Priestly Goth Preaching Chronicles VIII

After the incident with the homeless man in October, things have slowed down a little bit and things have returned to some equilibrium. Though it has also brought up some tensions that we are seeking to work through.

I did have the obove on my mind in preparing for and preaching yesterdays sermon But it was the conjunction of the eschatological Scripture texts and the election, its results and the hope Obama's election as president gives people. Amos isn't eschatoligical necessarily since the "Day of the Lord" in Amos doesn't necessarily mean the "Last Days" or the end of the age. However, what attends to the "Day of the Lord" in Amos gives shape to the notions of the "last days" as they develop in the tradition. the Thessalonians passage and the Parable of the 10 virgins are clearly eschatological and apocalyptic. I also picked up again Jacques Derrida's little book Aporias;Dying-awaiting(one another at)the "limits of truth". I didn't initially pick it up to help with the writing of the sermon, though I am not sure why I decided to read it again, except that I read Derrida meditatively and I needed some good philosophical and meditative reading. But then I remembered that I had argued in some paper in seminary that Aporias was a reflection on Eschatology, the last things, but from the perspective of philosophy. As it turns out Derrida is still a good companion in thinking writing and spirituality.

In the sermon (you can find the outline here) I think I was attempting to let these three eschaotlogical Scriptures speak to my own responce to our current political situation, but also allow them to address the results of the election and the hopes many in my congregation may be pinning on that. In so doing I found that eschatology is profoundly political, not that I am surprised, and there are scholars who argue as such. This though was experiential: in preaching on eschatological texts I ended up preaching what felt like my most political sermon. Well you can look at the outline and let me know if you have any thoughts. It did generate a good discussion after I preached, and I received some very positive feedback on the sermon. In preaching it also felt like a good sermon something that has not been the case in awhile.