Advent 1
Mark 13
24In those days, right after that time of suffering, "The sun will become dark, and the moon will no longer shine. 25The stars will fall, and the powers in the sky will be shaken." 26Then the Son of Man will be seen coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27He will send his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the earth. 28Learn a lesson from a fig tree. When its branches sprout and start putting out leaves, you know summer is near. 29So when you see all these things happening, you will know that the time has almost come. [e] 30You can be sure that some of the people of this generation will still be alive when all this happens. 31The sky and the earth will not last forever, but my words will.Isaiah 40
1Our God has said: "Encourage my people! Give them comfort. 2Speak kindly to Jerusalem and announce: Your slavery is past; your punishment is over. I, the LORD, made you pay double for your sins." 3Someone is shouting: "Clear a path in the desert! Make a straight road for the LORD our God. 4Fill in the valleys; flatten every hill and mountain. Level the rough and rugged ground. 5Then the glory of the LORD will appear for all to see. The LORD has promised this!" 6Someone told me to shout, and I asked, "What should I shout?" We humans are merely grass, and we last no longer than wild flowers. 7At the LORD's command, flowers and grass disappear, and so do we. 8Flowers and grass fade away, but what our God has said will never change. What time is it?
A brief survey of the watches in a room will reveal the awful truth of time. We may not know the precise time. Some are clearly ahead, others are behind, and some vainly imagine they are correct every time.
The beginning of the long dash following ten seconds of silence marks one o'clock Eastern Standard Time.The National Research Council official time signal is familiar enough to ardent CBC listeners, and I have caught myself more than once struggling to correct the time on my watch while listening to the CBC (and, of course, driving the car – the place I most commonly listen)
There is, of course, a better solution. I have a watch (Casio, $29) that resets itself every morning at 1 a.m. to the atomic clock at Fort Collins in Colorado. A little indicator does a flashy thing and 'presto' I'm in sync with U.S. Naval Observatory and an array of over 80 atomic clocks worldwide. Colorado is also the home of the world's official timescale, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Sadly, I discovered this week that my special watch was off by an hour. Secret, pro-Bush messages beamed to my watch cost extra.
Now: the truly alarming news for you time-junkies. It's made up. It's a complete fabrication. There is no time in the sense that someone once said let's call this Sunday and let's call this 11 a.m. (give or take) and we will have invented time for ourselves. There were no atomic clocks before the atomic age, only groups of people who imagined that they had the correct time. The whole situation improved when Sir Sandford Fleming and Co. decided to create zones of time, but it was little more than a factual dressing on an obvious fiction. There is no time.
'Wait,' you are going to argue, 'the sun rises each day and the sun sets every night and so therefore there must be time.' You look in the mirror each day and see the steady progress of time, you will argue (or ignore) and so there must be time. Every year we mark our calendars and count down the days to the day of turkey and eggnog and then it arrives and so therefore there must be time.
Not quite: in fact, you have proved my point. There are two times, time that appears in lines and gray hairs and babies that become teenagers and the other time, the real time that begins with sunrise and sunset and seasons and recurring occasions and the endless déjà vu of everyday.
How many of you know the film 'Groundhog Day'? (Note to aspiring filmmakers: create a film that highlights a day every year and television stations will air it on an ongoing basis) In Groundhog Day Bill Murray plays an not-so-nice man who is caught in Punxsutawney, PA and must repeat the day over and over until he gets it right. He discovers, of course, that the secret of a satisfying life is to live for others rather than yourself and the loop is broken. It remains, however, a powerful metaphor for anyone who feels forced to repeat things in life until we get it right. Enter Christmas.
***
24In those days, right after that time of suffering, "The sun will become dark, and the moon will no longer shine. 25The stars will fall, and the powers in the sky will be shaken." What does this sound like? It belongs to the first Sunday of Advent but it also sounds like another significant passage we hear year by year:
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. 52The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. Matthew 27.50-52
Here we are, poised between the first Sunday of Advent and Good Friday, lost in time insofar as the powerful parallel is too hard to ignore yet the times are dissimilar. Jesus is alive and warning his disciples about a time after his death described in a manner that sounds precisely like the day his death. There is more:
Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. In this passage, the prophet Joel (2.10) describes the coming judgment, meted out, in this case, by an army of locusts send to destroy a wayward Israel. Again, the language is alarmingly similar, in part because both Jesus and Matthew adopt this imagery to convey the gravity of the time to come. And it is also timeless, happening in the time of the prophets, the time of the disciples, and in the time to come.
Amid the judgment, however, a word of hope:
Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Joel 2.13
The customary tearing of garments can be replaced with an internal rending, grief for sins of the past and the death of those sins leading to a new way of being. Again, it is no accident that the temple curtain was torn in two. The gospel writers loved Joel and found power in God's desire to break with the past inside the Holy of Holies. God is no longer confined to the inner sanctum of the Temple but at large in the world, at large and looking to reenter human experience in a new and profound way. Enter Christmas.
***
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins. The words sing. The words take flight. The words speak of the comfort we desire in the broken places in our lives. Even as we recall that Advent and Christmas are like a cosmic 'do-over' we are still left with the knowledge that our preparation will be incomplete. Many of the mistakes that we decided last year we wouldn't make again will be repeated. Things will be left undone and unsaid and unmet and we will spend at least part of the season feeling unfulfilled. Part of the answer we need to hear will come from Isaiah and Joel:
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God...return to me...for I am gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love...Time repeats precisely so we can get it right. Christ returns not to judge but to find us: lost coin, lost sheep, lost and prodigal child. What time is it? It is time to make room once more. It is time to become open to being found. It is time to turn from the things that hold us back and fill us with grief. It is time to hear words of comfort and truly listen. It is time.
Reign of Christ
Matthew 25
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'Sometimes a week passes and ideas and stories wash over me. I do keep an eye out for interesting stories related the church or faith in general and I am usually rewarded with a variety of them. This week was not exception:
In an article called "Praise Jesus and pass the popcorn" the paper described "The Meeting Place," an Oakville-based church that has recently set up two satellite congregations that meet in empty movie theatres. The latest is at the Paramount at John and Richmond where young adults mostly in their 20's and 30's gather to hear a pre-recorded message from Pastor Bruxy Cavey. In total, the Meeting Place welcomes about 3000 people per week.
Another article, this time about the torture and execution of Christians in North Korea. Possessing a Bible is a capital offence, and despite this the church continues to meet in secret in the most repressive country on the planet. The article described other atrocities that are too shocking to mention in a sermon.
Finally, I spend part of Friday night in the basement of a church with 20 young teens and a handful of very patient volunteer leaders. The kids were clearly enjoying themselves and the hospitality extended. My only disappointment with the evening was that my normally outgoing son became quite shy at his first dance at Birchcliff Bluffs United Church.
It seems to me that the task of the preacher is to bring all of these things together under the umbrella of scripture and weave together something that speaks to the day, the "times" and the context where we do ministry. It needs to articulate, well-formed, and under 15 minutes. I love my work. Sometimes I mix my metaphors. But I love my work.
***
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'The easiest sermon from Matthew 25 is "we need to be doing more of this." It is the most common message that will leave pulpits this morning and in many or perhaps most places it will be true. The challenge for the preacher, in this context, is to formulate a message that is more than congratulatory in a setting where the hungry are fed, the thirsty given drink, the stranger welcomed, the naked clothed (with gently used clothing at reasonable prices!) and the sick and imprisoned visited.
What message will enliven a community that heard the Gospel call to care for the most vulnerable in society and responded in a remarkable way? What are the implications of the choices this congregation made and have these implications become manifest yet?
The common thread through the catalogue of need described in Matthew 25 is the extent to which these people are on the margins. Sickness in the Bible often denoted "contagion;" nakedness, shame and powerlessness; poverty with an absence of God's blessing. In each of these cases we are meeting the most vulnerable and marginalized members of society. And when we stop to help, as Jesus noted, we become one with them. (Texts, p. 577)
"Why," his critics asked, "does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
"Simple," Jesus said, "because it is not the healthy ones that need a doctor, but the sick." (Matthew 9.11ff)
Are we ready to join the margins as we minister to those on the margins? "'Lord," they will ask, "when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' It is goal of mission that it become seamless, a uninterrupted continuity where care will no longer recognize individual faces but see only the face of Christ. Helping brother, helping neighbour and helping stranger become one because they are one in the Risen Christ.
***
I think the three stories I began with stayed with me because each posed a particular challenge to me as I ponder my own faith and the way I can convey this to you. I hope a minister beset by doubts and fears does not alarm you, and I hope that some of my musing meets some of your musing as we travel this road together.
In "Praise Jesus and pass the popcorn" I am confronted by more than a little envy. Why have I never experienced this type of church growth? Is it enough to say that it won't happen in our context or we don't preach the same message or whatever reasons we develop for being satisfied for what is rather that what could be? Do we make a study of it or do we dismiss it? I know one thing for certain: high expectations equals high commitment and low expectations equals low commitment.
In Korea, we are confronted by the past both ancient and modern. We remain comfortable describing persecution in early church and celebrate the faithful who risked their lives to safeguard the Gospel. When the persecution is happening at this moment, we become very uncomfortable. We talk about being sensitive to context, and interested in supporting indigenous religions, and don't like to be reminded of the 19th Century missionary movement that brought Christianity to Korea. I think we wish the whole situation would disappear, which is exactly what is happening in the face of the worst forms of repression.
Downstairs, among 20 young teens, I wonder how we convey the life-giving essence of our faith without scaring them away? I suppose it is enough to welcome them and remind them that this is a place where they are respected and cared for. They too live on the margins, wanting to be children when the world insists they grow up quickly and become consumers and adopt the values of the mainstream. We have an opportunity to show them another way, where we welcome them without hope of reward. This may be the last place that wants to get to know young people without trying to sell them something.
***
The lesson of Matthew 25 is that we need to remain on the margins and continually determine what this means. Jesus will forever remain on the margins of a society where money and success and personal power are the pressing obsessions of the day. We try to follow a different path, but our own ties to the non-marginalized world hold us back. We are beset by doubts and fears because we live with some comfort in a world that those we serve will never experience.
The key is Jesus. On this, the day we call the "Reign of Christ" we imagine an alternate reality where his priorities become our own and we seek to serve the world with all the energy we have. We work through our uncertainly and remember that we never do this alone.
I want to give the last word to the late Henri Nouwen, who struggled in his faith journal with these same issues:
Jesus came among us as an equal, a brother. He broke down the pyramidal structures of relationship between God and people as well as those among people and offered a new model: the circle, where God lives in full solidarity with the people and the people with one another.You will not be able to meet Jesus...full of doubts and fears. Jesus came to free you from those bonds and to create in you a space where you can be with him. He wants you to live the freedom of the children of God.Do not despair, thinking that you cannot change yourself after so many years. Simply enter into the presence of Jesus as you are and ask him to give you a fearless heart where he can be with you. You cannot make yourself different. Jesus came to give you a new heart, a new spirit, a new mind, and a new body. Let him transform you by his love and so enable you to receive his affection for your whole being.
Reign of Christ
Matthew 25
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Sometimes a week passes and ideas and stories wash over me. I do keep an eye out for interesting stories related the church or faith in general and I am usually rewarded with a variety of them. This week was not exception:
In an article called "Praise Jesus and pass the popcorn" the paper described "The Meeting Place," an Oakville-based church that has recently set up two satellite congregations that meet in empty movie theatres. The latest is at the Paramount at John and Richmond where young adults mostly in their 20's and 30's gather to hear a pre-recorded message from Pastor Bruxy Cavey. In total, the Meeting Place welcomes about 3000 people per week.
Another article, this time about the torture and execution of Christians in North Korea. Possessing a Bible is a capital offence, and despite this the church continues to meet in secret in the most repressive country on the planet. The article described other atrocities that are too shocking to mention in a sermon.
Finally, I spend part of Friday night in the basement of a church with 20 young teens and a handful of very patient volunteer leaders. The kids were clearly enjoying themselves and the hospitality extended. My only disappointment with the evening was that my normally outgoing son became quite shy at his first dance at Birchcliff Bluffs United Church.
It seems to me that the task of the preacher is to bring all of these things together under the umbrella of scripture and weave together something that speaks to the day, the "times" and the context where we do ministry. It needs to articulate, well-formed, and under 15 minutes. I love my work. Sometimes I mix my metaphors. But I love my work.
***
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
The easiest sermon from Matthew 25 is "we need to be doing more of this." It is the most common message that will leave pulpits this morning and in many or perhaps most places it will be true. The challenge for the preacher, in this context, is to formulate a message that is more than congratulatory in a setting where the hungry are fed, the thirsty given drink, the stranger welcomed, the naked clothed (with gently used clothing at reasonable prices!) and the sick and imprisoned visited.
What message will enliven a community that heard the Gospel call to care for the most vulnerable in society and responded in a remarkable way? What are the implications of the choices this congregation made and have these implications become manifest yet?
The common thread through the catalogue of need described in Matthew 25 is the extent to which these people are on the margins. Sickness in the Bible often denoted "contagion;" nakedness, shame and powerlessness; poverty with an absence of God's blessing. In each of these cases we are meeting the most vulnerable and marginalized members of society. And when we stop to help, as Jesus noted, we become one with them. (Texts, p. 577)
"Why," his critics asked, "does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
"Simple," Jesus said, "because it is not the healthy ones that need a doctor, but the sick." (Matthew 9.11ff)
Are we ready to join the margins as we minister to those on the margins? "'Lord," they will ask, "when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' It is goal of mission that it become seamless, a uninterrupted continuity where care will no longer recognize individual faces but see only the face of Christ. Helping brother, helping neighbour and helping stranger become one because they are one in the Risen Christ.
***
I think the three stories I began with stayed with me because each posed a particular challenge to me as I ponder my own faith and the way I can convey this to you. I hope a minister beset by doubts and fears does not alarm you, and I hope that some of my musing meets some of your musing as we travel this road together.
In "Praise Jesus and pass the popcorn" I am confronted by more than a little envy. Why have I never experienced this type of church growth? Is it enough to say that it won't happen in our context or we don't preach the same message or whatever reasons we develop for being satisfied for what is rather that what could be? Do we make a study of it or do we dismiss it? I know one thing for certain: high expectations equals high commitment and low expectations equals low commitment.
In Korea, we are confronted by the past both ancient and modern. We remain comfortable describing persecution in early church and celebrate the faithful who risked their lives to safeguard the Gospel. When the persecution is happening at this moment, we become very uncomfortable. We talk about being sensitive to context, and interested in supporting indigenous religions, and don't like to be reminded of the 19th Century missionary movement that brought Christianity to Korea. I think we wish the whole situation would disappear, which is exactly what is happening in the face of the worst forms of repression.
Downstairs, among 20 young teens, I wonder how we convey the life-giving essence of our faith without scaring them away? I suppose it is enough to welcome them and remind them that this is a place where they are respected and cared for. They too live on the margins, wanting to be children when the world insists they grow up quickly and become consumers and adopt the values of the mainstream. We have an opportunity to show them another way, where we welcome them without hope of reward. This may be the last place that wants to get to know young people without trying to sell them something.
***
The lesson of Matthew 25 is that we need to remain on the margins and continually determine what this means. Jesus will forever remain on the margins of a society where money and success and personal power are the pressing obsessions of the day. We try to follow a different path, but our own ties to the non-marginalized world hold us back. We are beset by doubts and fears because we live with some comfort in a world that those we serve will never experience.
The key is Jesus. On this, the day we call the "Reign of Christ" we imagine an alternate reality where his priorities become our own and we seek to serve the world with all the energy we have. We work through our uncertainly and remember that we never do this alone.
I want to give the last word to the late Henri Nouwen, who struggled in his faith journal with these same issues:
Jesus came among us as an equal, a brother. He broke down the pyramidal structures of relationship between God and people as well as those among people and offered a new model: the circle, where God lives in full solidarity with the people and the people with one another.
You will not be able to meet Jesus...full of doubts and fears. Jesus came to free you from those bonds and to create in you a space where you can be with him. He wants you to live the freedom of the children of God.
Do not despair, thinking that you cannot change yourself after so many years. Simply enter into the presence of Jesus as you are and ask him to give you a fearless heart where he can be with you. You cannot make yourself different. Jesus came to give you a new heart, a new spirit, a new mind, and a new body. Let him transform you by his love and so enable you to receive his affection for your whole being.
Proper 28
2 Corinthians 9
6Remember this saying, "A few seeds make a small harvest, but a lot of seeds make a big harvest."
7Each of you must make up your own mind about how much to give. But don't feel sorry that you must give and don't feel that you are forced to give. God loves people who love to give. 8God can bless you with everything you need, and you will always have more than enough to do all kinds of good things for others. 9The Scriptures say, "God freely gives his gifts to the poor, and always does right."
10God gives seed to farmers and provides everyone with food. He will increase what you have, so that you can give even more to those in need. 11You will be blessed in every way, and you will be able to keep on being generous. Then many people will thank God when we deliver your gift.
12What you are doing is much more than a service that supplies God's people with what they need. It is something that will make many others thank God. 13The way in which you have proved yourselves by this service will bring honor and praise to God. You believed the message about Christ, and you obeyed it by sharing generously with God's people and with everyone else. 14Now they are praying for you and want to see you, because God used you to bless them so very much. 15Thank God for his gift that is too wonderful for words!
The challenge is called 'name that movie.' Here are your clues:
Holds record for most weeks at top of the movie charts: 15
2nd most total of number 1 weekends: 15 (ET: The Extra-Terrestrial holds the record with 16 weeks)
Fastest movie to $500m gross: 98 days
Fastest movie to $600m gross: 252 days
All-Time Box Office Rank: 1
Academy Award Winner, 1997 Best Picture
Last clue: The film ends badly
(www.the-numbers.com/movies/1997/TITAN.html)
If you guessed Titanic, you are correct. If you can explain this success, I'm all ears. It's not that I didn't like the film, because I did. The special effects were remarkable, the attention to detail was admirable, and the acting...well. Let's just say that something else was going on. Something else that led teenage girls to the theatre ten times and led some of the same girls to stake out a solitary grave in a Halifax cemetery and imagine that it belonged to a fictional character in the film.
I know of at least one scholar who has a theory, and her name is Kenda Creasy Dean. She wrote:
True love, as every teenager knows, is always worth dying for. Passion is the truest love there is, a love worthy of sacrifice, a love so rare, so life-changing that it is the stuff of legends. It is Jack and Rose in the Titanic.
Dr. Dean spoke recently at the Queen's Alumni Conference to the theme "In Search of the Passionate Church." Through PowerPoint and video clips, as well as impassioned preaching, she made a case for the kind of church that would speak to young people and help them remain in our midst.
On the Titanic, everything was big. The boat was big, the legend of it's indestructibility was big, the iceberg was big (a tenth of it was big, anyway), Rose's choice was big, even the stone on the necklace was big. And biggest of all was the love between two young people, a young man and a young woman trying to find their way in the world and trying to find that love 'worth dying for' that Dr. Dean describes. They find it, of course, and young Jack sacrifices himself so that Rose can live. And live she does, choosing to leave one life behind to pursue another because of her life-altering experience of love.
***
13The way in which you have proved yourselves by this service will bring honor and praise to God. You believed the message about Christ, and you obeyed it by sharing generously with God's people and with everyone else. 14Now they are praying for you and want to see you, because God used you to bless them so very much. 15Thank God for his gift that is too wonderful for words!
"I'm gonna live so, God can use me" goes the African-American spiritual, "anywhere, Lord, anytime." Paul says it too: 'God used you to bless them so much.' It is a gift too wonderful for words that so many make themselves open to God in such a way that God can use them to further the work of the Kingdom. The rest of the verses to the spiritual bring us a complete picture of the Christian life, in the simplest way possible: I'm gonna live, I'm gonna work, I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna sing.
Paul presents his 'stewardship' message in the context of bringing honour to God. His formula is simple: you heard the message, you responded in love, and you brought glory to God. The message of Jesus Christ took form in your response, allowing God to use you to bless others. "Now they want to see you," Paul says, "and they are praying for you," because of this very blessing. They want to remain connected because of all the love that was shown.
***
I went looking for something "official" that could describe what stewardship means and I found this on the United Church website:
More simply said, stewardship is how we use God's stuff for God's world. God the Creator owns everything. It's God's stuff. It's God's world. The "bottom line" in stewardship is not about balancing church budgets. It IS about lives in balance. It's about personal and family and congregational...lives that flow from what God is calling us to be, living out a Spirit-empowered vision of what God's world could be.
I think this description draws us closer to the work of Kenda Creasy Dean, insofar as it puts the emphasis on the quality of our life with God and the extent to which we are talking about "lives in the balance." I'm not sure we can understate the importance of this question. Stewardship is about individual choices and the ways in which those choices touch the lives around us. It is a decision to work and pray and sing and live "so God can use me, anywhere, Lord, anytime." And it is so much more.
I want you to hear Dr. Dean's quote again:
True love, as every teenager knows, is always worth dying for. Passion is the truest love there is, a love worthy of sacrifice, a love so rare, so life-changing that it is the stuff of legends. It is Jack and Rose in the Titanic.
And where do teens go to find true love, a love 'worth dying for,' the stuff of legends? Where do they go to experience passion and a love 'worthy of sacrifice?' Where is all that youthful passion embraced and channeled into meaningful activities? Sadly, I don't think the answer is in church.
This week I was invited to join a group of 30-45 year-olds to solve the puzzle of the missing 30-45 year-olds. The United Church has begun a program called the "Emerging Spirit." It is a program designed to respond to the almost complete disappearance of the 30-45 age group. It will involve advertising, and the creation of a congregational welcoming program. And it will cost a lot of money.
So where are they? Where are the missing "not-quite-middle-age-but-no-longer-young-adults"? Beats me. I'm one of them and I don't have a hot clue. But I am willing to guess, and I would guess that the missing 30-45 year-olds are really no different from the missing teens who are looking for passion and are not finding it in church.
I want to briefly share with you Dr. Dean's research on the meaning of passion and how it can be made manifest in the church. I do this not in an effort to lure teens or those not-quite-middle-age people to the church, but in an effort to highlight what we already do well and what we can work on to be the best stewards we can be.
For Dr. Dean, passion has three dimensions: Fidelity, transcendence and communion. She calls them a revelation of God's passion and she grounds them in developmental theories regarding what young people need to become healthy individuals. Again, I would argue that these needs never end and speak to every age group.
Fidelity is "being there" for someone, being steadfast in the face of life's challenges. She cites teens who turn to their friends in the absence of parents as a danger here, because the need for someone to be 'steadfast' is very powerful.
Transcendence is the second dimension of passion. "Did it move me" is the implied question people will ask, and if the answer is no, they will move on. The need to be moved, stretched, challenged, 'rocked' as teens would say, is also powerful.
Finally, communion is a dimension of passion because it involves belonging and intimacy and the need for community. It means "being known" and feeling connected when modern life leaves us (so often) feeling disconnected.
These dimensions, fidelity, transcendence and communion are also at the heart of God's desire toward us. God is with us, God seeks to move us, and God longs for a relationship with us. Thank God for his gift that is too wonderful for words! God set out the template and we follow, living in such a way that we too express fidelity, transcendence and communion. At our best we are steadfast and moving and connected and willing to give our lives for the sake of others.
To be faithful stewards we need to focus on the parts of our life together that are 'to die for.' We need to build on the things that we already do well and look for find ways to improve. We need to love each other in the truest sense, "a love worthy of sacrifice, a love so rare, so life-changing that it is the stuff of legends." May we continue to be led, and continue to be challenged, through Christ, Amen.
Proper 27
1 Thessalonians 4
13My friends, we want you to understand how it will be for those followers who have already died. Then you won't grieve over them and be like people who don't have any hope. 14We believe that Jesus died and was raised to life. We also believe that when God brings Jesus back again, he will bring with him all who had faith in Jesus before they died. 15Our Lord Jesus told us that when he comes, we won't go up to meet him ahead of his followers who have already died.
16With a loud command and with the shout of the chief angel and a blast of God's trumpet, the Lord will return from heaven. Then those who had faith in Christ before they died will be raised to life. 17Next, all of us who are still alive will be taken up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the sky. From that time on we will all be with the Lord forever. 18Encourage each other with these words.
You can always get a seat on the subway on Sunday morning. On Wednesdays, when I go downtown to Emmanuel College (hard for a Queen's grad to say out loud) I have to wedge myself into the car and stand while attempting to keep my balance. But Sunday morning is akin to having a private rail car.
There is one unusual aspect to a Sunday morning subway ride, and that is the eternal presence of 'tracts.' You know them. They are the little religious tracts or booklets that are dropped here and there by zealous Christians. Sometimes people will hand them out on the street, or leave them in the waiting room at the doctor's office.
I guess the subway is a popular favourite because our conservative brothers and sisters are already on their way to church, so we know they are already thinking about it. Or perhaps they have been given the responsibility to giving away a certain number of tracts and this their last minute attempt to do their duty. For whatever reason, the subway on Sunday morning is littered with tiny, well-illustrated religious tracts.
The very first time I noticed this was also the most memorable. The tract was a detailed look at Christ's return, a staple of conservative Protestant theology, and the pictures were really scary. Employing the best of the comic book style, this tract picked up the story at the moment that the faithful had already been raised heavenward and the lost were newly aware that they were not among those lifted up.
Now they have me. I'm gripped by this little book and I turn the tiny page to see an alarming image of the not-so-faithful in the streets. They are really mad. The focus of the authors attention is not the lost that we might expect but the lost that didn't know that they were lost and are only now waking up to the fact that they are not among the unlost but are in fact lost. Who are they? These newly lost are members of the United Church and other mainline denominations, of course.
Why are they mad? Or perhaps I should say, why are you mad? It turns out (according to the little tract) that when the ministers of the newly lost realized that their people were among the lost they went into hiding, fearing that all those mild-mannered United Church folks would form an angry mob and come looking for the ministers that led them so far astray.
If you think I'm looking at you now with a critical eye, you are correct. I'm trying to imagine what you would look like as an angry mob and whether my hiding place is good enough knowing already that you are clever and resourceful people. Note to self: spend Monday finding a better hiding place.
Perhaps it's too easy to make fun of the little tract. Maybe there was a lesson for me contained in the pamphlet left on my seat that day on the subway as I was winging my way to church to preach to my congregation. It certainly explains why my Pentecostal cousins (from my mother's side) view me with such suspicion, knowing now that while it is bad to be lost, it is really bad to be a leader of the lost.
The lesson was not to repent of my United Church ways, but rather the lesson, I think, was to question why we gave the whole concept of the end of time to more conservative churches and never spoke of it again. Where is the discomfort? Are we simply too smart to believe in the Second Coming? There are certainly lots of clever way I can discount the topic. They taught us how to do it at Queen's. Funny, with all that book-learning, the little subway tract still lives somewhere, not so quietly, in the back of my brain.
***
16With a loud command and with the shout of the chief angel and a blast of God's trumpet, the Lord will return from heaven. Then those who had faith in Christ before they died will be raised to life. 17Next, all of us who are still alive will be taken up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the sky. From that time on we will all be with the Lord forever. 18Encourage each other with these words.
The key to interpreting this passage lies in the final line: encourage each other with these words. What we are reading is a form of distant pastoral care. Paul writes to maintain and strengthen the churches he founded. He took care to address issues as they arose and wrote in response.
In this case it was a promise that Jesus made that has caused trouble for the church in Thessalonica. He said, "I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." What Jesus meant was his return, and the coming of his Kingdom "in power." It was a promise that God's reign would be established on earth and that it would happen in the lifetime of the first believers.
The problem on the ground, of course, was that death did not wait, and believers were dying and Christ had yet to return. Members of the Thessalonian church (and all the others) were confused and upset that some were now dead and would miss the triumphant return and the rest of that blessed moment. Theology led to a pastoral issue the moment the first believer died in advance of Christ's return.
Paul's solution was to recount Jesus' promises. He wanted them to have the sequence of events in mind, but he began with the promises:
13My friends, we want you to understand how it will be for those followers who have already died. Then you won't grieve over them and be like people who don't have any hope. 14We believe that Jesus died and was raised to life. We also believe that when God brings Jesus back again, he will bring with him all who had faith in Jesus before they died.
Reassured regarding the sequence of events, he also reminds them to live as people of hope. They have no need to grieve in the manner that people without hope of reunion will, rather they can be assured that there will be a glad reunion in the time to come. I'm certain Paul didn't mean that we couldn't grieve (although some have unfortunately read it this way) but rather death doesn't have the same sting when we recall that death is never the final word. I like these words from the writer Michael Maynes: "To believe that beyond death lies resurrection might be thought to make departing (and the grieving process) less painful. It doesn't. What it does is to change the whole context in which you see your life." (Resources, p. 271)
***
It was in fourth and fifth century that the first wave of Christian monasticism took place. It happened throughout the Near East and led to a collection of wisdom we now know as the "Sayings of the Desert Fathers." In fact there were desert fathers and mothers, and while much of the ascetic life is completely foreign to us, there are stories and sayings that speak through time and circumstance.
One father, known simply as 'the shepherd' said this: 'Vigilance, self-knowledge and discernment; these are the guides of the soul.' The Abba (or father) who spoke these words lived among those who waited for Christ's return and made a lifestyle of waiting. While few of us would consider leaving the world behind to live in a cave or a monastery, it helps, I think, to learn from these teachers the practice of waiting.
Vigilance, self-knowledge and discernment; these are the guides of the soul. I think many of us would agree that if your did some sort of high-tech scan of the quality of the souls that surround us we would find them somewhat diminished. I'm not being moralistic or judgmental when I say this. I'm talking about the malaise that I see in so many eyes, the anxiety that many experience, the unease and the longing that come through in conversations of any depth or meaning. I struggle to understand the root.
Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled, do not let them be afraid." But I am afraid that this is precisely where many souls in our world dwell. That it was as simple as knowing the sequence of events in a fondly held belief. I think the trouble is much deeper, in a place within where we struggle to even know ourselves. This is where the guidance of 'the shepherd' is critical. We need to practice self-knowledge and discernment was we imagine a future, we need to understand our soul's state and discern a way to grow as we need.
***
Some might argue that imagining the end of time meets some unmet psychological need and is best dismissed as the domain of primitive or damaged minds. It may be no accident that the most dangerous cults in recent times were largely focused on the end of the world. I don't think this discounts the whole topic, owing that Jesus focused much of his attention on the coming of the Kingdom and the need for watchfulness.
Another gift of the desert fathers, this time from Anthony the Great, is the idea of 'interior watchfulness.' He and his fellow hermits tried to describe what they were doing out in the desert and the phrase 'interior watchfulness' is perhaps the best description.
Interior watchfulness is based on the knowledge that this reality is temporary, and that the best preparation for a life with God is to tend to your soul. This is intimately related to idea that resurrection changes the context in which you see your life. Some call it a 'faithful' or 'joyful' response to the gift of God's grace. How ever you describe it, the broad outline is that look within and alter our response to the gift of life accordingly. We are watchful because we want to be ready -- not for the end times -- but for whatever moment or means God chooses to meet us.
May God help us as we strive for interior watchfulness. May we find God at the very centre of our interior lives. Amen.
