Advent is coming

Advent is coming: "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood come and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." (Matthew 24:36-44)

Beginnings and endings—that’s what we become more aware of and engaged in as the church year winds down, and a new church year begins with the First Sunday of Advent. The gospel pericope from Matthew—which is selected from the first Sunday in Advent—admonishes us to “keep awake” and “be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” One of the ways in which the church, in its collective wisdom, deals with such ominous texts and admonitions is by systematizing life into some sort of secure, comfortable order; by inventing meaningful rites and rituals and seasons to try to make sense of life in the face of what might cause folks to live in paralytic fear and chaos.

   Hence the church came up with the season of Advent in about the fourth century. The season’s name is based on the Latin Adventus, meaning, coming or the coming. The season originally was one of prayer, fasting and repentance—that is how the early church dealt with the admonition to “keep awake” and “be ready” for the Son of Man’s unexpected coming. Because of this threefold emphasis on prayer, fasting and repentance, the season was similar to that of Lent, and some even referred to it as “the winter Lent.”  The season also was originally longer than it is today—in Western Christendom it began on November 11, St Martin’s day, and stretched over to the Day of Epiphany, on that day candidates for baptism were baptized. In Eastern Christendom, Advent begins on November 15 and goes right up until December 25, which is forty days. In the Western church year calendar, eventually the First Sunday of Advent was considered the first Sunday of the church year. Eventually the season was shortened to the four weeks before Christmas.

   I think the more sober mood of Advent is also reflected in many of the Advent hymns, which are set in minor keys rather than major. One of the downsides of Advent is the war we clergy often have with worship committees and even parishioners over the selection of hymns for Advent—clergy, in most cases, prefer to sing the Advent hymns, while laity would much rather sing Christmas carols. Laity also seem to want to eclipse the mood and emphasis of waiting, watching, preparing and repenting—one of the perils I think of living in a life in the fast lane, instant society.   

   The Advent wreath—or in some churches log—and Advent calendar traditions originated with German Lutherans—the wreath likely goes back to the time of the Reformation, while the calendar is traced back to the 1800s. The candles on the wreath mark the weeks of Advent. The first candle symbolizes hope; the second one symbolizes peace; the third one symbolizes joy; and the fourth one symbolizes love. All four virtues which we are gifted with thanks to Jesus the coming Messiah.

   The emphasis of the season also has changed with time—the original, sober emphasis on fasting and repentance has fallen out of practice by most Western Christians. Instead the emphasis is now on the three main ways in which Christ comes to us: his first coming in the past as the Incarnate One; his coming to us in the present time through Word and sacrament and the communion of saints; and his so-called second coming sometime in the future.

   However the biblical texts for Advent do have a sombre emphasis in them, and beg the questions: Have you made adequate preparations for the Coming King of kings and Lord of lords? If Christ the Messiah-King were to come at an unexpected time, would you be ready and awake? If someone important comes to our homes, we usually “clean house” and prepare for their coming. Maybe even set out the best silverware, plates, etc., and serve up an extravagant meal. How much more then do we need to “clean the house” of our hearts, minds and lives to prepare to meet Jesus face-to-face when he comes? With all of the secular consumerism of Christmas that seems to come earlier and earlier; with so many pre-Christmas parties to attend; it seems that by the time Christmas arrives most folks have already had enough of Christmas.

   So, as Christians, how about being more intentional in celebrating Advent during Advent rather than Christmas during Advent? Perhaps during this year’s Advent season we might be

Image by Eclecticity: Amen, come Lord Jesus!

willing to consider preparing for our Lord’s coming by going out to serve those in need. Right now, the news is full of stories about the plight of the Filipinos who have lost everything after the death-dealing typhoon there. Might we open up our hearts and wallets to help them out? There are, of course, countless other causes that we can contribute to as well, both here in our city and around the globe. Who knows, in our serving we may very well meet up with the face of Christ himself?!

   Prayer: Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. Protect us by your strength and save us from the threatening dangers of our sins. Have mercy upon and provide for the people in the Philippines, the Syrian refugees, and others who face sufferings of all kinds. We give you thanks for all of the blessings you have bestowed upon us. We especially thank you for your grace; may your Holy Spirit’s presence fill our hearts and minds and lives and give us the direction we need to serve you and your holy purposes; in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Of shrewd managers, prophets, injustice, and the way we are

Image credit: Unknown artist, found at: http://www.pericope.org/buls-notes/images/shrewd_manager.jpg 

 This past Sunday's gospel, Luke 16:1-13, includes the parable of the shrewd manager. It is one of Jesus' hardest parables to hear and to preach. Here is this crook who doctors up the books and swindles his master, and exploits the debtors to boot, making them beholden to him at a later date (in a blackmail-like position) should he need to resort to such a measure. 

   Then in my morning devotion time, I read from the prophet Amos. He, like most, if not all the biblical prophets was given an almost impossible call-to preach justice among the complacent, self-centred Northern Kingdom aristocrats, who pampered themselves and entertained themselves to death while laying in their ivory beds. All of this wealth gained by robbing the poor and endlessly exploiting them. 

   We preachers of today, how do we handle such texts? Do we go the route of the televangelists and avoid such texts by focussing solely on "the gospel of health and wealth," which is not gospel at all? Or do we let fly like Jesus and Amos and "let the chips fall where they may?" 

   Whatever we do, the truth is the truth, we all are indicted in the lifestyle we lead-at least here in the Western world. Our wealth and self-indulgent lives are no better than the ancient Israelite aristocrats. We too exploit the weak and the poor endlessly by making whole nations into our slave labour camps in order to extract mother nature's resources for our high-tech devices, toys, gadgets, computers, etc. 

   In our sinful, exploitative state, one day, as singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn so astutely observes in one of his songs several years ago: "the word mercy is going to have a new meaning when we are judged by the children of our slaves." 

   So the question for us all, in relation to our sinful, exploitative state is: how, when and can we repent, not merely as individuals, rather as a society and civilization, and return to the LORD our God, who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love?  

Short Story: Jacob the sixth generation "PK"

He is a sixth-generation "PK," that's short of preacher's kid, coming from a long line of clergy ancestors, including a famous Scandinavian hymn writer-bishop. Of course he was raised in the good graces of mother church: baptized the first week of his life on Easter Sunday, attending worship services every Sunday and on special festivals with his parents, Sunday School, Confirmation on Pentecost Sunday, involvement in a youth group, choir, a special youth service trip building a school in a two-third world country, and loving, supportive parents. All of this, so his parents had hoped, would facilitate his faith-formation and maturity process. 

   Alas, then the shocking news came like a sharp knife to the heart. Jacob had written his parents a letter of farewell. Farewell not only to them, but also to everything they held near and dear, their rock-solid Christian faith and traditions. "What went wrong? What happened to our son that he'd do such a thing?!  They had hoped he would enter seminary and go into parish ministry. What is Jacob doing?! How could he become a Muslim? Is this for real, or a terrible dream?!" they lamented, crying, agonizing over this most horrible news.

   You see, Jacob had fallen in with "the wrong crowd" in college. In his religious studies class at the University of British Columbia, he'd met up with a few Muslims. They'd had their in-class debates and rivalries. Jacob was one of the strongest Christian debaters, and the Muslim students knew it. In fact, it took all of them to win a debate with only this one articulate and vigorous, Christian debater-infidel. 

   So what did they eventually do? Well, they decided the diplomatic tact. They befriended him. One day they invited him to attend an "information night" at their neighbourhood mosque. Jacob accepted the invitation, thinking he might have more opportunity to convince his classmates and other Muslims of the truth of his Christian faith. 

   When he arrived however, Jacob was in for a surprise. First, there was music and eating. Then he began to feel a bit drugged and passive. Had they doped up his food or drink? Then this strange looking imam entered the room and began his long 2 hour lecture. One point after another about how Christianity was inferior to Islam. Then the showing of three YouTube videos in a row. Followed by speeches by his Muslim classmates. The anti-Christian rhetoric exacerbated and Jacob's head was swimming now, being polluted with Islamic  radical jihad ideology. This continued all night, until this Al-Qaeda cell had successfully brainwashed and recruited this infidel Christian, Jacob. 

   In the morning he wrote his letter to his parents, and the cell group recorded his renunciation on video, sending it to YouTube for the world to see. 

   Next, Jacob and these cell group members went to Afghanistan to be trained in an Al-Qaeda camp. A month later, Jacob and the other cell group members were ready to enter Syria and terrorize Christian communities there. 

   They entered a mountain top village where Christians had lived for centuries. Then without asking any questions they opened fire. Jacob fired his rocket launcher into a small house, demolishing it. He then went to see the damage. He saw a mother with three young children-all dead. The mother still had her Bible in one hand. The Bible was opened up to Matthew 5:43-48. Jacob began to read: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven..." 

   Jacob took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and immediately realised what he had done. So he began his prayer: "Father, forgive me, and..."