we all wish to be some of the ones who have spiritual endurance, because the idea of gaining our souls sounds pretty nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wishful thinking. That\u2019s our way of life. But this leaves me with a questions: what\u2019s the difference between wishing and hoping?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer comes in the teaching of Jesus to his friends and followers as they wander through the beautifully adorned courts of the Temple in Jerusalem. In response to Jesus saying that their awe-inspiriting Temple will be thrown down, his friends ask, \u201cHow will we know when this will occur?\u201d They\u2019re incredulous. They can\u2019t imagine Jerusalem without the Temple. They can\u2019t imagine their lives without the cult of sacrifice and its spiritual and fiscal economies. If we put the very first part and the very last part of Jesus\u2019 reply together, however, we begin to learn about hope. Listen to Jesus\u2019 teaching without all the explanatory stuff in the middle: \u201cBeware you are not led astray\u2026  By your endurance you will gain your souls.\u201d In other words, be in awe of something greater than the Temple; you don\u2019t need the Temple to gain your souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, Jesus\u2019 friends and followers are asking a question\u2014when will this happen\u2014which is born of their own perception of reality. But from Jesus\u2019 point of view, the question isn\u2019t whether the world will fall apart, but \u201cWhere will we find the strength to face the agony and ugliness of the world?\u201d Jesus hopes his friends and followers will discover that through endurance in their faithfulness to him<\/u><\/em> they will experience what it really means to live. And not in some wishful future, but right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This word \u2018endurance\u2019 is the Greek word \u1f51\u03c0\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03ae [hupomon\u00e9], which is a noun made up of the adjective \u201cunder\u201d and the verb \u201cto remain.\u201d[1]<\/a> In his word choice here, Luke gives us a noun that implies an action. Endurance implies \u201cstaying the course\u201d or \u201cperseverance\u201d or \u201crefusing to give up.\u201d We might better translate Luke\u2019s word as, \u201cto bear up under the load.\u201d It seems that in order to be faithful to Jesus, we might have to be unfaithful to other people and other things, which will feel heavy sometime. To be faithful to Jesus, we may have to give up people or things we previously believed we couldn\u2019t live without. So let me ask you the question the Gospel has been asking me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What might you need to let go of so that you can be more faithful to Jesus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n[keep silence]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, and speaking of faithfulness to Jesus, today is Feast Day of Saint Margaret, Queen Consort of Scotland, who reigned for 23 years with her husband, King Malcolm III, from 1070 to 1093.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With considerable zeal, Margaret sought to change what she consider to be\u2026 [the] careless practices among the Scottish clergy. The Lord\u2019s Day was to be a day when, she said, \u201cwe apply ourselves only to prayers.\u201d She argued vigorously\u2026against an exaggerated sense of unworthiness that made many of the pious Scots unwilling to receive communion regularly. [\u2026] She encouraged founding schools, and hospitals, and orphanages, and used her influence with King Malcolm to help her improve the quality of life among the Scottish clans. Together, Margaret and her husband rebuilt the monastery of Iona [still a center of spirituality today].[2]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever else Margaret may have wished for, it was her hope in the power of Jesus to redeem human life that drove her and oriented all she did. My siblings in Christ, Margaret lived almost a thousand years ago. What might the Holy Spirit do with our faithfulness, if we ground ourselves in Jesus and him alone, rather than all our grand, but admittedly short-lived plans? What if we stopped wishing, and let Jesus\u2019 hope for the world fill us will breath? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> https:\/\/biblehub.com\/greek\/5281.htm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> Lesser Feasts & Fasts<\/em> (Church Publishing, 2022), p. 512.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Year C Readings Malachi 4:1-2a Psalm 98 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Luke 21:5-19 Collect of the Day Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.\u00a0Amen. Homily In the Name of the Holy Trinity,One God, in glory everlasting. Amen.  ON THE MORNING OF OCTOBER 23RD, Elliott\u2014our elder son\u2014walked into the kitchen to find a pile of colorful balloons and wrapped packages covering the breakfast table. There ensued light screaming and tippy-toed dancing. The whole produced an effervescent mood, which continued throughout the rest of the day. Birthday treats\u2014per Elliott\u2019s wish\u2014supplied his second grade class with a festive moment, while a birthday dinner with cousins and Grandma rounded out the day. By supper time on Elliott\u2019s birthday, however, I had already driven to Saginaw for Diocesan Convention and was just sitting down to a plate of enchiladas with the delegates from\u2026Holy Trinity: Lorrie D. and Barb K., and Ascension\/Holy Cross: Gwen H. and Robin G. There was not a small part of me that wished secretly to be at home for my son\u2019s birthday dinner. Knowing me well, my wife, Jessica, kindly sent me a picture of Elliott just at the moment when he had taken a deep breath to blow out the candle on a big number \u201c8\u201d sticking out of a cupcake! Undoubtedly\u2014as is the custom\u2014everyone hollered \u201cMake a Wish!\u201d just before Elliott let fly his breath. Presumably he wished desperately for a Nintendo Switch and a game called \u201cBoomerang-[Kung] Fu.\u201d I was simply wishing that I was present to witness the joy of one of the people who will always be the delight of my eyes. Wishing, you see, is the emotional DNA of our culture. Cooperate healthcare paid me decently as a chaplain, for instance, but when I became rector of this parish and received an increase in my annual wage, I didn\u2019t complain and had to remind myself that I need to tithe my gross income before I wish to spend money on landscaping\u2026 Because I wish to have a row of holly bushes wrapping around the south end of our house\u2026 because I also have a wish to plant something lovely that the deer won\u2019t treat like a salad bar! We do this wishing \u201cthing\u201d with the scriptures too. In Malachi\u2019s prophecy, he sees a future in which \u201c\u2026all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of Hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.\u201d  I used to hear stuff like that aimed at the congregation in the Baptist church I grew up in, and I still find myself wishing: Gosh, I hope I\u2019m one of the ones who revere the name of the LORD. And when I listen to the Apostle Paul taking those folks in Thessalonica to task for being what he considers to be lazy, no-good, ne\u2019er-do-wells who aren\u2019t worthy of a piece of bread, I find myself secretly wishing that the work I put in on behalf of my two congregations is worthy of the salary and benefits I receive. (Don\u2019t respond to that by the way!! Early days, folks\u2026 early days!) Then comes the Gospel reading, and\u2026 well\u2026 oooff! I\u2019m trying to build up my two congregations. And I happen to really like these bricks and stones, and all the beautiful, jeweled windows, and the ornaments on the Altar Table\u2026 And I believe that we absolutely cannot possibly survive without the copier! With all my heart I fervently wish that the copier never falls apart, because we\u2019d have to go back to folding and stapling the bulletins by hand, and well\u2026 ain\u2019t nobody got time for that! Will all of it really pass away, as Jesus says? Who will we be without all the trappings of our long and glorious traditions? And if we are ever put to a real test because of our faithfulness to Jesus, don\u2019t we all wish to be some of the ones who have spiritual endurance, because the idea of gaining our souls sounds pretty nice. Wishful thinking. That\u2019s our way of life. But this leaves me with a questions: what\u2019s the difference between wishing and hoping? The answer comes in the teaching of Jesus to his friends and followers as they wander through the beautifully adorned courts of the Temple in Jerusalem. In response to Jesus saying that their awe-inspiriting Temple will be thrown down, his friends ask, \u201cHow will we know when this will occur?\u201d They\u2019re incredulous. They can\u2019t imagine Jerusalem without the Temple. They can\u2019t imagine their lives without the cult of sacrifice and its spiritual and fiscal economies. If we put the very first part and the very last part of Jesus\u2019 reply together, however, we begin to learn about hope. Listen to Jesus\u2019 teaching without all the explanatory stuff in the middle: \u201cBeware you are not led astray\u2026  By your endurance you will gain your souls.\u201d In other words, be in awe of something greater than the Temple; you don\u2019t need the Temple to gain your souls. You see, Jesus\u2019 friends and followers are asking a question\u2014when will this happen\u2014which is born of their own perception of reality. But from Jesus\u2019 point of view, the question isn\u2019t whether the world will fall apart, but \u201cWhere will we find the strength to face the agony and ugliness of the world?\u201d Jesus hopes his friends and followers will discover that through endurance in their faithfulness to him they will experience what it really means to live. And not in some wishful future, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2893,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[25,41],"class_list":["post-2892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","tag-advent","tag-hope"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/88346445-35fe-b17b-3ad6-ee35df228c4e-e1765409023535.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2894,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892\/revisions\/2894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}