Advent is...

Isaiah 2:1-5

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In days to come the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples’ they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

Psalm 122

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” Now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity with itself; to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, the assembly of Israel, to praise the name of the LORD. For there are the thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls and quietness within your towers. For the sake of my kindred and companions, I pray for your prosperity. Because of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek to do you good.”

Romans 13:11-14

Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Matthew 24:36-44

Jesus said to the disciples, “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 came 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.”

********

Swords into ploughshares. Wouldn’t that be amazing. I was scrolling around the Internet this week and came across not only a story of Russia deciding to upgrade its military tanks, but more stories of violence at home, more Nazi language being used in this country, more death and fear and threats of deportation and a religion-based registry. And that’s before I even got to the ongoing stories of what’s happening at Standing Rock, which is escalating even still, even during this week where we celebrated Thanksgiving and dressed our children like pilgrims and Indians and called it ‘cute,’ forgetting the history of small pox and the trail of tears and the genocide. Swords into ploughshares, would we even know what to do if we weren’t fighting something, fighting somebody? Would we even know what to do if we woke up and saw the bigger picture and our part in it? What would our world look like if we didn’t make any more veterans because we didn’t make any more war? Do we know how to grieve our pain, or only how to fight? Have we forgotten how to plant, how to cultivate, how to live in peace?

Advent is a combination of end times and new beginnings. We would not be waiting and hoping for something new if we were happy and at peace with how things are. And I don’t just mean wishing we hadn’t eaten so much at the holiday and hoping to fit into those jeans again. I don’t just mean wishing my portfolio looked better. I mean an end to the murders of transgender people - there have been almost three hundred this year alone, and most are women of color who are misrepresented in their obituaries and the media reports. I mean an end to the need to work two or three full-time jobs to make basic ends meet. I mean being able to trust the water out of your tap is drinkable, being able to send your child off to school in the morning and trust they will make it home alive, being able to wear what makes you comfortable without being sexually harassed and assaulted. 

Advent is a time when we say we have had enough of this. We turn to God with fists raised in frustration and say ‘fix it!’ Because for far too long we have known that two may be working in a field and one will be taken, one will be left, and community will be broken by violence and deeper ‘us versus them’ divides. How many times we have decided not to talk politics with friends because we like to keep the peace, but those politics affect our daily living and the daily living of those friends, and that peace is more and more tenuous if we are too afraid of each other to engage in basic care for the world. I know we don’t tend to like conflict, but we’ve got to know how to handle it, because it’s all around us, and it’s inside us, too. How do we live without cutting ourselves into what pieces are allowed where, without hiding what’s important to us because we might not feel entirely accepted, without waking up one day feeling like we’ve missed something? That unexpected hour is a rude awakening at best. Some might call it a midlife crisis. Or a defining moment. Or a breaking point.

Advent is our community reaching a breaking point. It is waking up to what we ignore, wrestling honestly and intently with what we want the world to be and what it really is, with who we want to be and who we really are. Advent is calling on God to do something and getting our hands dirty doing something. If you’re pregnant and the baby is due any day now, you don’t wait until you’ve been discharged from the hospital to buy the crib and the car seat and the diapers and the onesies and the blankets and the bottles. We are building a world, with God or without God, and what we build isn’t just for us, it is for our neighbors and our children and for people we will never meet. What kind of world will God give us courage to build? Where nation shall not raise up against nation, where we won’t learn war any more?

Advent is calling on God’s promise of faithfulness to bring us to completion. It is overturning every rock and fallen log looking for that presence of divinity that throbs in our veins. Because Advent hope is not just going on with business as usual and expecting to wake up one morning in heaven. Advent hope is planting a tree when it seems the world is ending. Advent is turning swords into plough shares, caring for land that we have historically covered in blood, uprooting injustice and seeing what crops God will plant among us. Advent is liberation, and it is for the whole of the world. This is the season we are in, the time at hand, the passion of a God who is so invested in our healing that She took on flesh and blood for our sake, in order to live and die just like the rest of us. So let us use wisely the time that we have, trusting in that compassion to hold us together in times it feels the world might fall apart, and to spur us forward in times when we can’t see which way to go.

Paradise is possible

Christ the King

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD. The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”

Colossians 1:11-20

May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers - all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn of the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Luke 23:33-43

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right, and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do now know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

********

What is 'paradise'? When you hear Jesus tell the condemned about being together in paradise, what do you imagine? Do you visualize a great open field, or a bustling city? Maybe a great big Thanksgiving table where you are surrounded by loved ones, or a sunny day at a baseball game? What's your image of paradise? Where does it come from? What does it feel like? Is it different now than it once was? Does it depend on where you are, what you hope for?

What do you think paradise was for that other man on the cross? Perhaps a return to simpler times was not a thought he could comprehend, on account of growing up under the oppression of Rome. Always expecting to be chased or killed, to be erased and spat upon, living as a perpetual outcast, I'd imagine this particular man probably envisioned paradise far more differently than you or I. Probably he looked at paradise in more the way that a Syrian refugee might envision salvation. Or somebody who has survived so-called 'conversion therapy.' Or the way millions of Muslims imagine paradise, as simply living in peace without being attacked. Simply being allowed to breathe without harassment. Being able to provide for a family and feel connected to the surrounding community. 

When Jesus was killed by crucifixion, it was humanity’s attempt to throw him as far from paradise as we could. To leave him naked and exposed out in the elements, separated from the ground he had walked on and the people he had walked with. To make him easy to point out, easy to shame, easy to target as a scapegoat for all of our anger and every problem we’ve ever had. Rome didn’t need to take responsibility for the poverty they brought upon Israel as long as they took those who spoke up against oppression and made examples of them by crucifixion. 

Crucifixion is a slow death, but not as slow as many other ways we have of killing each other. Crucifixion is slow in order to be humiliating, to control those who are seen as ‘different,’ seen as a threat to the current powers. We in this day and age use other tools for the same purpose: tools like cat calling, job and housing discrimination, stop and frisk, lynching, and internment camps. These tools teach people they are less than people, they teach people to keep their heads down and their mouths shut, they teach people to be afraid of their own selves and suspicious of one another. So when you grow up under constant threat of these weapons of cultural control, the image and hope of 'paradise' can be as simple as making it home alive at the end of the day. Being able to walk down the street without being haunted by anxiety. Going to bed at night free of regret. So the image of Paradise can also be an image of justice, of a return to balance, of finally, fully, knowing your own self as sacred, as holy, and whole.

The criminal hanging on that cross beside Jesus, the one who actually used his name instead of throwing names and jeers, he knew that he was being punished for an actual crime, even though that punishment was most likely far more severe than he deserved. Rome was, as one commentary put it, far more invested in vengeance than in reconciliation. Actually, the commentator described our current justice system that way, but in many respects it can be hard to tell the difference sometimes, especially once you’ve been beaten with the short end of the stick. So the criminal who knew his crimes also knew that Jesus had not done anything wrong, but was still being crucified. His very existence, then, must have somehow been a threat to the authorities. How could a person be so dangerous that he could threaten the Romans and the religious leaders without even committing a crime?

Friends, this is the one we call Christ the King. The one we call God With Us, God Incarnate, God of the ages, merciful, mighty, creator, redeemer. He lived in such freedom that he inspired that freedom in those who came to him, even to the point of offering hope to someone hanging on a cross in the position of ultimate shame and humiliation. Crucifixion was to break the spirit not only of the person being publicly killed, but of anyone who entertained the thought of emulating that one. Yet here he was, being mocked and ridiculed, still offering hope and comfort to a fellow condemned person.

King of the condemned, he is. Lord of the outcast. Ruler of the thrown away and despised. Lover of the hated. Hope of the despairing. God with us is not here to condemn Muslims or women who have had abortions or veterans with PTSD, but to condemn condemnation itself. God is not come to destroy Mexicans or refugees or even the competition, but to destroy the powers of destruction that try to tear us apart. God is not going to avoid our pain or dress it up and put it on display for pity’s sake, not going to take a quick field trip to make us feel better about ourselves, but will hang next to us, will sit in our condemnation with us, will walk out of it with us, wearing our scars for a crown. Because that is what a king worthy of worship does. That is the kind of Paradise to which God calls us, where each and every person is valued and protected and loved. Where Jeremiah’s words ring true: “I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD. The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”

This image from Jeremiah illustrates the Kingdom of Jesus which we confess in our creed will have no end. None shall be afraid. None shall be missing. Not one. Not one Muslim, nor one Jew, nor one woman, nor one child. And that, my friends, is paradise. 

End of the world

Malachi 4:1-2a

Psalm 98

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Luke 21:5-19

See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.

Sing a new song to the LORD, who has done marvelous things, whose right hand and holy arm have won the victory. O LORD, you have made known your victory, you have revealed your righteousness in the sight of the nations. You remember your steadfast love and faithfulness too the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God. Shout with joy to the LORD, all you lands; lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing. Sing to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the voice of song. With trumpets and the sound of the horn shout with joy before the king, the LORD. Let the sea roar, and all that fills it, the world and those who dwell therein. Let the rivers clap their hands, and let the hills ring out with joy before the LORD, who comes to judge the earth. The LORD will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.

Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received form us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying fir it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idelenss, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we commend and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and ‘The time is near!’’ Do not go after them. When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earth quakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your soul.”

*******

It sounds like the end of the world, doesn’t it? Insurrections, nations rising up in war, earth quakes, famines and plagues… my father is one who is sure Jesus is returning soon, that we are in the end times. But Luke was writing about an experience the people had already had, because he was writing after those stones of the temple had already been torn down. And historical tragedies on the scale of ‘the end of the world’ happen far more frequently than we would like to think about. Of course, it depends on where you land in the metaphorical pyramid if you would experience the end of the world as hope or as anxiety. But the world is ending all the time. For at least half of the country, this feeling of fear is very real right now. Just this week at the University of Albany, somebody drew a swastika on the Dutch Quad, guys on the Colonial Quad were yelling Trump’s now-famous ‘grab her’ line, another Muslim student was harassed, and threats of rape were made to a woman wearing a Bernie pin. People of color are being told to get to the back of the bus by bus drivers in New York City. As ugly as this election has been, as polarizing, as dehumanizing, we have yet to see the ultimate outcome of it, but in many ways it is another end of the world, isn't it? Major leadership changes always are some kind of ending and new beginning. Some of us somehow think this is God’s justice on the world, some of us are still begging for that justice. Some already feel betrayed by parents and relatives. Jesus’ words to his disciples are pretty relevant today, despite their being written almost two thousand years ago. 

But the way this Gospel is put together, Jesus speaks these words while on his way to die. He knows he will be one of the ones who is betrayed and put to death. And he does not turn away from it, because he is committed to his cause, dedicated to his values, and refuses to return evil for evil. It seems weird that Luke has him saying, within the same two sentences, both that ‘they will put some of you to death,’ and that ‘not a hair of your head will perish.’ But somehow the author of this Gospel finds hope in this and wishes to share it with his readers. Somehow the whole end of the world experience that Luke has just lived through makes him very aware that, even though the world as he knew it came to an end, the sun still came up again, the cycles of day and night did not end, and the integrity of those who claimed faith holds them together through the end of everything they knew. He does not offer this passage in light and fluffy Hallmark hope, where if we just pretend everything’s pretty and wonderful it will be, he does not simply offer ‘thoughts and prayers’ to those in distress, but he offers this testimony it as a survivor of this terrible series of compounded violence upon hatred upon even more violence. He writes this Gospel to tell his listeners “I lived through this and you can, too.”

So what does your life depend on? What values do build upon? What source of hope and strength and light guides you through times of major upheaval? And how does that give you strength to love? Nobody else can answer that question for you, and we can’t set that hope on any human ruler or authority, either. Because, as we know, people change and positions of power trade hands often. We need to set our hope on something solid, friends. Something bigger than ourselves. And it’s not the government. And it’s not our race. And it’s not assimilation. And it’s not a wall. And it’s not our job security. And it’s not healthcare benefits or retirement accounts or the current state of the stock market. And it’s not the church, either. If it ever becomes the church that we put our trust in, we are lost, because the church is still a human institution. We can’t live with somebody or some group telling us how to avoid judgment and conflict, we’ve got to think and decide for ourselves.

Which brings me to comedy and poetry. Because sometimes when I'm looking for answers and Scripture seems too familiar and borders on sounding trite - which it does sometimes, the way we use it for Hallmark cards and cute posters - I look to modern day prophets, many of whom are comedians and poets. One comedian in particular this week is sister to the woman who preached at my Ordination. She writes for the Late Show with Seth Meyers, and she is fantastic. This week she had a few things to say to those who were disappointed in the outcome, who had become wary of their neighbors and fearful for their safety: First, she let us know that if we are white and surprised about racism in this country, we could just “join the fun,” because people who’ve received firsthand experience of racism have always known our country has thrived on it. And if this surprises any of us, we’re not paying attention. And if our faith doesn’t tell us to pay attention, we’re not paying attention. But then Amber said something very serious: 

“The thought of someone believing you deserve fewer rights because of who you are is depressing. But then you realize that by doing what you do everyday you prove to them that you’re unstoppable. They can spend their time trying to pass laws to take away your rights and silence your voice. But all you have to do is live your lives right in their faces. And it proves that we simply cannot be stopped.”

In a world that seems to be ending, in the last days of whatever struggles we might be facing, politically or personally, just living, just seeking to live with integrity, just being who we are is a victory. We seek to heal, to love, to serve, to walk in the ways of Christ to our best ability, and we lean on each other for support in the work which lies ahead and within. Keeping our Muslim brothers and sisters safe, calling out the sexism that haunts so many women even as close as Albany University, trying to make sense of the swasticas showing up on public property as though they have become acceptable, these things are how we live into our identities as people created in the Image of God, seeking to honor that Image in each and every person around us, no matter their skin color, national origin, gender, or religion. Our faith calls us to live this reality, brothers and sisters, this reality that love conquers fear no matter how big the fear grows. That’s the message of a faith built on the Incarnation of God come to dwell with us in our very own flesh, bleeding the same blood, sweating the same sweat, weeping the same salty tears.

The power of God is revealed in the audacity to remain true to self and survive the end of the world. It beautifully comes through in Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise,” so I want to share with you the last stanza, recalling to mind the images from today’s Gospel reading that are so full of fear of the end of the world. Nation rising against nation. Family betraying itself. Earthquakes and hate and imprisonment and beatings. Try to hear Angelou’s words from the perspective of this Gospel, from someone who has felt their entire life threatened, who has lived through many world-endings, who has learned to live in that power of the integrity of self and strength of purpose to survive, who was a living Image of God:

“Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,

welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.”