December 3, 2006
Jeremiah 33:14-16 + 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2 + Luke 21:25-28, 34-36
What Jesus says to his disciples in the midst of this assembly is that creation is falling apart,
that Genesis is being reversed.
The lamps God hung in the sky are going out.
The seas he calmed and from which he brought for dry land
upon which we could stand are seething and roaring.
The primordial chaos is returning.
But Jeremiah says to us that God keeps promises.
So, what about the Noah Promise and that Rainbow?
For those who hear the word of God and believe,
the Rainbow is the Son of Man, the Full Human Being
who comes when everything falls apart.
In the midst wild chaos, He is the one who does not bend.
Surviving collapse depends on knowing where to stand.
People in earthquake areas know better than to run outside
when the earth shakes. They stand in an inside doorway.
People who survive floods get to higher ground.
What Jesus speaks of today is the inevitability of breakdown and collapse, chaos and disorder. He uses cosmic images to speak not of the end of time, but of how His disciples shall stand firm when things fall apart.
Some would hear this gospel and think He speaks of the end of the space/time world, and they buy binoculars to catch the first glimpse of the cloud-riding Son of Man.
Some would hear this gospel and think He speaks of political anarchy, the breakdown of social order. Those refuges among us know how this world can fall apart.
Some would hear this gospel and think he speaks of an individual death, and the vulnerability of the physical body.
Others would hear this gospel and think he speaks of the end of a relationship, the breakup of a home, the collapse of a way of life dreamed of for a life time.
However we hear it, the point remains: things fall apart.
How disciples of Jesus experience
the unavoidable collapse of things is what He teaches us.
There is a way of seeing things and ourselves that recognizes
that some things change, collapse, fall apart, and die,
and some things are changelessly absolute.
Knowing the difference, and developing within oneself
that which is changelessly absolute is the very essence of a
Spiritual Life.
This Advent Season can be about that development or enrichment
if we choose to make it so.
There is a threefold work of Advent
Remember, Repent, and Rehearse.
We must remember our past,
where we have come from and who we are because of it.
We must place ourselves realistically in the whole picture of creation.
It makes one humble and restores our focus on the divine reason for which we are here.
We must remember that birth and rebirth of God on earth are the most important moments in all of history.
We must repent not out of fear, but out of love.
Fear-repentance never lasts.
When the danger is gone, we relapse until the next scare.
People flocked to John the Baptist and fire and brimstone threats, but when they got over their fear,
they went right back to their old ways until Jesus came along.
The purpose of repentance is not simply to stop sin,
but to be good. The purpose of repentance is not just to be good, but to be loving. This might even lead us to realize that the coming of Jesus was to free us from fear of God so we could be free to love God.
We must also rehearse. We remember our past, we repent to sustain the present, and we rehears for the sake of what is to come. The wife of Lot was punished for looking back. I prefer to think she was punished for not looking ahead.
This advent way of life is both simple and profound. It does not require unusual behavior on our part, but it calls us to live the usual unusually well. It affects the everyday events of life; it directs the way we interact with people; it informs the attitudes that color our judgments and motivations.
It is as ordinary as the birth of a child; and as extraordinary as the revelation of God.