Advent
December 23, 2020
Scripture Reading:
Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.
Titus shares his guidance on how we, who have experienced the Grace of God through Jesus Christ, should represent Christ in our daily lives, renouncing impiety and worldly passions and living lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly. This calling is individual and communal. We seem to have wandered away from both our individual and collective responsibilities.
The prophet Hosea uses the metaphor of an unfaithful wife, a whore to represent Israel’s nation as he calls it back to following God’s ways. Congress and our federal executive branch, for the last eight months, have tried to pass legislation to offset the damages inflicted on our nation and world by COVID-19. It has been many years since I saw the musical, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. While watching our government’s inaction, words from The Sidestep song from that musical have flashed through my mind.
Fellow Texans,
I am proudly
Standing Here to Humbly see,
I assure you and I mean it,
Now says I don’t speak out as plain as day
Now fellow Texans I’m for progress
And the flag long may it fly,
I’m a poor boy
Come to greatness
So it follows that I cannot tell a lie.
Ohhhh I love to dance a little side step,
And ohhhhh I love to sweep around the wide Step.
Cut a little swath and lead the people on*.
I find it very disturbing that our nation’s stock market is reaping unprecedented highs during this pandemic while poverty increases markedly. We can and should be critical of our leaders, and we must remember that ours is a nation of the people by the people for the people. In the final analysis, we are as much at fault as our leaders if we do not turn around from our worldly passions and hold those leader’s feet to the fire to act decisively for the Common Good. They need to be reminded that we, the people, have the final say, but we also need to remember that.
Prayer: Lord, forgive us for burying our heads in the sand to the growing poverty among our fellow citizens. Direct us on your path to care for all your children. Amen.
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All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.