Two Pints Later: Advent

Friday, 2 December 2011

Advent - Part 1

The Liturgical Year

The Liturgical Year or the Christian Calendar is a way of ordering one’s year that has evolved within Christian tradition over the centuries. Different Christian traditions follow slightly different forms of the calendar with different readings from the bible on different days etc, but in general they all follow the same rhythm.

The way the Liturgical Year works is that it is ordered around the story of Jesus, his life and ministry and longed for return. Its beauty is that it takes us places in prayer, contemplation, study, and celebration that often we might more naturally shy away from. Christmas is a wonderful celebration. Resurrection Sunday is a day of new life and possibility. Pentecost reminds us of the life giving empowerment of the Holy Spirit. They are pretty easy to celebrate.

Lent though reminds us of the trials and struggles of life; the difficulties and the heartaches. Easter Friday takes us to place of what seems to be abandonment and hopelessness. Ordinary time confronts us with the mundane reality of life but that Christ is present.

The real power of the liturgical year is not the feasts, celebrations, seasons and rituals, the real power is its capacity to touch and plumb the depths of the human experience, to stir the human heart. By walking the way of the life of Jesus, by moving into the experience of Jesus, we discover the meaning of our own experiences, the undercurrent of our own emotions, the struggle and the joy, the victories and the heartache of the Christian life. By taking us into the depths of what it means to be a human on the way to God – to suffer and to wonder, to know abandonment and false support, to believe and to doubt – the liturgical year breaks us open to the divine.

Advent

Advent isn’t Christmas. Advent is the four week period leading into Christmas which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. Advent looks forward to the arrival of Christ, the arrival of Emmanuel, God with Us, the hope of the world.

Advent looks forward to the arrival of the Christ child whose birth brings joy to the world. With Mary we magnify God’s name at the announcement that the long promised one is coming soon. Our waiting is full of pregnant expectancy, waiting in anticipation for the full coming of God’s reign of peace. The liturgical colour is blue, signifying hope and the dawning of a new day.

Advent is also an opportunity to re-tell the Christmas story, away from of consumerism and materialism, and back towards anticipation, expectation and the wonder of the incarnation, of God with us, of the long waited arrival of the Messiah in very unspectacular circumstances. Advent is the celebration that there is going to be a new chapter in the story; hope, life, promise, redemption, grace, forgiveness.

Advent from Latin essentially means ‘coming’ but Advent is not about one coming but rather three.

- Coming of Jesus, 2000 years ago, the Messiah, Emmanuel, the Saviour.

- Coming of Jesus, as present in our everyday lives today, working in all sorts of beautiful and wonderful ways.

- Coming of Jesus again to put all things right, to restore all things and to bring justice and shalom.

Jesus – past, present, future!

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Whether it’s over a pint of beer, an espresso coffee, or an icy cold bottle of New Zealand’s own Lemon & Paeroa, there is something invigorating about a meaningful conversation. Finding someone with whom your ideas and musings resonate is encouraging and reassuring, it inspires you to walk on. Finding someone with a different perspective causes you to pause, to reconsider, to take stock, to refine your thinking. Both can be healthy. Both can get you into trouble. Two Pints Later is the online continuation of a variety of conversations between some strangers who have become friends. It is a collaborative attempt to continue discussions that started in living rooms, or at BBQ’s, or after church, or at the pub, or in cafes, or in classrooms around New Zealand and Australia. We share a common and unwavering commitment to Jesus and mostly our conversations are to do with what it might mean to follow Jesus in our 21st Century, postmodern, postChristian context. Sometimes they’re not. As much as our stories are similar they are different. We each write from our own perspective and the opinions and ideas we present are our own and not necessarily those of our fellow collaborators or organisations we might work for. Individual bios can be found below. Enjoy the conversation and feel free to join in.

Collaborators

Michael Frost - is an early 30’s ginger haired man, passionate about cricket, music, NRL, whiskey (as long as it’s single malt) and theology... and of course, most of all, passionate about the good Lord. Michael is also madly in love with his wife Hannah. He lectures a bit, studies a bit, and does a bit of thinking along the way. Michael believes faith should be genuine in all of its complexities... "The true reality of faith is explored in the midst of our fears, doubts, hopes, beliefs, experiences, sufferings and relationships. Hopefully in the midst of it all, we discover Christ - we discover death and resurrection – and that changes everything!"

Joseph McAuley - is a husband and a father, an M.Div student, an INTJ, and an urban gardener. He is the lead pastor of St Luke's in Mount Maunganui, NZ. He drives a 1967 HR Holden Wagon and is building Artesania Latina’s HMS Endeavour. Joseph is interested in spiritual disciplines, Genesis, sustainability and leadership. He loves the fact that... "Even in the midst of the greyscale reality of a sin ravaged world, in Jesus Christ life can still be lived in vibrant colour. Beauty, passion, laughter, love, grace and forgiveness can be discovered."

Anna Exelby - is married to Nathan - who she is grateful to for consistently widening her worldview (those people who say ‘opposites attract’ are correct). She teaches English at the high school down the road and her students also do their fair share of broadening her outlook. When not trying to enthuse the teenage brain about literature she enjoys coffee and conversation with friends, pottering in her vege garden, getting to the top of the Mount, reading and walking Kingi - their German Shepherd. She struggles to understand how to best be a part of fighting injustice and wants to learn more about sustainability. Anna is working towards a MACS, which she credits with reviving her faith – turns out she needed to turn her brain on and explore some questions – and realise that God was cool with that.

Shane Clifton - is married to Elly and has the privilege and challenge of raising three teenage boys. He is a raving feminist and hopes this blog will include more female contributors (yes, will soon have a couple on board). Shane teaches theology at Alphacrucis college and is the author of Pentecostal Churches in Transition and, in collaboration with new Neil Ormerod, Globalisation in the Mission of the Church. Following a serious accident on 7 October 2010 he is learning to live as a quadriplegic.

Heidi Nagels - is a big fan of good food, great friends and the kind of laughing that makes your sides hurt. She is self-employed accountant, a pastor at St Luke’s in Mount Maunganui and on the homeward straight of her MACS. She plays weekly in a volleyball team called ‘Puddingface’ (with her boyfriend Simon) and would love to master the speedy overhead serve this season. Heidi hopes to continue to learn to be a disciple and a follower of the way and takes courage knowing “’Course Aslan (Jesus) isn’t safe. But he’s good” (Mr Beaver, Narnia)

Braden Matson - is...

Shane Meyer - is the proud owner disproportionately long arms, which on occasion attract the jeers of small children. He lives with his wife Rachel (who he has really grown fond of over the years) in Melbourne, and works in speciality coffee where he has recently received the distinguished ‘Least Indie Barista’ award due to his lack of fringe and / or pirate themed tattoos. When not swimming in a sea of extremely good coffee he attempts to get as much reading done as possible before resuming study and having his life taken over again. He also works continually in an attempt to prevent the immanent psychological implosion of his indoor football team ‘The Pony Express’. He is occasionally serious and loves discussion around how to live every part of our lives as a community of redemption and hope.

Sean du Toit - Sean, along with his wife, Sue, [who he’s had a crush on since he was sixteen], is a follower of Jesus trying to make sense of this world. This quest to be faithful to Jesus has led him into the byways and alleys of theology, history, philosophy and now a community called, “Common Ground.” Part of this quest involves teaching the New Testament, pursuing his own post-grad research and trying to connect with his friends, as often as possible. Sean has unusual sleeping habits, a love for reading documents and inscriptions from the first century, a wise mother, a creative sister and two kick-butt nephews who create within him a desire to one day have his own children.

Sam Bloore - doubts whether many people will have made it this far down a list of bio’s. If you have, he predicts you are organized and efficient. Patient and conscientious. An i-dotter. A t-crosser. Sam is none of these…and so you have his admiration and respect. He is a wannabe thinker with a short attention span – which has obvious challenges. He works for the Compass Foundation, commenting on the tensions of faithfully living a gospel-centred life in 21st-century western culture. What he thinks that faithfulness should look like was profoundly shaped by the premature death of his father last year. Sam considers himself lucky to live near the rest of his family in Auckland and extremely lucky that he gets to do that with his wife Julia. He is slowly and painfully learning to cook (which impresses her) and kiteboard (which doesn’t.)