Celebrating
the freeing, supportive presence of God. So your experience of God may
become your experience of life. It is wonderful what God can do!
“Be On Your Guard”
December 3, 2006
Happy New Year! Today, of course, is the first Sunday of the church’s New Year, established from antiquity. One of the Scriptures which was designated for use in the first week of Advent is Luke 21: 25-36.
In its entirety, the author addresses the second coming of Jesus Christ to the world. It is described as a cataclysmic event associated with the so-called “end times” or “end of the world.”
I have chosen the verses in the passage which I believe relate to us most pragmatically today. You may also be thinking to yourself, perhaps not for the first time, “why is it that the end of the world is being addressed in such a happy or joyous season?”
The author lived in a period of time which was fraught with tension and dissention; and it looked to many as though things were bad enough that they simply could not continue on as they were. Of course they feared the worse. The apocryphal authors looked to the prophets of old who had often forecast the end of time or at least a tragedy as great as the world flood in Noah’s day.
We can never be completely certain how the apocryphal words and warnings of the old prophets wound up in the mouth of Jesus. Clearly, Jesus did have words of warning for those who were hurting God’s purposes on earth, but those words of warning were most always directed to ‘those in power’ and in positions of influence. These new and more dramatic warnings seem a little out of character for his message of “good news.”
The Hebrews of his day were actually hoping that Jesus was the military savior that they believed had been forecasted—the one who would deliver them from their dominators. Rather, Jesus was the spiritual savior who would free them from all the sin that separated them from God and God’s kingdom.
Even Jesus’ apostles found it difficult to accept that God have given them a spiritual and eternal savior instead of a military and worldly savior. So great was the apocryphal writers’ difficulty to fully accept Jesus as a spiritual savior, that they allowed the “end times” and an eventual military victory over the forces of worldly evil to become a diversion.
The apocryphal writers mixed a worldly military concept with an ‘other-worldly’ or spiritual concept. War and violence are a worldly concept. The Devil and temptation are a spiritual concept.
Many believe that the atrocities to which Jesus refers already took place in the Roman invasion and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. In effect, in that year, the Hebrews’ world did come to an end, as did their historical religious worship traditions. It was truly catastrophic and devastating to all of the Jewish faith and lifestyle. It was their “Armageddon.”
There may yet be an Armageddon and an end to the world as we know it, but that possibility ought not to take up too much of our time or thinking. Even Jesus is quoted as saying that it would take place within the time span of that generation which lived to see the fall of Jerusalem.
Much more importantly, are the verses which point us toward the reality of Jesus in our midst … his on-going presence in our lives. In other words, there is not only a second coming of Christ, but a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth coming of Christ … depending on our openness to recognize his presence in our life and the lives of our friends and loved ones.
When we have experienced long days of rain and we suddenly observe the beauty of a bright and colorful sunset, has not Christ come to us in that moment? When we feel all alone and without love, but then we receive a call or a visit from a long lost friend or relative who manages to brighten our day, has not Christ come to us in that moment?
There are Christians who speak of being ‘born again’ once and once for all time. But I do not believe that a one time encounter is the way of God. I believe that God’s love is so comprehensive and complete, that God’s presence—either through his Son or through his Holy Spirit comes to us on a very regular basis. This I do not doubt.
Rather, it is our hectic schedules, our willingness to choose events of the world over and above spiritual opportunities that prevent us from encountering God on a more regular basis.
God is faithful and is always with us. It is we who often wander and become diverted from God’s presence.
I believe that God is always attempting to communicate with us because of his love for us. Because of our human nature and weak sense of the spiritual, we cannot always “hear” or sense the “words” and encouragement of God which is streaming our way.
John Wesley said that there are those Christians who have not allowed their own spirits to take breath or to reach the status of being alive. Wesley believed that it takes a spiritual discipline in order to give life to our spirits. In whatever spiritual discipline we engage, it should be exciting, invigorating, and stimulating. Anything less is a stale religious ritual.
God is alive and wants to live within our hearts. God wants us to be aware of his living spirit within us. God wants us to find strength and encouragement from his Spirit on a regular daily and hourly basis.
We have been told that “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” If these words do not seem real to you, then it’s time to give that spirit of yours a real awakening. This is an excellent time of the year to do so.
We need to remain “on guard”—not so much to defend ourselves from an enemy as much as to be prepared for the coming of God’s spirit in our lives … for the presence of Christ to come to us. If we are not “on guard,” then we often may miss the blessing of God that comes to us through the words or actions of other people. We may miss the blessing that comes to us through the hymns and carols, through the Scriptures and prayers, through the music and the quietness.
Comparatively speaking, we spend so much more time in the peripherals of Advent and Christmas than in the quietness and worship of the Savior whose birth it is we celebrate. We hope that we can receive all the spiritual blessings of God in the shortest amounts of time. We are ever hoping that God can speed up the spiritual process so that we can get back to the real expectations of Christmas … those fancy preparations and gifts.
Be on your guard that the peripherals of Advent and Christmas only serve to enhance your spiritual experience. If they don’t—get new ones that will. A spiritual Christmas is too important to get all tangled up in tinsel.
Amen.
