Standing Tall Luke 21: 25-36, by Marshall Zieman, preached 12-2-2018 at PCOC In the Presbyterian Church, as in many other churches, in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we celebrate Advent. Advent, as you know, is a season, four Sundays long. Along the way we light Advent candles, we sing Advent songs, open Advent calendars. The tension mounts, as we count down the days to Christmas. It s not just a ploy to help the kids wait; it s meant to help all of us prepare. In the church, we don t just put up the colors of red and green; we do purple, or sometimes blue. We re going to get to Christmas, but we don t try to fast forward ourselves there. Advent is a journey. When we get to Christmas, we want to feel like we ve been somewhere, that we ve arrived. We don t want to arrive all strung out and exhausted. If we did go straight from Thanksgiving to Christmas, we would sort of go from one consumer feeding frenzy to the next. Some people do, but you don t want to do that. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Advent begins the church year. So, today is New Year s Day in the church. Happy New Year! The Advent Bible readings that the lectionary suggests of course will have us tell the story of Jesus birth w angels & shepherds, but we always start before that. Next week we will visit John the Baptist in the desert, as he predicts that the Messiah is coming. Today, we hear, one more time, Jesus words to his disciples as he prepares to go to the cross, and today he will predict his return to earth, one day in the future - a second Advent. So there is always, in Advent, a past, present, and future aspect. Every year we just want to make it to Christmas in one piece, but God wants so much more for us than that. There are bigger things happening than just finding the perfect gift or going to a great party. Advent always begins, first with Jesus own words about his return in glory one day. That s what the hymn Joy to the World is really about - his second Advent, when he comes back to rule the world, with truth and grace. Today s reading is taken from the end of Luke, in chapter 21. For some added punch, let me read the passage from Eugene Peterson s translation of the Bible called The Message, taken from Luke 21, beginning in vere 25. Jesus is speaking to his disciples about his future return: Luke 21:25-36 (The Message) 25-26 It will seem like all hell has broken loose - sun, moon, stars, earth, sea, in an uproar and everyone all over the world in a panic, the wind knocked out of them by the threat of doom, the powers-that-be quaking. 27-28 And then then! they ll see the Son of Man welcomed in grand style - a glorious welcome! When all this starts to happen, up on your feet. Stand tall with your heads high. Help is on the way! 29-33 He told them a story. Look at a fig tree. Any tree for that matter. When the leaves begin to show, one look tells you that summer is right around the corner. The same here - when you see these things happen, you know God s kingdom is about here. Don t brush this off: I m not just saying this for some future generation, but for this one, too - these things will happen. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won t wear out. 34-36 But be on your guard. Don t let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, for it s going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once. So, whatever you do, don t go to sleep at the switch. Pray constantly that you will have the strength and wits to make it through everything that s coming and end up on your feet before the Son of Man.
2 The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God! At this time of the year we don t only look back to Christ s first Advent (although that s important); we also must look forward to that Great Day when he returns again, this time to reign. The first time he came in obscurity, to that Little Town of Bethlehem, but as Christ the King Sunday reminded us last week, he will come again in glory, this time to reign, and the whole world will know it. Theologians refer to this event with a cheery word, The Apocalypse. In the Bible it s also called the End of Days, or The Day of the LORD. Matthew and Mark also include Jesus talking about his return. This year, we see Luke s version of it. We read of signs in the heavens, natural disasters, world-wide upheaval. Times of fear and foreboding. The powers of heaven are shaken. It s a funny way to welcome in the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. And so we begin Advent, not only to remember and celebrate the Christ who came 2000 years ago, not only to help us find meaning in the next four weeks as we make our preparations, but also to anticipate and look forward to the fullness of time when Christ returns to bring about the redemption of the world. That. Whenever we stop to think about the cataclysmic end of the world, well, it s terrifying. Humanity often falls into one of two categories, similar to CS Lewis warning about the devil: we either fixate on it and pay so much attention to it so that it takes over our lives, or we go to the opposite extreme, and ignore it completely. Advent is meant to help us fall somewhere in the middle, in a healthy way. I don t think Jesus is telling his disciples all this just to scare them to death, but to help them to see a bigger picture, that the healing of the world is already at hand. Risen with healing in his wings, says the prophet Micah. Hard times will come, but all is not out of control (although it often may feel that way). There are always many things to be scared of. You see the news, and your stomach goes into a knot. Take your pick between: the Russians, collusion, and corruption, thousands of homes destroyed in California wildfires (including family members of some of our church members), wars in the Middle East and Africa, and now another earthquake in Alaska (which affected the family of some of our church members). Or think back to all the tough Christmases over the centuries: George Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas Eve, our northern and southern soldiers in the Civil War, US soldiers far from home in World Wars I and II, in Korea, and Vietnam. Think of families suffering through the Great Depression, or getting laid off in 2008 and 2009, or today s farmers trying to hold on and not sell their soybeans because of historically low prices. In times like these, said Paul Harvey, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these. At the same time, our culture will show ads saying we all should just be merry and bright. We should all be out buying matching pickups, it seems, or taking on more debt when we know we can t afford it. Neither the headlines or the commercials offer us any real hope in troubled times. But Jesus does. His words, spoken way back in the first Century, are still relevant today. Maybe you weren t around in the Civil War or Great Depression, or maybe you haven t fought in a war far away from home, but the words he told his disciples, just a few days before their dark night of the soul, still speak to us in 2018. Let s hear Jesus words again from Luke 21. Which phrase speaks most loudly to you this year? When all this starts to happen, up on your feet. Stand tall with your heads high. Help is on the way! Sky and earth will wear out; my words won t wear out.
3 Don t let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Whatever you do, don t go to sleep at the switch. Pray constantly that you will have the strength and wits to make it through everything that s coming and end up on your feet before the Son of Man. There s a good half a dozen sermons in there, but you get the point: even in times of trouble and tribulation, hang in there and persevere, because he is with us, and he s coming back. It s like what Jesus says to his disciples near the end of John s gospel: In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world! We have started a new Advent tradition here at Church of the Cross. Actually, Pastor Lynda got it started last year. It s the evening worship service called, Blue Christmas. As mentioned, it will be held next Sunday night, here in the sanctuary at 5:30. Blue Christmas is not meant to be sad or morbid; it s not a funeral, but it is a time in which we recognize that as Christmas approaches, we all have a lot of things on our minds to zap the joy out of our Christmas. There are old memories of past disappointments, of times that weren t always perfect. Or, as this Christmas approaches, we carry burdens that weigh us down, or we have loved ones who are not with us anymore, and we miss them. Blue Christmas is a time to be with others who carry burdens and know we are not alone. If Christmas is hard for you, and you struggle to stand tall and hold your head up, then we offer you a special worship service next Sunday night. There s communion, there s candlelight and candle lighting, our Chamber Singers offer special music. Our sanctuary is beautiful at night. It will be a special evening together. But we start Advent today by mentioning The Apocalypse. The root meaning of the word Apocalypse is revelation. That s what we really should be praying for this season, something that each of us should have on our Christmas list, that God would reveal himself to us afresh in the midst of all our preparations. As we wait for another Christmas to arrive we say, Even so, Come Lord Jesus. Amen. Let s pray.
4 Jan Richardson Reading from the Gospels, Advent 1, Year C: Luke 21.25-36 As I write this, I m en route from Orlando to New Brunswick, Canada, where I ll be leading a women s retreat as we prepare to enter into Advent. It seems fitting that my journey into Advent, a season characterized by waiting, is beginning with flight delays. The delay in Orlando turned out great not only because the extra hour and a half that I spent there provided one of the calmest interludes that I ve had amidst the extra-full pace of the past few weeks, but also because it reduced the amount of time I m currently having to spend laid over at an airport that shall remain nameless. The airport is absolutely crammed with people, and my inner introvert is reeling. I m usually really good at being able to find a semi-quiet spot in any airport, but this evening I m doing well just to have found a few square feet of space here on the floor outside a door marked Bus Hold Room as I eat my second turkey sandwich of the day. (Not because I have a hankering for turkey; let s just say that the airport could do with a few more food options at this terminal.) Amid the masses, it feels like I m in some cosmic way station. I find myself marveling at the endless variety by which humans can take shape, and also overwhelmed by their sheer numbers, close proximity, and noise. All in all, I m finding this a good place to think about the apocalypse. Each year, the lectionary for the first Sunday of Advent gives us a version of Jesus words about the end of days. This year Luke does the honors. In Luke 21.25-36, we read of celestial signs, cataclysms of nature, and distress upon the earth. Jesus speaks of fear and foreboding that will come upon the people. He tells of how, in the days to come, the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Along with its parallels in the gospels of Matthew and Mark, this passage forms part of what is sometimes called the little apocalypse. It seems a sobering and grim way to welcome us into a season that in the Christian tradition is a time of expectation and celebration and that the wider culture typically depicts as cheery. Yet in greeting us as we cross the threshold into Advent, this apocalypse-in-miniature reminds us that this season bids us not only to remember and celebrate the Christ who has already come to us, but also to anticipate and look toward the fullness of time when he will bring about the redemption of the world. That s what Jesus is really getting at in this passage, after all: he is not offering these apocalyptic images in order to scare the pants off people but rather to assure his listeners that the healing of the world is at hand, and that they need to stay awake, stay alert, and learn to read the signs of what is ahead. He is calling them not to crumble or quail when intimations of the end come but instead to stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Jesus urges his hearers and us toward practices that help them stay grounded and centered in their daily lives so that they won t be caught unawares in the days to come. This is the message that the lectionary gives us each year as we enter into Advent. Again and again, we are called to circle back around the apocalypse, to revisit its landscape, to take in its terrain. With its annual return, and its repetitive challenge to us, this passage puts me in mind of an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Preparing to save the world yet again, a weary Buffy has this exchange with Giles, her Watcher: Buffy: How many apocalypses is this now? Giles: About six, I think. Buffy: Feels like a hundred. The season of Advent gives us the apocalypse each year not only so that we might recognize it, should it come, but also and perhaps especially that we might enter more mindfully into our present landscape and perceive the signs of how God is working out God s longing in the world here and now. The root meaning of the word apocalypse, after all, is revelation. And God is, in every time and season, about the work of revealing God s presence. The one who came to us two millennia ago as Emmanuel, God-with-us, and who spoke of a time when he would come again in fullness, reveals himself even now in our midst, calling us to see all the guises in which he goes about in this world.
5 Advent reminds us, year in and year out, that although we are to keep a weather eye out for cosmic signs, we must, like the fig tree that Jesus evokes in this passage, be rooted in the life of the earth. And in the rhythm of our daily lives here on earth, Christ bids us to practice the apocalypse. He calls us in each day and moment to do the things that will stir up our courage and keep us grounded in God, not only that we may perceive Christ when he comes, but also that we may recognize him even now. There is a sense, after all, in which we as Christians live the apocalypse on a daily basis. Amid the destruction and devastation that are ever taking place in the world, Christ beckons us to perceive and to participate in the ways that he is already seeking to bring redemption and healing for the whole of creation. As we enter the season of Advent, and spiral yet again around the landscape that this first Sunday gives to us, how might Christ be inviting you to practice the apocalypse? What are the habits that keep you centered in God, that sharpen your vision, and that help you recognize the presence of Christ in this world? How do you participate in the redemption that God is ever working to bring about within creation? What is it that you long for in these Advent days? Blessings and peace to you in this coming season. Debie Thomas, Journey with Jesus I didn't grow up observing Advent. My childhood church didn't follow the liturgical calendar, so the holiday lineup I remember went straight from Thanksgiving turkeys and pumpkin pies to Christmas trees and "Jingle Bells one consumer feeding frenzy pressing hard into the next. But as I ve moved deeper into the liturgical tradition, I have come to love the holy season we re now entering. I love that the Church begins its new year when the days are still getting darker. I love that the season rejects shallow sentimentality and false cheer. And I love that the Gospel gets us started this week with images not of swaddling clothes, twinkly stars, and fleecy lambs but of the world as it really is, here and now. Gorgeous, fragile, and falling apart.
Jeremiah 33:14-16 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) The Righteous Branch and the Covenant with David 6 14 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: The LORD is our righteousness. The Coming of the Son of Man 25 There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. The Lesson of the Fig Tree 29 Then he told them a parable: Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Exhortation to Watch 34 Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.