Weekly Lectionary Webinar

1. WeeklyLectionaryWebinar Readings for Sunday, December 4, 2011 Presented by staff and friends of Sunshine Cathedral Metropolitan Community Church affiliated with the Center for Progressive Christianity Ft Lauderdale, Florida, USA

2. Contributors Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin Sunshine Cathedral Chief Programming Minister Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins Senior Pastor Sunshine Cathedral Rev. Dr. Mona West Director, Office of Formation and Leadership Development Metropolitan Community Churches Rev. BK Hipsher Virtual Chaplain Sunshine Cathedral Director of Sunshine Cathedral in Second Life

3. Spiritual Heroes December 9: Blessed Juan Diego (16th century) --Witness to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Mary appeared, it is said, to Juan Diego with dark skin and Indian features, surrounded by symbols of Indian religion and culture. She spoke to him in his native Nahuatl, not Spanish. The message to the church was clear: it must not serve as the agent of colonial oppression, but be rooted in the experience of the people.

4. Spiritual Heroes December 10: Thomas Merton (1915-1968) —Trappist monk. An American priest whose writings are among the greatest spiritual works of our time, Merton initially turned his back on the world by seeking solitude at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. In time he came to understand a deep solidarity with humanity and concern for issues of peace and justice. He also had a strong interest in Eastern spirituality, especially Zen Buddhism, from which he learned that the path to God is found in experience, not analysis.

5. Liturgical Season Advent 2, Peace Sunday The Second Candle: Peace “As the budding flower bursts into bloom; as the glowing light kindles into flame, may the spirit of life and love bloom and flame within us, with ever-renewing light and love.” (Dorris Dow Alcott)

6. First Reading Isaiah 40.3-5 (NRSV) 3A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

7. Second Reading 2 Peter 3.13-15 (NRSV) 13…in accordance with [the] promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. 14Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found…at peace, without spot or blemish; 15and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.

8. Gospel Reading Mark 1.1-8 (The Inclusive New Testament: Priests for Equality) 1The Gospel of Jesus Christ, God’s own, 2begins as it was written in Isaiah the prophet: “I send my messenger before you to prepare your way, 3a herald’s voice in the desert, crying, ‘Make ready the way of our God; clear a straight path.’ 4And so John the Baptizer appeared in the desert, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to John and were baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. 6John was clothed in camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and he ate nothing but grasshoppers and wild honey. 7In the course of his preaching, John said, “One more powerful than I is to come after me. I am not fit to stoop and untie his sandal straps. 8I have baptized you in water, but the one to come will baptize you in the holy Spirit.”

9. Word Study Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin • Word /phrases to consider for word study in your preparation: • First Reading: Isaiah (NEVI’IM) • “Cries Out … prepare the way of the Lord” = The Jewish Study Bible • (Rood through the desert) • Second Reading: • Where righteousness is at home . • (Where righteousness resides.) • Gospel Reading • - Herald’s voice in the desert, crying

10. Reflections Rev. BK Hipsher ~ Ponderings • Peace – personal, interpersonal, institutional, cultural • Peace of mind, a clear conscience, prayer and meditation • Repaired relationships, direct dealing, Interest in another’s welfare • Structures and institutions that do not visit violence on others • Shifting from a culture of war to a culture that values peace

11. Reflections Rev. BK Hipsher ~ Ponderings • Isaiah 40 begins the first of two sections that are not authored by the “original” Isaiah. This section from 40-55 is considered to be Second Isaiah or Deutero-Isaiah. Written approximately 160 years later than the first during the Babylonian exile. Chapter 40 through the first 8 verses of Chapter 44 are a long poetic “song” about deliverance and God’s goodness and power. • Begins “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.” • A smooth road, a straight path • Mountains smoothed down • Portending a return from the Babylonian exile • Release from captivity and alienation • Queer Bible Commentary draws parallels between the exile of the children of Israel with the closet of living hidden lives a LGBT people. Suggests that Fourth Isaiah might use “coming out” as a metaphor for returning to ourselves from that exile as people who “seek to live boldly, even fiercely….effecting a transformation through out our world.”

12. Reflections Rev. BK Hipsher ~ Ponderings • Our reading from 2 Peter is not considered to be authored by Simon Peter and is not the same writer as 1 Peter. Related more to Jude than to the other book named Peter. Only 3 chapters. Generally an apocalyptic view of a decaying world rotting with human excess cleansed by a purifying fire replaced by a new heaven and a new earth. • Belief in a promise from God • Waiting in patience • Cultivating peace within ourselves • Queer Bible Commentary on 1 and 2 Peter written by Robin Gorsline who points out that “negative images of sexuality (…called lust or desire) may be understood and countered.”

13. Reflections Rev. BK Hipsher ~ Ponderings • Mark begins not with the nativity of Jesus but quoting Isaiah “a voice in the desert crying, ‘‘Make ready the way of our God; clear a straight path.’” Even though the passage from Isaiah was portending the return of the people from exile back to their homeland, their culture, and their traditions… here it is used to portend the arrival of the one who would return people from the bondage of sin and alienation and restore them to what Carter Heyward would call “right relation” with God. • The “wildness” of John “the bear” • The original Christian vegetarian • Always pointing beyond himself to the power of God • Marcella Althaus-Reid’s commentary on Mark in The Queer Commentary concentrates on the crucifixion of Jesus as the murder of a “queer” figure who turned the world upside down. This is the kind of revolutionary thinking that John is referring to in his prediction that the one to come would “baptize.. in the holy Spirit.”

14. Reflections Rev. Dr. Mona West ~ Going Deeper The Isaiah passage describes the nature of our spiritual landscapes. On the one hand there is the desert wilderness: a place of loneliness and danger as well as a place of comfort and illumination. The leveling of the terrain brings to mind the notion of the Buddhist concept 'equanimity'.

15. Reflections Rev. Dr. Mona West ~ Going Deeper I have a tendency to romanticize the desert. Just this week I was looking at a Facebook posting and photos from a friend who literally went into the desert of New Mexico to live for a year in order to tend to her spiritual journey. I found myself being extremely jealous. Then I ran across this quote: "There is a physical desert, inhabited by a few exceptional men and women who are called to live there; but more importantly, there is an inner desert, into which each one of us must one day venture. It is a voice; an empty space for solitude and testing." -Frere Ivan, The Desert and the City

16. Reflections Rev. Dr. Mona West ~ Going Deeper *Even though I might not be able to physically go out into the desert to hear what God might have to say to me in this Advent season, I can explore my inner desert where I am invited to listen for the voice, prepare the way for the coming and trust what will happen to me there. *Solitude is not a matter of being by yourself in some remote place. It is an inner disposition that we cultivate and carry with us in every encounter.

17. Reflections Rev. Dr. Mona West ~ Going Deeper The Second Peter passage reminds me of the earlier essay I shared from Nouwen. Advent waiting happens in response to God's promises. It is an active ('strive for peace') and a disciplined ('patience') waiting.

18. Reflections Rev. Dr. Mona West ~ Going Deeper The Matthew passage made me think about the Desert Abbas and Ammas of 4th century Egypt. They went out into the desert to seek solitude and find God and the very people they were trying to get away from followed them out there! The people followed them into the desert in order to 'get a word' from God to take back into the busy life of the city. This is the beginning of the practice of spiritual direction.

19. Reflections Rev. Dr. Mona West ~ Going Deeper Two questions to explore from these passages: Where is your 'wilderness' and what is your 'word' for this Advent?

20. Presenters Dialogue

21. Book Resources

22. Lectionary Discussion~Open Discussion Weekly Lectionary Webinar Facebook Grouphttp://on.fb.me/weeklylectionary