Malachi 3:13-4:2a, 5-6

Psalm 98:5-10

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

LUKE 21:5-19

THE ULTIMATE HARVEST (11/14/04 sermon)

“Harvest Season” may be a somewhat abstract concept to many people in this part of the Garden State. Farms have steadily disappeared from our immediate area, and I sometimes think the few remaining ones get a good deal of their business from being tourist attractions or by selling decorative items like pumpkins and Christmas trees. The reality even for farmers is that there are several harvest seasons, depending on the crop – blueberries, corn or whatever. And for shoppers, well, when we can buy asparagus in the supermarket in November (since it’s spring now in Chile, after all), it’s easy to lose track of when different crops do come to harvest in the climatic zone we actually live in.

Nevertheless, unless snow is your big cash crop, now is about it for harvests in the northern temperate zone for a while, which is why America’s National Day of Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November, to allow for the longer growing season in the south. (Canada, on the other hand, celebrates Thanksgiving in mid-October.)

Thanksgiving, as Christians believe, is not just a day but a way of life, so we give thanks in our worship every time we gather together. The word “eucharist” itself means thanksgiving, and in Eucharistic Prayer B (which we’re using today), the word “thanksgiving” or “giving thanks” occurs no less than eight times. But Thanksgiving Day as a holiday is eclipsed in secular American culture by Halloween (which is symbolic of our country’s drift away from God), so while we at St. Barnabas do have a service on Thanksgiving Day, it’s too important a day to celebrate only then. And besides, the hymns and the decorations are wonderful. So we have today, “Harvest Home Sunday”, to give thanks to God especially for the opportunity God has given us to be good stewards of our lives, our property, our money and of “this fragile earth, our island home” until Christ returns again in glory to judge the living and the dead – to usher in the final harvest.

So this is not just a day for thinking warm thoughts about Thanksgiving Season (and perhaps mentally reviewing shopping lists or travel plans), it’s not just a day to commit ourselves to God’s work for the upcoming year, it’s all of that and more in the context of the ultimate harvest which Christ will bring in at The End of The World.

That is the inescapable conclusion we reach when we read today’s Scriptures. Christ, as we proclaim in the Creed each week, “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.” At The End of Time – which might come 10 million years from now or this afternoon or at some other time, God only knows – Christ will judge all people and all human institutions, and those people who he

admits will enter the Kingdom of God, which will replace all the powers and realities of this present world.

The End of The World is, you could say, the ultimate final exam. It is the last “exam” any person or society will ever have, and absolutely everything will be on this exam – all our deeds done (or left undone), our feelings, our thoughts – everything.

If we’re not nervous at that prospect, then we’re not paying attention.

But the fact that we don’t know when The End of The World and the coming of The Kingdom of God in its fullness will be makes it a different challenge to prepare for than many things in life. In School, we know when exams will be, and we may face reviews at work (including major ones like being hired or fired, promoted or laid off), as well as for subtle “reviews” in courtship and other personal relationships which we can anticipate. We may read books or countless magazine articles on how to prepare (financially, socially, spiritually) for different phases of our lives. But how do we prepare for something literally beyond our imagination – the end of life as we know it, the elimination of sin, suffering, evil, pain, war and everything that is not acceptable to God, and the end of all of our anxieties and any need to control our lives, and the complete and final triumph of love and life?

Wow. That’s a lot to look forward to, put like that. Some people, however, because they can’t imagine life without all those things (and choose not to try to imagine it), pretend that The End of the World will never come, that human triumphs and disasters will oscillate as they always have, and good and faithful people will strive to persevere – sometimes and in some places against very heavy odds – but will never see this world transformed into The Kingdom of God.

Today and for the next few Sundays we will try to stretch our imaginations in ways that people exclusively preoccupied with the here-and-now material world don’t. Today’s Scriptures, especially the Gospel, are “in your face” reminders that The End will come, and most of all they are reminders that God is in charge.

Now, for people who are used to thinking that they are in charge of their destinies, this is an idea that takes some getting used to. So we ponder it more than once. God has given us responsibilities, opportunities and warnings here and now, but we are not responsible for the ultimate outcome of the whole Creation. God is.

This is, in fact, good news. If the ultimate outcome of the whole Creation was under the authority of, say, a Congressional Committee, all the Prozac in the world couldn’t stop me from getting depressed. So, no wonder our psalm for today proclaims, “Shout with joy to the LORD, all you lands” for “in righteousness shall he judge the world.”

So, some people may be in “in denial” about the reality that The End of The World will come and by God’s action, followed by The Kingdom of God. Some others, on the other hand, may go to the other extreme and become preoccupied with the idea, which also is not healthy. Apparently, some people in the Christian church in First Century Thessalonica, Greece to which St. Paul wrote today’s Epistle were so preoccupied with the prospect of Christ’s return that they just sat around waiting, perhaps scanning the sky so they could be the first to see Christ’s triumphal return on clouds of glory.

St. Paul, who certainly believed heartily in Christ’s Second Coming, denounces such “idlers” in today’s Epistle. We can conclude that, as is often the case, going to extremes is not a healthy Christian approach. Neither being in denial about The Second Coming of Christ nor holding our breaths until he comes will do.

Instead, let us remember that the “harvest” Christ will reap will be a “harvest” of actions and attitudes, so let us examine ourselves and ask ourselves which of our actions and attitudes we would be eager to have Christ evaluate. Which of our actions and attitudes might he consider to be “wheat” to be “gathered into his barn” and cherished, and which of our actions and attitudes would be inedible “chaff” which he would burn in his unquenchable fire?

And how much of each of us would be left to enter life after our “chaff” were burned away? It’s fair to assume that all of us have actions and attitudes which we need to ask God’s forgiveness for and God’s grace and guidance to change. We are going to have to let go of them sooner or later – or our sins will seize hold of us forever, a truly scary prospect – so we’d be better off letting go of our sins sooner. This is why we include confession, as well as thanksgiving, in each service.

God has promised that he will strengthen us in times of trial and that endurance in challenging circumstances is a virtue for all those who are called to be saints of God. Vigorous virtuous activity is what St. Paul urges of all Christians, as opposed to sitting on our butts waiting for Christ’s return. As St. Paul says in today’s Epistle, “Do not be weary in doing what is right.”

To which I might add, all these things – confession, endurance, vigorous virtuous activity – are easier if we are part of a community of faith dedicated to taking these things seriously and joyfully. Together, we can help each other become the kind of “harvest” which Christ will rejoice in.

Let us pray.

“Even so, Lord, quickly come to thy final harvest home;

gather thou thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin;

there, for ever purified, in thy presence to abide;

come, with all thine angels, come, raise the glorious harvest home.”

(from Hymn #290 in The Hymnal 1982)

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard