Live as if this is the last day of your life. We've all heard this bit of
advice—probably in a sermon even.
Last year we saw billboards declaring the end of the world and advising
us to prepare for it. A few years
ago this way of living informed a film called “The Bucket List.” Two terminally ill characters,
played by Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, had a “bucket list”—things to do
before they “kicked the bucket.”
So they decided to take a road trip and see how far they could get down
the list.
I do engage in some magical—and not very biblical—thinking about the
last day of my life and the end of the world. I imagine that if I have enough unfinished tasks, I'll fool
God into thinking it's not time for Elizabeth just now. So my poor housekeeping skills could be
looked at as an insurance policy, couldn't they? Or perhaps I will make a bucket list of such improbable
things—like celebrating Eucharist in an award winning embroidered silk chasuble
by the Gaspard company priced at several thousand dollars—that my exit from
this life will be long delayed. Or
on a more serious note—and rather unbiblical as well—I may think, “What does it
matter?” God knows all my
weaknesses and areas of sin already.
No amount of busy-ness will cover up my failings. I know I can't hide. There is no use
thinking I can get away with “looking busy, because Jesus is coming.”
In his book, Love Wins, Rob Bell notes that some Christians
say we should face the fact of our mortality with this terse phrase: “Turn or
Burn.” In other word, in face of
the uncertainty about how much time one has left in this life, one must repent
of sins without delay or face the fires of hell for eternity. Rob Bell advocates a different way of
thinking about our last days. He
believes that God—in the end—approaches humanity's failings with as much mercy
as judgment.
Our readings this morning, the first Sunday of Advent do not engage
in magical thinking or in fear-mongering.
Rather they contain valuable thoughts about how we are to live now—not
worrying whether it is our last day on earth or not.
Today marks the beginning of the new church year. On the first Sunday of Advent we begin
our time of preparation as we long for the arrival of God in Jesus. Our readings help us focus on what it
means to be awake and prepared for God's appearing—in our lives and in the life
of St. Nicholas, of Newark, of Delaware, of our country and of the world.
First, we need to remember that as members of the human family, we
are God's people. Isaiah put it
poetically, “Yet, O Lord . . . we are the clay, and you are our potter; we all
are the work of your hand . . . Now consider, we are all your people.” In this prophetic prayer Isaiah was
speaking to both God and the people who had returned from captivity in Babylon
to find Jerusalem and the Temple in ruins. He was reminding them of the long lasting
relationship between them—a covenant relationship—no matter how dire the situation
seemed at the moment. We
understand this relationship as being ours as well.
So, after recognizing ourselves as God's people, we need to trust
that God will be faithful. The
psalmist wrote this refrain declaring God's faithfulness: “Restore us, O God of hosts; show us
the light of your countenance and we shall be saved.” In speaking about the spiritual gift of God's grace to the
Corinthian church, St. Paul wrote that the members of the church were
strengthened by this grace for all that lay ahead of them, which could include
persecution. Then he stated this directly: “God is faithful; by him you were
called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” God's faithfulness isn't a promise to
take away our difficulties in life.
God's faithfulness means that we will be not be abandoned. We will be upheld and supported by
God's love—the love we know through the life of Jesus Christ. We will be strengthened, as well, by
God's eternal words. In the gospel
passage from Mark we heard this morning Jesus assures his disciples: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but
my words will not pass away.”
While the context in which the gospel of Mark was written—the
destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the soldiers of the Romans occupation—is quite different
than our own, we, too, face difficulties that cause us to wonder whether we
have been abandoned by God. In the
passage we heard Jesus tell of an apocalypse in which God will rescue those who
trust in God and gather them in safety.
We are told not to wonder when this will happen, but be ready for
it.
As modern people we are
tempted to dismiss this description for we know of terrible tragedies, caused
by human beings and by natural forces—but the end of time has not come. If this passage is to hold meaning for
us, we must look deeper than a literal interpretation. I would argue that Jesus wants us to
look deeper because he ended this apocalyptic prophecy with a parable. Jesus always uses parables to bring us
up short and challenge us to think more deeply.
The end of time will come—but is not yet—because it is like when the
master has gone on a journey of unknown length. In the world of the parable the servants must not only care
for the property, but be ready for the master to hold them accountable for their
care-taking of his property. Being
held accountable might well seem like “the powers of heaven being shaken.” These servants need to be prepared for
such an accounting.
In the “meantime” we human beings, as did the servants in the
parable, find ourselves with work to do, caring for the earth and its
inhabitants. The absence of the
master in the parable could be identified as our free will. We have the freedom
to choose to do our work or not.
We have the freedom to choose how we do our work. But humanity will find itself
accountable for discerning God's will and for watching for God's presence. Neither are easy tasks.
But now we have Advent: a time to wait and to watch and to ponder
where and how God's will reveal God's self in our lives. Advent becomes the perfect time to
practice living as if this is our last day. When we live today as if it is our
last day, we will search for God’s presence more intentionally in each
situation and in each person we encounter. Our behavior may change, or it may not; but our hearts will
change, finding themselves more open and more compassionate to other people and
to the world around us. Indeed,
this is how we must keep awake; this is how we must prepare ourselves for our
Master's return.
No comments:
Post a Comment