Week Two
December 9, 2022
A Second Coming
2 Peter 3:11-18
Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. 2 Peter 3:14
At a committee meeting in the 4th century, a date was set for Easter; an annual celebration of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus would occur on the first Sunday, after the first full moon, after the spring equinox. A date for Christmas came next and then the development of pre and post seasons. Easter came first. Everything else, we celebrate in relationship to Easter.
Because we most easily connect Advent to Christmas, we spend the season in anticipation of the birth of a child. But the theology of advent is inseparable from the theology of Christmas which is inseparable from the theology of Easter. This child we await will be crucified, die, and rise again.
Our passage from 2 Peter reminds us that the story is not over, Christ will come again—this time, like a thief in the night (2 Peter, vs. 10). The thought of Jesus coming to us in the form of a baby engenders feelings of peace more readily than the thought of the heavens disappearing and the earth laid bare!
A faithful celebration of the season of Advent requires us to think apocalyptically. This world of ours has seen salvation AND is in desperate need of a savior. Where do we see glimpses of salvation, here and now? What needs to be destroyed in the heat of God’s fire? What does it look like to prepare for the end? What does it look like to be at peace as we wait for a new heaven and new earth?
Dr. Allie Utley
Assistant Professor of Liturgy and Practical Theology
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
