Watchful Waiting

Image courtesy of GBOD of the UMC http://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/first-sunday-of-advent-a-additional-resources

At almost every retirement ceremony the words of “The Watch” are read.  “For XX number of years this Sailor has stood the watch,” starts the poem which concludes with “Shipmate you stand relieved….we have the watch.”

It’s our way of saying to our colleague that they can stand down from a way of life that we are indoctrinated to from our beginnings in basic training.  I first learned them at RTC in Orlando and again in Newport’s Officer’s Development School: The Eleven General Orders of the Sentry, the last of which says, “To be especially watchful at night, and, during the time for challenging, to challenge all persons on or near my post and to allow no one to pass without proper authority.”

The idea of being on watch is not unusual to those of us living, or living around, a military culture. So when we encounter the words “Keep awake” and “be ready” there may be a tendency to hear something about being on watch for something bad. Maybe somewhere in the back of our minds we hear Mad-Eye Moody from Harry Potter shouting, “Constant Vigilance!” to his students of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Even Jesus’ mention of the Days of Noah may have us cringing a bit as we contemplate what this text has to do with our preparations for Christmas.

Because it’s all a little, “Just you wait until your father gets home,” isn’t it?

But Advent is about waiting. 

Waiting to celebrate the Word made flesh.

Waiting to rejoice with the Angels who sang songs of God’s glory and God’s Peace.

Advent is about waiting not in fear of a punishing judge; rather it’s about waiting for the vision of God to be made real in history. As that vision was made real in the birth of Jesus. As that vision will be made complete in the Day of the Lord and Christ’s return.

Advent calls us into a place of watchful waiting.

We are in a time of year when we know all about watchful waiting.  We waited when we were children for the mystery of Christmas morning to unfold, and in parenthood we wait as our children watch the mystery of Christmas morning unfold.  And culturally we still yearn for that child-like wonder of the season, don’t we? Even in Japan we watched the locals get excited about Christmas decorations and Christmas music and Christmas gifts; the shopping arcade in Sasebo had these amazing light displays and American Village in Okinawa would decorate and be ablaze in the feeling of the Holiday.

So, even if it’s at a cultural level, we’re geared up for something wonderful to happen during this season.

I know that for some folks, Christmas, even Thanksgiving, are days of stress and pain because our families aren’t whole, or functional, or kind.  And yet, maybe, even in our pain and sorrow, there is a yearning for hope; a desire for the mystery to unfold.

This is perhaps what the state of the people of God were in when Isaiah speaks in today’s text.  The southern Kingdom of Judah is under siege by the Syrian King and the Northern Kingdom of Israel, 120,000 Judean troops were lost in a single days’ battle, the son of King Ahaz was killed (along with other officials), and others were taken away into slavery.  Isaiah’s vision doesn’t occur in a time of peace; he sees this impossible thing happen while war is being waged all around him.  Our passage says, “The word that Isaiah…saw.”  He didn’t hear this word; he didn’t read this word; Isaiah SAW this word, and I think that’s something worth pointing out.

As the Kingdom of Judah, and the center of worship for the people of God in Jerusalem, is under siege, Isaiah sees a word—a seemingly impossible word—that stands in opposition to the war and terror around him.

Maybe this is timely for us to hear as the clashes around DAPL go into their seventh month and the protestors are being moved off their camp into “free speech zones”, as the divide in our nation shows little sign of healing, as nooses are discovered in middle school bathrooms, as Iraqis flee Mosul in fear of increasing ISIL Suicide bombings…

Maybe Isaiah seeing this seemingly impossible word unfold is exactly what we need.

“The word that Isaiah…saw…In days to come…”

In days to come may not be specific, but it does imply that the transformation seen in this word will come within history. Isaiah doesn’t say, “In the year 2525” like Zager and Evans did in their 1969 song about the apocalypse, he merely says in days to come.  Perhaps it is intentionally vague, or maybe it’s a hope-filled yearning like that felt by Tony and Maria in West Side Story as they sang “Somehow…someday…somewhere!” where they believe that if they live in a way of peace that they can make a place of peace.

Isaiah notices that those who stream to the Lord’s house “will encounter and meet God who speaks not only in words but in acts. They will hear not only with their ears but with their hearts—and this God, whose actions they will see and whose will they will hear in their hearts, will be an all welcoming God.”  Because “the nations” streaming to God offers a sign in this vision that “the instruction of God revealed and hidden in Torah is not only for Israel, but for all the nations.”

And as this instruction comes forth…the nations will be transformed from a people who are at war in their hearts and in the world, to a people who are at peace.  And all it seems to require is a willingness to be transformed, a willingness to say, “Let us go 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.”  It seems that even though the future belongs to God, “the first step toward that future belongs to those who have glimpsed that light.”

So maybe we live in between times, then.  We live in between the vision of God’s future and the completion of God’s future.  We believe that in the birth of Jesus, and in his life and teachings, that we have seen God’s word in actions and that we have heard God’s will.  And maybe this is the what that Jesus calls us to be awake for, to be alert for.  Moments of unfolding.  Moments that are ripe for us to step into God’s dream.

Okay, so now what?  So what?  We live in between Isaiah’s vision and it’s fulfillment.  We live in between the birth of Jesus and the the return of Christ and the Day of the Lord.  What’s it have to do with Christmas?

I think it has this to do with Christmas (and you’ll learn that I say “I think” a lot, because I really don’t think my word is the final word…I’d rather my voice be part of an ongoing conversation.)  I think it has this to do with Christmas.  the very birth of Jesus was the beginning of the fulfillment of the vision Isaiah saw.  As one pastor says, “To live between the times is, above all, to trust and hope that God has begun, and will continue to transform, us more and more into the stature of Christ.”  And if the life and teachings of Jesus are the visible actions of God, then as we become more like Christ our actions will be more and more in line with the dream of God seen in Isaiah’s vision.  

Last week Chaplain Minyard mentioned evangelism as the #1 thing on the Church’s to do list, remember? The list on a sticky note on God’s Fridge? I agree, and I think that visible acts of love are some of the best methods of evangelization out there.  

I’m reminded of a Peanuts comic strip where Charlie Brown and Linus are trudging through the snow. The wind is blowing; the snow is falling. They are bundled up in their snowsuits with fur hats and scarves and gloves and boots. They encounter Snoopy, shivering, naked — as dogs ordinarily are, in front of his doghouse, his dish is empty; he looks cold and hungry and just miserable. Charlie Brown says “Be of good cheer, Snoopy.” Linus echoes: “Yes, Snoopy, be of good cheer.” And off they go leaving Snoopy with a wonderfully quizzical look on his face.

So maybe the reality that God is calling us to live into comes one bowl of soup, one kind word, one kind greeting at a time.  Maybe the reality of God comes when fear and anxiety of the other stops dominating our lives and Faith and Hope take over.

Come, people of God, let us walk in the light of the Lord, watchful for moments to be active in God’s will.

Christ the King Sunday -- Year C -- 2016

Pantocrator,Montreal Cathedral, Sicily

It was on every email he sent. It was said at every formation where he spoke. “It’s the price you pay for the life you choose.” The company First Sergeant was a good man who believed in the Corps and who believed that choosing a life with the Corps meant you chose a life that would have its fair share of challenges.

What does it mean for the Church to say things like “King of kings” and “Lord of lords”? What does it mean for the Church at the end of every liturgical year to celebrate the Reign of Christ, or Christ the King Sunday?

All of the Gospel writers tell us that when Jesus was crucified that the words “King of the Jews” were inscribed over him, usually shown as a placard over his head. What kind of King meets this kind of end and who would choose to follow such a king? “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.” Spoken by Cersei Lannister to Ned Stark in the first season of The Game of Thrones. The thought seems to summarize how most people view being a successful ruler of people.  Successful rulers win the game of thrones; they don’t end up dead.

But we’re presented a crucifixion text for the Reign of Christ and that means that there’s something for us to learn from this text as it relates to this particular day in the liturgical year.  Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords; we celebrate the Reign that was inaugurated with his death and resurrection, so what can the Church draw from this to help us become more fully formed as the embodiment of Christ’s reign?

One theologian says, “The ruler of this kingdom does not help himself, but he helps others who need his help (Luke 23:35). Still more: he does not meet evil with evil, but repays evil with good. Indeed, he forgives the people who do not know the evil things they arrange by asking his Father in heaven to forgive them (v. 34).” (Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 4: Season after Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ) (Kindle Locations 12454-12456). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.)

“Jesus spent more time talking about the Kingdom of God than any other topic or issue,” says another pastor. And while we may want to imagine that Kingdom as a future reality that will only come to fruition in the sweet by and by (as if it were a post-dated check), Jesus spoke of the Kingdom as both a present AND a future reality. “The Kingdom of God is at hand.”

So for those of us who would consider ourselves subjects of this Ruler, or citizens of the Reign of God, or followers of this King, our model is One who prays to the Father for the forgiveness of those who have done him harm and who welcomes the justifiably condemned thief into Paradise. These are not easy things to do, but it's the price we pay for the life we choose.

I can’t help but encounter this text with humility because, while we may want to say that the ‘King-ship” of Jesus is demonstrated in his resurrection and exaltation, it is in his crucifixion and death that he is named King. And I believe there is something for me (for all of us) to learn from this.

Jesus is challenged multiple times in this passage to prove that he is the Messiah (God’s chosen one) by saving himself, the crowd and the first thief both say, “Save yourself if you are God’s chosen one, but the thief adds that Jesus also rescue him from his demise.” So the proof of Jesus’ Messianic role is not in his stopping of his own death, but in his embracing it. 

For followers of this Messiah, then, we have a few marks to emulate: forgiving those who have or would do us harm; embracing a path that may not lead to exaltation; and welcoming the obviously “unworthy” into God’s reign. It's not an easy way to follow, but it's the price we pay for the life we choose.

It is interesting that somehow the second thief recognized the Messianic nature of Jesus in his humiliation and death and maybe that’s what the world needs today from people of faith.

“Somehow he has found the hermeneutical lens that permits him to recognize salvation that intrudes into the absolutely hopeless moment where no one is saved from suffering and death, which is also exactly the moment when salvation breaks through.” (Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 4: Season after Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ) (Kindle Locations 12604-12605). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.) 

As followers of this Messiah, as a people who claim Jesus as Lord, where are the places where we allow salvation to intrude into the “hopeless moments” of others? It seems that the world is ripe for moments where God’s Realm can interrupt the tide of hopelessness and despair with real and holy presence.

So often I hear or read on social media, statements of frustration or sorrow or pain. I hear stories of heart ache and heart break from people who wander into my office. And something I frequently hear from these people is that they don’t want “If God brings you to it, he’ll bring you through it” statements said.

What people want to hear is that their pain, their fear, their sorrow is real and valid in the moment, AND that they are not alone. That they have not been forsaken or abandoned and would someone please, demonstrate it by sitting with me in my sorrow.

Jesus says to the thief, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” Today, God’s reign is real. In this moment, God is fully present with you. In this moment you are remembered. In this moment you are beloved.

May we choose to follow, follow in faith in the same valley places that our Lord has walked.

Amen.