December 3, 2006

Luke 21:25-36

Sermon By: Wayne Irwin

Once upon a time God lived at the North Pole. And he wanted little boys and girls to be happy and have lots of good times. But if they wanted toys, they had to be good.  

So God sent a spaceman to tell the shepherds not to be afraid, because even though Santa Claus was coming to town, wicked old Herod was going to kill all the little babies.  

Now there were three wise men watching CNN. And they saw the baby Jesus come to earth in a spaceship that was so bright it looked like a star. So they travelled to where the spaceship landed, and they travelled for a very long time. But they did not get tired because they came in a sleigh drawn by three camels named Prancer, Donder and Rudolph and by one horse named Wolf Blitzen. Their one-horse sleigh went jingle-jingle all the way, and frightened the shepherds’ sheep.  

But when the sheep started to run, the pilot of the space ship leaned out to tell the shepherds not to spank their sheep, because this would make them sore afraid.  

But if they went to the Bethlehem Steel Company they could see Jesus in a manger with a light bulb to keep the baby from getting cold.  

So then, three kings came to see the baby Jesus there, bringing presents.  

One had some gold from Fort Knox. Another, whose name was Frank Incense gave Jesus ‘murr’ or something And the shepherds did not see the spacemen any more. But they decked the hall where Jesus was with boughs of holly so that if wicked Herod came there, he would prick his finger and die.  

Jesus liked all the animals around him. There was a donkey and a cow and a horse and two sheep, a bear, a lion and a hippopotamus and a push-me-pull-you. And all the people wore clothes made from old living room curtains And they said that Herod’s other name was ‘Scrooge.’  

That is an altered excerpt from a piece of writing by Robert McAfee Brown called “The Gospel according to St. Hereticus.”  

And it lifts up for us the confusion in the understanding of so many in this world.  

We live in a world that is much confused. We live in a world that is much afraid. And here we go down the road to Christmas. And it is the season of anticipation. and we . . . all of us . . . are waiting.

Waiting . . . in this life, waiting.  

But awaiting what? Awaiting consummation. Awaiting fulfilment. Awaiting the future that is symbolized by the metaphor of the word ‘heaven.’ The perfect relationship.

The perfect job. The perfect family and home-life. Looking forward to something that is better than whatever the present may be.  

Jesus lived in a time when people were also waiting. Waiting for the day when the occupying force of the Romans would be gone from Jerusalem. Waiting for the day when the Russians would be out of Chechnya, when the Americans would be out of Iraq, when the Israelis would be out of the Occupied Territories of the West  Bank.  

Waiting, as they described it, for the day of the Coming of the Messiah, for the day of the election of the leader of the Liberal Party, for the ‘New Trudeau,’ for the coming of the Great Day.  

And Jesus was telling them, that were that to actually happen, everyone would be unprepared. In spite of their hopes for a better future, and in spite of their fears, were its accomplishment to take place today most everyone would be unprepared. That’s what Jesus was saying.

And we might well say ‘Amen’ to that.  

And yet we can be prepared in our day. Prepared for a better day. Even while we are waiting. In fact the waiting time is the time to become prepared. And that is what Advent is all about. It is a season in the Christian year for the purpose of reminding us to get ourselves ready.  

And not ready just for Christmas. But for the wonderful things God is going to do -- the wonderful things in addition to what God is already doing.  

To get ready for the wonderful future. Not to cling tenaciously to the imperfect past. But to brave our fears. To let go of our assumptions that it can never be any better. And to set our face for the realization, that anything is possible with God, and that God has an amazing intent -- and its actualization actually is waiting for us!!!  

There will be signs, Jesus said, in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, and on the earth there will be distress among nations . . . And people will faint from fear and foreboding . . . because the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  

But Jesus was saying that these are not signs that things are terribly wrong. These are signs of what God is expecting. Signs of the natural outcome of everything that has been going on. The natural outcome of all that presently is. These are signs of the interplay of the forces that fuel the universe. Natural . . . Normal . . . and not to be feared.  

In other words we are to interpret all the trouble in the world as confirmation that what is supposed to happen is happening, in God’s scheme of things even things that are happening to us. Our patience is being tested, or our commitment . . . or our faith.  

And we are to take heart. The trouble is not a sign of chaos. Not a sign that Evil has achieved the ultimate upper hand. But rather a sign of the last days.

A sign of the imminent consummation of the victory that Easter represents. A sign of the final arrival of the Great Day of Rejoicing. The battle between Good and Evil has been won. It does not have to be fought again. And the Day when it is all behind us will soon be here.

When I was a child my Christmases were spent on a farm near Orillia, at my mother’s family home. And on Christmas Day the family tradition was that my mother  and father and I and all of the other relatives would enjoy a great dinner together in the early afternoon, followed by a gathering in the living room for the wonderful ritual of exchanging gifts.  

Names had been drawn a month before. And each one present, in this way, received one gift . . . from everyone.  

And the sitting down to the feast and the giving and the receiving of gifts was, of course, the pinnacle of the day. The balance spent in conversation, and checkers, and crokinole and board games. And for some of us the evening spent skating together on the frozen farm pond.  

But the morning was extraordinarily special too. And that was because of the anticipation.  

As I and my playmate cousins who lived on the farm played in the snow or in the hay mow in the morning we were each aware that the highlight of the day was yet to come. And as the morning wore on we knew that the afternoon was drawing nearer.  

Then, when the first carload of relatives would arrive, great squeals and shouts of greeting would ring in the air. It was a sign that what was expected was coming to pass.

And I remember all being in readiness – the turkey cooked, the potatoes and the turnip done. And someone saying “As soon as the last carload gets here, we can start.”  

And I remember the restlessness of the waiting. No possibility now of concentrating on any game. No possibility now of putting one’s mind to anything more  intensive than sliding down the hill on a toboggan one more time.  

And I remember the one year that time dragged on and on. Everyone was there except for one family.  

And I and my cousins found ourselves a quarter of a mile down the road at the crossroads where we could see them coming just that much sooner.  

We were not in doubt about their arrival. We knew that they would come. And in the meantime we really were enjoying the anticipation, but at the same time we wishing the waiting were over. The excitement itself a joy – but at the same time a joy that was tainted by the yearning for the waiting to be done. So we could get on with the feast.

So we could get on with the afternoon delights.  

And then we saw the car. Away off in the distance. Coming towards us.  And Oh, how we ran! Across the field. Across the snow. To be the first to announce that the waiting was over, that the feast could begin.  

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger . . . who brings good news.” (Isaiah 52:7)  

And that’s the spirit of this season in the Church. And for those of us who are bound up in Jesus that’s also the spirit of our life at this point in human history. We wait in great anticipation of that which is surely coming – enjoying our life here, but at the same time yearning for the waiting to be done.

And we have that outlook in life only because our faith informs us that there is a joy that is to come. A joy whose magnitude is beyond describing.  

In some sectors of the Church this anticipated future fulfilment is represented by the metaphor of the Second Coming of Christ.  

And in some sectors of the Church it is presented as something called ‘The Rapture.’ And, in some sectors as something to be feared. The final Judgement. The final Condemnation for screwing up in life. The final kiss-off into oblivion. The final “being left behind.”  

But No! We are to remember, and it is ours to declare, that the Gospel response to this is ‘No!’ And ‘No!’ because of Jesus. Because Jesus shows us what God is really like!  

That God has prepared oblivion not for us, but for the Evil of this world. That Hell, in other words, is not for us. It is only for that which interferes with what is for us . . . our eternal delight.  

And because of Jesus we know this. Because of Jesus, we know what really awaits. And that’s why we bother to celebrate the Birth of Jesus. Because he’s the Window on the Grand Feast, on the Great Heavenly Banquet with a place at the table for each. For you.   And even for me.

And with gifts for each as well. On the other side of dinner. Gifts of eternal bliss. . . eternal delight. And no need to be confused about it And no need for fear, no matter what’s going on in the world today. And no matter whether or not we are confused.  

And our Table here today? Our symbolic feast here today? Holy Communion today?  

It represents the foretaste of God’s welcome to the Great Banqueting Table. The foretaste of God’s acceptance of us. No matter what we think of ourselves. It represents the foretaste of the fulfilment, of the accomplishment of that for which we wait. God’s welcoming,  forgiving, consoling, God’s blessing arms, gathering us in, and forever holding us.  

And meanwhile, all of us waiting.  

And Jesus saying: “When you see these things beginning to take place, stand up and raise your heads, [and trust] that your redemption is drawing near.”  

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news!”  

Amen.