ADVENT 2014 waiting for ???

We are going now to travel through the landscape of ADVENT. Which special trees
are we going to see ??? In Namibia we observe the tree "all people wait for the rain".
In the North, there is the tree "all people wait for the spring". Nature learns to wait.
WAITING is so important, so natural, so human that the CHURCH has decided:
We celebrate the WAITING !

As we need the rain, the spring - we CHRISTIANS need GOD. So we wait...
During "WAITING" we may develop ideas, dreams, perceptions... how the rain will pour down, how the spring will look like...  it's important to foresee the situation in order to make he best of it or to prevent damages. Ever heard about planning ???

WAITING for God - you may develop an image, a picture, a model, a dream, a perception: HOW GOD LOOKS LIKE ! HOW it will feel GOD's ARRIVAL ???
Most of our Christians are not used to develop such an idea because they know already. They know God and his work and his coming: they know best. But worse,
they feel: it's not alllowed to create such a picture because the CHURCH told us already HOW we have to see our GOD. (What a great misunderstanding!!!)

JESUS had an other "lifestyle". HE called us to be awake, to be attentive; to open our eyes and ears, our brain and heart - don't forget God's coming may be like a total surprise. And how can you be ready if you have no idea ? at least if you are not open for a total surprise ? The young Jesus-movement had the courage to develop a new idea about God. And the CHURCH had many times told the people HOW God looks like... and the CHURCH has discovered: GOD IS CHANGING...
there are ideas about God now out of use, out of the run; we may go with Jesus
to discover the image of God for our time

For this work we have the ADVENT. There are so many reasons to paint a new picture of God, to get a new understandning of God - it's the biggest challenge for the theology of our time. God is not the old one - we need for our world a new idea about God - everyone is invited to do this work - and than Christmas will get
an open heart for the message that Jesus discovered a total new Idea about the MYSTERY of God.

34 Sun A / end of the CHURCH-YEAR

pls note: last week (10. - 17.11.2014) I was in CH for the funeral of our youngest brother KARL LEU  * 31.12.1948  + 01.11.2014
For the end of the CHURCH-YEAR I'm back...   to celebrate...

On this Sunday we have to celebrate a lot: as the 34th Sunday it's also the last Sunday of the famous CHURCH-YEAR, declared as the feast of CHRIST the KING
and this year it's also the end of the YEAR of the FAMILY.

As we are going to end the CHURCH-YEAR there is the question: How did you do it?
Did you celebrate the LIFE of Jesus Christ: His life-style and his message ?
Sure it' was a priority for you to establish the KINGDOM of GOD (to participate with the fulness of LIFE) in your situation ??? What a great word !
You have gone at least 52 times to participate actively on the celebration of the Eucharist ??? What has been the profit and your engagement ???

Now the end of the FAMILY-YEAR ! EZEKIEL (34.11-17) + Psalm (22) are very clear: God himself and his people know: "God is the excellent sheperd"
This message has gone deep into the heart of all our Christian Communities (Cty).
Every Sunday the Cty's had a special prayer to tell the SHEPHERD: what they like and what HE may do: increase...  grant us...  teach us...  make them... help them...
protect...   grant...  teach... give us...  It's wonderful: the Cty ask the SHEPHERD:
HE may do...  and the Cty: what are they doing ? no plan, no action - only prayer:
HE may do ! Not one Cty came together to find ways to improve family-life.
Something has gone terribly wrong ! How do you understand Ezekiel ?
God is a excellent SHEPHERD because HE has given the responsibility of all into the hands of mankind! God has given heart + brain, hand + foot, relationship + the skill to work together - and after we have used alll our best skills we "see " (understand)
the Holy spirit has been light, has given aim, encouragement and strength.
But we have to do the work cf. Mt 25.31-46  giving food and drink, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and prisoners...
For Christians there is a story; God has gone in hiding
                                                and Jesus has shown where to find Him 

Mt 25.1-13 "God pls give oil..."

An interesting parable will tell us again that for Jesus Christ the "KINGDOM OF GOD" is project Nr 1 / We are since Baptism as a Community (Church) engaged with the establishment of the "KINGDOM OF GOD" (in other words: follow Jesus Christ).
We know already a lot of this HIS Kingdom
a) it's at hand / nearby / a possibility ready to be activated...
b) it's somehow the participation with the fulness of Life...
c) only the "when and where" (hic and nunc / NOW + HERE ) is quite unknown...
Therefore again the admonition: don't be foolish rather sensible / stay awake /
be attentive (ready to do something) be clever and never forget: the lamp needs oil!
(it means: you !!!  have to care for oil)
Be clever is translated in the Bible: "stay awake". This means to know what is the right thing to do in this situation and means also to have enough energy to do what is right. Nobody is lost...  Everybody may see: the knowledge and the energy is on offer: The knowledge is given by the revelation (by creation, by history,by the Bible) and the energy is given as "braed + wine / as Body of Christ / as "Community serving Humanity". The means are ready...

But all in vain...  the message about the KINGDOM OF GOD will change nothing...
because the frame is wrong !!!

Look at the story ! Nearly all the foolish catholic bridesmaids of today, before they fell asleep, they made a prayer: "pls Holy God wake us up as soon as the bridegroom
comes (like the Sun in the morning) and most of all give us oil (and all what we need"

Pious people feel: God has to do it... and I have to remind him...
Look at the "prayer to Jesus Christ for the Families...." (every Sunday !
They remind God NINE TIMES what He may do...   asseblief dog !
But non of them came together to decide what they have to do -
Catholics belief God has to do the work - finally He is the Creator - if something
is going wrong He has to intervene - so Catholics may go to sleep well!
But they are not educated to take the chance and tell to everybody NOW + HERE,
I do it ! I actualize the given Possibility into Reality !   RIP is the slogan.