Advent is preparing us for the coming of the Lord, that already and not-yet event for which people have lived and worked and prayed for millennia.
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
Sermons on Hope (Page 6)
Jesus calls us to courageously follow him through a world of apparently apocalyptic violence towards the advent of hope and peace.
We are invited to work towards visions of God’s reign, knowing we will never be entirely successful, but sustained by imagining the possibilities.
Jesus calls us to entrust ourselves into the care of the Spirit who will carry us into the unknown future of God.
The stories of Moses, Elijah and Jesus on various mountain tops reveals a process of God’s self-revelation as the one who loves us and suffers for us.
When God is moving to do something new among us, it almost always seems scandalous, immoral and offensive to many, and is just as likely to involve those who are regarded as morally suspect.
Jesus probably won’t meet our expectations, but will instead set out to convert our expectations and lead us into a new world that exceeds anything we could have expected.
Like Mary, we are called to participate in God’s recreation and blessing of the world, and when we comprehend that call, we will, like Mary, explode with joy.
John calls us beyond insurance policy religion, but Jesus calls us still further into participation in God’s radical generosity to all the world.
God approaches us in an eager desire for communion, so our task is not to strive for communion, but simply to open ourselves to receive it.
The Holy Spirit is poured out on us so that the liberating presence of Christ may be with us all everywhere, freeing us from fear to live and speak boldly of the new life we have tasted.
The resurrection of Jesus is the most confronting and terrifying news imaginable, and all we can do (after trying to run) is surrender ourselves to his grace.
Though we get caught up in violent rivalries like Herod, God breaks through with the promise of a new kingdom where all are honoured.
Faithful witness to the Coming Christ is not expressed by trying to force the world into our concepts of righteousness, but by joyously, prayerfully, and thankfully cooperating with the liberating work of the Spirit, even in the face of violent opposition.
God’s action in the world and in our lives is constant and faithful, but rarely flamboyant or unambiguous. Discerning God’s activity is therefore a learned skill.
Our anticipation of new life in Christ, though not removing all grief, allows us to find hope in the mercy and love of God.
When fidelity to Christ’s call is failing to bear the expected fruit, but is bearing good fruit, however humble, the call may be to persevere in hope.
The promise that God will bring new life from a dead stump challenges our haste to chop down whatever seems to be in our way.
A sermon for the Great Paschal Vigil preached by the Revd Andrew Woff
The life Christ call us to is not found by seeking to recover the past or escape from the past, but by opening ourselves to the new things God will do.