“Waiting…But Do We Wish To Go There?”

Jeremiah 33:14-16
Luke 21:25-36

Religious literalists like to take over this first S= unday of Advent and erase the mystery. They make claims about the end times that = have no basis in scripture or in the traditions of our faith. Tim LaHaye and Jer= ry Jenkins, in their “Left Behind” novels, leave you with the idea that when all hell has broken loose in the universe and upon the earth ther= e is some kind of escape; someplace else to go, an escape from this earth and the rapture will take you there.

I think it takes the ability to embrace mystery to f= ind the meaning of Advent below the surface. I do find the notion of Jesus comi= ng again in the end times a great mystery. I do not claim to fully understand = it. It seems clear, however, that when all hell breaks loose on the earth, that something is coming to an end. Jesus said when you see the signs you know t= hat the Kingdom of God is on its way. The Son of Man = is indeed coming in a whirlwind of judgment and redemption of the faithful.

I believe God created this universe and the world as= a part of it, in beauty and goodness. God intended us to exist with the creat= ed order in harmony and peace. But I believe the world was created in such a w= ay, that when it becomes what it was not created to be; full of violence, tortu= re and unspeakable persecutions of the human body and spirit, that world canno= t go on forever. And it is that world which will come to an end.

I see it in the pleading eyes of a small child in Wa= l-Mart being struck really hard by an older woman and constantly shouted at and ridiculed for picking up a candy bar in the check out lane. He does not cry. But the sad dark eyes say to me, “Can you make this awful moment come= to an end? Can someone make all the awful moments of my life come to an end?” It is a matter of justice, the painful abuse of children. But mostly we do not wish to go th= ere.

Bob Herbert in a New York Times column last week poi= nts out an urgent sign. The American public, pictured on television, in a frenz= ied undisciplined binge of shopping on Black Friday, while innocent children and their families were being burned alive by religious ethnic neighbors in Ira= q, their religion distorted by grasping for personal power and control over ot= hers in the name of God. Surely God was not impressed with that parade of injust= ice. That gives a new definition to Black Friday. There are many signs in our ti= me that something is coming to an end. Is it not our hope that the Son of Man = is coming with redemptive powers, to restore justice on the earth?<= /p>

For the Son of Man just keeps on appearing in front = of us. The little boy’s pleading eyes in Wal-Mart; the woman in front of the Church House who calls out to me in the darkness, and I pull my coat up aro= und my ears and face in the cold, and pretend I do not hear. I cannot face my f= ear at getting involved; my embarrassment at not meting out justice to the poor= and the persecuted. There’s not much mystery in that, is there? I do not = wish to go there.

You know the vision of Amos, don’t you? “Hear this you that trample = on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land.” And the Lord was stan= ding by a wall with a plumb line, and said, “See, I am setting a plumb lin= e in the midst of my people Israel. I have spared them for the last time.” The measure of Israel&= #8217;s justice activity has been found wanting. Something is coming to an end. Ah, yes; the Advent wreath on the first pillar with a brass plumb bob hanging through the center of the wreath; a reminder of things to come! Will we end= up on our feet? How will the measure be of our sense and activity of justice?<= o:p>

Did you read about the woman in an upscale neighborh= ood someplace in Colorado who put up a wreath with a peace symbol in the middle? Her neighborhood association is considering fining her $25 a day until she takes it down. For some say it i= s an anti Iraq war thing; others say it is a symbol of Satan. She says: “Peace is way bigger than not being at war. This is a spiritual thing.” A spiritual thing, the Prince of P= eace, the Prince of Peace! My goodness, what do you suppose would have happened if she had put a plumb bob in the center of her wreath? Well of course they would not have recognized the plumb bob anymore than they recognize justice. My guess is s= he will be standing on her feet when the Son of Man comes into her neighborhoo= d.

You see, the signs are really good news. Not what ha= ppens to people in the lack of justice of course, but what happens to us when we finally see what is going on. When we finally figure out that the Church ca= nnot afford to permit or endorse the captivity of the gospel. We have nothing to fear if justice is found at our house. The Son of Man, is after all, the go= od shepherd, the light of the world, the one who gives food to the hungry and a cup to the thirsty the very one with whom we will eat and drink this day and who brings God’s Shalom upon the earth.

So Jesus reminds us to be on guard! Don’t let the sharp edge of = your expectation get dulled by parties, drinking and shopping. Pray constantly t= hat you will have the strength and the wits to make it through everything that’s coming and end up on your feet before the Son of Man. ThatR= 17;s it! Don’t you see, Advent is more a behavior than a season! In the wo= rds of Barbara Rossing, Lutheran minister and author: “Yes, there’s= an end. We should look beyond that end and insist that we’re called as G= od’s people never to give up on the earth, because God is not going to leave it behind and neither can we.” And no one will be left behind!