Advent 1A 2007 Matthew 24:36-4

Now we are standing on the threshold of the great change, that liminal time of Advent. Advent can be depressing as we rush about buying, wrapping, mailing, stacking presents, planning to have or to go to Christmas parties (whoever heard of an Advent party?), planning and cooking Christmas feasts, buying and decorating Christmas trees. Or we can choose to be joyful, and not dark.

Jesus didn’t give us much help in today’s gospel. He speaks in apocalyptic, end of times language. End-time fixations were not exclusive to ancient communities. On October 23, 1844, thousands of Christians sold their possessions, dressed in white robes, climbed the highest mountains they could find, climbed trees to get even higher, and waited for Jesus to return. One William Miller, a farmer from western New York who dabbled in apocalypticism had declared to his followers that this was the date of Jesus' return based on his exegesis of the Scriptures. The next morning, when no one went anywhere but back down the mountain, he announced a calculation error. He then announced that the real date was six months later. It also came and went and so did his followers -- for good.

Jim Jones was another such leader. He moved his People's Temple Full Gospel Church from San Francisco to Guyana, where he could wait for the end-times by creating a community that would live as if the end-times had already occurred. On November 18, 1978, Jim Jones and 911 of his followers drank cyanide-laced Kool-Aid – end time dor them indeed. Less suicidal apocalyptic communities, from Shakers to the Oneida Community, focused their apocalyptic energies into crafting furniture and silverware. (1)

My cousin Will Willimon tells the story of a funeral he attended when he was serving a small congregation in rural Georgia. One of his members' relatives died, so Willimon and his wife attended the funeral held in a hard shell country church. He wrote: "I had never seen anything like it. The preacher began to preach. He shouted; he flailed his arms. 'It's too late for Joe. He's dead. But it ain't too late for you. People drop dead every day. Why wait? Now is the day for decision. Give your life to Jesus.' "

Will thought this was the worst thing he had ever seen. He fumed and fussed at his wife Patsy, complaining that the preacher had done the worst thing possible for a grieving family - manipulating them with guilt and shame. Patsy agreed. But then she said: "Of course the worst part of it all is that what he said is true." (2)

There was once a depressed composer who battled the successes of the past and a fear of the future. Bankrupt and with a cerebral hemorrhage that had left him partially paralyzed he worried that the creative spark was gone.

One day the musician met a man who had compiled scriptures together in story fashion. He asked the composer to add music to the text. The musician looked at the text that read, "He was despised and rejected of humanity," and he felt that way, too. He read texts of the suffering one for whom "no one had pity." But then he read about the one who trusted God still. Then the words, "I know that my redeemer liveth." And then "rejoice" and "hallelujah." That night George Frederic Handel sat down to write music for the Messiah in reality and glorious music . (3)

We all live in the shadow of the apocalypse nd the Cross - the dark reality of the end of our time and the end of the world's time. That is the warning of Advent. But there is also the promise of Advent - the promise that in the darkness, in the shadows, in the unpredictable anxiety of our unfinished lives, God is present. The Cross was not the end of the story. God is in control, and God will come again. With the light of our lives, the shadows recede, and the promise comes closer. With our lives, we proclaim that the light still shines in the darkness and the darkness will never overcome it. The promise is that even when there is darkness and dread in our lives and in the world around us, God is still present with us and in us and hope is alive. And as long and dark as the night seems, morning will come - in God's good time and God's good way. (4)

AMEN


1. Leonard Sweet, Advent Sermons, eSermons Illustrations for 2 December 2007, adapted.

2. in Susan R. Andrews, The Offense of Grace, CSS Publishing Company, eSermons Illustrations for 2 December 2007, adapted

3. Richard A. Wing, Deep Joy for a Shallow World, CSS Publishing, eSermons Illustrations for 2 December 2007, adapted.

4. Andrews, op. cit.