Advent V (The Bone Yahweh Picks)

An Old Testament passage which marks the beginning of the Advent season is one very familiar to many of us.  It comes from the second chapter of Isaiah and has within words such as, "In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains...He shall judge the nations,...they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, nations shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more."  (Isaiah 2:2, 4)  It is a passage of Scripture which evokes such powerful images as it causes us to think of what we dare not think will one day be.  

We use it often in our political discussions without really considering that it is a Word addressed more to folks like us than those who lead us.  The bone which Yahweh picks with Israel is not so much with leadership as it is with the changes in culture which is sending the nation on a downward spiral and away from its dependence on Him.  In the historical framework of the Old Testament, God used for His purposes political leaders like Moses to thwart the power of Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar as an instrument of judgement upon Israel for  forsaking the ways of righteousness, and Cyrus for returning the exiled Hebrews home.

Righteous living implies caring for the concerns of God as well as caring for the concerns of the poor, the orphans, the widows, the disenfranchised and marginalized, and the invisible.  Another prophet named Amos thundered forth to the people of the nation, "But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."  (Amos 5:24). It is not just leaders who have forsaken God's pathway, but a culture of people who worship not God, but affluence, accumulation, power, and prosperity.  

Embrace the Vision

The sixth chapter of Isaiah tells us that Isaiah's career choice was to serve as a priest in the Temple.  As a young man he could see nothing else in his future.  He spent the best part of his youth training and preparing for the day when he would serve Yahweh and the people of Israel as a priest in the place most holy in all the land.  It was on an ordinary day of service that his life changed.  God appeared to him in a way that Isaiah described by writing, "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of His garment filled the Temple."  (Isaiah 6:1).  Within that moment of vision, he saw himself as a sinner and a man whose sin was blotted out as his lips were touched by a live coal.   

The final part of the vision was an act of sending forth to become a prophet.  His future would no longer be centered in the Temple speaking the words of religious ritual, but centered in a community of people where he would speak as the voice of the Lord.  The experience of Isaiah reminds us that God does not bring us to moments where it seems that we are walking midst the clouds of glory so that we will have a great witness on testimony night, but so that we can be about the great things He has in His heart for us to do.  The greater thing He has planned may not be bringing a nation to revival, but to bring us to a place where we will choose to live a kinder and more gentle life where the heart of Christ can quietly touch the lives of hurting people.  

When a vision comes, we should never put it in the file of precious memories.  Visions come for a reason.  They come to carry us from where we are to where God wants us to be.  They equip and empower us for a service which would not be seen without going through the vision.  A vision seen and from which we walk away will always have us looking over our shoulder wondering what might have been.  When God's holiness breaks in upon us in an extraordinary way, never look behind for God is surely sending us forward.

Advent IV (The In Between Time)

Advent tells us we live in a time between the first coming of Jesus and the second.  The first is spoken of as coming by the Old Testament prophets, documented as something which did indeed happen by the gospels, and accepted almost without question by the church and the believers who are its witnesses.  The second coming of Jesus is hardly given a glance.  It does not challenge our faith as the idea of Jesus coming again seems to be nothing more than on the edge theology which really has no bearing on the way life is lived in the present age.  

Better to be concerned about degrees for the future, finding a marriage where happy ever after is going to happen, and putting money in the retirement fund than to think about the unlikely possibility that Jesus is going to show up in the clouds to re-order history and create an entirely new way of experiencing reality.  Yet, this is exactly where we live.  In this in between time is exactly where the church is located and it is the real context in which we live.   Over and over the Advent message is to live in a state of readiness.  Advent's call is for us to live as if today, or maybe tomorrow is the day that Christ will return.  The parable of the bridesmaids in Matthew 25 should be understood as a word which speaks clearly about the urgency of living in a state of readiness.  

Some of those within the parable were wise enough to know that readiness was important while others foolishly lived without the urgency of preparation.  While there are things which require our attention, the Advent message is one that reminds us to daily keep an eye toward what God is doing in our midst with every intention of being a part of it.  Participating in the plan of God and expecting Him to show up once again is the life to which Advent beckons us.  It is not a season of being prepared for Christmas, but a season of being prepared for Christ to arrive once again.

At the Onset of Rest

The sky is filled with a heavy gray.  The pecan trees are bare, like skeletons against the sky full of endless clouds.  The ground is littered with the last leaves of fall which have danced one way and then another until spent beyond any hope of dancing again.  The brown earth burnt of all green lays ready to receive those spent leaves for tomorrow's nurturing.  Squirrels are running here and there burying nuts as if hard lean days are to come.  Crow are fussing that the abundant harvest is about done and deer are roaming about in a endless search for something still green.  Ah, winter is near; perhaps, according to some, here.  

Another view is that creation is entering into its Sabbath rest.  Since the first breath of warm air touched the air nearly a year ago, the creation has been at work.  Foliage started sprouting on trees.  The pecans began to show like small green precious stones.  The land started coming to life bringing it power to grow and nurture to the surface once again.  Crops were planted.  Fields were harvested as the produce of the earth.  For such a long time now the creation has been hard at work.  These days which have finally come to us are days of rest.  It is not just the dormant season, but the season of rest.   

Would that we mortals could hear the creation's word to us in these days?  Would that we could hear the voice of the creation as the Voice of the Almighty speaking to us about the order of life first ordained before the Garden?  Even as the creation needs this extended Sabbath rest, so do we need such rest interjected regularly into our lives.  Life is about more than producing and accumulating.  Life is about more than working and staying busy.  It is about living. 

Advent III (The Red Headed Stepchild)

Advcnt does not take us away from  here and now, but it does causes us to see there and beyond.  Advent opens up with a strong eschatological word.  For those not versed in such big and strange words, eschatology refers to things to come and in the case of Advent, it is not what is to come, but Who.  Christ Jesus is to come.  He who has come is scheduled by God the Father to come again to bring history as we know it to its closing moments while bringing all that is earthly into the realm of the Kingdom of God.  The Word of God speaks of the Kingdom of God as something that is and is yet to be and to speak of eschatology is to speak of the "yet to be" as the present reality.   

One of the clearest Words about what is to come is found early in Acts.  After Jesus has been with the disciples for a period of time in his resurrected form, the Word tells us, "...as they were watching, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight,"  (Acts 1:9). As they gazed upward toward heaven, "...two men in white robes stood by them.  They said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?  This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come again in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.' "  (Acts 1:11)  When He comes again, He will not be coming to provide the church with another date to celebrate on the Christian calendar, but to close the pages on all calendars.  He will come to fully usher in the Kingdom of God upon the earth.  

This Biblical teaching about the return of Christ is the opening word of Advent.  It is also the red headed stepchild of the church as it is hardly mentioned in its preaching or teaching and when the Scripture seems to mandate its message, what is preached is hardly recognizable as a Word about Jesus coming once again in all His glory to bring history as we know to its final moment. Ready or not, Advent tells us that the One who has come is coming again.  

Advent II (The Stand Alone Season)

Advent marks the beginning of the Christian Year.  Even though this is true, no preacher stands and joyously declares "Happy New Year!" for there is nothing festive about the season of Advent.  If Advent is to be characterized, a word like somber is appropriate.  The mood of Advent is one that gives pause to reflection and repentance.  The music is strikingly different, often feeling more like a funeral dirge than a hymn of celebration.  The liturgical color is purple, but were gray an option, it would be a good choice.  

While the church often wants it to be a season of preparation for Christmas as Lent is a season of preparation for Easter, it is hard to force it into such a framework for unlike Lent, Advent is more of a stand alone season on the Christian calendar.  Beginning with Christmas the liturgical calendar takes the church on a spiritual journey as it focuses first on the Incarnation, or the birth of Jesus.  As the next season, Epiphany, comes, we are caused to see through the coming of the men of the East, the mission of the church to the world.  This season is followed Lent, a season of repentance, Easter which enables us to celebrate the resurrection, and then Pentecost, a long season focusing on the work of the Holy Spirit.  

With all this in the rear view mirror and in the memory of our experience, Advent jolts us as it announces what is not yet come, but yet to be.  Advent immediately opens the curtains on a drama not yet played out on stage.  The script has been written, but only the Father whose hand has done the writing knows the details.  Advent is like a modern day trailer for a movie about to be shown as we are enabled to catch a glimpse of the Christ who has come in Bethlehem as a baby coming again, a second time, but not as a flesh and blood child.  Advent opens the drama of the gospel story with the coming of Christ the King in the clouds bringing into existence the hope of the prayer we pray each week, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done."  

Advent's Hope

Advent tells us our hope is misdirected.  It tells us our trust is misdirected.  It only takes a casual glance at what is around us to know that the world is in a mess.  City streets have become homesteads, food banks are overflowing with the hungry, genocide and war is not history but reality, the earth is being ravaged, the evening news is mostly about road rage and violence, most institutions are broken, and people have lost the art of being kind to one another.  Our hope for a different and better world is mostly a dream once dreamed.    

We hoped political leaders could find a way to save the world.  We hoped help would come through government programs and the serving ministries of churches.  There was a time when we hoped that common sense would prevail.  We even dared to think that what we did could change the world, but for every one rescued, a thousand remain.  History shows little progress in eliminating injustice, hunger, poverty, and manifestations of evil.  The lessons of history point to a truth Jesus acknowledged when He said, "You always have the poor with you..."  (John 12:8) as well as another truth acknowledged by Jesus as He cast out demons and did battle with the power of evil on the cross.  No one would deny He won the battle, but Satan still lurks and works.  There are more battles to fight until the victory won at the cross becomes prevailing reality.    

Advent tells us that we are here.  The battle rages on.  Our hope is only placed correctly when it is placed in the Lord who will one day reign and bring to our earthly existence the still unseen heavenly reign.  Isaac Watts had it right.  "O God, our Help in ages past, our hope for years to come..."  To hope in others is to enter into frustration and bitterness.  To hope in Christ means doing all we can in the meantime, but knowing that the final victory will only come through His coming.