[1] The church year ends with Christ the King\u2019s eschatological lectionary readings and begins anew with Advent\u2019s eschatological lectionary readings.\u00a0 We are waiting for the end times even as we are preparing to say again, Emmanuel: God is with us here and now.<\/p>\n
[2] We celebrate Christmas in the darkest part of the year for the Northern Hemisphere. Jesus was born in a time of metaphorical darkness, a time that must have felt to many like the end of history.\u00a0 The Roman Republic had turned into an Empire with a ruthless dictator. Augustus Caesar claimed to be a Restorer of the Republic even as he replaced Stoic republican values of temperance and reason with a ‘might makes right’ political theory. \u00a0In the days of the Roman Empire, smog from the smelting of swords hung in the air and lead poisoned the water. \u00a0Mary and Joseph lived in an occupied territory.<\/p>\n
[3] In the dark night, in a stable because there was no room at the inn, God came to dwell with human beings caught in turbulent times.\u00a0\u00a0 This issue of JLE discusses what vocation, or calling, means in times that are especially difficult. They speak to how we might answer the call of God who comes to us where we are.<\/p>\n
[4] The first paper discusses the calling of Isaiah in his own turbulent times.\u00a0 Isaiah experienced a powerful and terrifying God asking him tenderly, \u201cWhom shall I send?\u201d Julie Mavity Maddelena\u2019s homiletic essay reminds us that we are all similarly called to act for justice in an unjust world.\u00a0 We are called with a promise that there will be help from a mighty God and a community that supports us as we are called to support them.<\/p>\n
[5] The second paper speaks to the famous aphorism attributed to Luther that when the world is ending one ought to plant a tree.\u00a0 Courtney Wilder\u2019s piece speaks metaphorically and literally of the call to gardening as a path to grow community and loving dialogue in the midst of discordant times.<\/p>\n
[6] William G. Fredstrom\u2019s paper speaks particularly to our human vocation in distracted times.\u00a0 He, using Bonhoeffer\u2019s work as a resource, points readers to remember that we are called to care for those who are right here with us right now.<\/p>\n
[7] Finally, Stewart Hermann dares to speak of our times as possibly true end times.\u00a0 His discussion confronts how human beings are called to behave even as they might face extinction at their own hands.<\/p>\n
[8] Martin Luther claims that good theology names things as they are.\u00a0 These essays look honestly at our current times and offer us scriptural, theological, and ethical ways of discerning where we are each called now and here.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[1] The church year ends with Christ the King\u2019s eschatological lectionary readings and begins anew with Advent\u2019s eschatological lectionary readings.\u00a0 We are waiting for the end times even as we are preparing to say again, Emmanuel: God is with us here and now. [2] We celebrate Christmas in the darkest part of the year for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vocation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n