These words of Jesus for the first Sunday In Advent are strange and scary both at the same time. Cosmic signs in the heavens above – danger…fear…foreboding … look out…run…quickly…skedaddle!
Not exactly what we would expect when we come to worship in the brand New Year…but here they are, sitting right in front of us.
They are pretty straightforward and do not mince words…people will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming…
So what are we supposed to do here? Duck and roll, crawl into a cave and cover our heads, go back to bed??? Play the ostrich?
There is certainly enough here to make one worry: “the roaring of the seas” – a little bit of rain and underpasses flood!
Fear and foreboding?
Is the government going to shut down? What services will be cut – “this time?”
Luke, the “new guy” for this year – has taken us down this “metaphorical world of danger and fright.”
Does the word apocalyptic ring a bell? Does it sound a little bit familiar? What was that just two weeks ago?
And then he goes on to tell us that even as we are looking up into all that turmoil in the heavens, we will see the “Son of Man” coming in a cloud with great power and glory…
Stars, moon, heavens above and clouds and now the Son of Man…remember that reference from the book of Daniel?
Signs and wonders…and then, God (himself) is on his way…ushering in a time of peace and justice…
Just when is this going to occur, we ask? Certainly not today, perhaps tomorrow or the day after that…or in the next millennium…certainly not NOW…
It is a common Biblical theme found both in the Hebrew Bible and in the Early Christian Writings…
What it says is that, no matter how bad things “are” or how bad things “will get”…God is always there. Always present. Always with us. Hope is not lost. Hope is not abandoned. God is here.
So, we do not have to be afraid. We do not have to keep our heads down. No pity parties, here. We do not have to worry and be scared.
These ancient writers tell us that the story of the world, of our world, is not finished yet. It is a work in progress. This place we call home, can look pretty bleak at times…
Wars, injustices, earthquakes, man’s inhumanity to man, hatred, evil, disease…and yet behind it all, God is at work, in families, in individuals, in systems, in communities, in governments, to do away with injustices and to bring about goodness and truth.
My God is bigger than the problems that exist. My God can handle all that is…seen and unseen.
So we stand on tiptoes, entering another season of Advent together peering through the lens of some ancient scriptures into “a world of hope and anticipated peace.”
It IS OUT THERE. It is AWAITING US.
It gives us pause. And we look at how far we have already come. We have made strides. Sometimes they seem small and little. But we have made strides, nonetheless.
Would people still call us “barbaric?” Perhaps! But we have made strides toward peace and justice.
God will make all things new someday. Someday the wrongs will be made right and justice and fairness and equality will rule. Some day. Some day – the “Day of the Lord” – will dawn, with no one hungry, no one weary, no one poor. We will figure this out or God will intervene.
God himself will touch our cheeks where tears have crawled down and will gently wipe any and all tears away. Someday.
In the meantime, we have to touch the cheeks of others. In the name of God, through the Holy Spirit, we have to reach out to one another. We have a role to play. We too, can make some things new…we too, are capable of bringing about good and decent change.
If God should come, we look up, because we know that our redemption, our salvation, our moment has come…
If God should come, reach out to him…Be ready, wait, pray, look…but in the meantime, in the in-between-time… do something…positive, hopeful…
We turn the page to a new calendar, a new season of the church year, we start over again…whisper a prayer of thanks…be hopeful…there is plenty to be done…small things…but things done and accomplished none the less.
Roll up your sleeves and go to work.
Tomorrow is already on its way…it is filled with hope. God is in charge. He always has been. Amen.