Dec 2, 2007 Sermon

Dec 2, 2007 ADVENT 1 Wakefulness Park UMC Rory Swenson
(Keep your Bible open to the Gospel lesson this morning)


Did you notice that this part of Advent is not about the coming of Christmas ?

and its not talking about the coming of Jesus as child in Bethlehem,

you notice
that every year on the first Sunday of Advent you get these other verses ..
the strange verses
about the coming of God and the end of time..or The Day of the Lord


Talk about
the second coming
..the coming of the son of man
(apocalyptic and eschatological stuff ..if you want the fancy words for this)

and quite frankly
as the church we didn’t quite know what to do with this talk
and we have not handled it very well.

so we got pretty creative.
. turned it into ideas and theories and doctrines

mixed it all together with the book of Revelation
and some of st PAULs words..
and the book of Daniel..maybe some of Ezekiel...whatever..
and I suppose
we have this basic human need
to try and predict the future and maybe have some idea of whart going to come next

You know
things like the rapture
and the thousand year reign of Christ.
.and maybe all those Left Behind books
and whether or not you’re a pre millenialist
or a post milleniellist and so on.

But you know what??!
What if .. all of that..is not quite what Jesus is talking about


maybe Jesus is not trying to give us a time line or a doctrine


I think Jesus ..was probably just trying to tell us how to live in a faithful and spiritual way..

What if Jesus is trying to teach us..how to follow him!

what if this is all above having a certain approach to life ?

an attitude
or a spiritual perspective?


Jesus is trying to teach us.. a core characteristic. Of faithfulness

that sounds exactly like the kind of thing that Jesus would do..
Jesus is giving us something to do

..a way to be..


I believe this is all about being spiritually awake
And it seems to be pretty clear by just ;looking at the language

look at the verbs..
Notice...the action parts of the story

there is a theme going on in here.

Here it is.. Watch..pay attention..

Verse 42 says
keep awake

you know we are not talking about physically sleeping

this is spiritual wakefulness

Jesus told so many parable about readiness..


And watchfulness.
And most of all

he say that the readiness and watchfulness is about doing what your supposed to do... Matthew Gospel actually defines that readiness for you

Remember what is around these verse ..
You want to be biblical about this,,,, right..?
then let the Bible talk..
Keep it in context..

This isn’t some complicated pie in the sky theology

just look at what goes along with these verse.s.
I hope you still have your Bible open..(I want you to see this)

it s parable of the unfaithful slave..
who think that the Master er is not going to be around.
.and so he abuses his position .

He does whatever he wants..And he does not live faithfully

and then there is the parable of the ten bridesmaids
what is the problem?
they fall asleep ...and some of them are not ready..they run out of oil..(they are not enlightened...the lamp is out)
and they miss the wedding party..

And then the parable of the talents..
Some people use their time well...they use their life time well.

And one of them doesn’t use the time and the abilities. To do Gods work.
They waste their opportunities..

and the finally the parable of the Last Judgement with Sheep and the Goats..

What’s the point ?

its about the fact
that when you feed the hungry and care for the strange
and the sick and so on.

. You are caring for Jesus himself.

And so it’s a call to see
to see the needs of others
as a way of seeing Jesus

Coming to you... in them..

now ..you gotta keep that whole section together..
Don’t chop it up into separate little pieces

I think the second coming talk in a lot of Christianity .
.fails to be Biblical at that point.


You know why..?


Jesus is calling for people
for you and me..
to be ready be being awake in ministry..now..
Because today.
.is the only day that you really have..
Use the present moment..to do good...to do justice...to follow Jesus


And don’t get distracted by all these other false claims.
.about knowing the times and the seasons

You just gotta live as if you are paying attention
and being faithful and being ready ...today
watch
stay awake
look
listen
pay attention
stay open
be ready
alertness
spiritual alertness


Do you get you get the idea that we are supposed to approach every day
every situation with questions .
Such as:
is that you lord.?
Is this your call
is this your touch
are you talking to me!
is this you showing up.
.in this conversation
in this prayer
in this person
in this question
in this need..
Is there something I am supposed to do for Jesus

Wouldn’t that be the readiness

and the watchfulness
that Jesus is trying to give us..and teach us..?

Well ..take it this way.

what would be the opposite of that
do you want to be assuming that God is not here
and there is no urgency about anything
because God is not around
and the presence of God
the word of the lord ..will not be part of this day ?

being asleep
having no awareness
no looking
no alertness for God..

Would that be any way to live?

I don’t think so.

Really
we are onto the something
that all the great spiritual teachers
have pointed to
spiritual wakefulness and watching...awareness

open to the unknown
and the unpredictable
and the in breaking
the coming of God
the coming of Christ,

“the son of man...is coming .at unexpected hour..”

.as I said
I don’t think this is just end time talk
I think it is about divine time
divine visitations that happen
Glimpses of God..
in our daily lives..


And
if it s is not just about the end times..

Then
it maybe... is ...about the most important time.
.the most spiritual time..
Of meeting God..
which is the point or the conclusion .the end result of it all.
At the end of our earthly life.

Well
let me pair that with a story..
...
One upon a time

there was a man who was very devoted and faithful to his religious duties

he was responsible for his family
he obey the law

he prayed
he did his personal devotions
and he went to the worship services


But most of the times he was concentrating so much on doing his prayers
And making sure he did them just right

That ..he didn’t see what God was doing right in front of him.

While he was reading his prayer book and studying the scriptures..

He failed to see to see the glory of the sun rise ... right in front of his eyes

with those streaks of silver and blue and red..
Painting and opening the skies
overcoming the darkness ...And declaring the creation of God.

And this habit of unawareness ..

well it overlapped
into the other parts of his life as well

for example

he knew that he was supposed to care for the poor and the sick and orphans
and he did that ...many times.

And it felt good
he came away feeling righteous more faithful
or at least knowing that other people would benefit from his charity.

But in all those years of giving money for food or shelter
or helping people in need.

He never thought to ask himself.
Why..

He never really wondered Why there were so many people in need.. Why there were so many hungry people
or orphans
or poor people or prisoners.

He never realized.
.that the presence of all these people in hard times and the poverty
might be pointing to something that he needed to see..


Now this man also knew that he needed to work responsibly
and teach people to do what is right.
So he taught his children
he supported religious education

.. But still
he just overlooked so much of the suffering
and the struggles
of people right around him..

People who were just wore down by the work of life
just trying to survive.

People caring for their children or for their elderly parents...

People who simply had no time for much study or prayer.


But basically
this man was concentrating on making sure that he did

what he thought he needed to do for his own salvation
and for his own of blessing
That how he lived his life

and then he died,


Now..according to the story
when he got to the gates of heaven

he was shocked to see
that heaven was this huge walled city

and the gates.
.the great towering gates in front of him..
Shut tight and they were locked.

And there was a sign on the gate
it said.
.these doors open once every hundred years. Stay AWAKE

the man was shocked

No one down on earth
had ever told him anything about this

Doors that were locked and opened only once in a hundred years.!!

What was he supposed to do!
How long did he have to wait
had they just been opened a little while ago
a couple of decades
or would they open in week or month..or maybe in just a few minutes/

there was no way to know

so he went off to the side

and he sat down to wait.

First he prayed and he thought about his life.

He tried to remember all the words that he had prayed
back on earth

but back then
he didn’t think
about what those things really meant..

About peace and justice and forgiveness and helping people...and love..and ..


Well... now... he kept drifting off.

And he would fall sleep...

and then he would wake up with a jolt
and wonder how long he had been sleeping

There was nobody else around and he had nothing to do..


And he would doze off gain..drifting in and out of being awake.

And soon he was sleeping even more
and getting deeper into his sleep


But sometimes he would get up
and check the gate
he would push on the doors..


And then he would sit back down again..

Sometimes
he was like a little child taking those little naps
and he would wake up
all of a sudden
and wonder where he was

And he would get panicky
or grumpy for a moment

in fact he got more and more like that.

Sleeping longer and deeper

and again and again

he would check the doors Between his naps..

Still they were locked tight.

He wondered how the time was passing
how much time had there
there was no way to tell..
There was no sunrise
or sunset
no way to mark the days
or measure the passing of time.

...one day ..

When he was sleeping ,, in deep sleep,

the doors began to open..

They opened up very slowly
and very quietly

until they were wide open.

A breath of fresh air

this wonderfully pure air..

Breezed y through the gates..
It was a cool breeze that gently woke him up.

His eyes were opened
and he stared at the gate..

He rushed toward it..

But the gate closed again.. way faster than it had opened.

It slammed shut.

It shut hard .with a deafening noise..

And the sign dropped down again..

These doors open once every hundred years.
Stay Awake,

Thats the story...
And Jesus made that same point with his stories

stay awake
..be ready .
.really see
what you should see..with the eyes of faith

you don’t know the time or the season

don't be sleeping on the spiritual job.. While you wait..

Paul Tillich .
said
Our time is a time of waiting..

every time..is a time of waiting....

Waiting for the breaking in of eternity
All. time
both history
and the personal life...
Is expectation

waiting
not for another time.
But for that which is eternal
...........end quote

Our whole life then
is meant to be this seeking and looking.. Readiness
expectation
a sense of nearness
get that
“nearness”..Jesus is near. The time is near..
As the presence o f God..

The question is

Are you prepared to meet Jesus
to see Jesus
coming to you
calling out to the church
in the cries of the world ..
calling for the violence to end.
.and the abuse to stop
and the name calling to be over..
and the injustice to be corrected

when those opportunities
when those doors open..
When those heavenly times are given..

To serve God..

wake up ..move.. and see Jesus

as he comes to you in that Word of scripture
that we keep ignoring
or in that prayer
in that nudge of the spirit

Pay attention
for the Son of Man
as he comes to you in that chance to do ..want you can do.
To show compassion
..even if it is hard to do.

The Son of man is coming to you
the Kingdom of god is at hand
in that unexpected hour
when you have a chance
to forgive
to make peace
to repent.
. To heal.
.to rejoice..
Or to humble yourself..

to serve.
.to change a life.
To follow Jesus


really
you don’t want to sleep though any of those things
the time is near..

Jesus is simply giving all of us..
a wake up call. Now ...is the time of salvation

The Tillich quote and the story of the man at the gate , are both based on Megan Mckenna Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany ...Sunday Readings.. P. 97ff Orbis 1998
she didn’t cite a source for the Tillich quote...and I’m not about to dig through all my seminary Tillich books! ‘Google” it and let me know what you find!
I have done my own rephrasing/re telling of the Gate story