I hate to disrupt your life as you read this. Continue only if you dare. You see, I know that you have been busy with the excitement of buying Christmas presents and celebrating Thanksgiving with laughter and turkey. I know that excitement about the hunt is everywhere as the last days count down before buck and doe seasons. I just hate to ruin it in any way; but I will.I have to because we are blindsided this week by apocalyptic words from the gospel of Mark:
"After…suffering,
the sun will be darkened,and the moon will not give its light,and the stars will be falling from heaven,and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven."
Nothing like end time visions to put a damper on growing Christmas cheer.
“Honey, you’ve got to go to church with me to help you get into the Christmas spirit!” a wife says.
“Oh the destruction of the world as we know it, thanks for bringing me honey, that was really helpful,” the husband responds.
To those who have no pain in their lives, hearing the words, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away,” probably is a holiday disruption. But to those who will not get to celebrate in 25 days with the one they want to the most, it is nice to know that grief will not get the last word. God’s word is the last word.
To those who look at themselves and see health and look at their family and see vibrancy, hearing the words, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away,” is probably a garble of background noise. But, to those who are swinging and punching a terrible illness head on and who feel they are loosing the fight; they are words that illness will not have the last word. God’s word is the last word.
To those who know their lives are perfectly put together and their clothes match with no wrinkles or stray hairs, the words, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away,” do not even register. But, they strike fear in the hearts of those of us who have hurt other around us and have violated God’s law of love of the neighbor. The heart wrenching fear over our terrible failures drives us to run in shame; to run into the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross, whose last words are words of forgiveness, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Jobs can be eliminated, family members can hate you, world economies can crash, terrorists can murder hundreds, nuclear weapons can devour whole people, the environment can fail and break under the stress of mismanagement, the sun can go dark, and the moon and stars can fail to give light, heaven and earth can fail to exist…all of these things can happen, but they cannot destroy God’s word, the final word, the word of Christ that says, “I love you, you are not forgotten, you are forgiven, you are my people and I am your God, nothing can separate you from my love.”
Listen. These words of hope reverberate throughout all of creation, and if we are carefully listening, we can hear it. If we listen carefully tomorrow while waiting for the prize buck to pass, we will hear God’s eternal word of love. If we listen carefully under the mumble of mall crowds, we will hear it whispered through the halls to all people. If we keep awake, we will hear the truth of God’s love all around us.
I think I know what causes the big problems of the world. I am fairly certain. They are caused by sleepiness. Truckers will certainly agree with that statement, but I mean more than just trying to keep your eyes open after fourteen hours of straight driving. Sleepiness causes us to miss opportunities for God’s love and care. I was just on facebook with a friend who just saw the most horrific thing that he will probably ever see in his life. He had just filled his plate with steak and salad at a Golden Coral Buffet, and was walking to his table to enjoy this feast when just twenty feet in front of him a car smashed through the wall of the eating establishment, hit a family who were sitting at the table right next to the wall, and had it’s windshield smashed by falling bricks which threatened the confused elderly driver inside.
The amazing thing was, this was not the most horrific thing he had ever seen in his life. The most horrific thing was what he saw when he looked back at the people in the restaurant. They just continued to walk up to the buffet, load their plates, and eat. The guy is prone to great depression, and he could not help but feel hopeless to see all of these people around him upright and walking, but completely asleep. They were asleep to people who needed them. They were asleep to compassion and love. They were asleep to God. And then the most horrifying thing of all, he looked at himself, just sitting there, judging others, and he saw that he too was asleep. Who was going to help the injured? Where they all asleep?
It is because of our sleepiness that we in the church celebrate the season of Advent before we even think of celebrating the joys of Christmas. During Advent, we put off the holiday cheer for a few weeks to allow God to shape us into people who are awake. While the rest of the world walks around asleep in dreams of presents and holiday carols and buffet tables, Christ is shaking us awake to a life of compassion and love, the life of being awake, the life that knows that everything in the world is simply here for a short time, then it is gone; but God’s word of love will last forever.
Christ, please wake us up. Let us be an Advent people who do not forget to search out your love. Let us be an Advent people who do not forget to show your love to all the world. Amen.
All Scripture quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyrighted, 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and is used by permission. All rights reserved.
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