Looking Ahead

Daniel 7:9-14; Hebrews 10:11-18; Mark 13:24-32

It is now two weeks before the season of Advent. For many years the church has waited until the season of Advent to concentrate on scriptures like the ones for today, scriptures which talk about the end of the world, judgment day, the coming of Christ in glory to reign, and Christ the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. For four weeks before Christmas this is what the church would talk about. And, then, starting on Christmas Eve, and for several weeks thereafter, the church would turn its attention upon the coming of Christ as a baby in a manger and his manifestation in this world as the Son of God. So, it was four weeks of talking about Jesus coming in glory to judge the world, and then, beginning at Christmas, there would be several weeks of talking about Jesus' coming as a man into the world.

This is the way it was for at least the first 1400 or 1500 years of the church. And, then, the world discovered Christmas! Merchants began to find that they could make a lot of money off of those who wanted to give a gift to Jesus on Christmas day. And, in fact, early Christians did give gifts on Christmas day, but it wasn't the way we give gifts, today. Back then they gave gifts to the poor, realizing that when they gave gifts to those in need, they were really giving gifts to Jesus, following the example of the wise men from the East. And this is where the legend of Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus began; with a saintly man who went around at Christmas time, giving gifts of food and clothing to those in need. But, after several hundred years of this, gift giving at Christmas time spread from simply giving to those in need to giving things to folks, whether they had a need or not, until, finally, even those who gave gifts expected a few gifts in return. And, so, for the world and eventually for Christians, as well, the season of Advent became a season of buying gifts, a season of getting ready for the big day.

And, unfortunately, over time, the Advent emphasis upon the second coming of Christ, the parousia, the descent of the new Jerusalem, the coming Kingdom of God, the eschaton, became superceded by the more worldly emphasis of buying gifts for persons, whether they need them or not.

In the 1600's in England the church tried very hard to fight this. In fact, laws were even enacted against the public singing of Christmas carols during the season of Advent because it was getting to the point that the whole season was getting to be like Halloween is, today. Persons would get together and roam their city, sometimes in costume, singing Christmas Carols in front of people's houses and in front of taverns in exchange for something to eat and something (often alcoholic) to drink. The result was a four week bash of nightly drunkeness and public disorder, coming to a climax on Christmas Eve and repeated one more time, a week later, on New Year's Eve.

And, to some degree, this is how the season of Advent is still celebrated, today, but now the Christmas caroling is done more or less electronically as people roam together in large numbers through Meijers, Wahlmart, Kmart, Hudsons, Sears, Penneys, and Toys-R-Us, all in preparation for the big day, without a thought about the true meaning of Advent, which is: Christ, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.

And, indeed, for the most part, the church has lost control of the celebration of Advent. Many pastors have simply given up trying to fight the battle. For when they have conscientiously tried to get their congregations to remember that this is the season to be watching for the One who comes, not just as a baby in the manger, but as the King of Glory, through the singing of Advent hymns, through the use of symbols, and scriptures and sermons, there have been those church members who have felt "let down," because they were expecting Christmas carols, Christmas trees, Christmas stories, and Christmas sermons throughout the month of December. And, so, in order to avoid the hassle altogether, many pastors are now using two Sundays weeks before Advent to talk about the more traditional advent themes.

And this is why, two weeks before Advent, our United Methodist lectionary offers us the scriptures we read this morning: especially the one from Daniel concerning Daniel's vision of the Son of Man being given all power and authority, and the one from Mark about the Son of Man coming in glory with his angels to gather the elect from the four corners of the earth.

Now, in the matter of eschatology (that is, the discussion of the end times), I feel I have grown and changed a lot, over the years. Growing up at Court Street Church in Flint, I never heard the pastor preach about the return of Christ, and the end of the age. And, in fact, during the 60's you would have had a difficult time finding a leading pastor in the church who even believed in the second coming. For in those days it was very popular to dissect the Bible into sections which were thought to be believable and unbelievable, rather than to present the Bible as something to be believed in its entirity as an ineffible mystery. And I think that this is one of the reasons our denomination lost so many members in the 70's 80's. But, I think times have changed. Now, more and more United Methodist pastors believe that the Bible cannot be broken down into little stories that either stand or fall on their own, but that the Bible must be presented with the understanding that the Holy Spirit can use every verse of scripture as a means of conveying the Word of God.

And, so, I can stand here before you, today, and tell you that I believe with all my heart that Christ will return. I believe that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Indeed, you're looking at one pastor who doesn't cross his fingers when he recites the creed where it says, "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end." And, you're also looking at a pastor who believes in the preaching on the themes of Advent, even if it hasn't been all that popular a thing to do over the past few decades.

Now in our gospel lesson for today we are told that the Son of Man will return following a time of distress, and that the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and that stars will fall. To tell you the truth I'm not sure what this means. But when it happens, those who are around in those days, will understand. In fact, it will all make sense. Our tendency upon reading this scripture is to make scenarios; to try to explain what could happen to make the sun stop shining and the moon to refuse to give forth light. And, in many ways, this isn't bad. For it reminds us that what goes on here on earth is intricately related to what takes place in the rest of the universe that God created. And, so, when environmentalists warn us that air pollution could have serious effects upon the way the sun or the moon gives forth light, we might be reminded of God's claim upon us, and judgment, itself. Or, when Carl Sagan warns us of the possibility of a nuclear winter following an all-out nuclear war, or when we hear astronomers talk about the possibility of the earth being struck by a comet or an asteroid (or some other kind of "falling star), causing the sun's light to be blocked by the resulting dust, we should be reminded of this bible passage and remember that it is through such scriptures that God calls us, urgently, to share the gospel with others.

And perhaps the real point is "urgency." For we don't know when or if any of these things could happen, or how they could happen. We only know that the time could be short and that millions of persons around the world have not yet heard about the saving news of Jesus Christ that is ours to share. In fact, that is one of the most important things that apocalyptic scripture passages do for us: They help us to understand the urgency of the gospel. They keep God's people from becoming complacent; from sitting back and asking, "What's the rush?"

One thing that I do not do, however, is subscribe to any particular scenario concerning the end of the world or the return of the Messiah. If you turn on the television and flip to one of those religious broadcasting stations, you will run into several T.V. preachers who are saying that it will all happen before the year 2,000. And they all cite various reasons, from political events in Europe to the use of bar codes in grocery stores.

While these persons are interesting to listen to, most of them take the Bible clear out of context and set themselves and their followers up for probably one of the worst religious depressions, starting around the year 2005 or 2010, when they begin to realize that the scenario didn't play out the way they really believed it would. Indeed, I predict the downfall of many of these groups, many of whose members became Christians on the basis of such scenarios.

God doesn't call us to believe in a scenario concerning the end of the world. God doesn't call us to pinpoint a date or a decade. God doesn't call us to believe in pre-millenialism or post-millenialism. God doesn't even call us to believe in the rapture. What God calls us to do is to believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and to be his disciple sharing that belief with all so that all will know that Christ has been given authority, glory and sovereign power; and so that all peoples, nations and persons of every language may bow down and worship him.

Amen.