The Joshua Victor Theory

  “ To us a child is born, to us a son is given—Christ our Lord!” Amen. “Is everyone ready to go? Piling into the car to leave the house is always a test of readiness. Do you have your mask? Your lunch? Your backpack? Your water bottles? Your shoes? More than once, the answer was an irritated “YES!!”, and we drove away, only to find out 10 or 15 minutes later that the true answer was “NO!” You can multiply the example in a thousand different ways, with your own “ready to go?” moments, and the worry before a trip whether you packed everything before heading to the airport, or the stress after you left and realized what you forgot. “Ready to go” can mean you have everything with you, or your state of mind where you’re mentally ready to leave without delay. Today in our Gospel we face elderly Simeon, who joyfully, truthfully, and sincerely announces he’s “ready to go!” He had long waited for God’s redemption to draw near. Faithful in his watching and prayer, God specially revealed ...

  “To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.” Today our church year begins anew with the season of Advent. We renew our annual cycle of watching and waiting for our Lord. Advent means “to come” and merges our waiting and anticipation for two different comings of the Lord. We remember, reenact, and celebrate Christmas, Christ’s first coming. We anticipate, prepare for, and watch for Christ’s second coming, His return to judge and redeem the world. Advent blends memory and anticipation. Since this is our Christian “New Year’s Day” in a sense, as the church calendar renews, we’re oddly out of step with the world, which doesn’t celebrate New Year’s for another month. The church can never be in complete alignment with the world, which is blind to God’s priorities, and often directly contradicts them. And almost as if to keep us a little off balance, the reading historically used for the 1 st Sunday o...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Today the cycle of the church year begins anew, with the First Sunday in Advent. We renew a journey of sorts, a journey that lasts us one year—a journey along the places and paths that Jesus followed, from the time He was anticipated as Savior, to His birth in Bethlehem, through His ministry, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. This first half of the church year, we call the “Festival Season.” It wraps up with Pentecost, when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, and follows with the part of the church year that we just finished, is the long “non-festival” season of the church year, or “ordinary time”. Sundays that review the rest of Jesus’ teachings, leading up again to the anticipation of His return. Along the journey, we get to know Jesus better and better, not as a friend who joins us occasionally, but as our constant companion who leads us and has finished the jour...