When God Breaks Through #LectioCast w/ @mayog

Margaret Aymer Oget joins for the final installment of our Advent series. Our wide-ranging discussion ties together texts, the character of God, first advent, and second Advent. We remember what it’s like when God breaks through in the midst of the sorrow and brokenness to upend the powers the oppose God’s shalom.

Micah 5:2-5a We explore hope in the midst of suffering—hope for new life that the labor pains of suffering ultimately yield. Margaret asks us to take the position of the sheep, and maybe think differently about what it means to be a shepherd.

Psalm 80:1-7 The psalm is a call for Advent—for God to show up in a way that we can actually see it.

Hebrews 10:5-10 Talking about the sacrifice of Jesus and the body that gets him there. Not your standard Advent text…

Luke 1:39-45, (46-55) Mary’s mortal danger is averted. And Elizabeth steps in, takes over the role of the priest, and pronounces the blessing of the priest.

Reference: O Antiphons

  Margaret Aymer Oget is a New Testament professor at Austin Seminary. She is the author of James: Diaspora Rhetoric of a Friend of God (Sheffield Publishing, 2014), and First Pure, then Peaceable: Frederick Douglass, darkness and the Epistle of James (T&T Clark, 2008); and an editor of Fortress Commentary on the Bible (Fortress Press, 2014). Aymer has served the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) broadly. She has served on the Presbyteries’ Cooperative Committee on Examinations since 2010, moderating the six persons who write the Bible Exegesis Ordination Examination for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She was a member of the Committee on Preparation of Ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) from 2010-2011, training sessions (governing bodies) of local congregations on the ordination process and their responsibilities therein. Aymer was also a member of the General Assembly Task Force on Civil Unions and Marriage (2009-2010), and she served as a steering committee member for the Committee on Theological Education Consultation on Racism from 2004-2008.

Daniel Kirk is a writer, speaker, blogger, and New Testament professor who lives in San Francisco, CA. He holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from Duke University and is the author of a pair of books, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God and Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? His third book A Man Attested by God: the Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels, is off to the printers. He blogs regularly at StoriedTheology.com  (jrdkirk.com). You can follow him on Twitter @jrdkirk and on Facebook at Facebook.com/jrdkirk.