November 15, 2009 Sermon
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Proper 28 - B
November 15, 2006 Allan Conkling
You can always tell when Advent is getting close by the appointed scripture readings on Sunday morning. A change is in the air. In our church they are always saved for the last two weeks before Advent: "End times" readings for the end of the church year.
Episcopalians mostly ignore the book of Daniel and the apocalyptic sections in Mark and for good reason. We don't quite know what to do with them:
"There shall be a time of anguish such as have never occurred (Daniel)...The Day is approaching (Hebrews)...wars, rumors of wars, nation against nation, earthquakes, famines...the beginning of the birthpangs."
This is the stuff of the religious fringe; the readers of supermarket tabloids and novels by Tim LaHay. The spectacular images make great copy, and so have been
used by countless science fiction writers and filmmakers. They also make a great study for psychologists and sociologists who see in them a projection of anxiety and
insecurity, and a way of dealing with our fear of loss of control. That's why tey are always more popular during troubled economic and political times.
"In order to lead a spiritual life," says author Anthony DeMello, "one has first to wake up."
"Awareness brings with it a wake-up call. This then is the loud knock, the harsh voice, and the cold floor meeting your bare feet when you would rather stay
safe and warm in your comfortable bed."
Like a weathervane atop an old barn swinging around at the coming of the first Norther of the year, we have before us a call to wake us from our slumber. But to what and for what are we being aroused? Throughout history different groups, particularly the poor and the marginalized have seen in apocalyptic writings a key to a better life. Slaves in the antebellum South, for example, saw in the book of Daniel a promise of divine justice in a world of injustice. However, after 2000 years most folks that I know don't have an immediate expectation of God's coming. We say in the Creed that we believe that "He will come again in glory to judge the living and dead...", but really, we are thinking about where we will go to lunch, or what time the game comes on. We continue to work, provide for our family, ask for pledges, and plan for our children’s future. Even among the very strident evangelicals that preach the fearful day of the Lord, their actions tell a different story. I think of the church I saw once with a sign, "Jesus is coming soon" stuck on a fence--yet on the land behind the sign they were constructing a huge mega-church. If they were really so concerned the Lord was coming, they would give their money away and meet in a cardboard box.
And yet somewhere between a worrying and obsession on one hand, and a cynicism on the other, if we are honest we know that life is short. We get older and feel our bodies begin to change. We see our reflection in the mirror. None of us is going to last forever. No we don't want to dwell on it, but as you get older you know Jesus is right, the world is passing very rapidly, and so are we. Moreover, the world is pretty meaningless without God. To emphasize his point Jesus spoke of a time when the end of the world would come. Although he did not say when, his disciples expected it soon, especially when they saw their master die on the cross. They remembered him saying,
"All of this must take place, but the end is still to come. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs."
I would submit
that passages like we have this morning are good for us to read, at least a
couple of times a year; not to make us feel bad, or feel guilty, or afraid but
maybe to help us keep a sense of perspective. Paul says in
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me."
The writer of Hebrews says,
"Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
Far from being fearful, these readings remind us that we are to live life to its fullest, loving others with that extravagant grace-filled love which has been shown to us in Christ. We are to be all we can be in God's sight, in full assurance of "salvation" and our relationship with our loving God.
Oh yes, Jesus reminds us, nothing is forever. As beautiful as the Temple was; as beautiful as this temple is, there will come a time when not one stone will be left here upon another, and not one of us will be here either. But when the "end times" do come, whether it is at the end of the world, or at our own end, we can be ready, filled with hope, living each day as if it were a gift: Because after all it is.
In times of difficulty--when the economy dogs us, when our health could be better, when we face the ever present challenges and setbacks of life, we can also expect new beginnings and new life to spring from the old. This is the Christian message as old as our faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen; Christ will come again! Christ’s Spirit is with us, now. There is no waiting. End times and new beginnings indeed are all around us.
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Revised: 11/29/09