BAdvent1

Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; I Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37

November 30, 2008

The sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light,

and the stars will be falling from heaven,

and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

And they shall see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. [Mark 13:26-27]

As soon as we read chapter 13 from the Gospel of Mark, certain books are brought to mind:

The Late Great Planet Earth

84 Reasons the Rapture Will Happen in 1984

Left Behind

I also remember that every new outbreak of violence or political change

in the Middle East have been signs of ‘The End’:

The establishment of Israel as a state, Gulf War I, Gulf War II,

the nuclear confrontation with Iran…

all part of a set of tarot cards offering horrific clues to the future.

Mark 13 is often called the little apocalypse.

Apocalypse means simply a ‘tearing away’, a ‘lifting of the veil’

to reveal truth about God, about us.

It’s the Greek word for our last book of the bible, Revelation.

In apocalyptic literature, God reveals to a certain prophet what God’s will is –

and what must happen in order for God’s will to be established.

In the book of Revelation, as in this chapter of Mark,

the point is that God will finally establish a new heaven and a new earth

in which humankind and all creation will dwell with God in immortality.

Death and destruction will finally give way to eternal joy and peace.

A simple non-biblical example is found in the Wizard of Oz.

Dorothy, Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion

tremble in the presence of the great and terrible Oz…

until the truth is unveiled by Toto the dog.

Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal the real Wizard of Oz.

When the truth is revealed, all fear is removed.

And all of a sudden, the characters can see themselves as they really are…

Already possessing what they have longed for…

A  brain, a heart, a home, the nerve.

A national tragedy like Hurricane Katrina was an apocalypse of sorts.

A tearing away of a veil to allow us to see what is always there –

In Katrina’s case:

a country badly divided along the lines of race and poverty.

a city ill-equipped to survive below sea-level.

This was an eye opener from across the ocean

as a friend of mine saw the disaster from a TV in Europe

and people there wondered at the most powerful government in the world

as the news there showed people left destitute and unable to get out.

There are always two parts of an apocalyptic scene:

The signs of the problem and the signs of God’s solution.

That second part of the apocalyptic equation is –

What is God’s will for such people?

How do we accomplish what is necessary to live into that will?

Apocalypse – a tearing away.

What is global warming or the end of the ‘oil age’ revealing to us?

Apocalypse - a tearing away to see something you thought, or hoped, you would never see.

What do we do with information from a stress test or an MRI

that will live into the love, joy and peace in store for us?

As in the book of Revelation or the 13^th chapter of Mark,

if we believe in the good news of Jesus Christ,

it is important to remember to be on our best reading behavior. 

As fearsome as the scenarios are,

scripture itself is God’s word to us meant to inspire love, joy, hope

– not fear.

Scripture also is always about Jesus’ return.

Christianity is always looking forward,

anticipating new approaches of God,

new expressions of the coming of Christ, the advent of Christ.

The Christian attitude of Jesus’ return is primarily about expectancy, hope, desire.

When we say, “Come, Lord Jesus” it is to

heal a loved one,

bring about reconciliation,

reveal the truth,

         guide us through to the best decision.

Funny thing about Advent,

about the future approaching

it automatically causes us to think about now. 

It abruptly ends our complacency, negligence, procrastination.

The advents in our life are meant to wake us up, keep us alert.

A woman finds out that she’s pregnant –

a baby is on the way.

A man gets the results from a medical test.

NOW she, NOW he – is moved to act…

To make decisions put off for some time –

about daily habits like caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, exercise –

and about relationships, finances, goals, and dreams.

What apocalypse would it take to cause you or me

to take life into our hands differently?

Advent calls us to NOW – to the holy time of NOW.

Advent is every time somewhere between our beginning and our end,

our life is intersected and changed by the presence of Jesus Christ.

Always a little apocalypse in that his presence reveals something to us.

Our beginning in Christ is the Incarnation, which we celebrate as Christmas.

The time when God in Christ, came down in humility (which means ‘of the earth’)

became of the earth, human.

Our end in Christ is the Resurrection, which we celebrate as Easter.

The time when we, of the earth, are raised up into the life of God.

Martin Luther, when asked what he would do if he knew the world would end tomorrow, said he would plant a tree.

If Christmas tells us of our beginning and

Easter tells us of our becoming,

then Advent tells us of our being –

everyday, every moment, every little apocalypse,

called into the NOW of Christ’s presence,

where God’s perfect will and perfect love is revealed.