The Rev. Jay Lawlor served as visiting priest at Saint John's Episcopal Church, Speedway, IN during Advent 2017. He preached to "keep awake" on 1 Advent.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN, US, February 13, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Rev. Jay Lawlor began his Advent preaching series on the First Sunday of Advent, December 3, 2017. "Today we begin the season of Advent. It is a time of waiting and expectation. A time to reflect on the already and not yet of Christian life and witness," said the Rev. Lawlor from the Saint John's pulpit. The title of his sermon for 1 Advent was "Keep Awake."

He told the congregation the narrative in Mark’s gospel is known as Mark's “little apocalypse” and was offered in direct response to address the situation of late first-century Christians. Mark’s Jesus tells of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the crisis to follow. The very crisis the hearers of Mark’s gospel were experiencing. Those early Christian communities needed to know that all was not lost; that despite all that was happening around them, God was still with them. Those early Christian communities were being reminded that Jesus was with them, and that they still had work to do as disciples. They needed to “Keep awake.” (Mark 13:37 NRSV)

The Rev. Jay Lawlor then encouraged the people of Saint John's Episcopal Church to "[...] keep awake so we may proclaim that in the messiness of the here and now, in the reality of any crisis we may face, we press on. We press on as followers of Jesus called to continue God’s work of bending the moral arc of the universe toward the fullness of God’s righteousness and justice."

The full sermon can be read at https://www.therevjaylawlor.com/keep-awake-sermon-rev-jay-lawlor-1-advent-dec-3-2017/

The Rev. Jay Lawlor
The Rev. Jay Lawlor
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