09 -11-29 - Sermon - Year C - Advent 1 -
Text: Luke 21.25-38
Waiting... and watching for the signs... you’ll know something going to happen. Watch for the signs.... and wait.
We don’t like to wait...
Waiting to get flu shots is national news...
Waiting to receive justice for crimes committed... that’s not fun, we want justice now...
Waiting for shift to end...
Waiting to get service at a restaurant...
Waiting for that stock you bought to get back to where it was when you bought it...
Waiting... waiting to finally be healthy again...
Waiting is not something we like... especially when we are uncomfortable in the waiting.
Maybe this is why our whole culture has moved to become an instant gratification culture. We’ve collectively put ourselves into so much debt that it’s shocking. And I’m not talking about the good debt that pays off somehow... I’m talking about the bad debt that buries you in payments long after the joy of the acquisition is gone.
Maybe this is why there is Christmas music playing in all the stores already. They whole materialistic experience of Christmas has changed the nature of the promise from “God with us” to “Maybe you can find joy and family togetherness in some of this stuff”. And if we focus on the good feelings we might summon up at Christmas... maybe we won’t notice the debt slipping onto our credit cards...
Maybe, our fear of waiting has to do with being so uncomfortable with where we are at right now. A longing to be somewhere different. It is possible to live in some hypothetical future where the right lights, the right drugs, the right program, the right immunization, the right economic package, the right prayer life, the right book, the right visualization will somehow fill us up and make us complete now.
----
Gilliosa Maccorkle sat once again in the school guidance counselors office on a warm spring day in Edmonton. The school was quiet as most of the kids had cleared out and he sat waiting for his parents to come pick him up. His fists were throbbing less now and he could tell that he hadn’t been hit too hard. All in all, he’d given more than he’d taken in the fight.
Gilliosa Maccorkle had moved to Edmonton just 3 months earlier, and between his thick Newfoundland accent, and his easy to mock scottish name... Maccorkle... he had become an instant target for school bullies. His mark were average but he was not fitting in.
Part of Gilliosa’s problem was that he couldn’t control his mouth. The youngest of 6 brothers he knew what it was to be the underdog and, when he wasn’t being picked on for his name or accent, he was throwing himself into other battles whenever he saw another being attacked... He was like a magnet for abuse and conflict... but he was unwavering in his commitment to justice.
Robert, the schools guidance counselor came in and slid a piece of paper across the table. It was a pencil drawing that Gilliosa had done in art class that day.
The drawing showed on one side a small stick figure trapped in a cage. Stallagtites and stalagmites jutted out from the top and the bottom of the cave and, dancing in the middle were some hideous creatures. Trolls grotesque people with knives... they all danced around a huge bonfire... and on the far right there was a ramp that lead up to a small opening with a clock and sticks of dynamite all around it... and through the small opening there was a lake and a tree.
“This dynamite has people worried” Robert said.
---
Like Gilliosa Mccorkle’s picture, it’s important to get behind the story to understand what it means.
Jesus tells us a parable...
Look at the fig tree and all the trees...
as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer already near.
See and know.
See the leaves, know that summer is coming.
In our world the parable might go:
“Look at the Yellowhead and all the highways...
as soon as they are busy with trucks you can see for yourselves and know that economic prosperity is returning.”
See the sign... and know that the good times are coming...
The fig tree is synonymous with peace and prosperity. When you see that the figs are starting to sprout... you know that peace and prosperity are not far behind.
This is a very comfortable waiting... a fig tree growing... waiting for the weather to be just right to sprout peace and prosperity.
But there is a huge challenge with our fig tree story...
This lovely story of figs and summer comes nestled between 2 apocalyptic stories.
We learned at the Lutheran course this last week that the bible reads like a newspaper... it has different sections like Headlines, editorials, comics, business reports etc... And we have 2 types of writings today.
That story of the fig tree is a parable... a story that contains truth but doesn’t give us a literal telling... maybe it’s like one of the political cartoons... See the signs... know what is coming. Keep watch. This is the story that we can relate to easily.
But now the two really scary stories.
The scary stories we have are apocalypse stories. This means ‘revelation’ or ‘the lifting of the veil.”
To write an apocalypse is show what is happening now in fantastical terms... in this case... the grand scheme of all of creation. It attaches a heavenly meaning to an earthly reality. This is what the picture that Gilliosa had drawn is.
The people who would first have read this Gospel were a people under siege and occupation.
There was a Jewish rebellion around the year 70 which lead to the destruction of the Jewish temple by the Roman authorities... and life would not have been pleasant after that. Pax Romana... the Peace of Rome was a peace that was enforced with military might and great violence. Peace my submission
So note closely... those that hear this apocalyptic story are living the experience described. They live in a world of persecution, people are fainting from fear, people are suffering, and the only hope they can look for, as it says, “The Son of Man coming in a cloud.”
“This generation will not pass away until all things have taken place” This is to say... this sinful reality of war and persecution will not radically change till all these things have taken place.... that is... the son of man returns.
These abused, broken, trampled on people are proclaimed hope through an apocalypse. And so... given that the reality of life isn’t changing radically... they are given a hope of what will be the future
To people suffering oppression, this scary apocalypse becomes a good news story where the end of suffering is guaranteed.
So in these stories there is a call to discipleship.
When you see the signs, lift your head high.
So when you see the signs of oppression and war and violence and sickness and death... lift your head high.
Human history has shown that the generation of violence that characterized the world in Jesus time has not yet passed away. Human suffering abounds in our world. 1 in 10 Canadians suffers from food shortage... our American neighbors have it worse and... still in this modern world, a child dies every 5 seconds from hunger related issues as wars continue all around... The world, the people, the whole of creation cries out in waiting for the promised redemption.
So we are a waiting people for all these things to be fulfilled.
But we are not called to sit still in our waiting...
Jesus life and death and resurrection ... combined with the reality of the day of justice and final judgement at the end now function as book ends for our human experience.
We know what was... we know what will be... and now in between... we live with one foot in both worlds.
Life is to be lived with an Active Alertness.
It is a watching, hoping and waiting.
And in watching we see where we can join in what Christ would have us do and become.
In watching we see Christ in the stories, in each other, in our lives... we see the Spirit inspiring and transforming bits of creation as God comes down and lifts all of creation up.
So don’t be weighed down as if we have or can fix it all... we are each called to our part.
Don’t be weighed down trying to be all things to all people... give yourself a break and be you... the person that is fully loved and known and held by God as you are now... a child of God with a future that is redeeming.
But also, don’t be sitting around. There is a world that needs to hear the message that is first given to us. Christ was, is, and will be ever with us, redeeming all of creation. Giving hope from the past and the future for us to struggle with the now. We do not struggle alone.
Like Gilliosa Maccorkle life isn’t easy... but hope and passion to live now comes from what was, is, and will be.
---
“Gilliosa, do you want to talk about the drawing?” Robert asked.
Gilliosa liked Robert... Robert was ex-military... he understood life... he could be trusted.
“Well... That’s me in the corner rattling the cage.” Gilliosa began.
“Looks rough” Robert said pointing to Gilliosa’s bruised knuckles.
“I get by... and I’m rattling the cage... I’m holding my head high even though for now I’m trapped.”
“What’s this in the middle?” Robert asked.
“That’s everyone and everything that is trapped in this cave with me. The trolls are the bullies, the people with knives are the people who pretend to be your friend but stab you in the back.”
“And about the ramp.”
Gilliosa Maccorkle got a huge smile on his face. “The ramp is graduation day, this whole cave is going to explode and then, on graduation day, I’m going to walk out of here... I’ve got a job lined up in Jasper for the summer... the day I get out is coming closer and closer. The posters for final dances and grad parities are going up so the time is coming near when I will be out of here.”
Robert looked into the wistful face of Gilliosa Maccorkle and said “May that day come soon for you.”
“I’m holding my head high.”
Amen
0 comments:
Post a Comment