In Our End Is Our Beginning

We live in the time between the first and second coming of Christ. We tend to focus on the first coming of Christ-when he came into the world as a baby, born to poor peasant parents in a stable more than 2000 years ago. But on this first Sunday in Advent, the church directs our attention instead to the second coming, with gloomy texts about the end time. While the world around us is putting up Christmas decorations, preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ with joy, the church's mood is somber and intense.

Apocalyptic texts like Luke's gospel for today are intended to wake us up-to shake us out of our apathy, our bland assumption that because the end time has been delayed for so long, it will never come.

We like religion to be safe, comforting and predictable. Talk of the end time is definitely outside the comfort zone for most mainline Christians. We believe that Christ will come again, but we prefer not to spend too much time thinking about it. We would rather stick with the everyday aspect of our faith-church, the sacraments, prayer, loving your neighbor, the ten commandments, etc. We pray, "thy kingdom come," but maybe not just yet.

Jesus' teachings on the apocalypse are disturbing-he talks of signs in the sun, the moon and the stars, distress among the nations, people fainting from fear and foreboding. Why is the thought of the end time so fearful? Apocalyptic means unveiling-we will see things as they really are.

But as T.S. Elliott writes in the Four Quartets, "humankind cannot bear very much reality." If we awake from our slumber, we will see the suffering and injustice in the world around us. We will hear the cries of the sick, the poor and the oppressed. What will happen if we see God as God really is, in full force, in all her glory? No doubt we will experience earth shattering, mind blowing changes that we can't even imagine. The Son of Man coming in clouds of glory could really freak us out.

Jesus warns us against dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life-because these are all ways we distract ourselves, and hide from reality. Consumerism, addiction, anxiety, all keep our focus inward, on ourselves, rather than on the world around us.

Advent is a call to wake up, be alert, pay attention to what is going on around us. Because when we close our eyes to the harsh realities around us, we also close our eyes to the possibility of redemption. "When these things begin to take place," Jesus tells us, "stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

The reality Jesus is trying to get us to see is not just the end of the world as we know it, but also the birth of a new world-a world of justice and righteousness. A world long promised by God, where children will no longer suffer poverty, abuse and neglect, where the elderly will be cared for, where men and women will be treated equally, and all people will live in freedom and peace.

Advent is a time to open our eyes to people suffering across the world, across town, across this room. And it is also a time to open our eyes to the possibilities for transformation in every situation, hidden like milkweed seeds nestled in a dried out, dead looking seed pod.

As many of you know, my mother has been in the hospital for over a month. The doctors eventually diagnosed her with a stroke. A Muslim doctor who is very straightforward told us that she has a hole in her heart that is likely to throw off more clots and cause another stroke. He told us that she is not a good candidate for the usual treatment of surgery to repair the hole, or blood thinners to prevent clots. "I'm sorry," he said, "but it's not a good outcome. It's not a perfect world." Then he went on to say, "I don't know if you believe in God, but I do, and I believe this world is imperfect because it is temporary. There will be another world beyond this one that is perfect."

That was an Advent message - this good doctor helped us to face reality, but he also reminded us that there is more to come - that the reality that we perceive is not all there is. Whatever suffering or distress we face, we know that Christ's reign will come. Heaven and earth may pass away, but God's promise of a world of justice and righteousness will not pass away.

The gospel reading calls us to the difficult task of being realistic about how the world is going, and at the same time, holding on to hope in the future. Prayer and religion is not a way of escaping from reality, but a way of sitting still with reality, knowing that suffering is not the end of the story-that Christ has led the way through death to resurrection and new life. Through prayer, we gain courage to continue the journey in hope. We learn to watch and wait in patient expectation for the world that is coming, trying always to be the change we want to see.