Occupy the Temple

Rev. Dr. Tanya Linn Bennett

The following "Advent sermon" was offered by the Rev. Dr. Tanya Linn Bennett, University Chaplain, Drew University, on Sunday at the Occupy Wall Street church service:

In the Christian tradition

This is the season of Advent

The time of year when Christians

Wait for the Messiah, Jesus, to come

Despite our fairy tale images,

Jesus was no meek and mild child

Jesus came to turn the world around

To bring justice and freedom to those oppressed

To make the rich lowly, and to raise up the poor.

In one story in the Bible,

Jesus enters the temple in Jerusalem

Where the moneylenders and merchants

Had set up shop

And he calls them cheaters and liars

Robbers of the poor

Exploiters of the vulnerable

And he turns over the tables

One of the first occupiers--

Jesus occupied Jerusalem

In this season of waiting

Let us turn over the tables

Bringing low the rich

And raising up the poor

Bringing justice, freedom and a powerful, holy love

To those who need it most.

To those who need us most.

Occupy Advent Now!

Rev. Dr. Tanya Bennett, Drew University

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In reading your blog, Michael, I immediately think of these two poems is poem by Julia Esquivel, from Guatemala, whom I had the pleasure of meeting years ago. Un abrazo, Ada Maria I AM NOT AFRAID OF DEATH I am no longer afraid of death I know well Its dark and cold corridors Leading to life. I am afraid rather of that life Which does not come out of death, Which cramps our hands And slows our march. I am afraid of my fear And even more of the fear of others, Who do not know where they are going, Who continue clinging To what they think is life Which we know to be death! I live each day to kill death; I die each day to give birth to life, And in this death of death, I die a thousand times And am reborn another thousand Through that love From my People Which nourishes hope! THREATEN WITH RESURRECTION They have threatened us with Resurrection There is something here within us which doesn’t let us sleep, which doesn’t let us rest, which doesn’t stop the pounding deep inside. It is the s

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