Category Archives: Advent

iMonk Classic: Riff on “The End of Advent”

Christmas has devoured Advent, gobbled it up with the turkey giblets and the goblets of seasonal ale. Every secularized holiday, of course, tends to lose the context it had in the liturgical year. Across the nation, even in many churches, Easter has hopped across Lent, Halloween has frightened away All Saints, and New Year’s hasContinue reading “iMonk Classic: Riff on “The End of Advent””

It Always Comes Back to the Ending

Advent is about eschatology. That five dollar theological term simply means “the study of the eschaton” (the last day). The Bible divides time into two great epochs: this present age and the age to come. We live in the now; we await the not yet. Scripture anticipates the end from the start. When Genesis 1:1Continue reading “It Always Comes Back to the Ending”

Advent I: Apocalypse Then. What about Now?

ADVENT IC Jeremiah 33:14-16 Psalm 25:1-10 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Luke 21:25-36 Prayer of the Day Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. Protect us by your strength and save us from the threatening dangers of our sins, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.Continue reading “Advent I: Apocalypse Then. What about Now?”

The Magnificat vs. Today’s Gospel (3)

Today we conclude our posts on Mary’s Magnificat. In the first post, we contrasted Mary’s song with the “soterian” gospel that focuses primarily (if not solely) on personal salvation. In contrast, we affirmed that in the Magnificat, “Mary proclaims the Gospel. As we will see, it is no mere ‘personal plan of salvation,’ no ‘steps’Continue reading “The Magnificat vs. Today’s Gospel (3)”

The Magnificat vs. Today’s Gospel (2)

Today, I had marvelous conversation with an African-American woman who had grown up in Mississippi, moved to Indianapolis, whose family had relocated to other rust-belt cities like Chicago and Detroit in the 1960’s and 70’s. She could talk about picking cotton, participating in civil rights marches, employers who were members of the Ku Klux Klan,Continue reading “The Magnificat vs. Today’s Gospel (2)”

Contradicting the World’s Propaganda

Long before I read N.T. Wright and other contemporary authors, my eyes were opened to what Scot McKnight calls “The King Jesus Gospel” through the work of the great Roman Catholic Biblical scholar, Raymond E. Brown. His two little books, A Coming Christ in Advent, and An Adult Christ at Christmas, though considered “liberal” byContinue reading “Contradicting the World’s Propaganda”

The Magnificat vs. Today’s Gospel (1)

Scot McKnight ran a post earlier today called, “Justin Holcomb and the Soterian Gospel.” In it, he commented on a piece by one of the pastors at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, designed to answer the question, “What Is the Gospel?” McKnight rightly commends Holcomb for an excellent presentation of a certain kind of “Gospel”Continue reading “The Magnificat vs. Today’s Gospel (1)”