Zechariah
14:4-9
Psalm
50:1-6
1
Thessalonians 3:9-13
LUKE
21:25-31
Sermon
– December 3, 2006
First
Sunday of Advent
“So, also, when you see these things take place, you know that the
kingdom of God is near.” In the name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Today is the first Sunday of Advent.
Advent begins the new liturgical year.
Now you, like me, may be slightly confused by the readings we just
heard. If this is the first Sunday of
Advent, then why are we talking about the end of the world? Shouldn’t we be reading about the wise men
or the appearance of the angel Gabriel to Mary? Isn’t it a little bit morbid, even, to begin the celebration of
the Birth of Jesus by talking about the end of the world? Well, it is key to understand that the word
“advent” is used to describe the arrival of something extremely important. In this case the Advent season celebrates
the arrival of someone, namely Jesus
– God incarnate. But how do our
lectionary readings for today celebrate the advent of Jesus? In order for you to understand why I would
answer this question as I do, I would like to share with you a story from my
childhood.
When I was about nine, on a Fall Sunday morning, I rode to church with my
mom and sister. We were listening to
whatever easy rock song my mom’s favorite station was playing at the time. It was probably something by Hall and Oats,
Chicago, Air Supply or Carly Simon. We
were all laughing and having a good time, and, yes, since I was nine, I was
probably singing along. This scene, I
might add was a rarity, as I’m sure many of you can relate to difficult early
Sunday morning drives to church, but nonetheless we were enjoying ourselves. We were, that is, until we pulled into the
church parking lot. I looked up and saw
no cars in a parking lot that was normally packed when we got there. A shock of pure fear shot through my
body. We had been “left behind!”
The recent book series “Left Behind” has popularized the apocalyptic
theology which caused the fear I had on that Sunday morning. It defines what it means to be a Christian
very narrowly, and claims that when Christ returns to earth those who are the true Christians will be taken up into
heaven, while those who are not true
Christians, again by their narrow definition, will be left behind to deal with
a world ruled by the anti-Christ.
Chaos, war and death ensue. It’s
not a pretty picture. But, nonetheless,
this picture is similar to the one the tradition I grew up with taught, and it
is the picture I believed when I was nine.
This is why I had immediately thought that we had been left behind.
Well, truth be told, that Sunday was not
the beginning of the end of the world.
It was the day after daylight savings time, and both my parents had
forgotten. So rather than being left
behind, my mom, my sister and I were an hour early and had beaten everyone to
church. I tell you this to illustrate
that when taken to extremes, interpretations of “end time” passages, such as
the ones we have today, can, and historically have, elicited fear and dread in
the hearts of Christians. But is that
what God intends to happen? Are we, as
Christians, supposed to fear the end?
What are we to make of these apocalyptic images? And what does any of this have to do with
the first Sunday of Advent?
According to Jesus in Luke’s Gospel, there will be signs that announce
the coming of the Kingdom of God. His
witness proclaims that these signs
will cause fear. Just before our
passage, Luke describes an earth full of war where even the birth of infants
should be mourned. This represents a
complete reversal of the world order that early Christian readers would have
known. For them, the birth of a child
was a sign of hope and an event to be celebrated. But so horrible are the signs that predict the end that bringing
a child into that world would only cause pain and sorrow. And so, Luke says, “People will faint from
fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world.” If we stop there, if we leave it at that,
then my sudden fear when I was nine was justified in a way.
But Luke does not end
there. He goes on to say, “When these
things begin to take place, stand up and raise your head, because your
redemption is drawing near.” Today is
the first Sunday of Advent. And this
verse exemplifies why we, as Christians, find hope in that. Advent is not only a time to celebrate the
birth of Jesus, but it asks us as well to anticipate Jesus’ return, the Second
Advent. This Second Advent or second
coming, as it is sometimes known, is exactly what Luke is talking about. As Christians, we anticipate the Second
Advent of Jesus because of what our lectionary texts proclaim comes with Jesus
– the Kingdom of God. So the Advent
season calls us not only to celebrate the First Advent and the birth of Jesus,
but it also calls us to anticipate the Second Advent, the return of Jesus, the
Kingdom of God.
So we are called to celebrate in a kind of limbo as it were, both
remembering and anticipating. I believe
this is so because it reflects the state of the world in which we now
live. Before the birth of Jesus,
humanity only had access to God through the priests in the temple in
Jerusalem. But since the Advent, our
access to God has become more direct.
This is because, in a sense, the advent of Jesus brought along with it
the Kingdom of God, and so brought us out of the old age. Sin and the effects of sin were
conquered. On the other hand, the new
age of the Kingdom of God is not entirely upon us either. Sin and its effects are conquered, yes, but
they are not removed from the world, and we still live among them. And so we too are caught in a kind of
limbo. The new age of the Kingdom of
God has begun, but the old age of sin and death still has not ended. The new age of the Kingdom began because of
the Advent of Jesus, but the old age of sin and death in which we still live
will not end until the Second Advent, the return of Jesus.
Now it seems clear that Christians have discerned pretty thoroughly how
to celebrate the Advent of Jesus. We
have trees, lights, presents, hymns, but how do we celebrate the Second Advent
and the anticipation of the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God? I would like to suggest that, as Christians,
we could best celebrate the anticipation of the Second Advent by acting in the
world as if the Kingdom of God were already here. So, what does that look like?
Well, as Christians, we believe the Kingdom of God will bring an end to
poverty. So we can celebrate by working
toward bringing an end to poverty now.
The Kingdom will bring an end to hunger. We can work toward bringing an end to hunger now. The Kingdom will bring an end to pain and
suffering. We can work toward bringing
an end to pain and suffering now. The
Kingdom will bring an end to injustice.
And we can work toward bringing an end to injustice now.
These may all seem like huge, unsolvable problems, but there are things
any of us can do. Write a letter to
your Senator and be a voice for the voiceless poor, especially women and
children, both in our country and around the world. Financially support organizations like the One Campaign, Bread
for the World, and the Heifer Project which work tirelessly to end poverty and
hunger throughout the world. Serve
dinner at Elijah’s Promise soup kitchen, or volunteer to spend the night at the
New Brunswick Men’s shelter. Bring
gloves, scarves, coats, and other winter clothes items for donation to the
Seaman’s Church Institute. Commit to
buying one extra food item every time you go to the grocery store and donate it
to your local food pantry. I do not
believe that we are all called to serve in each of these ways, but I do believe
we are all called to do something. Some
of us have no money to give, but can commit to give time. Others have only enough time to write a
check. We must each seek out and answer
our own call, but what is meaningful is the body of Christ, the church, and
specifically this church, working together.
That is why there are so many opportunities for everyone to serve in
this church and through this church in the community. I would like to challenge everyone to consider how God is calling
you to serve in celebration of the anticipation of the Second Advent, the
coming of the Kingdom. Find how you fit
into the body and then embrace the challenge.
Commit yourself. Celebrate
Advent.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Evan Schneider
St. Barnabas Episcopal Church
Monmouth Junction, NJ