Advent I- Year C- 2024- St. Mark’s, Charleston
Happy New Year! Happy New Church Year! We have entered a whole new Church year, and it is a new beginning — an opportunity for a reset in our relationship with the God of our hope.
This morning, I’d like to offer some thoughts about Advent - this mysterious season -, to look at our gospel reading a bit, and to explore the idea of judgement as a part of the last days.
Advent is a strange season, and today we are invited to push out into its deep waters. There is noise and cloud - shouting in the desert and heavy fog-like cloud, sounds like the roaring of waves, darkness, and, then, finally, silence...all giving way, at Christmas, to the light of a single flame burning in the enveloping darkness.
Now, in our time, its fairly normal to mark the New Year with fireworks and Jesus is revealing some of his own as we will hear in our reading from Luke...
One would think that it would make sense to begin at the beginning with this story of how God came to be with us but, instead, we begin with a vision of the end of all things. It’s a little like reading the last chapter in the book before we start the first chapter. So, let us step out and listen and see what the Holy Spirit might be saying to us this day.
Today, we’re in the Gospel of Luke and the disciples and Jesus are in Jerusalem. It’s a few days before his arrest and death, and they must have been asking about the end times.. .what it would be like and when it would come..
Jesus says, as we heard, "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations — there will be chaos caused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. Listen to this: People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
The experience of the end will be so intense that people will literally faint from fear.. .1 wonder if you have ever been that afraid?
And then Jesus says, but YOU, when these things start to unfold, don’t try to hide, you don’t need to be afraid, look up because your redemption, the great day of reckoning, where justice will be done and the healing of all that is broken will begin and the new creation will come into glorious flower. But YOU, look up!
These word remind me a little bit of those blessed first responders who run toward a crisis when everyone else is trying desperately to get away.. WE don’t need to be afraid on that day. .because the spiritual veil separating heaven and earth will be drawn aside and we will see him - the Beloved - our Jesus- the one who loves us and who treasures us - the one who is ever present although we cannot see him physically. Although, perhaps, we can sense him with the eyes of our hearts. Yes, we will see him, and it will a time of unbounded joy.
And then, Jesus switches from this cosmic imagery — from the terrifying sounds and fury to a humble, earthy example. Perhaps they were standing by a fig tree when he made these remarks- Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they come out in leaf... when they begin to green up, you know that summer is coming...
But here’s the thing, you won’t be able to see it if you are swallowed up with the cares of the world or with drunkenness or all of the myriad of ways we distract ourselves... NO, he says stay awake., pay attention, keep watch..
So, Jesus, what exactly are we looking for?
In the here and now, we need to keep looking for the signs of the kingdom breaking in and O they are all around us when we have eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts that are not distracted. So what keeps us from seeing the Kingdom that Jesus says is right here- (although, only in part) ?
I think we can’t see it most often because of fear so I’d like to come back to the fear response. Jesus says people will faint out of fear. I want to suggest that part of this is the fear of judgement. This is something, I believe, many of us wrestle with.
I’m reminded of the billboards I used to see all over the highways with words like — Jesus is coming back! Are you saved? - and words to that effect....
In our Collect for the Day, one of the most beautiful of them all, we pray, (this is the last part) - that “in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal;
To be judged is a frightening prospect., but, here’s the thing, it all depends on who the judge is...
Here’s a story - Many years back, one of our sons - when he was in high school- got into a fist fight with another young man over comments made about our son’s girlfriend. Our son broke several bones in his hand, and the other boy ended up with a broken nose. They both ended up in the emergency room. That young man’s mother decided that they should press charges for assault and battery against our son. So, our son got a phone call saying a warrant was out for his arrest. This was not good. We lawyered up and they did too.
On the day of court, we arrived and sat at the back of the courtroom. There were other cases being heard at the front. At one point I looked up and realized with a terrible shock that I knew the judge. He was a former parishioner. I was horrified., what was he going to think of our son, of us - you can imagine... I felt shame, humiliation, along with great fear for our son and I prayed that somehow a miracle would happen, that he would excuse himself and someone else would hear our case. And, he would not ever know that we had been there. No such luck.
Finally, it was our son’s turn and we went forward and stood behind him. The judge looked at us and it was not the terrible, critical, judgmental look I had feared, but there was compassion. He asked both young men to come forward and tell him what had happened. They both admitted their fault. After listening carefully, he spoke sternly to them both, dismissed it, and required our son to get some anger management therapy. A good call.
Later, in addition to feeling a deep sense of relief, I realized., he knew us. He knew what kind of parents we were as he had seen our family Sunday in and Sunday out for years. He knew our son. Gradually, my personal sense of shame and fear for my son diminished., the judge knew us and he cared for us. I don’t think the way he handled our case was unusual - for, as we waited in the courtroom, I heard and witnessed his compassion in dealing with other cases. It turned out that was his reputation as well.
This is the point I believe Jesus is trying to make - yes, there will be a kind of judgement because what happens to us at the hands of other matters. The injustice, the injuries we have suffered have consequence. And, how we treat others matters BUT here’s the thing, we do not need to be afraid because Jesus—the one who knows us, who loves us is our judge and his compassion is unbounded and his remedies are grounded in love. Jesus says when these things begin - look up and raise your head because your redemption is drawing near.
So Advent is a time when we think about the last things and the first things - in my end is my beginning - noted TS Elliot, We hear the words of the prophets, and the words of an angel to a young woman.
So, We begin again in Advent.
We can run towards what is scaring other people ... And we can know that
The star is already tracing its path through the heavens...
The wisemen are already on their way
The shepherds are already in the fields
Mary is pregnant and Joseph is trying his best
The prophets have spoken
And John the Baptist has been born
Caesar Augustus has already declared a census.
The time of our Lord’s nativity has approached..
and his coming in glory at the end of time is already approaching...
So, beloved, let us wake up, keep an eye out for the presence of the Lord, let us love and trust the One who will be our judge and not fear him...
Let us push out into the depths of Advent, let us love God, each other, and all those we meet along the way and above all let us stay awake and hold onto the God of our hope - the one who is and has always been in the boat with us..
For, in him is our hope.. ..St Augustine wrote “And when we say ‘God’ what have we said? That one syllable contains all that we hope for” .
May our God in Christ bless you with renewed hope, love and vigilance this Advent. Amen!
JTCO
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