The judgment, it seems to me, is not about what you or I mean when we say “belief in Jesus”. The judgment is about deeds that people don’t want exposed – dangerous secrets, wicked acts, hidden selves. Things of death that people will not raise up to be transformed, by repentance and forgiveness, into a doorway to true life.

We know what this scripture is calling for. We may not know the best way to accomplish everything it is calling for – though some of it is pretty straightforward – but we understand it nonetheless. Real worship – real experiences of God’s presence – relationship with God – is found in joining in the work of God.

None of these “blessed” are people who anyone – in Jesus’ time or in ours – would normally call blessed or happy or favoured.

But Jesus does, kicking off his teaching about the upside-down nature of the kingdom of heaven with a bang and leaving his disiples – then and now – with the problem of making sense of what he said.

baptism is where it all begins – the foundation of our identity as members of the Body of Christ – his hands and feet; his eyes and ears; his heart and even his soul. Like him, we are beloved children of God. Like him, we are raised to new life. Like him, we are sent to the world. It doesn’t matter whether you remember the moment of your baptism itself – because your baptism is still working in you.

By Christ’s incarnation and by God’s grace, a path has been opened for us to become fully human, as Christ is fully human.

Jesus belongs in the line of Joseph – for this is the line of David. And, since Jesus is the whole point of this lineage (from Matthew’s perspective, at least), Joseph belongs in the line of Jesus. Joseph and Jesus belong to each other.

Which wouldn’t be worth making a fuss about except for the questionable parentage of Jesus, which made the relationship far from a sure thing.

If Lent is a season for acknowledging the things that draw us away from God, Advent is the season for embracing the things that turn us towards God, towards the fullness of the vision given us by the prophet Isaiah. Both of these moves are repentant, and both are difficult – but one of them invites us to focus on joy and hope which, ironically, may make it the more difficult practice to observe well as it can be replaced with false cheer and aggressive celebration.

Since there is no knowing when, we simply have to be always ready. Be awake to the presence of God even in the midst of the disasters; know that the promises hold even in the midst of war and suffering and be ready for the in-breaking of the kingdom, for the arrival of Jesus.

It happened before. It’s happening now. It will happen again. And, one day, it will happen finally.

We all want to be seen with the eyes of Jesus – are we prepared to look with them, too?

The aftermath of disaster, faced honestly and in the presence of God, is renewal. Now, I’m not saying that disaster is the only way to renewal and so should be welcomed with open arms. And I’m not saying that the renewal necessarily makes the disaster “worth it” or erases the harm and the hurt caused by the disaster. As with much of life, we need to hold two true things in tension together: disaster is terrible AND good can follow from it.