Loading...The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
First Sunday of Advent, Year C
Bill Rohm
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be ever acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, our strength and our redeemer.
Good Morning.
As many of you recall, In the past, I always opened with a disclaimer. As in "The opinions expressed herein are my own, and in no way reflect the official
position of the Episcopal church." But this is a new experience. I've never talked to you with a real Priest sitting across from me. I guess I could end up in a back pew next week if I don't watch my Ps and Qs.
But you know, it's nice to be an Episcopalian, because the number one reason for being an Episcopalian is no matter what you believe, there's bound to be at least one other Episcopalian who agrees with you. I know this because Robin
Williams wrote it on the back of my T shirt.
Today marks the beginning of Advent. Advent is the season observed in our church as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration
of the birth of Jesus at Christmas. For Christians, the season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ from two different perspectives. The season
offers the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, and to be alert for His second coming.
As we heard read in the Gospel this morning, Jesus was outside the Temple telling a crowd of his followers of the events that would occur before seeing "the Son Of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Then Jesus told his followers, "Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place."
And herein enters a personal dilemma for me. I have a confession to make. I have an evil twin. And he's related to the guy in C. S. Lewis's Screw
Tape Letters, Wormwood?, that is constantly messing with Christian's minds.
So I read this passage as I was mulling over what to talk about today. "Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place."
"Wait a minute!" the great deceiver pops into my head, "didn't happen. No second coming by this Jesus guy. His followers all believed him, as proven
by the fact that they didn't write anything down for over half a century. They didn't think they needed too. They thought that they were going to see him
come before they died. But he was either a fake or a lier, because it didn't happen in their generation like he said it would."
Over the years, I've gotten used to my evil twin butting in on my prayer and spiritual musings. Also, I've learned to let it put me on alert. I've found his
intrusion usually happens when I'm closing in on a spiritual truth that the deceiver doesn't want me to contemplate. So I started doing some more research.
Possibility #1. Jesus blew it. He got it wrong, or else God changed his mind on the timing of the Second coming.
I don't buy this. Based on Scripture, it seems to me that Jesus always knew what he was talking about. However in many instances, his followers were really confused and got it wrong. In the verses leading up to today's Gospel, Jesus talked about the Temple being torn down in three days, It wasn't until after the Resurrection that his followers came to understand that Jesus was talking about himself, the spiritual temple and not the physical temple.
So I believe that what Jesus said was correctly passed on to us, which still offers no explanation for what he meant. It seemed to me with so many
interpretations of the Bible available today, perhaps I should read how some others interpret these verses.
One that caught my attention in a contemporary language edition, reads as follows, "Don't brush this off. I'm not just saying this for some future generation, but for this one too - these things will happen."
This led me to further research. There is a scholarly Biblical argument known as inaugurated eschatology. I'm not even sure I'm pronouncing that right. It states that "The Kingdom of God is already ushered in but not yet fully revealed or actualized." Jesus set it all in motion and it continually evolves.
If this is so, Jesus is saying that all is complete in that it has been started by His coming into the world in human form, like a physics chain reaction, but not
that everything will occur or be completed in His generation.
This is all pretty intellectual and academic for me, and I imagine for some of you too. It would be no wonder if his followers were confused. But I want
you to know that I've stopped fretting over exact wording, or meaning. I know in my heart and soul what is and what is not in my life of faith, and I
believe many of you do also.
This is Advent, our time to contemplate and to look forward to the celebration of our Savior coming into the world as the ultimate sacrifice for EACH of us
and ALL of us. So we wait in anticipation to once again experience in our hearts and souls Christ's coming so OUR generation will not pass away until
WE spiritually awaken to Christ's coming again into our lives through the Holy Spirit.
In closing, I think our Bishop said it well in her Advent Message to the Diocese:
If we consider the season of Advent as a journey, a spiritual pilgrimage to prepare our hearts and make room for the coming of the Messiah, then it makes more sense to me to be more intentional about the steps that we take on the journey. . . instead of just adding more miles to the trip.
And so, I would invite us to measure this time in acts of prayer and devotion, in conducting a spiritual inventory of our lives, and doing the interior work that we need to do to make room for Christ. This can be done by setting aside time each day to pray (our prayer book has some wonderful forms for daily devotions beginning on page 137) or shifting our routine just enough to find a pocket of quiet--quiet in which we can simply rest, and mediate on the space in our hearts of “not yet.”
A conversation with a soul-friend about our hopes for the new year, reflection on how we can achieve a closer connection with God, and articulating the longing of our hearts can all be good spiritual focuses for this season of Advent. “Preparing the way of the Lord” is an interior practice
that has its own season. . . if we can hold Christmas
at bay. . . and center our attention on making room.
Amen
