Fourth Sunday of Advent - Obedience

Lectionary Reading for the Fourth Sunday of Advent: Romans 16:25-27

Here we find the fourth Sunday of Advent lifting up the closing words from Paul's letter to the Romans.  It is a reminder that God's promise is to everyone - even the Gentiles.  This general premise, while a difficult proposition when it was written, doesn't seem as hard to those in today's generation.  But for those in Paul's day, it meant the good news was also for those widely considered the "other."

We certainly know what it means to keep the other at bay today.  We may not consciously omit them from God's favor as long as we don't have to deal with them.  They can reside in that part of God's kingdom reserved for the "other."

What does it mean for Paul to call us to an "obedience of faith"?

Sometimes our disobedience is pretty overt!

Certainly, I think back to Jesus' twin admonition to love God and love neighbor.  If Jesus names these as encompassing all of the law and the prophets, it would stand to reason that our obedience of faith is a call to love.

At Christmas, we most often see the love of God and neighbor intertwined.  Our walls are lowered and we find a peace in our hearts toward the other to even see them (for a moment) as family.

We may even find at this time of year that when the conditions are right, we can view the other as something more.  We remember that Jesus was able to hold affection for the other as Mother (and brother and sister).  May this be our call to obedience as Christmas comes again this year.

Prayer: Ever-faithful God, we give thanks that you reach out to all the world.  We find it easy to celebrate your grace when it is directed our way but we also must confess: we sometimes find it tiresome when your eye turns toward those to whom we feel do not deserve it.  Help us to discover that our similarities outweigh our differences.  And in this realization, may we be obedient to your gospel call!  We pray these things in the name of Jesus the Christ, who is born to give life to all your children.  Amen.

Photo by Jeremy Bronson via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.