Not All Chevy
If my thoughts are on the 1932 Chevrolet street rod sedan Joe photographed and texted me yesterday (and they are)
my writing time is short. So, here’s my homily from yesterday instead.
Gospel for December 1, 2013, 1st Sunday of Advent, Matthew 24:37-44 (NRSV)
(Jesus said) 37 ... as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
On an Advent Sunday of Holy Baptism, I shall speak of endings and beginnings; in the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. You may be seated.
“Happy New Year” festively exchanged a month from today seems a strange greeting this morning, yet is more than right and good, correct and proper. This First Sunday of Advent is New Years Day of the church calendar, and I do wish you, “Happy New Year” of a season that is ambivalent with fear and excitement, joy and foreboding. Anticipation is so thick you can cut it with a knife because “Advent” “He comes,” but who, who comes? How does He come? And, menacingly, why? Why does he come?
The Son of Man comes with the holy angels, in the glory of God the Father, to judge the living and the dead.
The Son of Man comes with the holy angels, in the glory of God the Father, to judge the living and the dead.
Scripture this morning is apocalyptic, anticipating the great and terrible Day of the Lord, a day of darkness, of deep darkness and not light; even the gospel is NOT good news, for the Son of Man comes when least expected, to judge, and to refine with purifying fire.
Be forewarned, more ominous than purchasing a used car that some little old lady only drove to church on Sunday, this coming of the Son of Man at an unexpected hour is part of the package when you are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: part of the deal, your covenant with the Creator of all that is, visible and invisible, seen and unseen.
For most of us here, the hour is too late, and darkening to bitter chill before any sign of dawn, but as for you unbaptized, run for the hills.
A million years ago in my life -- 1965 actually -- as a young Navy lieutenant on shore duty in the Far East, I boarded a Navy plane in Tokyo and flew across the Sea of Japan to South Korea. From Seoul I took a staff car to an outlying Marine Corps base and presented myself to the Commanding Officer, with written orders to audit his base finances. The colonel was furious, at being caught by surprise, and even more so at being surprised by a junior officer, he was angry, and a raging Marine colonel is not a pretty thing. He said I would not conduct the audit, he was forbidding it. I said, “Sir, as you see by my orders, I am not here on my own authority, this is a surprise audit by the Secretary of the Navy.” He was not a happy colonel -- neither then on my arrival nor later when I was done and filed my report -- and neither may you be when the Son of Man arrives on judgment day, if you are not ready to face him. Advent is your warning to be ready.
St. Paul, from whom comes today’s Romans reading, along with many people of his day and age, gospel writers as well, St. Paul lived in apprehension. Paul expected the end of the world at any moment -- in his lifetime for sure -- Jesus Christ returning to re-establish God’s reign on earth, not only judging living people, but even recalling the dead to life for final judgment. Those who were under the God of Israel would be saved into God’s kingdom, all others doomed. Paul’s ministry therefore was to bring the Gentile world out of paganism into the faith of Jesus Christ: Shema, Yisrael, Adonai Elehenu, Adonai echod, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
This is the Day of Salvation: Advent is the season, and Baptism life’s moment, to turn to the Gospel. Jesus does not teach tradition, does not teach customs, rules and canons, does not establish institutions or lead business ventures. Jesus tears down the shrines of men, the temples we build, you heard the gospel last week: not one stone left upon another -- and so therefore, our opening collect a few weeks ago: O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil, which is everything we have made and worship that is not of God who is love and love alone: how we treat God and each other, those around us, those less fortunate than we at home and around the world, the poor and hungry, those who had no supper last night, those who had no shelter to sleep last night, who will be naked today and cold tonight, those who are sick and diseased and hurt and broken and those who cannot afford medical care.
Before you come for Baptism or stand to renew your Baptismal Covenant with God, hear and understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not about your personal salvation in some world to come, but about your loving work in this world to save those around you; a vocation to life, love, and work that Jesus made clear by personal example throughout his earthly ministry of lowly birth, humble spirit, lovingkindness of generosity, healing, feeding, commanding us to feed and clothe and teach and heal; and finally when he might have saved himself or called upon God the Father to save him, dying humbly for others as the divine example of how he calls us also to live and die for others. That’s what the Cross is about, that’s what it means to be baptized into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: love and sacrifice: if you are not yet baptized, flee for the hills, run before it’s too late to save yourself.
The Christian church is the body of Christ, not about saving ourselves, but about serving and saving the world in the name of Jesus, precisely as Jesus served and saved, and lived and died.
This is the gospel of Advent. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again -- Christ comes again in -- and as -- each and every Christian who is baptized in his Name.
And so, in the Name of God, I invite you, I dare you, I challenge you -- to recommit your life to Jesus Christ, and to his gospel of saving the world in His Name --
-- if you decline, you may remain seated without prejudice (or stand when everyone else stands, and simply remain silent) --
-- but if you accept the invitation to re-commit your life to Christ on this First Sunday of Advent, you will have your chance to do so in the Baptismal Covenant when the candidate for Holy Baptism is presented.
I have said these things to you in the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
TW+