scripture: luke 21:25-21:36

Worship the Lord our Savior the glorious King in celebration of his Advent

Worship the Lord our Savior the glorious King in celebration of his Advent

Christians ought to be excited about the future We live in anticipation because we know God does not forget us The Victory is already ours

Christians ought to be excited about the future We live in anticipation because we know God does not forget us The Victory is already ours

Brad Sullivan 1 Advent, Year C December 2, 2018 Emmanuel, Houston Jeremiah 33:14-16 Psalm 25:1-9 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Luke 21:25-36 Prisoners of Hope “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly.” Happy Advent everyone. Here at the beginning of the church year, we have Jesus talking about what almost sounds like a doomsday scenario. Be on guard, guys, because it’s gonna get bad, then it’s gonna get worse, then the Son of Man is going to come, and you’ll really have to watch out. That’s not what’s going on here. “That day,” Jesus said. “Be on guard…[lest] that day catch you unexpectedly.” They day he was referring to was the day of the son of man, an allusion to Daniel chapter 7. The son of man, or one like a son of man, or a regular dude, (depending on how you interpret the words of Daniel), a regular dude is going to come with the clouds of heaven, and he is going to lead the people of Israel, and from then on, the people of Israel will be honored and praised by all the world, and all nations will look to Israel for peace and justice and the way of God throughout the earth. This was Daniel 7:13-14, after the first twelve verses of Daniel 7 described four terrible kingdoms of the earth rising up and wreaking havoc on Israel. So, four kingdoms of the earth, followed by a kingdom whose origin is from God, a divinely ordained and ordered kingdom for God’s people, Israel. That hasn’t happened yet. If we’re looking for historical cognates to the four kingdoms mentioned in Daniel, there are plenty of contenders like Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, but the point of Daniel’s vision is less about particular historical cognates, and more about God’s restoration of Israel after and even through destruction. “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life,” Jesus said. Remember Daniel’s vision? Yes, dark days are coming, and God will be with us in and through those dark days, and afterwards, we will be restored. “When I am killed,” Jesus was saying, “when Rome sacks Israel, when the temple is destroyed, do not become prisoners of despair, weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life.” Don’t become prisoners of despair during the dark times. Whether it’s Rome sacking Israel, Harvey sacking Houston, the Camp Fire sacking northern California, we have no lack of dark times. We’ve got distress among the nations, roaring of the seas, fires, floods, we’ve definitely got fear and foreboding. We’ve got plenty of reasons to numb ourselves. That’ really what Jesus is talking about, being weighed down by dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life. Numbing. Numbing out so the worries of this life seem muted, or at least for a little while, we don’t have to care as much. Jesus is warning against responding to the worries of this life with dissipation and drunkenness. Don’t be prisoners of despair. Be on guard lest you numb out and spend your life in frivolous amusement, wasteful expenditures, dissolute living…basically a lot of excess and pleasure seeking in order to numb out and avoid the darkness and worries of life. Almost everyone numbs in one way or another to avoid or to get a temporary reprieve from the darkness and despair and worry of so much going on around us. We all numb out in one way or another, but don’t become prisoners of despair, Jesus taught. Instead, Jesus taught, be prisoners of hope. This idea of prisoners of hope comes from Zechariah 9:12, and I am completely stealing this idea from Rabbi Annie’s sermon last month during the Shabbat for Solidarity. Become prisoners of hope. Jesus knew he was going to die. He knew the Temple would be destroyed and his people would be scattered to the ends of the earth. He was acutely aware of the darkness and hardships around him, and he knew things were going to get worse, and yet he remained a prisoner of hope. Remember Daniel’s vision, guys. Remember that one day, God’s kingdom will be fully lived out with Israel at the helm. Remember the brightness of the future which casts out all the darkness of the present. Remember, and be prisoners of hope. Love deeply. Party with your friends, and enjoy life, that’s what Jesus did. Honor and respect yourself and those around you. Be faithful and true to who you are and who you want to be. Serve others when they are in need, and let others serve you when you are in need. Spend lots of time in prayer. Jesus was constantly reconnecting himself to God through prayer. He got overcome by the darkness of the world, just like we do, and so he spent a huge amount of time reconnecting to the light of God through prayer. As a people, we’re re-learning how to reconnect to the light of God through prayer with ancient practices like centering prayer and meditation. A group meets here at Temple Sinai on Thursdays at 5:00 for Centering Prayer. Bible Prayer groups are beginning to meet to pray though passages of scripture and to let the Spirit of God speak through the scriptures. Groups of people are meeting for prayer in online communities when work and travel and distance won’t allow them to meet together in person. Praying the hours is becoming cool again. Early in the life of the church, folks were becoming overwhelmed by the fast pace of life and the constant demands of their time and attention by second and third century society. So, monastic communities began forming as folks left the cities to devote themselves to quieter lives of prayer, and far from drudgery, lives of service and prayer gave light, life, and joy to those who had been weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life. Nowadays, we find a new interest in monasticism in which people don’t have to become monks and nuns but continue to live their regular lives and also join with monastics in lives of service and prayer. More and more folks are choosing to become prisoners of hope. Morning, noon, evening, and night, we Episcopalians pray as prisoners of hope. Even those four hours of prayer come from monastic roots, from people no longer wanting to be weighed down by numbing the worries of this life away through dissipation and drunkenness. Continual prayer and reconnecting to the light of God. Serving others in need and allowing others to serve us when we’re in need. Partying with friends and enjoying life while honoring and respecting ourselves and those around us. Love deeply. These are the ways Jesus lived as a prisoner of hope, and how Jesus taught us to be prisoners of hope. Restoration is coming from God. That is our hope. In little ways every day, God is restoring creation in and through us. One day, God will restore all of creation with Israel at the helm. So do not numb out. Do not be weighed down by dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life as prisoners of despair. Instead, love deeply as prisoners of hope.

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The Signs of Christ’s coming kingdom frighten many. When you see these signs, the kingdom is near. The Call of Advent is not to fear, but to faith

The Signs of Christ’s coming kingdom frighten many. When you see these signs, the kingdom is near. The Call of Advent is not to fear, but to faith

Brad Sullivan 1 Advent, Year C November 22, 2015 Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX Psalm 25:1-9 Luke 21:25-36 A World Alight With the Presence of Jesus I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was great, up in Austin with lots of family at my brother and sister-in-law’s house. As my sister-in-law, Darlene, said, “It was perfect except that Dad wasn’t there.” There were some pangs of sadness here and there, but mostly it was very joyful. Joy combined with some sadness here and there is fairly descriptive of the Advent season. Advent is the beginning of our church year, the time of preparation for Jesus’ coming. So, it is a joyful time, waiting with hopeful expectation for Jesus’ return. While Advent happens just before Christmas, we’re not really preparing for Jesus’ birth. We’re preparing for his coming again. We wait with joy for his coming again. The same Jesus who welcomed sinners, cared for the orphan and widow, and forgave rather than condemned, that is the same Jesus who is going to return. So we wait with joy. At the same time, Jesus points out that the time before his return, what we like to call the end times, won’t exactly be a cake walk. “People will faint with fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world.” Powers in the heavens will be shaken, the Sun, Moon, and stars, distress among the nations. This is a whole world, cosmic happening, Jesus is talking about. It sounds kind of frightening and foreboding. Then again, we get frightening and foreboding. Distress among the nations, we know that too well. People fainting with fear and foreboding, we know that too. ISIS. Terrorism. Christians shooting theaters, schools, and pregnancy centers. Terrorism again. Wars. Rumors of wars. As I said last week, we live in a very fearful time. The season of Advent is a season of joyful preparation, but not one in which we deny these fearful times. Jesus didn’t deny them. Instead, we walk through these fearful times with our heads high. “When you see these things begin to take place,” Jesus said, “look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” In the ultimate end times, we’re told not to give in to fear and foreboding, but lift up our heads with hope because Jesus is drawing near. We don’t know if the particular time of fear and foreboding in which we are living right now is the time of fear and foreboding, is the end time, but we are certainly living in an end time. Ways of life are ending as new ways are coming about. The world many of us grew up in is ending as the world that will be is coming about. In those days, Jesus said, lift up your heads. Show the light of Jesus. Stand up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near. Lots of folks like to look at these passages and seek to induce fear with them. We live in the end times. Be afraid. Oooohh. It’s like some people have turned Jesus into the Bogeyman. Be afraid, Jesus is coming. That’s not really the lesson, is it? We already know fear and foreboding. The real lesson in this passage is redemption, joy, and lifting up our heads during the bad times. “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life,” Jesus said. Make sure your hearts are not weighed down with worry. Do not let your hearts be weighed down with fear and foreboding. Lift up your heads. Be joyful. In times of darkness, be the light of Jesus in what you do, in what you say, in what you believe. Now, I’m about to seemingly do a 180, but I’m really not. Jesus did say that the fear and foreboding came not only from what was, but from what was coming. The fear and foreboding was because Jesus was coming. That doesn’t make him the Bogeyman. What is coming is what we prayed about in Psalm 25. “Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation.” “Let none who look to you be put to shame; let the treacherous be disappointed in their schemes.” Ok, fear and foreboding for the treacherous. “Let me not be humiliated, nor let my enemies triumph over me.” Ok, fear and foreboding for your enemies (who might be praying the same thing about you). What’s coming in Psalm 25? “Gracious and upright is the LORD; therefore he teaches sinners in his way.” That’s what’s coming. God does not delight in destruction, in the death of sinners. “He guides the humble in doing right and teaches his way to the lowly.” (Psalm 25:8) Admittedly for some, this won’t be good news. Some don’t want to be guided. Some don’t want to do what is right, don’t want to follow in God’s way. Some don’t want to be lowly enough to be guided. For them, Jesus’ coming may not be good news. Jesus was never overly pleased with those who placed themselves as high above others and perverted justice and mercy. So, for some, his coming won’t be good news. In other words, Psalm 25 is very good news, except for those who choose for it not to be. Advent, then, is for us to proclaim and live that good news. There is a better way than the violence, fear, and foreboding that we know too well. There is the world alight with Jesus’ presence. “Do not be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life.” If you are, you won’t notice Jesus everywhere around you. “Be alert at all times,” Jesus said, “praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Strength to stand before the Son of Man is about acknowledging our sinfulness, and letting God teach us in his ways. God’s ways are like Jesus’ ways to welcome sinners, to care for the orphan and widow, and to forgive rather than condemn. That is going on all around us. Jesus is here, all around us. Strength to stand before the Son of Man means we are aware of Jesus around us and that we are strong in the ways of the Son of Man. That is what Advent is about, taking time to open our hearts and eyes to a world alight with Jesus’ presence, even amidst dark times of fear and foreboding. During dark times of fear and foreboding, Jesus says, “don’t worry, for I am coming.” During dark times of fear and foreboding, don’t worry, because in truth, Jesus is already here. Amen.

sermon audio from the 11 a.m. Advent 1 service at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Houston, TX on 11-29-15

Christ Church, Bayston Hill (UK)