It's Advent, And I Feel Fine

Sermon 12-2-18

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

“It’s the end of the world as we know it…and I feel fine!” Actually, no, I don’t feel fine! I fee stressed! There are too many cars on the road, to many people shopping in Acme, and every organization I’m a part of seems to think it’s a great idea to have a meeting or gathering the first two weeks of December! I would much rather stay home and watch “The Great Christmas Light Fight” on TV.

But, Jesus here seems to want to talk about the end of the world, so that’s what we got. No mangers or angels or Mary or shepherds on this first Sunday in advent… instead, “it’s the end of the world as we know it…” and nobody is feeling fine.

Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that reads “Jesus is coming – look busy.” ? I usually seem them on cars going way under the speed limit. I know that it is a funny play on the “Jesus is coming – you better repent” idea… but I’m not sure how exactly I’m supposed to be “looking busy” … at least while I’m driving. I wonder if this means we should have some “holy busy work” at the ready. Maybe I should have some last-minute charities at the ready to donate to, or I should have my Bible out on the coffee table and occasionally move the bookmark forward.

Were you ready for Jesus the last time Jesus was supposed to come? Six years ago was December 2012 - the month the world was actually supposed to end, according to some – remember that? Well, I have a feeling that they were a little off.

While the end of the world failed to most of us, the end of the world did happen in December 2012, for the parents of children who attended Sandy Hook Elementary. Remember that tragic event? This was SIX years ago already. SIX.

And here we are, six years later, with Jesus yet again seeming to be quoting right out of the news. There is plenty for the nations of the world to be in distress about right now, plenty of confusion, chaos, and fear: mass shooting after mass shooting, refugees seeking asylum being teargassed, the effects of climate change harming farmers in the Midwest, ….  just to name a few of the events highlighted in the news recently.  So much pain, so much fear, so much suffering has happened just the last few weeks.

So much so, it might cause us to question whether or not these are the very signs Jesus was talking about. Should we be getting ready for the end? Is the son of Man about to come down from the clouds in judgement? Should we “look busy”? Or should we duck and cover? Stockpile our basements with Mac and Cheese and toilet paper?

Well, Jesus has an opinion about what we should do when he comes back. Not look busy. Not squirrel away supplies like a doomsday-prepper. But also, not to be weighted down by fear. Jesus tells us to stand up and raise our heads, be alert, full of prayer and hope. Because another kind of future is on our way to us – not our future, but God’s future, where we will live not as part of the kingdoms of this earth, but as part of God’s kingdom. Another kind of future has always been and is already breaking in. The kingdom of God is near. NOW.

During another time of great upheaval in human history, the prophet Jeremiah shared similar words of encouragement to a broken people. The people of Israel were conquered by a foreign nation – one of many during the centuries - and they were forced to become refugees in a strange land, where they TOO were not welcome.  Defeated, defenseless, and dejected, they might have given up on God and given in to their fear. Would God be faithful to the promises God made to their ancestors? How long would they have to wait for this coming day that Jeremiah describes?

Some things never change, I guess. We fast forward to the first followers of Jesus hearing these words written by Luke. When Luke was writing, Jerusalem had yet again been destroyed, this time by the Roman Empire. Their beloved place of worship was gone, their city devastated, countless people had been killed, and their world had become unrecognizable. As if the sun had stopped shining and the stars had fallen out of the sky.

Which left the early followers of Jesus wondering, can God still show up, even after all this? Is God’s kingdom still near, will God be able to break in to all the darkness that surrounds them?

If THIS kind of stuff is what we’re going to be getting during Advent, it’s no wonder we could rather not hear about it, and instead skip over Advent completely, and get right to Christmas carols and peppermint lattes. Especially when the things we hear in church on this first Sunday in Advent has nothing to do with Bethlehem, angels, shepherds, or baby Jesus anyway.

But I will let you in on a little secret. In Advent, time refuses to behave properly. I dare say, it becomes downright wibbly-wobbly.  

During the season of Advent, Jesus comes to us as a baby and as a grown man. He is on a cross and he is raised. He came, he is here, and he will come again…. but we don’t know just when and how until he shows up. Maybe tomorrow, two years, or two thousand years from now. And at the same time, Jesus already shows up all the time. His kingdom will come, and at the same time his kingdom IS ALREADY HERE among us. From the past we find hope for the future, and the future becomes the “now.”

From Bethlehem to Buckingham, God has given God’s people a head’s up, to lift our heads and look up, that from the dead stump of tragedy, a branch is going to spring up, to show us that despite all the chaos and the fear and the pain, God is still going to SHOW UP. Even when all hell breaks loose. While the rest of the world is telling us to duck and cover, or look busy and hustle for our self-worth, Jesus says to stand up and see where he is showing up. Because otherwise we might miss where Jesus and the kingdom are breaking into our world RIGHT NOW.  Look up, your redemption is drawing near.

In these dark days of violence and fear, this is where I have seen the kingdom coming near to us: In the blue hands on the altar, committing to our family here… in hearing about a friend wearing a dress every day for a month during December to raise money for victims of human trafficking in the United States…. In seeing a place like the historic park in Williamsburg deal with our country’s long history of racism head-on…. In yesterday’s naming of a newest Naval Battleship in Boston, the USS Thomas Hudner, named after the man who tried to save Ensign Jessie Brown, the first ever African American pilot.

And in most unlikely places, even in the full-on advent of the Christmas shopping season, there is plenty of opportunities to witness the kingdom come. We can remember the humanity in a cashier who had to work all weekend. We can make choices in our purchases that gives workers a far wage. Your family might even choose to forgo the gift-go-round all together and instead opt for giving to your favorite charity. I might even choose to be courteous of that slow car ahead of me, even if they have that bumper sticker that says, “Jesus is coming, look busy!”

Every Sunday when we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer “Thy Kingdom Come,” we are looking toward a time where God’s justice and mercy will reign supreme. We look forward to a time when there is no more racism, sexism, classism, of any kind, where fear and war and violence and greed and death no longer rule us. And every time we pray for God’s kingdom to come, we are allowing ourselves to be open to being part of that arrival. And not just by “looking busy,” but being aware, alert, and ready to LOOK for what and who is bringing in God’s kingdom.

Until God’s kingdom comes in its fullness, and Jesus does come back, surfing on a cloud, we wait, and we hope, and we shine as God’s lights in a very dark world. That is the heart and soul of the season of Advent. We don’t know what the world will bring to us around the next corner or in the next news cycle. But we can keep our heads up knowing God is going to show up, both in the manger and in the mundane. Thanks be to God, AMEN.