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December 02, 2007

Wake Up to Christ's Arrival

Advent 1: Wake Up to Christ’s Arrival
December 2, 2007
Isaiah 2:1-5, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:36-44

Let me begin by speaking to the modern day image of “end times” that we have when we hear this passage, an image prevalent in the Left Behind series. For this Matthew scripture is one that is quoted when the believers of this theology preach, “Unless you believe as we do, you’re going to hell, and that hell will be here on earth.”

Many scholars disagree with the “Left Behind” reading of Matthew and other “end times” or apocalyptic literature. We need not read Matthew 24 as the frightening, scare-tack ticks that some would have us believe. Matthew reminds his readers of two things. First, as human beings we encounter misleading appearances. Relying on outward appearances can make good servants look bad or disguise a wolf in sheep’s clothing. People perform impressive deeds in public, while their private lives are in shambles—just read the papers.

And we know if we’re honest with ourselves that the exterior doesn’t always match the interior. Sometimes our motives are not as pure as they could be. Sometimes, we are unable, for whatever reason to do what we know is right. Often when we do the right thing, we’ve not had much time think about it. We’ve just done it. Matthew is reminding us what we already know. We cannot always predict how we will respond to the curves that life throws us. Neither can we predict what people will do let alone WHY they do what they do.

Matthew’s second point, builds on the first. If we cannot predict, how or why a person acts a certain way, how then are we able to predict God’s actions? Some people believe they know the day and hour and specifically what God will do at the end of time. Most of these same people predict an event that is scary and horrifying. But it’s all a guess. “About that day and hour, no one knows, except for God.” No one knows when. No one knows how. No one knows who. No one knows why. We just know we’ve been told it will happen. That it is coming. And here’s where the conflict and stress come in.

As human beings, we’re not very good at this not knowing option. Remember Adam and Eve? They were tempted with the prospect of being “like God, knowing good and evil.” Likewise, over the years, people cannot help guessing, figuring, calculating those unknowns—including the unknown about when Jesus will return a second time. But, Matthew tells us, our standing with God doesn’t rest on knowing. Our standing with God rests, in trusting and following. When we think about Jesus’ second coming, we can get caught up in the scary, horrible events of the Left Behind group. Or we can, trustingly and hopefully, think about it in the way A.K.M. Adams puts it. “Not even the Son knows the day and hour, the precise scenario for God’s closing explanation of how everything fits together.”

God’s closing explanation of how everything fits together. I like the sound of this. It feels more open and not predicted. Maybe God isn’t sure exactly how God will tie everything together because there is still time and we can make choices/decisions that will have a positive/negative effect on the world around us. (pause)

Here we are, week one of Advent. Advent is a season of introspection and repentance. It runs counter to the prevailing currents of our society at this time of the year. During Advent, we gather in awe before the God who has already come to us in Jesus Christ and who said he will come again. And we find ourselves surrounded by heightened consumerism and portrayals of family life that have little or nothing to do with reality.

As Christians, it is hard to appreciate and practice the Advent season. But we are going to try. You will notice that we will not sing traditional Christmas carols until Christmas Eve. During Advent, we will be singing songs of longing, invitation, and anticipation. Tune your ear to the songs we sing as they have been intentionally selected with this in mind. Come now O Prince of Peace, make us one body. Come now, Lord Jesus, reconcile your people…

Our theme this Advent is “The Wonder of God.” The Wonder of God…when you hear this phrase, what comes to mind? What comes to mind for me are natural wonders on the scale of our national parks--The Grand Canyon, Yosemite National Park, Mammoth Cave, The Rocky Mountains, The Great Lakes, Antarctica, The Hawaiian Islands, Brazilian Rain Forests. The wonder of God continues as we imagine the various creatures God created that inhabit the earth. The number and variety are beyond comprehension, and we are still discovering creatures never seen, or at least, never categorized before.

Did you hear about the scientists who are getting close to discovering how birds migrate? It’s been a mystery to scientists until recently. They think that birds have the ability to sense the magnetic fields of the earth and they use the magnetic fields to guide them in some way. If we take the time to look, really look at nature, where ever we find it, we encounter the Wonder of God.

In human terms, the wonder of God bursts forth on so many levels…beginning with birth. The diversity of humanity is a wonder—racial, cultural, ethnic, and religious. Each human being is a wonder of God.

How is it that with the billions of people on the planet no two are exactly alike? Even identical twins have unique traits from each other. Unfortunately, too often our inhumanity gets in the way of appreciating the wonder of each other. Sometimes that inhumanity appears in our fear of the other (racism, sexism); sometimes it comes out because of our life circumstances (growing up in unsafe environments); and sometimes our interpersonal relationships (our inability to deal with life of life’s terms) -- get in the way of appreciating the wonder of each other.

But think about this. Each adult, started out as an innocent child, taking their first steps, speaking their first words, falling in love for the first time. And each of us has had things happen to us that influenced and shaped the person we are today. Every person that you know, the ones you adore and the ones that drive you crazy, every one of them are wonders of God. God designed us.

Please don’t hear me getting all soft and sentimental here.
I realize that some of you aren’t living in an attitude of wonder right now. You have children who are out of the country and won’t be home for Christmas. You have family members who are very ill and you don’t know if this will be your last Christmas with them. You are getting ready to have your first holiday without a beloved family member. You are living from hand to mouth and don’t know if you’ll make it through the Christmas holiday without going deeper into debt. You don’t have a job or a job that you enjoy and you aren’t certain what 2008 holds for you. Maybe today isn’t that great a day so it’s hard to be excited about the wonder of God.

Life is about more than right now. It’s about living as if…As if someone else has the reigns and is in control. And that someone is God. That’s not always easy to do. Why not? Because life makes so many demands on us. And if we are not careful, we can be lulled to sleep by our routines, our relationships, our responsibilities, the hectic pace we keep, or by emotionally closing down.

Paul was well aware of this when he wrote his letter to the church in Rome. “But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God…”

Our ancestors in the faith, the Jewish people, lived with a similar tension to the one we are living with today. A tension between living their daily lives and being ready for God’s messiah to come into the world. It was not enough to live in the moment, there was always an expectation, an anticipation that the messiah was coming. They would set an extra chair at the table to remind them—at any moment God could break into their world.

In today’s Matthew text, Jesus tells his disciples to stay awake, to be prepared. But if we think about it, one cliff notes version of Jesus’ life is “WAKE UP.” God is actively at work in the world through me, Jesus was saying. So many people missed God’s revelation through Jesus because of the same ways we miss it.
They didn’t believe. They were too preoccupied with their stuff and couldn’t part with it. They were closed minded. They had a pre-conceived image of how God would come into the world, and Jesus did not match that image. They trusted themselves rather than God. They were afraid of what they couldn’t understand.

And as people who are living in a post Jesus world, Advent reminds us to wake up to the wonder of God’s redeeming love. We believe that God came into the world in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit sent to be with us once Jesus left. So we can say with confidence that God is here, among us, at work in the world. Jesus tells us to watch for it. And when we witness God’s presence, God’s redeeming love; we can join in, hang around, and be alert to God.

Our youngest Labrador Retriever, Maggie Mae is a good example for me of what it means to live in a state of Being Alert. Her focus is on Mark most of the time. If he’s out of the house, then she comes to find me and hangs with me. She is so attuned to us that she’s ready to respond sometimes before we’ve even said anything.

For example, she sleeps with us. Once the alarm clock goes off, she knows we’re going to be getting up soon so she inches up beside us and puts her face right near Mark. If he opens his eyes, she’s right there looking at him, ready for him to get up and start the day. We are the focal point of her life. She is constantly watching us looking for clues that will help her figure out what is going to happen next.

Obviously, we human beings are more complex than Labrador Retrievers. But we could certainly learn a thing or two from Maggie Mae and her ability to be alert to her master. She doesn’t know as much as we know, but our “intelligence” often manifested as ego, too often keeps us from our Master. We need to shift our attitude. And as part of that shift in attitude, we need to realize that we don’t see the entire picture. It comes back to that age old problem of our desire to know.

We don’t have the knowledge of God. As Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12, “For now, we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” We don’t know everything. We don’t need to know everything. Today, let us be alert to God’s presence in the world and join in where we can. Let us trust that God will redeem it and us in Her time.

Posted by vickie at 10:00 AM