A Different Narrative

November 19, 2009

It’s hard to imagine that this is the last Sabbath of the year. The Christian Year, that is. If you’ve been around Hollywood Church for a while you know we order our lives by a slightly different calendar than the one the rest of the world uses. Instead of shaping our lives around Memorial Day, Independence Day, Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day and Valentine’s Day, Christians form their lives around Advent and Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. Perhaps the major part of our discipleship is learning to live out of a different narrative.

In the Christian calendar, the first Sabbath of Advent marks the beginning of a new year, remembering together the significant movements of God’s story as told in the New Testament. So this is the last Sabbath of the year and next Sabbath begins a new year and the beginning of the four weeks of Advent. I’ll write more about Advent in the coming weeks, but at its most basic level, Advent is a season of anticipation and longing. It is a time when, in solidarity with the saints of old that waiting for the first coming of the Messiah, we await the second coming of the Messiah, to put our world to rights once and for all.

As you read this, I am in New Orleans, Louisiana for the annual meeting of the Adventist Society for Religious Studies (ASRS). This is a weekend of firsts for me. My first time in New Orleans. My first time attending ASRS. I’m here at the invitation of the incoming president to moderate a panel discussion of my friend, Samir Selmanovic’s new book, It’s Really All About God. Very soon I’ll be announcing a book discussion group on this book and I hope you’ll join me for that.

In the meantime, please keep Elysabeth and me in your prayers as we travel this weekend. We hate to be away from you on the Sabbath, but we are confident that God is with you and you will be blessed in our absence.

Grace and Peace,

Ryan

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