The Advent of...

 Luke 21:25-36 is the lectionary text for next Sunday, November 28 - Advent I.

In the lectionary text of two weeks ago, it would seem that Jesus was dissuading His disciples from looking for signs.  In this text, Jesus acknowledges the signs of the end.

The signs will include distress in the world - among the nations and in the creation itself.

Jesus warns His followers to guard their hearts against being weighed down with moral slides, anesthetizing ourselves against the stresses of the world and obsessing over the conditions of the world around us.  That will keep us from being aware and alert to what is actually happening, and keep us from addressing the conditions of the world with the Good News of Jesus.

We must keep our heads in the work of radical, Agape Love.

We must keep our hearts engaged in life with God and Neighbor.

We must keep our feet and hands engaged in the work of lifting up and building up the lives of our sisters and brothers in need.

We must keep our spirits focused on God's Will through Jesus' Way, God's presence, power and love.

We SEEM to be in the Advent of world collapse.  We SEEM to be in the Advent of extreme hateful violence and injustice on our streets, in the halls of government, in the courts and in business and all economics.  We SEEM to be in the Advent of natural disasters beyond what we can manage, the migration of desperate peoples beyond what we can manage, the right-wing assaults on democracy and decency beyond what we can manage, and the violent chaos that will ensue because of those realities.  

It would be very easy to join the fray of those destroying the world, in order to get a little more for ourselves.  It would be very easy to self-medicate our way into oblivion rather than watch these things happen.  It would be very easy to get obsessed with all of this and ourselves turn into hateful, violent reactionaries to those who have continued to promote this evil.

It will be faithful for us to Be Alert and Aware of what the truth is in all of this, and to engage in the work of Agape Love in the world, to transform the world by transforming individual lives and communities within it.  It will be faithful for us to be determined to follow Jesus by living what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us in the Good News of Agape Love, and address the injustices by speaking truth to power and exhibiting an alternative based on that Agape Love.  It will be faithful for us to show a better way - Jesus' Way, for the world and everyone in it.

Then, when Jesus comes back, we will have been engaged in the work of the Gospel.  Whatever happens between now and then, we will have been engaged in the living of Agape Love and Grace in the world.  Then, however things evolve, we will stay engaged in making life better for God's creation and God's children, in alignment with God's Kingdom values.  Then, we will "stand before the Son of Man."

Let this not just be the Advent of world collapse.  It is the Advent of Emmanuel!  It is the Advent of God's Will being done on earth as it is in heaven!  It is the Advent of Jesus' return!  Let this also be the Advent of the fulfillment of the movement of Agape Love that Jesus started in faithfulness to God.  Let this be the Advent of YOUR transformation, the transformation of the church that bears Jesus' name, the Advent of transformation for whole communities and the Advent of the transformation of the world by the living of Agape Love and Grace by the followers of Jesus.

What do the signs tell you?  I believe they are telling me that IT IS TIME.

Pastor Jamie