A sermon by Flemming Rutledge (From The Living Church)The moment I heard about the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School yesterday, I called Jack. A black pall has been cast over his momentous day, and we all acknowledge that. As Jack said on the phone, the problem of how to conduct an ordination in the face of an atrocity in the very next town is as nothing compared to the anguish of the parents and families who have lost their precious little ones. The lament of Jeremiah comes to mind:
Why is my pain unceasing,
my wound incurable,
refusing to be healed?
(Jeremiah 15:18)
In the church, this is the season of Advent. It’s superficially understood as a time to get ready for Christmas, but in truth it’s the season for contemplating the judgment of God. Advent is the season that, when properly understood, does not flinch from the darkness that stalks us all in this world. Advent begins in the dark and moves toward the light — but the season should not move too quickly or too glibly, lest we fail to acknowledge the depth of the darkness. As our Lord Jesus tells us, unless we see the light of God clearly, what we call light is actually darkness: “how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:23) Advent bids us take a fearless inventory of the darkness without and the darkness within.
More here-
http://www.livingchurch.org/actors-and-preachers
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