Tuesday Lectionary Leanings -- Changed World Edition

Shall we begin with prayer? (prayer source)

You raise up the poor,

to give them the best rooms in your house;

you pull the broken

from the dust of the world,

brushing them off and clothing them with joy;

you exalt those we have pushed aside,

and let them say grace at the feast in heaven.

You are our God, and we worship you.

When we are tempted to wander off after

the rumors of sin,

you guard our feet so we can walk

as faithful people;

when we think we need to pay attention

to all the gossip around us,

you give us a double portion

of good news, so we will not fear.

You are the Christ, and we will listen to you.

When no one else will listen to us,

we can pour out our soul to you;

when no one notices us,

you see our misery, and fill us with joy;

when everyone else forgets who we are,

you remember us and call us by name.

You are our Spirit of Love, and we welcome you into our hearts.

God in Community, Holy in One, we raise our prayers to you,

even as we speak the words of Jesus,

Our Father . . .

Is tomorrow the Day?

The end of the liturgical year is fast approaching, and so it is time to talk about the world being changed.  Then again, as people of faith who regularly pray the words "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done..." shouldn't we be talking about the world being changed every Sunday???

At any rate there are all sorts of changed being discussed in the RCL readings for Proper 28B.  Maybe it is Hannah's prayer for a child.  OR her song of a world being turned upside down (which of course is so similar to a song we will revisit in a month or so).  OR Daniel's announcement that Micheal will come -- to the betterment of some and the ruin of others. OR the teaching we find in Hebrews about preparing for the Day that is coming.  OR Mark's Jesus warning of turmoil to come.  Any of our passages could be preparing us to be changed.

And is that change a cause for fear or hope?  The combination of passages (and 2 millennia of Christian theology) could answer with either option.

Of course some of our USan sisters and brothers may be ignoring these passages altogether since this is the Sunday before Black Friday (and US Thanksgiving but I am unsure which is the bigger news day anymore).  And so they may be looking at these passages.  Or do y'all have Thanksgiving worship on Wednesday/Thursday?  Or even next Sunday? [So much easier in Canada where Thanksgiving Day is the Monday and so it is obvious which Sunday to have Thanksgiving weekend]

Back to the Day of the Lord stuff (and why are so many of these images so disturbing?).  How does preaching that topic go over in your context?  Is it about scaring folks into changing their ways in preparation?  Is it about gentle encouragement?  Are you going to talk about the Mayans?

Wherever your sermonic thoughts are headed, or stalled, this early in the week let us know in the comments.

The eternal problem of reading the signs...