First Sunday in Advent Year C November 29, 2009

Coming Light - Patrick Myers

‘²⁶²⁷²⁸There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

29 ^30313233Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Exhortation to Watch

34 ‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, ³⁵like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’

LUKE 21:25-36

Today, as always on the first day of Advent, we are called to begin our preparation to for Christmas by anticipating the end of time. While the rest of the world begins its holiday preparations with feel good on TV...and warm and cozy commercials....we come to church and hear about the sun and moon and stars and distress among the nations and fear and foreboding among people.

So why do we always have to start out Advent on this dark, sour note?

Have you ever noticed that sometimes it takes a tragedy or the threat of a tragedy to help you learn to appreciate what is important in your life? That often it is only when we have faced the reality of death that we begin to really live? Somehow the presence of death makes us take a good look at our lives and realize that some of the things we thought were so important are really not that important at all....and when faced with the loss of those people and gifts we took for granted for so long become much more appreciated.

Today Jesus invites us to consider the death of the cosmos. It is a reality that this world...with all it's evil....as well as all the good things we have grown to enjoy...will come to an end.

We need to remember that. We need to remember that for a number of reasons. For one thing, faced with the fact that it will not always be here, we need to enjoy and appreciate and get the most out of those good gifts this world has to offer. Take nothing for granted for nothing is permanent. Nothing can be counted on to be here forever, waiting for us to finally get around to appreciating it. If we tarry too long in our appreciation it just may be too late.

Knowing that this world is only temporary puts a lot in perspective...so that we enjoy the gifts of this world, but do not place too much importance on material gifts. Souls are eternal. Material things are not.

Knowing that this world will not last keeps us from becoming overcome with despair at the evil in this world. Just as the world is temporary, so is evil. This does not make us complacent or tolerant of evil....instead it should give us more courage to stand up against evil...know that evil will not have the last word. Knowing that assures us that despite the threats and power the wicked may seem to have over us, they will not have the last word. Jesus will return in judgment and the wicked will have to answer for their ways.

And when we speak of the end of the world, we must realize that it is not the end at all. It is only the end of what we have known. It is the beginning of something new, something we have not known, and cannot even imagine.

This is probably the most frightening aspect of the end of time. Not the signs or disasters or wars or turmoil. We are familiar with disasters. We know about war. We know about turmoil.

What we don't know is this new world God is promising us. And I think the most frightening aspect of the end of time is that it means an end to that which we have become familiar with and the beginning of something totally new and unknown. And we must simply take God's word for it that it is better than what we have known.

It is hard to give up the old and familiar. And it seems we have already had to do so much of that. I think we live in a time of history that has imposed more change on people in a smaller amount of time than any other time in history. Some of the change has been for the better. Some of it has not. A lot of change we have seen in this world has been for the worse....so it is no wonder we are so suspicious of change.

But even change for the better takes energy to adapt and get used to it...and means a giving up of something we have grown used to. They do tests which measure life changes and how much stress they cause a person and good changes like marriage, new job, birth of a child, can cause as much stress to a person as bad changes.

Change is stressful.

And today Jesus calls us to prepare for the biggest, most stressful change of all--a change of worlds.

But truthfully, if we look closely, that new world will not be totally new. That new world is the Kingdom of God and Jesus has told us that new world has already begun to rule in this world.

Jesus tells of signs in he sun and moon and stars and waves and see which tell of his advent. But here are other signs of the nearness of his kingdom. Genital signs, closer to home. Jesus spoke of these sings as well--when people are healed, freed, and lives are changed in this world by God. These, too, are signs of Christ's advent--God's kingdom breaking into our lives.

And so, we prepare for this new world, by being aware of where the Kingdom of God is in our lives. Where God rules in our lives. If we learn to trust God's word, and live now as though the kingdom were already here...then the end of time will not be so scary. "Be on guard so that your hearts are to weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and that the worries of this life, and that the day catch you unexpectedly" (Luke 21:34)

Good advice for the holiday season....don't be so weighed down by the worries of this life, by the trivial hassles of wordily holiday preparations, that you end up on Christmas unprepared to celebrate the real gift of Christmas--the coming of God into our lives, the coming of the kingdom into our lives, to prepare us for the heavenly new world God is preparing for us.

Amen.

Christ the King Sunday Year B November 22, 2009

Jesus Before Pilot , The Passion of Christ Illustrated by James J. Tissot

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ ³⁴Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ ³⁵Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ ³⁶Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ ³⁷Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’

John 18:33-37

Of all the writings from the New Testament, with the possible exception of Revelation, the Gospel of John is probably the most theologically sophisticated and full of symbols, imagery and stories that have several different layers of meaning. With John, there is more going on than meets the eye. The writer of John was gifted with an ability to see a deeper spiritual drama in what the other gospel record as rather straightforward events.

This is the case in our Gospel lesson of Jesus on trial before Pilate. Here, as in many other events in John's Gospel, there is more than meets the eye.

If you read the story closely, you will find that the tables have been turned and it is not Jesus who is on trial, but Pilate. Pilate is faced with truth and must make a decision for or against truth. In fact, John sets up this encounter between Jesus and Pilate as symbolic of the conflict between the way of God and the way of the world. Pilate represents the way of the world and Jesus, of course is Truth.

The conflict between Truth and the world can be seen throughout John's gospel. It would be helpful to take a few minutes exploring just what John means when he uses the words "world" and "truth" They are both loaded words!

In the first chapter of his Gospel, John describes the relationship between Christ and the world "He (meaning Jesus) was in the world, the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not" (1:19)

The world, the cosmos, is the realm of human activity. In John, more particularly, the world is the race of a fallen humanity. The world is at war with God, enslaved by powers opposed to God. Very often when John refers to the world, he means everyone and everything that is in opposition to God's will and God's way and God's purposes.

And yet, the world is that which Christ has come into, in order to save. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but may have eternal life" (3:16)

The world is that which is apart from and opposed to God, and yet it is the world which God enters, it is the world which God loves and it is the world which God redeems. It is for the sake of the world that Christ has come. This is the truth to which Jesus testifies" For this reason I have come into this world, to bear witness to the truth" The truth is that is God's will to save and redeem the world.

Truth, in the biblical sense, is not some body of knowledge, a number of factual statements, which can be proved. Truth is not some philosophical or abstract idea. The word Truth in Hebrew refers to steadfastness and faithfulness. Truth is that which can be trusted, it is lasting and unchanging. In the Gospel of John, the truth is God's unswerving faithfulness to his purpose—and that purpose is to love and redeem is people. The truth is that God is present in this world, true to his purpose to reconcile all things to him. Jesus is that truth because he is that incarnate saving presence of God's love in this world.

This doesn't mean that God's will is not resisted. John also says "And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and the people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (3:19)

Returning to the drama between Christ and Pilate—Pilate is faced with the light. The question becomes will he choose light and truth, or will he choose the darkness of this world? Pilate tries to remain neutral. But that is impossible. In choosing to remain neutral, Pilate is rejecting the truth and so becomes subject to the world.

Still we know from the story that although God's will can be rejected, it cannot be stopped. In his last encounter with Jesus, Pilate becomes exasperated with Jesus and says "Don't you know that I have the power to release you and the power to crucify you?" Jesus replies, "You would have no power over me at all were it not given to you from above (19:10-11)

Pilate has chosen not to be a part of God's purpose, yet he cannot stop that purpose. Nor can the others who have conspired to put Jesus to death. No one can take Jesus' life from him, he alone has the power to lay it down. The very power which Pilate boasts of comes from the very truth he has chosen to reject.

We can resist God's will and turn our backs on God. In so doing, we will dehumanize ourselves and others. But we cannot dethrone God or thwart his unchanging purpose—which is to love and redeem the world. Even God's wrath and judgment is not so much punishment or revenge, but God's refusal to indulge us in our selfish and destructive rebellion. We may choose the darkness of this world but God will have no part of that decision.

Jesus tells Pilate that is kingdom is not of this world. And yet, this world will be affected and changed and turned upside down by Christ's kingdom. In fact, the world will be conquered by Christ's subjects. The epistle of John says "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (5:4-5)

And so, as children of God we live in a world opposed to God. We are in this world, but not of this world. "Little children, you are of God and have overcome for he is in you greater than he who is in the world (4:4)

And yet we are in a world which it is God's purpose to save and redeem. If God's truth is his purpose to redeem the world, and we abide in that truth, then we are part of that purpose. In fact, God is using us right now as he works to bring about his will. And as we are drawn deeper into this world, we can face suffering, opposition, rejection and even persecution, should it come to that because God is determined to reclaim this world. And God will not be stopped.

And when this world is reclaimed and redeemed it will become God's Kingdom. Revelation writes of that moment when God will finally achieve his purpose:

Then the 7^th angel blew his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven saying, "The Kingdom of this world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever! Hallelujah!"

(Revelation 11:15)

All Saints Day November 1, 2009

HE WILL WIPE AWAY EVERY TEAR - Nina's Gallery

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away. Revelation 21:1-4

The Feast of All Saints is kind of a bittersweet celebration. It is indeed a celebration as we lift up and give thanks for that great cloud of witnesses who were stewards of God's mysteries, and passed down God's promise of life and salvation through the centuries. And yet it brings with it a tinge of sadness because we remember those saints we have known and loved who have passed on and are no longer with us.

It is not a coincidence that Halloween and All Saints are linked together. Halloween is actually the older festival. Contrary to what some alarmist propaganda that is put out by some groups, Halloween has nothing to do with satanic cults. It's from very old Celtic, Irish and British pagan harvest festivals. Many cultures festivals that mark the passing of summer into the long darks of winter. It was believed that during this time the boundaries between our world and the world of the dead were weakened, allowing spirits of the recently dead to cross over and connect with the living. That's where you get this idea of spooks and goblins at Halloween.

When the Romans invaded Ireland and Britain they kind of liked this festival and it spread so by the time of Christianity it was very popular. And the church did what it often did with popular pagan festivals, they co-opted in and infused it with Christian meaning and said "If you are going to think about the dead at this time of the year, remember all the saints who have died in Christ" and you had all Saints Day. The Night before was All Saints or All Hallowed Eve – shortened to Halloween. And it is no coincidence that Reformation is on All Hallow's Eve because Martin Luther chose to nail his 95 thesis on the church door the night before a feast when there would be a big turn out All Saints Day.

For the first earth and the first heaven had passed away" I think the Celtics were on to something to think about the other world during this time of the year. It is natural for people who live close to the land to think of death at this cycle of the harvest. The season of growth and new life has come to an end. Harvest means the crops are dead. Death in this sense means they are finished. They have completed their purpose on earth. This is true of the saints who have gone on to the Church Triumphant. Their lives are completed and they have served their purpose on earth.

"For the first earth and the first heaven had passed away" The phrase "passed away" is a euphemism we use for those who have died. We don't like to use such harsh and cruel words such as dead, death and dying. I confess it took me awhile before I figured out that when someone tells me "So and so is *not good*" it pretty much means "he or she is dying". We don't like to say those words. They are too harsh. Too REAL.

And yet when Revelation says that the old heaven and earth have passed away they mean that it is DEATH that has passed away. Gone. The new creation is one without that cruel word death. Revelation moves us beyond on memories of the past with those whom we loved and gives us hope for a future world with all the saints, where faith and hope and love will not only reunite us with those saints we knew and loved, but also those we never knew but are nonetheless joined together in the one same faith in Christ Jesus.

The promise of a future world where there is no pain or suffering or cruelty gives us hope to live our lives today in this broken fallen world. Too often we think of this in individual terms. Sometime I will go to heaven. And this is true. It is true not because you have lived such a great life, but because God has promised and made it possible. And if you believe and trust in that promise, you can live with that hope today. And God can use you today to bring kingdom of love, mercy and justice today in this world. Because of God's promise we can do great things today because we have nothing to fear.

The great hope of heaven goes beyond our individual future. In heaven, evil is banished. That means god has defeated evil. So we can fight any evil and endure any suffering that comes our way because we know God will have and has had the last word. We live in sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the life to come. We live in sure and certain hope that God will and has vanquished evil. And we have that great cloud of witnesses –all the saints in heaven – the ones we've known and ones we look forward to knowing who testify to Christ's victory over sin, death and the devil. We have this great communion of saints who are watching over us, who are rooting for us as we follow in their footsteps and who are waiting with outstretched arms to welcome us to that great heavenly feast, where the old heaven and earth have passed away to reveal a new and glorious heaven and earth, where there are no tears, where our light is the Lamb of God and we will be his people and he shall reign forever and ever. Amen.

Reformation Sunday, October 25, 2009

²⁰

Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For ‘no human being will be justified in his sight’ by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

Righteousness through Faith

But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, ²²the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, ²³since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; ²⁴they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.^*

27 Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.

Romans 3:19--28

When the kids and I were in Italy a few years ago, Sarah always liked to climb up to the domes. One thing I noticed in many of these churches, besides the fact that there were a LOT of steps to get up to the dome was that – at eye level there would be these horrifying scenes of the artists idea of hell. And as you got higher and higher there were the images of Jesus, and angels and heaven. But from where you were sitting in the pew –Jesus and heaven were pretty far off and out of view.

And I wondered what it must be like to come to church Sunday after Sunday and be presented with these images of an angry, punishing God who would send people to this horrible place where you were tormented for eternity.

I understand that probably the intention was to motivate people into behaving properly and coming to church and staying out of trouble. And maybe it did. But I doubt very much it motivating anyone to love God or to seek a relationship or to even consider that a close loving relationship with such a far off, angry God was even possible or desirable.

So what you had during the middle ages was a lot of people who looked and acted religious, but who truly had no concept of the Gospel or any real relationship with the God who created them and took care of them with love and compassion.

One of those was a monk named Martin Luther. Brother Martin certainly looked and acted religious. But deep down he hated God. Because he saw God as an oppressor. And when you are oppressed, you will do what your oppressor tells you to do but you will hate them.

For Luther, that word from Romans "But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed" terrified him and drove him to despair. He wrote, He wrote: "Who can love such a God who deals with sinners according to such a standard of justice? We are all sinners, and none of us stands a chance. Will not such a God devour us all like a consuming fire?"

And yet Luther did not give up. Or what is truer, God did not give up on Luther. And finally it dawned on him. The righteousness of God is not about God being righteous and holy and expecting us to live up to his standards and then punishing us when we cannot do the impossible.

Language is so important. And if people got tripped up by words like righteousness in Luther's time, I think those words are even more foreign to us. The words that Paul uses in Romans – righteousness, justification, justified, justice…all come from the same root word. But we get tripped up when we think of justice and we imagine a courtroom, with a judge deciding who is guilty and who is innocent.

But Paul is writing from the perspective of the Old Testament understanding of justice and righteousness. And in the Old Testament, those who are righteous and just are those who are in right relationships. When you uphold your relationships you are righteous. God's righteousness is related to his relationship with us. It goes back to our lesson from Jeremiah where God establishes a new covenant, a new relationship that does not depend on our ability to live up to God's standards. Because we cannot. God writes his law on our hearts. That's not a set of rules and do's and don'ts but a relationship with God. And so we respond out of that love that God himself has written in our hearts, not out of fear. God is love and perfect love casts out all fear.

Martin Luther's time required a reformation of the church because despite all the religious trappings and actions and rituals going on there was a crisis of faith. People did what they were supposed to do but they did it, not to get closer to God, but to keep God from hurting and punishing them. People in Luther's day tried to avoid God because they didn't know the God of love and mercy of Scripture. They didn't know the gospel that Christ came not to condemn the world but to save it.

Today we are facing a crisis of faith as well. Not so much in the church but it does affect the church because I think we misunderstand both the apathy and hostility to God of those outside the church. When you read what a lot of the popular books on atheism they are not writing against a loving god. They are writing against this angry punishing God, that should have been banished from our preaching long ago. I think the only difference between today and Luther's time is that in his time, people came to church to try to appease this angry God. Today people want nothing to do the church because they think we are going to try to impose this angry god on them. And there are well-meaning faithful people who think that warning people about the punishment awaiting them if they don't come back to appease this angry god is the way to motivate people back to god.

It is not. Because that is the wrong god. At its heart the Reformation is about being brought back to the real God, the God who loved the world enough to become weak and vulnerable, who walked among us, who was gentile and patient with his followers who constantly misunderstood him, who healed the sick, freed those imprisoned by demons, gave sight to the blind, made the lame to walk, even raised the dead and whose only harsh words were for those who wanted to box God in and limit the scope of God's love and mercy. The Reformation is about being brought back to the God who sent his son to die for us that we might have eternal life, eternal life that begins in transformed lives today, that we might respond not out of fear and appeasement, but joy and thanksgiving to be loving, to be compassionate, to be forgiving and to share the good news with the rest of the world that God is not going to reject and punish them, but instead forgive, and love and transform their lives as well. That is not just the message of the reformation – that is the message of the Gospel, that is the Good News Jesus lived, died and rose so that we may be his, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, even as he is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true. Amen.