“KEEPING OUR EYES OPEN”
Text: Luke 21:25-36
Preached at Faith United (Methodist) Church
December 2, 2006
And so it begins…
For the rest of the world,
it began the day after Thanksgiving,
or even before that-- it gets earlier every year
But for the followers of Christ,
it all begins today, with the lighting of a candle
It’s the first day of the new year in the Christian calendar
the beginning of Advent
in the dictionary, the word advent means
“a coming” or “arrival”
In the Christian church, during Advent
we await the coming of Jesus Christ
we prepare, we anticipate, we look FORWARD
But what a lot of people don’t know
is that we’re not just looking for the coming of Christ
as a baby… he’s already done that
we are actually living between two advents
The advent of his birth, his incarnation into the world
and the advent of his second coming
WHOA!! Hold on…
Second Coming? We believe in that stuff??
The subject of the Second Coming
just throws up all kinds of red flags
we’ve heard enough from the doomsdayers
the novelists, the movie makers
about the end of the world
How Jesus is coming back, and boy is he ticked!
I read the first book of the Left Behind series
that are novels, and I stress the word “NOVELS”
about the end times
I couldn’t get past the first book
it was too disturbing –
and I knew too many people at the time
who forgot it was just a novel
It’s hard for us to imagine Jesus coming again
it’s hard enough to imagine him coming the first time
the way he did
The Second Coming conjures up images
of movies rated R for excessive violence
But Jesus did say that he was coming back
and ever since people have tried to say
they know exactly how it will happen
and they use it to scare the stuff out of people
Jesus tells the disciples that the world will change
that the things they see as indestructible
can be destroyed
He tells them about the destruction of Jerusalem
which happens about 40 years after his death
where the temple is completely leveled
the whole city is in ruins
the Great City of Jerusalem, a city that they believed
could not be taken down
and when Luke is writing this Gospel
it has already happened
the city was destroyed, the temple completely gone
just an empty cavity where the great building once stood
The destruction of the temple is just one of many signs
that the world will not always be the way it is
Things are not the way God intended them to be
and there will come a time, Jesus promised
that the Kingdom will come in all its fullness
and everything will be different
everything as we know it will be changed
When Jesus left his disciples,
he gave them the impression
that he would be right back
that he would be coming again SOON
and so they didn’t make long-term plans
When St. Paul writes his letters,
he writes about Jesus coming again
as if it’s right around the corner
Jesus said, keep your eyes open, be ready
be alert, I’ll be back
Well, as the preacher Will Willimon writes,
it’s hard to stand on your tiptoes for 2,000 years
your feet get a little sore
Do we believe anymore that he’s coming back?
It’s been forever…
All these things have been happening
the nations are rising against nations,
the seas roar and come on land to destroy
There are many Ground Zeros all over the world
where people are fainting from fear
It’s all been happening since the beginning
When Jesus came the first time,
he was born into a time of terror
The Jews were living in lands occupied by Rome
there was excessive violence and fear
Male babies were randomly slaughtered
when Jesus was just a baby himself
there was terror and heartache everywhere
Jesus came quietly into the world in the midst of mayhem
chaos and oppression
So what does all this have to do with us?
It’s been 2,000 years and still we wait
and live between the first and second advent
and we do get weighed down by the worries of this world
We get weighed down by medical bills,
by impossible schedules,
pressures at work, pressures at school,
trying to raise our children to love God
and be good people that love others
in a world so bent on hate and excitement
The most meaningful Advent I remember
is the end of 1993
when I was pregnant
Something about being pregnant during Advent
and Christmas made it all uniquely meaningful to me
It was about December of 1993
that I felt the stirrings of new life within me
when I first felt the movements
It was my first year of ministry out of seminary
and it was a particularly difficult year
in a lot of ways
I was very discouraged
but at the same time, I had new life growing within me
and the stirrings inside reminded me of hope
Twice I went to the hospital with symptoms
that caused the doctor to think I was miscarrying
twice I was faced with the possibility of death
when there was supposed to be birth
I understood just a little more that year
about hoping against hope
about believing, trusting the stirrings within
the very subtle—at that point!—stirrings
reminding me to keep believing
in the midst of a lot of chaos
and our share of fears
I think Advent and Christmas is radical
We’ve toned it down a lot over the years
we’ve domesticated it
we’ve reduced it to a lovely, peaceful scene
on the front of holiday cards
but Jesus coming into the world the first time
was an incredibly radical thing
it scared the bejeebies out of King Herod
the very thought of a baby being born
who could be king instead of him
And Jesus grew up, challenged the way things were and are
and shook up the church
made people want to kill him
in order to save the Church
He stirred things up,
he stirred up the poor people, the have-nots
the people that the Romans were successfully keeping in order
the common people
whom the temple leaders could ignore
he gave power and hope to those who had none
he turned everything upside down
and before he left this earth,
he said, “I’ll be back.”
Sometimes we make him out to be like The Terminator
someone with a bad temper who will wipe out all the bad guys
But Jesus promised things will not always be the way they are
that his life, his first coming
has begun the whole redemption process
the whole transformation of the world
we live in the now and the not yet
we live in the Promise,
and yet we anticipate the promise of his coming again
of the Kingdom of God coming in fullness
‘thy kingdom come,’ we pray, ‘thy will be done…”
that is our Advent prayer, year after year after year
Jesus may not come back in our lifetime
because he hasn’t come back in many lifetimes
but still as Christians we light the candle in the dark
it’s a first step to say, ‘I believe… in the unbelievable’
I believe Jesus keeps his promises
We’re not standing on tiptoe anymore,
waiting for him to return,
but we are still called to keep an eye out for him
we glimpse him here and there along the way
in a moment in worship
in a stranger’s face who stops by for something to eat
who may not smell all the good
we glimpse him in the children’s faces
in their joy and abandonment
even as they run around the aisles
we glimpse him in each other
when love connects us, when peace overcomes us
when for a moment we have hope again
in something better coming
we glimpse again as we light the candles of Advent
that move us closer still to that unimaginable day
when hope comes to fulfillment
Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years
and who emerged to become the president of South Africa
said:
“I have found that one can bear the unbearable
if one can keep spirits strong enough even when the body is being tested.
Strong convictions are the secret of surviving depravation
your spirit can be full even when your stomach is empty
I always knew that someday I would once again
feel the grass under my feet and walk in the sunshine
as a free man
I am fundamentally an optimist
part of being an optimist is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun
and one’s feet moving forward…”
Advent is about turning our eyes back toward the sun
looking up, when so much around us, forces our heads down
Advent is about beginning again
lighting another candle in the dark and saying “I believe…”
“we believe…” because it’s easier to believe in community with others
Advent, the most hopeful season of the Christian calendar,
begins in darkness
and moves toward the Light that dawns in the world
Advent is about preparing our hearts to love
preparing our eyes to see more clearly
someone said it’s like spiritual cataract surgery
we do what we can, and allow God to clear our vision
to take away those things that keep us from seeing clearly
the signs of hope all around us
The cataracts can build up with all the bad news
all the cynicism of the media
all the pressures to buy and consume
all the pressure to believe that the more we have
the happier we’ll be
Advent is a kind of spiritual cleansing time
starting right where we are
and starting all over again, if we have to
in the simple act of lighting a candle in the dark
Christmas is not all sweet and pretty
it’s the beginning of the radical transformation of the world
in the coming of Jesus Christ
who is still at work, and is far from finished
we don’t know when he’ll be back
but we don’t need to know, if we did, he would have told us
what we’re called to do is simply live with our eyes to the horizon
anticipating the inbreaking of God’s kingdom
and we are to live as if that Kingdom is already here
to keep our eyes open to the presence of the living Christ
who shows himself here and there
in the smallest of miracles
and in the glory of all creation
We are to live with our eyes looking forward
and all around, for the dawning redemption of God’s world
and to be active participants in that redemption
to be a people of radical hope in a world that is all too often dark
and R-rated
It is Advent
It is the start of something new
a new year, full of new possibilities
some things beyond our control
but if we keep our eyes open
we may witness the birth of beautiful things
that can only come from the glory of God…
Light a candle at home,
pray against the dark
make your statement
that you will live as Children of the Light
and that no one can put that light out….
