See God Coming - Advent 1

25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

(Mt 24:32–35; Mk 13:28–31)

29 Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Exhortation to Watch

(Mt 24:36–44; Mk 13:32–37)

34 “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Seeing God

Be awake, be woke

Looking out to the horizon, with your head up

What do you see? What do you see?

Be on guard

Senses introduction

Welcome to the season of Advent. To remind us, each year, in the four weeks leading up to the celebration of Christmas Day, the church practices a season of anticipation and waiting. While the world around us is ready to jump headfirst into Christmas carols, Christmas movies, and a month of celebrations, the church takes a slower approach. We measure our time and watch the candle wicks slowly drip. We spend time noticing what’s stirring up in us as we look ahead to the hope of Christmas, but do not rush too quickly to its realization, for the wisdom of not burning out or experiencing it without its great depth.

Advent is not a denial of Christmas. Not in the slightest. Rather, Advent is meant to deepen our joy and celebration at the coming of the Christ child. We wait for Christ’s first coming to be retold and we, like we hear in the passage from Luke today, also anticipate Christ’s return — we long for the King who Reigns in Heaven to be once again with us in full presence and power.

One way to deal with the longing of anticipation is to find ways to distract ourselves. We choose to fill our schedules and our plates with more than we need, because if we do this, at least its easier to wait until what we really wanted has arrived. Think about a couple who has refrained from physical intimacy before their wedding day — the anticipation can kill, so they choose other ways to deny those sensations that might distract them from the deep longing. Or think of a time when you experienced a deep physical hunger — what did you do while you waited to eat a meal? Did you try to think of something else, did you try to keep yourself occupied? Wasn’t it difficult? And, wasn’t the meal so amazing, the intimacy so worth it, that you savored and appreciated it all the more once it finally arrived?

Advent is not necessarily an easy time — we want to rush to Christmas. But, for those here who practice this time of waiting, it can lead to a whole-body, full-self experience of Christ’s coming in the form of a child, with all the more wonder, all the more joy, all the more power — there is wisdom in the waiting.

This season, we are going to explore the Advent stories with our whole selves. We are going to use our senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, and scent) to envelop ourselves in the fullness of God’s “Emmanuel” presence — we are going to look at how our whole body can be anticipating the coming Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sight

Today’s passage invites us to enter our senses through calling us to look, to see, to use our sight to anticipate the coming Christ. Jesus teaches that when the time for his appearing is upon us, there will be signs to be seen in the world around us:

The physical world will start to show signs of God’s coming presence. While this language has a figurative air to it, the images are actually very practical: Watch the stars moving across the sky, the glaring heat of the sun, the phases of the moon. Watch how this impacts the oceans, with rising tides, hurricanes, typhoons, great winds which blow across the land — these are physical groans and reflections of creation — something is happening, something we must prepare for.

A couple weeks back, we were challenged to enter into Thanksgiving for what is being birthed in us. Once again, we get an image from Jesus that is very connected to the signs of a woman in labor, the groans and physical changes and sweat and pain that are clear indicators that childbirth is about to commence. If you’ve ever been with someone anticipating birth, we watch them — there are visual signs to pay attention for.

And so today’s passage invites us to use our first sense — the sense of sight — to anticipate the coming of the Christ-child. Are you watching? Are you paying attention?

What do you watch during this Season?

I’m certain you have things you watch during this season. A certain favorite movie? For me, it’s “It’s A Wonderful Life”, “Love Actually”, and the Harry Potter movie series.

Or do you go looking at Christmas lights? We have a couple of houses in our neighborhood that we love to go look at, time after time — we are watching the lights because we know they are signs of the coming of Christmas.

I also love it when the weather of this season stirs up enough to watch out the window. Windy days like we’ve had in the last week. Or the occasional snowfall we get here in the Northwest — as a kid, there was nothing better than sitting on the couch in my living room in Edmonds, looking out the window, watching snow fall on the tall Evergreen trees on our street, looking out into the distance as the snowfall obscured the sight of the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry coming across the Puget Sound. It is the sight of these signs that remind me of what is coming.

Think about it, what do you watch for? How can you open your eyes a bit more fully to those things which visually cue your longing and anticipation of this season?

The Fig Tree

Jesus helps us along by telling a parable, helping us make some meaning about what he’s on about.

Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

My son Asher recently started a conversation with me about why leaves turn brown and die this time of year. We talked about how they fall and decompose and then, in the spring, there would be little buds that return to the branches and grow leaves again. We talked about the cycle of plants, growing and blooming and dying and returning.

Like the signs of the physical world — if you’re paying attention, these things are all around, ready to be witnessed.

Sadly, we have many signs that are all too visible regarding the groaning of creation. Climate scientists continue to herald the impending destruction of many of our earth’s vital ecosystems. We hear reports with phrases like “point of no return” or “irreparable harm.” The signs are getting clearer and clearer that we must change our way of life if we hope to exist alongside the rest of the created order in harmony for much longer.

And how about the signs of unrest atop the earth — as human lives are diminished to language of herds and caravans, as the poor and the widowed, the refugee and the asylum seeker are turned away in violence. If our eyes are open, if we are anticipating in this season of Advent like Jesus instructs us to, how can we ignore, how can we not see, how can we be blind?

The fig tree is budding. Something is coming.

Be On Watch

If we have heard these instructions, if we have an inkling of what is potentially at stake in this season of anticipation, if we are tuned in at all, then it can be very easy for us to move to despair.

Think about the people who heard the promise of Jeremiah, in our first passage today. The people of the cut off stump — what a depressing, appropriate image. Think about what it’s like to see all of these signs — wouldn’t you feel like a stump. Ugh.

But the beauty of it, the beauty of this season, the beauty of the story of Christ’s coming and incarnation, is that it tells a totally different end to the story which we think is supposed to lead to despair! There is hope for the tree cut down. There is a branch that will rise out of the trunk of Israel and Judah, a branch from the line of David, the King. Hope rises in the face of this great disruption!

And Jesus warns us — don’t miss it, pay attention. Beware of the trap of despair — that’s the way of those who do not see, but truly, there is a way of great “seeing” beyond it all, so open your eyes and see:

Jesus says,

And so here we are again with distractions. I love Christmas and I can’t wait until it’s here. But what I want to critique and help us hear today is this: we cannot let it distract us from the story we are meant to be living, the story of the Christ-child. We cannot let holiday parties and awesome Christmas carols and the pursuit of the perfect present get in the way of us also, more deeply, more truly knowing and watching for and acknowledging the Good News of Great Joy for All People that comes in Christ.

And so we have to wrestle with and be rattled by this apocalyptic language once more. We have to turn our faces fully to the horrors of a world on fire, a climate on the brink of collapse, nations warring against each other, forsaken people groups, deep and abiding racism, narcissistic power struggles, all which are the true markers of our brokenness. We cannot turn away from these things. We must wrestle with all that we do, intentionally or not, to numb ourselves from the pain of these realities — our drunkenness, our worries, our binging and our ignoring. We must wrestle with the truth so that our longing may deepen, our reservoir for hope opened up all the more, the emptiness widening in us so that the Christ-child can fill it.

Hope

Because that’s the message Jesus tells us here: Hope. Sight, looking directly at the fullness of the problems of the world, anticipating the rising sun on the horizon, it leads us deeply into the sorrows of the world, but does not end there — it is not troubled, but liberated.

Our first Advent candle, lit today, is the candle of hope. We become alert in this season in order to come into a deep knowing of hope — we look out ahead to the day of Christmas with hope. Remember, in hope we anticipate God’s goodness for what is to come. We acknowledge that God has been faithful to us through the journey and will continue to be faithful to us, we expect this and hold hope for this reason and this reason alone.

For us

Friends, we are invited to hear this good news today, at St. James Presbyterian Church in Bellingham, WA, as a call to open eyes, a call to look out, a call to be awake with hope of all that God is at work doing out ahead of us. Perhaps you’ve been a long time member of this congregation — this is a time of hope, a time when we anticipate God’s movement among us and long to see God’s continuing work in our midst played out as we gather with long time and new family here as a church. We are hopeful for all that God is doing to tell the story of restoration in our midst. And for you who have brushed up against our gathering here — this is a time to look out to the horizon and see what God is inviting you into, what you’re being called to come alongside and join in with — God is moving, God is speaking, calling us together to be a people of hope in this season and beyond, hope for the restoration of God’s people in all places, starting here in our lives.

Today, you have a visual reminder of hope: Before you, at this table, are the gifts of God, the sacrament of Holy Communion — given to you for your sustenance and to restore your hope. While the signs tell us of much hardship, there is nourishment at this table, food to be filled with so that you may weather the storms and wait out the time of longing, the journey into the heart of Christ as we find him at Christmas.

I invite you to prepare your hearts, to engage your sight, to know your longing, as we enter into this practice together.

See God Coming - Advent 1

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