WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
December 2nd 2007
First Sunday in Advent / Communion Sunday
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Are We Hungry?”
Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 24:36-44
“If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” It is a line from one of my all time favorite bumper-stickers. I have come to believe that these words really express what is at the heart of the Advent season. These words do not represent random or generalized anger. Instead, they are the expression of someone who can acknowledge the realities around us: We are at war, housing foreclosures have become epidemic, pensions are disappearing, health care is a privilege for the few, Full-time work at the minimum wage cannot lift even a small family out of poverty and yet tax breaks have been established for estates over $5 million dollars. In other words, when confronted with this sort of reality we can either become a little outraged or numb. Either way the words of theologian Neal Plantinga ring true; this is: “Not the Way it is Supposed to Be.”
Now, it is a common misunderstanding that Advent is about our waiting and preparing for Christmas. While Advent is a season of waiting, we are most certainly not waiting for Christmas. This season in the church year is a time for us to take a break from the ways we numb ourselves from that which would lead us to outrage. It is the time when we are called to open our eyes and really see what is happening. It is a time when we hope, and act out of that hope, for the time when death and violence will not have the last word. It is a time where we remember that peace is God’s will for all people. So, Advent is really a time to reevaluate and reorder our lives in light of the reality that: This is not the way it is supposed to be.
With millions and millions of copies of the Left Behind fiction series in print, one cannot help but reading this passage from the Gospel of Matthew and begin to think it has something to do with who gets to go to heaven. The nice part about such passages is that they are obscure enough to allow for such speculation. As a result, we can walk away from this passage believing that is all Jesus has to say. However, such conclusions cause us to miss the much more earth shattering, and frankly, important issues at work in both Matthew’s Gospel and the vision from Isaiah.
The vision from Isaiah shows a deep longing and hunger for a new way. And while we all hunger for an end to war, the longing in this passage is not utopian or the result of some cataclysmic or divine action. It is not a call to wish for a new day but instead it is a call to action. Notice that the whole war economy is dismantled; the weapons of war are transformed into farm implements. The wars for water, or trade or oil come to an end and people, the whole world, works together so that death, and violence and hunger are no more. It is an ancient vision with more contemporary relevance than we can even grasp. There is no magic formula here. Instead, this vision happens as a result of people coming together and learning about God’s ways. And, they learn the radical good news that God does not will war and violence.
When Jesus speaks in Matthew’s passage from this morning, he is teaching the disciples how to live in the in-between time. It is a teaching for those who understand that the world as it is right now is not what God intended. The reference to the “Time of Noah” is a clue. It is a reference to the judgment that falls upon the people in the “Time of Noah.” If we were to turn to the book of Genesis, we would find out that the days of Noah were extremely violent and it appears that most people had simply become numb to the violence all around them. It is a wake up call to the disciples of Jesus. ‘Stay awake!’ and live lives which not only acknowledge, but run counter to the violence all around you.
In this season of Advent, as we seek to acknowledge the places of our hungers and the hungers of our world, we must be aware that this awareness might lead us to be a bit outraged. In fact, anger is really a better word. So when anger arises, do not be surprised, simply use that energy to remain committed to the waiting time. I find particular encouragement in this season of Advent in these words from my preaching professor Church Campbell. He writes:
No wonder the powers seek to make human beings numb! Once anger arises, the powers begin to lose their grip’ their deadly ways have been discerned, and human resistance has begun.
It is a powerful remind to the ways in which we are all susceptible to the numbness and the real need for us to stay awake. In this season of Advent, this season of waiting, let us not numb that hunger for the time when violence will no longer have the last word. Instead, let us find a little room for the outrage that leads us to work for another way that we know is possible. Amen? Amen.
December 2nd 2007
First Sunday in Advent / Communion Sunday
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Are We Hungry?”
Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 24:36-44
“If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” It is a line from one of my all time favorite bumper-stickers. I have come to believe that these words really express what is at the heart of the Advent season. These words do not represent random or generalized anger. Instead, they are the expression of someone who can acknowledge the realities around us: We are at war, housing foreclosures have become epidemic, pensions are disappearing, health care is a privilege for the few, Full-time work at the minimum wage cannot lift even a small family out of poverty and yet tax breaks have been established for estates over $5 million dollars. In other words, when confronted with this sort of reality we can either become a little outraged or numb. Either way the words of theologian Neal Plantinga ring true; this is: “Not the Way it is Supposed to Be.”
Now, it is a common misunderstanding that Advent is about our waiting and preparing for Christmas. While Advent is a season of waiting, we are most certainly not waiting for Christmas. This season in the church year is a time for us to take a break from the ways we numb ourselves from that which would lead us to outrage. It is the time when we are called to open our eyes and really see what is happening. It is a time when we hope, and act out of that hope, for the time when death and violence will not have the last word. It is a time where we remember that peace is God’s will for all people. So, Advent is really a time to reevaluate and reorder our lives in light of the reality that: This is not the way it is supposed to be.
With millions and millions of copies of the Left Behind fiction series in print, one cannot help but reading this passage from the Gospel of Matthew and begin to think it has something to do with who gets to go to heaven. The nice part about such passages is that they are obscure enough to allow for such speculation. As a result, we can walk away from this passage believing that is all Jesus has to say. However, such conclusions cause us to miss the much more earth shattering, and frankly, important issues at work in both Matthew’s Gospel and the vision from Isaiah.
The vision from Isaiah shows a deep longing and hunger for a new way. And while we all hunger for an end to war, the longing in this passage is not utopian or the result of some cataclysmic or divine action. It is not a call to wish for a new day but instead it is a call to action. Notice that the whole war economy is dismantled; the weapons of war are transformed into farm implements. The wars for water, or trade or oil come to an end and people, the whole world, works together so that death, and violence and hunger are no more. It is an ancient vision with more contemporary relevance than we can even grasp. There is no magic formula here. Instead, this vision happens as a result of people coming together and learning about God’s ways. And, they learn the radical good news that God does not will war and violence.
When Jesus speaks in Matthew’s passage from this morning, he is teaching the disciples how to live in the in-between time. It is a teaching for those who understand that the world as it is right now is not what God intended. The reference to the “Time of Noah” is a clue. It is a reference to the judgment that falls upon the people in the “Time of Noah.” If we were to turn to the book of Genesis, we would find out that the days of Noah were extremely violent and it appears that most people had simply become numb to the violence all around them. It is a wake up call to the disciples of Jesus. ‘Stay awake!’ and live lives which not only acknowledge, but run counter to the violence all around you.
In this season of Advent, as we seek to acknowledge the places of our hungers and the hungers of our world, we must be aware that this awareness might lead us to be a bit outraged. In fact, anger is really a better word. So when anger arises, do not be surprised, simply use that energy to remain committed to the waiting time. I find particular encouragement in this season of Advent in these words from my preaching professor Church Campbell. He writes:
No wonder the powers seek to make human beings numb! Once anger arises, the powers begin to lose their grip’ their deadly ways have been discerned, and human resistance has begun.
It is a powerful remind to the ways in which we are all susceptible to the numbness and the real need for us to stay awake. In this season of Advent, this season of waiting, let us not numb that hunger for the time when violence will no longer have the last word. Instead, let us find a little room for the outrage that leads us to work for another way that we know is possible. Amen? Amen.
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