Pay Attention!

The sections of the Bible that talk about the coming of Christ are not terribly popular with most mainline churchgoers, because these texts have been hijacked by folks who want to use them to predict the future (and scare us in the process). On this first Sunday of Advent, the text is one from Luke in which Jesus is describing what will happen when he comes again. I think that it has something to say to us, especially in these troubled times. After you read this sermon, I hope that you'll agree with me.

So, what zodiac sign are you? That question is more than just a line that you can use to pick up a good-looking girl (or guy) in a bar; because many people think that the stars determine our character. If you were born around this time of the year, for example, you’re probably a Sagittarius: open-minded and loving, but a bit blunt with others. And, of course, you need to read your daily horoscope so that you’re working with the stars instead of against them. If you’re smiling right now at what you consider to be harmless nonsense, remember that lots of people really believe that the heavens determine our destiny. We are fascinated by the possibility that what happens up there has an effect on us down here! But our interest in astrology pales in comparison with the attention that people gave the stars in the time of Jesus. They were convinced that the gods made their actions known to human beings through the movements of the stars and planets! The heavens were alive with activity that we could interpret if we paid attention to it. Van Gogh has captured that activity in his painting Starry Night. It fairly bursts with color and movement! Those are the stars that we watch for clues about our future, and even the future of our world.

Near the end of Luke’s gospel (21:25-28, 34-36), Jesus describes some heavenly activity; and it’s not a happy scene at all. The movement of the stars in the heavens predict disasters on the earth. The sea roars and foams, and the stars themselves are tossed about as the entire universe is shaken and turned upside down like a cosmic snow globe. In this snow globe, though, we are the ones who are thrown hither and yon like snowflakes! And what is the reason for all this commotion? Why, it’s a sign that God himself is coming to set things right in the world that he created but that has gone badly astray. So, what does Jesus tell us to do in response to all this chaos? Should we run and hide in a fortress with a collection of AK47s and a year’s worth of canned food and bottled water? Not at all! “Lift up your heads,” Jesus says, “because your redemption is drawing near!” Far from being victims of all these cosmic disasters, we can rejoice because God is about to rescue us from all the suffering that the world has imposed on us.

I surely see the kind of chaos that Luke describes, and I'll bet that you do, too. Oh, the stars may be fairly secure in the heavens; but we live with chaos on this earth all the time. Hurricanes and tornadoes and wildfires are a big part of it; but that chaos invades our personal lives, too, like termites that silently eat away at the foundation of the house that we had thought was secure. When the checkbook has shown a negative balance for weeks; when the doctor comes into the room where you are waiting and says, “I’m afraid the news isn’t good;” when the voice on the other end of the telephone says, “I’m sorry, there’s been an accident…” Those are the times when the stars fall from the sky, and our world is shaken like a snow globe. At those times, the chaos is so deep that we almost drown in it. At those times, we can’t count on much of anything, and certainly not the worldly powers that caused all that chaos in the first place!

But those are the very times, Luke declares, when we can rejoice, because the Messiah is about to arrive. When our world is in turmoil and there seems to be nothing that we can rely on, we can bet the farm on the fact that the Messiah is coming. Of course, we don’t know when he is coming; so Jesus tells us to pay attention! Watch for signs that God is on the way! Don’t lose sleep worrying; don’t drown your troubles in booze; and don’t run after things that really don’t matter like money or possessions or status! If you don’t keep your eyes open for signs, Jesus says, you’ll miss what really does matter! But when we do pay attention… those are the times when we can see that God has already begun to creep into our world wielding the power of love. The Messiah’s new world of love and justice is springing up around us even in the midst of the chaos! Arundhati Roy affirms that “Another world is not only possible; she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”

Now, the signs of God’s coming aren’t always obvious. There are no neon signs in the sky announcing, “I’m on the way!” and signed “God.” But wherever we see love, charity, compassion, unselfishness, and hope, we catch glimpses of the God who is creeping in among us. Those glimpses are sometimes very hard to see. But the Kingdom of God won’t arrive with trumpets and cymbals. It will creep in among us like a baby born in the night. If you are quiet, you can even hear that baby breathing – soft baby breaths of God’s Spirit that will one day fill the hearts of everyone on this earth! God is coming to be with us! The one who created us – the one who created this whole world – is on the way to set it right! So don’t be afraid when chaos surrounds us! It’s not the sign of the end of the world! It’s the sign of the beginning!

Kingship Redefined

November 25 was Reign of Christ Sunday (sometimes called Christ the King Sunday). As the last Sunday in the church year, it anticipates the time when Christ will truly rule over everything. But what does that mean? What kind of king are we anticipating? This sermon uses John's vision of heaven from the book of Revelation to examine what the kingship of Christ really means. I hope that it both stirs your imagination and helps to deepen your faith!

I love a good story with a twist at the end, a twist that you never expected! The stories of O. Henry are like that. The Gift of the Magi is a great example. The story is about two young newlyweds who love one another deeply! Christmas is approaching, and neither one has enough money to buy the other a nice gift. So (spoiler alert!) the wife sells her long, beautiful hair so that she can buy an expensive watch fob for her husband’s heirloom watch; only to find that her husband has sold his watch to buy her an expensive set of combs for her hair. That twist holds a punch the first time that you read it. But after you reading it 6 or 7 times, you know it so well that the story loses its punch. This morning’s text from Revelation is a story like that (Revelation 5:1-14). It contains a twist that’s meant to hit us between the eyes and make us reconsider everything that we thought we knew. The only trouble is that we all know this text so well that it has lost its punch.

Let me set the scene. John, the author of Revelation, is in the midst of a vision of God’s heavenly throne. He has seen angels and archangels, 24 elders in white robes, and four fantastic creatures who praise God day and night. Just when we think the vision can’t get any better, John sees the scroll! Now, he doesn’t tell us exactly what the scroll contains, but it may well contain everything that we’ve ever wanted to know: interpretation of the past, understanding of the present, and knowledge of the future. We all want to get a look at that, don’t we? The only trouble is that it is sealed up tighter than a bank vault. Nobody can get it open; and that scroll is no use to anybody if we can’t see what it says! John cries like a three-year-old who has just dropped his chocolate ice cream cone on the sidewalk. He wants to get a glimpse into that scroll more than anything else in the world; but it doesn’t look like he’s going to get to do it.

And then, he feels a tap on his shoulder. One of the elders who is sitting next to God’s throne says, “Don’t cry! It’s all right. The Lion of Judah can open the scroll.” The Lion of Judah! That’s another name for the Messiah! When the elder points to the throne, John expects to see a mighty warrior with a flaming sword; a king crowned in gold, dressed for battle; maybe even a real lion, jaws dripping with blood. But that’s not what John sees at all! Instead, he sees a lamb, a little lamb, a lamb smeared with its own blood: a lamb that has been sacrificed. That’s the twist in this text that’s meant to carry a punch. That sacrificed lamb is the fearsome Lion of Judah. And just to make sure that we get the point, the chorus of praise to God swells to include the Lamb, as every creature in heaven and on earth joins in the song.

The Lion of Judah is a Lamb. That’s a real twist to the story of the Messiah; and it would have carried a punch to those folks who were expecting the Messiah to kick butt! I expect that it knocked the socks off the first Christians who heard it. That’s because this story completely redefines the Messiah! Everybody knew that the Messiah would be a King who would rule over Israel. Some people had even figured out that the Messiah would one day rule over not only Israel, but over everyone else as well. But nobody expected that the Messiah would be a King who didn’t behave like a king! Earthly kings behave like lions: they bluster and threaten and go to war. But Jesus behaves more like a lamb! He wants our allegiance. But if we don’t give it to him, he doesn’t execute us for treason. He follows us like a shepherd, trying to win us back through love instead of coercing us with violence. He brings peace to his kingdom. But that peace is not bought by denying us our freedom and dictating what we can do. No, he allows us to make our own decisions; decisions that are sometimes very foolish. The peace that our king offers is one that surrounds us despite the many tragic events that we bring on ourselves. And this king loves us – all of us. Every king loves his friends. Our king even loves his enemies! And here’s the critical difference between Jesus and every other ruler who ever lived. Jesus died for us. In the movie Patton, the title character says in the opening sequence, “No one has ever won a war by dying for his country. You win a war by making the other poor devil die for his country.” But Jesus won the war against sin and evil by doing exactly that: by offering himself up as a sacrifice and dying on a cross. What General Patton said may be true for earthly rulers; but it’s not true for Jesus. He’s a different kind of king. The Lion of Judah is the Lamb who was died for all of us sinners. Wow! Now that’s a twist to the story that even O. Henry never imagined!

Today is the Sunday when we celebrate the ultimate Reign of Christ. (Sometimes it is called Christ the King Sunday.) So what will his kingdom look like when it finally comes completely? What kind of kingdom is ruled by a king who never punishes, never dictates, and never makes war? The prophets give us glimpses of it. Isaiah tells us that the wolf will live with the lamb, the cow will feed with the bear, and the calf will live with the lion. (Isaiah 11:6-7) He tells us that not only will everyone have enough to eat, the food and drink will be the very finest! (Isaiah 25:6) And the very best thing about this kingdom is that there will be no more death (Isaiah 25:7-8); and all the weeping and mourning that goes with it will be gone, too. There won’t be any more mass shootings because the hate that causes them will have dissolved. There won’t be any more hurricanes or wildfires or earthquakes because all nature will work in harmony. And everyone will have enough, because the greed that causes some to have much more than others will have vanished!

Now, we can’t begin to imagine how all that could be possible! In the end, even the author of the book of Revelation can’t describe it. He simply says that everything will be new: both the heavens and the earth. The old way that things are done will be completely gone! (Revelation 21:1-4) Through Jesus, the world was made; and through Jesus, the world will be remade; because Jesus is the first and last, the Alpha and the Omega. In the end, on this Reign of Christ Sunday, all we can really do is to give thanks for the Christ who gave himself for us; to anticipate the peace and beauty of the kingdom that will someday be a reality; and to live as though that kingdom is already here. Come to think of it, that’s exactly what Jesus asks us to do every day of our lives. If we all really did live like his kingdom were already here… well, then that kingdom would be a reality! And what a wonderful day that would be!

Thanksgiving in the Weeds

What do we do with the problems in our lives when the time comes to give thanks? Do we let them take away our appreciation of all the good things that we have? This sermon addresses that question, taking a cue from a parable that Jesus told.

Aren’t weeds a nuisance? They creep into our gardens, spring up in our fields, and cause us no end of inconvenience. Gardeners know that it often takes longer to control the weeds in our gardens than it does to plant those gardens in the first place! Jesus’ disciples knew about weeds, too; so when he told them this parable (Matthew 13:24-30), they were all on the same page. The field of the landowner in this story is full of weeds. Those weeds had sprung up everywhere; and it turns out that they had been planted intentionally by someone who was out to ruin the harvest.

Jesus’ parables are meant remind us of situations that we face in our own lives. What did Jesus mean by the wheat and the weeds? We can’t know that answer for sure. Some biblical scholars think that readers in the early church might have thought that both the wheat and the weeds represented people. The church at that time was made up of a very mixed bag of Christians. Some were certainly devoted followers of Jesus – they were the wheat – but others – the weeds – might have been there simply to get a handout. Christians had a reputation of taking care of their own, so that no one in their community went hungry; and that might have attracted people who were more concerned with their stomachs than with their spiritual lives. Other church members might have been spies, sent there by the Roman authorities who wanted to find a reason to arrest members of this new religion. There were all kinds of weeds in the early church, all mixed together with the wheat.

Today, we aren’t worried about Roman spies sitting in our church pews; and the only people who want a handout are the ones who wander into the food pantry. No, the weeds in the wheat field have other meanings to us. For many people, the weeds represent the troubles that pop up in our lives without any warning. You’re driving along minding your own business, for example, when the water pump suddenly goes out on the car; and you have to dip into your savings to fix it. That’s certainly a weed; but other weeds are far worse. A family member becomes seriously ill, and we must suddenly learn how to be a caregiver; or we become ill ourselves, and must learn to cope with continuing medical treatments. Those weeds are very difficult to live with. Some of the most frustrating weeds are those that throw their shadow over all of us who live in this country: mass shootings; natural disasters like wildfires and hurricanes; and national leadership that isn’t able to lead. Oh, yes, there are plenty of weeds in our lives; and they come in all shapes and sizes. And this week, we celebrate Thanksgiving. What do we do with those weeds on Thanksgiving, anyway? We can’t get rid of them. Jesus even hints that trying to pull them up might not be the best idea in the long run. So what do we do? Do we curse them? Do we try to ignore them? Do we make the best of them? Maybe we should look at those who lived before us and try to discover their answer to those questions.

The Pilgrims – our ancestors who first celebrated Thanksgiving on these shores – lived with plenty of weeds. Those early settlers arrived on our shores late in the year, just as winter was setting in. The supplies that they had brought from Europe weren’t adequate to get them through that year’s harsh winter. Many were already ill with scurvy after the long overseas voyage. Others became ill from cold and hunger. Some starved to death. Of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower, over half died during that first terrible winter. Their weeds were very tall, indeed! And over 250 years later when Abraham Lincoln established an official Thanksgiving Day in 1863, things were no less difficult. Our country was split apart by civil war. The Battle of Gettysburg had stopped the advance of General Lee’s troops into the north the previous summer, but at a terrible cost – almost 50,000 troops killed or wounded in just three days of battle. During the days of the Civil War, just like the days of the first Thanksgiving that the Pilgrims celebrated, the weeds threatened to overshadow everything else. But even in the middle of all those weeds, the Pilgrims and President Lincoln gave thanks. They couldn’t ignore their weeds; they chose not to curse them; and it was very difficult to make the best of them. So they decided to give thanks for what they did have instead of focusing on what they didn’t have! They gave thanks for loved ones who survived cold, hunger, illnesses, and battle. They gave thanks for friends who supported them when they were certain that they could not get through another day. They gave thanks to God whose presence went with them whether their days were good or bad. They gave us a good example to follow as we struggle to live among our own weeds!

We can do that now, too. Some years ago, several people who are Facebook friends of mine posted daily what they were thankful for during the month of November. Now, I know these folks; and I know that they all have weeds in their lives: some small, and some very large, indeed. You might be interested in what they were thankful for. (I have changed some of the posts so that my friends can remain anonymous.)

·         I am thankful for co-workers who care enough about me to phone me when they hear there's a huge accident that would keep me from getting home safely.

·         I am thankful for the songbirds in our yard.

·         I am thankful for my spouse. It’s not always easy, but it is completely worth it.

·         I am thankful for warm jammies.

·         I am thankful for books, because I love to read!

·         I am thankful for conveniences – a washer, a dryer, and a dishwasher.

·         I am thankful to spend time with my family.

·         I am thankful for the opportunity to learn. Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to get a good education.

·         I am thankful for laughter.

·         I am thankful for life.

Are you thankful for some of those things? I know that you are, and for many others that I didn’t mention. So this year, I invite you to give thanks despite the weeds in your life, no matter how many of them there are and how big they are. I invite you to hang on to God’s promise that those weeds won’t last forever, and that one day, they will all be thrown into the fire! I invite you to join the Pilgrims, Abraham Lincoln, and all the saints throughout the ages in giving thanks to God for all the good things in our lives. May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving, even in the midst of the weeds!