Advent limbo

FRIDAY OF ADVENT 1

6 December 2013

Readings:

Genesis 15:1-6

Luke 1:5-20

Key Verses:

Gen. 15:5: The Lord said to Abram, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them… So will your offspring be.”

Luke 1:13b, 17: The Angel Gabriel said to Zechariah: “Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John… He will go… in the spirit of and power of Elijah… to prepare a people prepared for the Lord.”

Reflection

If I had to pick a painting to describe the season of Advent, it would be Antonello da Messina’s “Virgin Annunciate”.  I’m sure most of us have seen one painting or another of the Annunciation, depicting the moment when the Angel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that she will bear God’s Son to the world.  But da Messina was more interested in what happened after the Angel departed.  How did Mary, traditionally 16 years old at the time, react to this divine revelation?  What went through her mind after her fiat, her acceptance?

Ignoring the obviously anachronistic book and home altar—the historic Mary was most likely poor and illiterate—I invite you to look at Mary’s face, whose expression is probably as complex as the Mona Lisa’s.  What is she feeling?  I see tempered joy, humble gratitude, even a kind of sincere unworthiness by the way she holds her veil.  But if I look harder, I can also see an equal mixture of faith and doubt, comfort and worry.  She believes in God, but she questions her own senses, her own abilities.  She takes comfort in the Angel’s message, but worries whether she can handle what’s to come.  In the end, she knows her life from now on will no longer be the same, and so I also see a kind of determination, an inner strength that resolves to take things one day at a time.

Advent is a very complex season because, like Mary, it handles all of those conflicting themes simultaneously.  Traditionally, Advent is a kind of “lesser fast” made to mirror the greater fast of Lent, each fast preparing us for the great feasts of Christmas and Easter respectively (hence the traditional use of purple for both seasons).  Therefore, the anticipation and joy of what’s to come are tempered by solemn tones of self-examination, confession, repentance, and penitence.  The music is beautiful, yet serious; the prayers are hopeful, yet admonishing.  It’s still a season of promise—but not the type of promise that instantly fixes everything.  It’s a kind of “promise in limbo”, one that is re-confirmed, but still unfulfilled.

Abraham (here still known as “Abram”) and John’s father Zechariah lived in this kind of “Advent limbo.”  God promised both of them things they wouldn’t see fulfilled in his lifetime.  Abraham was to be not only the father of many nations, but also the vessel of God’s blessing to all the nations of earth (Gen. 12:3).  Zechariah was to be the father of John, who, following Elijah’s spirit, would call all the nations back to God.  But those promises weren’t enough to balance their faith and doubt, their comfort and worry.  God confirms his promise to Abraham multiple times.  Zechariah was silenced because of his unbelief, and didn’t regain his speech until his newborn son literally brought him the Word, making his father his first disciple.

And then there’s us.  Abraham, Zechariah, and Mary are venerable figures in our faith, but God doesn’t treat us any less differently.  Advent promises us two things that are beyond our reach: the birth of Christ, which happened 2,000 years ago, and the return of Christ, which will happen when God wills.  But like Abraham, God is patient enough to remind us of his promises and presence over and over again.  Like Zechariah, God humbles us into the discipline of introspection, teaching us how to use our words, but never refraining from working in us.  And like Mary, who had to confirm the Angel’s message by visiting her relative Elizabeth, God is gracious enough to offer us a partial glimpse of his fulfilled promise when we celebrate Christmas.  For in just a few weeks, Christians everywhere will be called back to God, to visit the Christ child in the stable, and to become a beacon of God’s blessing and peace to all nations.

Prayer of the Day

Eternal God,

through long generations you prepared a way

for the coming of your Son,

and by your Spirit

you still bring light to illumine our paths.

Renew us in faith and hope,

that we may welcome Christ

to rule our thoughts and claim our love

as Lord of lords and King of kings,

to whom be glory always.

Amen.

—Collect #2 for the First Sunday of Advent from the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (USA), p. 173.

Hymn: “Creator of the stars of night”

(Words: ‘Conditor alme siderum’, Latin 9^th century; translation in the Hymnal 1940, adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013

Tune: ‘Conditor alme siderum’)

Creator of the stars of night,

Your people’s everlasting light,

O Christ, Redeemer of us all,

We pray you, hear us when we call.

In sorrow that the ancient curse

Should doom to death a universe,

You came, O Savior, to set free

Your own in glorious liberty.

When this old world drew on toward night,

You came, but not in splendor bright,

Not as a monarch, but the child

Of Mary, blameless mother mild.

At your great Name, O Jesus, now

All knees must bend, all hearts must bow,

All things on earth with one accord,

Like those in heav’n, shall call you Lord.

Come in your holy might, we pray.

Redeem us for eternal day.

Defend us while we dwell below

From all assaults of our dread foe.

To God the Father, God the Son,

And God the Spirit, Three in One,

Praise, honor, might, and glory be

From age to age eternally.

A New Year's resolution

WEDNESDAY OF ADVENT 1

4 December 2013

Readings:

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Matthew 23:12-15, 23-28

Key Verses:

Jer. 23:1, 2b: “‘Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!’ says [the Lord]… ‘You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them.”

Matt. 23:14: Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don’t enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter.”

Reflection

An article came out over Thanksgiving weekend with a very eye-catching title: “Pope may be sneaking out at night to give the poor money.”  The Pope here, of course, is Pope Francis, the current head of the Roman Catholic Church.  And it gets better!  Apparently, when he was known only as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he secretly “would go out at night… to find people, talk with them, or buy them something to eat.  He would sit with them and eat with them on the street.”  Now he may actually be doing the same in the streets of Vatican City.

A couple of verses from the Bible come to mind:

“I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat.  I was thirsty, and you gave me drink… I was sick, and you visited me.  I was in prison, and you came to me.” (Matt. 25:35, 36)

“Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them…But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does.” (Matt. 6:1, 3)

With every month that passes, I continue to be surprised by Pope Francis’ humility, devotion to the poor and outcast, and candid denunciation of material wealth, something which my gut tells me he’s directing also towards his own institution.  Imagine that!  A Christian leader who acts as Christ is said to have acted.  And then it hits me: “Why does this surprise me?”

My friends, the answer to that one is sadly simple.  This kind of Christian behavior comes too far and between.  More often we hear of Christian leaders who respond with apathy to the classic “What would Jesus do?”  The Prophet Jeremiah, and even Jesus himself, met hypocritical leaders like these in their own day, and they came to a startling conclusion.  They are precisely the reasons why people abandon religion, leaving faith and community behind.

And before you ask why we’re discussing this during Advent, a solemn season of anticipating Christ’s coming to earth, I’ll say, “Because that’s what Jeremiah and Jesus did.”  I note that immediately after Jeremiah’s list of woes to the shepherds, he predicts the coming of the “righteous Branch”, “a King” whose name is “the Lord our Righteousness”.  And immediately after Jesus’ list of woes to the scribes and Pharisees, he foretells what will happen at the end of time, when the “Son of Man” comes back.  There’s a connection between the two, and it’s this:  We can’t anticipate something good to come without first examining ourselves to see if we’ve detracted from the good that is here and now.  And Advent is also about self-examination.

What better time, then, for introspection and reflection than the beginning of the Christian year?  And yes, this New Year’s Resolution is for all of us—not just for pastors and priests—because, in our tradition, we are all a kingdom of priests.  So let’s ask ourselves: how am I scattering people away from Christ?  Am I doing anything to drive people away, to destroy them?  Do I visit them, look for them, ask about them when they’re gone?  Who am I shutting out of the Kingdom?  The homeless?  The poor?  The person living with HIV/AIDS, as World AIDS Day just reminded us?  There’s so much to be done, and no, of course no one can do it all.  Even Pope Francis keeps to the streets in his vicinity—but we all live near a street.

So here’s to the day when we’re surprised at having little to do because, with God’s help, we’ve accomplished so much!

Prayer of the Day

Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come.

With your abundant grace and might,

free us from the sin that would obstruct your mercy,

that we may bear willingly

your redeeming love to all the world,

for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

—Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year B (altered) from the Evangelical Lutheran Worship, p. 19.

Hymn: “Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding”

(Words: ‘Vox clara ecce intonat’, Latin 6^th century; translated in Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1861; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013

Tune: ‘Merton’, by William Henry Monk, 1823-1889; descant by Alan Gray, 1855-1935)

Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding:

“Christ is near”, it seems to say,

“Cast away the works of darkness,

All you children of the day.”

Wakened by the solemn warning,

From earth’s bondage let us rise.

Christ, our sun, all sloth dispelling,

Shines upon the morning skies.

Lo! the Lamb, so long expected

Comes from heaven to forgive.

Let us haste, with tears of sorrow,

All his pardon to receive.

So when next he comes with glory,

And the world is wrapped in fear,

With his mercy may he shield us,

And with words of love draw near.

Honor, glory, might, and blessing

To the Father and the Son

With the everlasting Spirit

While unending ages run.

Amen.

Lesson learned

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

1 December 2013

Readings:

Romans 13:8-14

Matthew 21:1-11

Key Verses:

Rom. 13:11b-12: “Salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.  The night is far gone, and the day is near.  Let’s therefore throw off the deeds of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of light.”

Matt. 21:5, quoting Zec. 9:9: “Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey…”

Reflection

When putting together the lectionary for this blog, I resisted starting off the Christian year, as it does today with the First Sunday of Advent, with the story of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.  I thought to myself “Palm Sunday”?  In December?  Where did this come from?  It didn’t make any sense, and yet the most ancient lectionaries of the West, such as St. Jerome’s lectionary from the fifth century(!), begin with this story.  As prone to allegorical readings as the ancient Church was, surely there was a reason for starting off here.

And “here” is where Jesus prepares to face his death head-on during, of all things, the festival of Passover!  What is it like to celebrate “independence day” under foreign guard?  Jewish reaction to Roman rule ranged from retreat to bargaining with the status quo.  But tales of Jewish warriors like Judas Maccabee, who fought the ruling pagans and won back the holy Temple (cf. Hanukkah), no doubt inspired others to more active resistance.  At least one of Jesus’ disciples may have been in this last camp.  When Jesus foretells his death, Peter rebukes him: “Far be it from you, Lord!  This will never be done to you.” How can the Messiah be killed at the hands of evildoers?  No, the Messiah has to fight, he has to win back our freedom, our land, our faith by force!

And yet Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, a regal symbol of peace.  We may never know how ordinary Jews of the time saw this, especially those who had heard of his miracles, his healings and exorcisms, and his power.  Is he now really saying that everything is okay?  That I can celebrate Passover while oppressed under the Roman standard?  That this is the future that God wants for his chosen people?  Looking at it this way explains something that’s always confused me about Holy Week.  The crowds hail Jesus as the Son of David on Palm Sunday, and then completely abandon him a few days later.  Perhaps they thought he’d enter like Judas Maccabee, with an army ready to retake Jerusalem by the sword.  But they were wrong. 

Two thousand years later, it’s easy for us to pity or blame these people for getting the wrong hopes up.  Surely they should’ve understood that God's Kingdom comes through peace, not violence.  But the beauty and magic of the Christian year is that it has placed us in exactly the same position of these first-century Jews.  These past few weeks we’ve journeyed through the End Times up to the Last Judgment; the earthquakes, wars, famines, total chaos and destruction; the rapture of the faithful still living, the glorification of the righteous and the casting of Satan, hell, and all the wicked into the lake of fire.  We may be left feeling hopeful, but confused or uneasy, or we may even await this violent pandemonium with a kind of morbid fascination.  Either way, it means the Lord will finally make things right when he comes back in power and glory.  And just how does he come back?

Well, in less than a month, he will come back as the helpless and vulnerable infant born in Bethlehem.  And just like that, Jesus has taught us a lesson once again.

I think I see now why the Church Fathers chose to start the church year with “Palm Sunday in Advent”.  The life of faith no longer lives in linear time; it has no beginning or ending, just experience.  So too the life of a Christian does not begin with Genesis and end in Revelation.  No, it begins and ends with Jesus—because all it experiences is Jesus.  He comes back—again and again—into our hearts, never by force, but always in humility.  And wherever our faith journey takes us this year, he who leads us on it still has more unexpected things to teach us.

Prayer of the Day

Almighty God, give us grace

that we may cast away the works of darkness,

and put upon us the armor of light,

now in the time of this mortal life,

in which your Son Jesus Christ

came to visit us in great humility,

so that in the last day,

when he shall come again in his glorious majesty

to judge both the living and the dead,

we may rise to immortal life;

through him who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

—traditional collect for the First Sunday of Advent, adapted from the Book of Common Prayer.

Hymn: “Lift up your heads, you mighty gates”

(Words: Georg Weissel, 1590-1635; translated from German by Catherine Winkworth, 1827-1878; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013

Tune: ‘Truro’, Psalmodia Evangelica Part II, 1789; harmony by Lowell Mason, 1792-1872)

Lift up your heads, you mighty gates!

Behold, the King of glory waits!

The King of kings is drawing near,

The Savior of the world is here.

O blest the land, the city blest,

Where Christ the ruler is confessed!

O happy hearts and happy homes

To whom this King of triumph comes!

Fling wide the doors of your own heart,

Make it a temple set apart

From earthly use, for heav’n’s employ,

Adorned with prayer and love and joy.

Redeemer, come! I open wide

My heart to you; here, Lord, abide!

Let me within your presence feel,

Your grace and love in me reveal.

My Sovereign Lord, now enter in!

Let new and nobler life begin;

Your Holy Spirit guide us on

Until the glorious crown is won.

Amen.

Thanks be to God!

LAST FRIDAY OF THE KINGDOM

29 November 2013

Readings:

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14

John 18:33-37

Key Verses:

Dan. 7:14b: “His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”

John 18:36: “Jesus answered [Pilate], ‘My Kingdom is not of this world.  If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered… But now my Kingdom is not from here.”

Reflection

This is a remarkable weekend in the United States, as far as religion is concerned, for this year, Thanksgiving, Advent Sunday, and the Jewish festival of Hanukkah coincide.  This last happened in 1918, and will not happen until 2070.  Unless I live to 90, I probably won’t see this again in my lifetime.

“Giving thanks” is a major theme that runs through all three observances.  Hanukkah, you might recall, is the Jewish eight-day Festival of Lights, commemorating the Maccabean rededication of the Temple from Hellenistic control in the 2^nd century BCE.  The Temple menorah is said to have burned for eight days with oil that should’ve lasted for just one.  The story appears (minus the miracle of the oil) in the deuterocanonical books of 1 and 2 Maccabees.  And from that time period on, Hanukkah has been an occasion to give thanks for the restoration of Jewish worship and custom, and for God’s providence and goodness towards his people.  Even Jesus, 200 years after the event, is recorded to have observed this “Feast of Dedication”, a subtle testament to his deep-rooted Jewish piety and sincere gratitude.

Countless nations observe a civil festival of the harvest or thanksgiving, usually anywhere between September and November in the Northern Hemisphere.  Yesterday the United States observed our Thanksgiving.  American Thanksgiving doesn’t usually get the kind of controversy, which Columbus Day brings here.  But despite later historical events, for at least one night, Pilgrims and Native Americans put aside their differences and prejudices in order to partake of food and companionship.  The very word “companionship”, Latin for ‘bread fellow’, shows the essential connection between food and fellowship.  And as our secular culture heads right into the shopping season, may we continue in that spirit and set aside a day for thankfulness and generosity towards others.

The final week of our church year is for us one more source of thankfulness: celebrating the Reign of Christ, the Kingdom of God.  And what is that Kingdom?  Today we read that God’s Kingdom is eternal and indestructible, and that it does not belong to the world.  We can’t lose it because nothing can separate us from the love of God.  We can’t fight for it because aggression can never be a solid foundation for love, generosity, and community.  The world can’t claim or own it because it animates the world, dwelling in and among us, and therefore the world and we depend on it.

I had the privilege of attending an Interfaith Thanksgiving service this past Tuesday.  I sat in a Lutheran church with fellow Christians, Jews, and people of other faiths.  The liturgy was simple because our spirit and purpose were one.  For one hour, we lay aside religious differences and were thankful for the fact that we just are; that we desire, and are able, to partake of worship together; that, despite our failings, God’s light burns within each one of us, miraculously longer and brighter than we expect; that, whenever the world sidetracks us, we can always stop and rededicate ourselves to God, the Creator of all life; and that, because God’s eternal Kingdom is among us, there’s a part of us that can never be taken away.

Thanks be to God!

Prayer of the Day

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

you gave us your Son,

the beloved one who was rejected,

the Savior who appeared defeated.

Yet the mystery of his kingship illumines our lives.

Show us in his death

the victory that crowns the ages,

and in his broken body

the love that unites heaven and earth.

We ask this through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

—Collect 4 for “Christ the King (or Reign of Christ)” from the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (USA) p. 395.

Hymn: “Jesus, now your praises voicing”

(Words: “Herre Kristus, dig til ære”, C. J. Boye, 1840 in Den Danske Salmebog; translated and adapted from Danish by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013

Tune: ‘Dig til ære’, by J.A. Freylinghausen, 1704)

Jesus, now your praises voicing,

We conclude the church’s year.

We part ways in hope rejoicing:

Advent comes, with Christmas near.

Harp and organ, hymn and psalter,

Made our hearts and spirits soar.

Flames of faith burn at your altar

Till the earth shall be no more.

Thank you for yourself revealing,

Christ, the Church’s Guest and Priest.

For the Christmas spirit healing,

For baptism and holy feast.

Thank you for Good Friday’s sadness;

Easter cheers the soul anew,

Pentecost brings us the gladness

Of the Spirit breathed by you.

Thanks for prayers received in heaven,

For forgiveness, rest, and calm,

For the church’s journey given,

Heartfelt hymn and soothing psalm.

Thank you, for you ever call us,

Op’ning wide each yearning heart;

For our tears and for your solace,

Which the world cannot impart.

Jesus, hear our voices singing:

Shepherd forth in every place

Those whom you in love are bringing

To your table by your grace.

Through the coming year, assure us

As our peaceful, present guide.

Let each day and hour before us

Be forever by your side!

Good guys and bad

LAST WEDNESDAY OF THE KINGDOM

27 November 2013

Readings:

Revelation 20:11-21:6

Luke 19:11-27

Key Verses:

Rev. 20:13b, 15: “They were judged, each one according to his works… If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.”

Luke 19:27: “[The nobleman said,] Bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.”

Reflection

My nephew is an energetic six-year-old who loves pretty much what most six-year-old boys today love: super heroes—in whatever form he can get his hands on them: action figures, video games, movies, you name it.  On Mondays when I visit, he wants me to play super hero games with him—in all those forms.  I really have to dig deep into my imagination when we play because super heroes never really appealed to me much as a kid.  What I know of Superman or Batman is superficial at best; of the Hulk, Thor, Wolverine, and all that crowd, next to nothing.  And please don’t ask about my fighting skills.  I usually end up playing the “bad guy” because it’s just easier.  I don’t have to think too much about my swordsmanship when I know I’m bound to lose.

While we were playing this past Monday, one of my favorite movies, the 2004 film Troy, came on.  Besides the obvious (and probably wise) omission of the Greek gods, Troy freely adapts the famous Greek epic to focus exclusively on the human drama, something I identify more with than fighting and gore.  Here, a womanizing King Menelaus implicitly abuses his wife, Helen, and we sympathize with her running away with the sensitive and idealistic Paris.  As Menelaus is about to exact fatal revenge on Paris, we rejoice when Hector, Paris’ brother, dispatches him instead.  So too with King Agamemnon, Menelaus’ brother.  He kidnaps Achilles’ love interest Briseis, displaying a perverse sexual interest in her, but when she finally stabs him in the neck, Troy burning all around them, we’re satisfied.  Justice is served.

None of this is how it happened in the Iliad or the Odyssey.  Hector did not kill Menelaus; he went on to reconcile with his estranged wife.  Similarly, Briseis did not kill Agamemnon at the siege of Troy; he died years later, at the hands of his wife, Clytemnestra (not shown in this film).  But conventions of on-screen drama require that the film make these changes to better tell the story it’s trying to tell.  And that story is about the endless struggle between good and evil.  My nephew didn’t care much for the drama and dialogue of the film, but when the fighting started, he wanted to know who was the bad guy, and who was the good guy.  And why?  He wanted to see the good guy win, and the bad guy get what he deserved.  And so did I.  It turns out a 6-year-old kid, and his 32-year-old uncle aren’t too different after all.

People have described the Bible in many ways—a historical record, the infallible word of God, a “love letter” from God to his people—but, to me, stories like the ones in today’s readings often put it more in line with epic drama.  We have here, too, the classic struggle between good and evil.  We know who will win, who will lose; how good will be rewarded and how evil will be punished.  And much more than that, from the way the story is written, from the message it’s trying to tell, we want evil to be sorely punished, to get its “just desserts”.  We want the devil and his minions to be cast into the lake of fire.  We want the nobleman’s rivals to pay the price for refusing his rightful rule—and in ancient times, that price was often execution, viewed as a justified recompense.  In short, we want the story to end with a rebalancing of the wrongs committed, and the scales tipped back in favor of the good.

We all know this isn’t how life works.  Life is rarely as simple as the good vs. the bad, the super hero vs. the villain.  And in the experience of history, villains often do a lot of irreparable damage before being stopped—if they are.  But that’s why we need these stories—stories like Troy, like Hulk, Superman, Spider-Man, or Satan’s doom and the lake of fire.  Through the complexities of real life, their simple language reminds us all, at any age, of what good and evil are—and which one needs to win.

Prayer of the Day

Eternal God,

you set Jesus Christ to rule over all things,

and made us servants in your kingdom.

By your Spirit, empower us to love the unloved,

and to minister to all in need.

Then, at the last, bring us to your eternal realm

where we may worship and adore you

and be welcomed into your everlasting joy;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

—Collect 3 for “Christ the King (or Reign of Christ)” from the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (USA) p. 395.

Hymn: “Rejoice, the Lord is King!”

(Words: Charles Wesley, 1707-1788; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013

Tune: ‘Gopsal’, George Frederic Handel, 1685-1759, arranged by John Wilson, b. 1905)

Rejoice, the Lord is King!

Your Lord and King adore!

Mortals, give thanks and sing,

And triumph evermore.

Lift up your heart! lift up your voice!

Rejoice! again I say, rejoice!

The Savior Jesus reigns,

The God of truth and love,

Who purged away our stains,

And took his seat above.

Lift up your heart! lift up your voice!

Rejoice! again I say, rejoice!

His kingdom cannot fail,

He rules o’er earth and heav’n.

The keys of death and hell

To Christ the Lord are giv’n.

Lift up your heart! lift up your voice!

Rejoice! again I say, rejoice!

He sits at God’s right hand

Till all his foes submit,

And bow to his command,

And fall beneath his feet.

Lift up your heart! lift up your voice!

Rejoice! again I say, rejoice!

Rejoice in glorious hope!

For Christ the Judge shall come,

And take his servants up

To their eternal home.

We soon shall hear th’ archangel’s voice.

The trump of God shall sound: “Rejoice!”

A universal message

LAST SUNDAY OF THE KINGDOM: CHRIST THE KING

24 November 2013

Readings:

2 Peter 3:1-14

Matthew 25:31-46

Key Verses:

2 Pet. 3:13: “According to [the Lord’s] promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”

Matt. 25:35-36: “I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat.  I was thirsty, and you gave me drink.  I was a stranger, and you took me in.  I was naked, and you clothed me.  I was sick, and you visited me.  I was in prison, and you came to me.”

Reflection

Today, many churches worldwide celebrate the Feast of Christ the King.  Originally a Catholic feast, it was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 “in response to growing nationalism and secularism”, as the Wikipedia article puts it.  It was to be observed on the Sunday before All Saints’, but was later moved in 1969 to the last Sunday of the church year, and renamed: “the Feast of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe”.  From then on, Protestant churches, seeking to enrich their liturgy, began to adopt the feast day, so that now it’s observed by millions of Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, even by Russian Orthodox outside of Russia.

Who would’ve thought a century ago that Protestant churches would embrace a new Catholic feast day?  But the reasons behind its institution reach far beyond the boundaries of confession and denomination, and little has changed since 1925.  When I think of this time period, I think of the 1997 film Titanic, where Cal, upon seeing the famous passenger liner, says: “God himself could not sink this ship!”  This kind of secular pride is still very much with us today, as is a similar type of national pride, where nations and cultures see themselves as superior to others.  And as we get closer to the holiday season, we might add consumerism and materialism to the list.  A season that once emphasized family, community, and a divine mystery now is a time for shopping and sales, where people trample over their neighbors just to get the best deals.

I’m not arguing that we should go around doubting ourselves, our capabilities and achievements; nor am I against holiday gift-giving because, when done from the heart, this can be a source of great joy and community.  But I am arguing for a kind of humility that appears to be absent in the modern world, the type of humility that accepts our limits, that there are certain boundaries we must not cross, and acknowledges a force at work greater than we are—whatever we may choose to call it, be it God, nature, spirit, qi, etc.  In Christianity, we call that force “God”, and the manifestation of God’s power, we call “God’s Kingdom”, of whom Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is the universal King.

Now isn’t this just another way of saying my religion is superior to yours?  I can’t answer that question for you, but I can tell you what it means to me.  To me, if Jesus Christ is King of the universe, then all of us together have one Father, one common origin, regardless of race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation—and yes—religion.  This places me, not above, but alongside my neighbor, whoever s/he is, because we’re equals in our common mission to bring about God’s Kingdom on earth, on whatever path God has called us to do this.

And what is God’s Kingdom?  Well, according to Jesus in today’s reading, God’s Kingdom is not a creed but an action, or rather a series of actions: feeding the hungry, giving to drink to the thirsty, sheltering the foreigner or homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick or the incarcerated.  Scripture in other places adds providing for the widow and the orphan.  None of these requires adherence to a particular faith or philosophy; they only require a heart, and the fruits of this giving are far better than anything you can find under a Christmas tree (or Hanukkah bush).  They also require the vision and the hope that, through communal effort and with God’s help, we really can have that new earth where righteousness—doing what’s right, what’s just—dwells, which all human beings universally can enjoy.

Prayer of the Day

Almighty and everlasting God,

it is your will to restore all things

in your well-beloved Son,

the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth,

divided and enslaved by sin,

may be freed and brought together

under his most gracious and gentle rule

of him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

—Collect for Proper 29 in The Book of Common Prayer, p. 236, adapted

Hymn: “Crown him with many crowns”

(Words: Matthew Bridges, 1800-1894; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013

Tune: ‘Diademata’, by George Job Harvey, 1816-1893, descant by Richard Proulx, b. 1937)

Crown him with many crowns,

The Lamb upon his throne.

Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns

All music but its own.

Awake, my soul, and sing

Of him who died for you

And hail him as your matchless King

Who gave you life anew.

Crown him the Son of God

Before the worlds began,

And you who tread where he has trod,

Crown him the Son of Man,

Who every grief has known,

That wrings the human breast,

And takes and bears them for his own,

That all in him may rest.

Crown him the Lord of life,

Who triumphed o’er the grave,

And rose victorious in the strife

For those he came to save.

His glories now we sing,

Who died and rose on high,

Who died, eternal life to bring,

And lives that death may die.

Crown him of lords the Lord,

Who over all does reign,

Who dwelt on earth as God the Word

For ransomed sinners slain,

Now lives in realms of light,

Where saints with angels sing

Their songs before him day and night,

Their God, Redeemer, King.

Crown him the Lord of heav’n,

Enthroned in worlds above.

Crown him the King to whom is giv’n

The wondrous name of love.

Crown him with many crowns,

As thrones before him fall.

Crown him, you kings, with many crowns,

For he is King of all.

Paradise and doom

NEXT FROM LAST FRIDAY OF THE KINGDOM

22 November 2013

Readings:

Isaiah 65:17-25

Luke 17:20-33

Key Verses:

Isa. 65:17a, 19: “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth… I will rejoice in Jerusalem… and the voice of weeping and the voice of crying will be heard in her no more.”

Luke 17:20, 21: Jesus said, “God’s Kingdom doesn’t come with observation… God’s Kingdom is within you.”

Reflection

Today’s readings come at us from two ends of a spectrum.  From Isaiah, we get a beautiful vision of paradise, a place where no one weeps, and everyone gets a chance at a full life.  If, in the Season of Creation, we contrasted between the modern saying “You reap what you sow”, and the biblical saying “One sows, and another reaps” (John 4:37), that won’t matter here anymore.  For in Paradise, people get to harvest what they themselves have planted—apparently instantaneously.  They get to live in the houses they’ve built.  Furthermore, prayer will no longer be necessary.  God will answer his people before they even call.  And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, predators will eat beside their former prey: the wolf with the lamb, and the lion with the ox.  (I wonder if that little child will be there with them too!)

Cut to Jesus who does the exact opposite and digs into two of the world’s worst catastrophes as recorded by ancient Israel: Noah’s flood, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  The people of Sodom and Gomorrah are eating, planting, and building just as the fortunate dwellers of Isaiah’s paradise do, but we know this is different.  We know that, according to the Bible, the flood of the then-known world, and the destruction of the two villages were due to people’s wickedness and injustice towards each other.  And that’s what Jesus wants his listeners to have in mind when he applies these stories to two pivotal moments of his own existence.  For he likens the day of his rejection—his Passion and crucifixion—to the days of Noah, and the day of his being revealed—his Second Coming—to the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Either way, there’s mass destruction and chaos, and we are cast far away from that idyllic Elysium of before.

I think the reason most of us hear the stories, and they go in one ear and out the other, is because they’re simply beyond our imagination.  None of us has ever experienced paradise.  And though tragedy and disaster occur even on the national scale, thankfully up to this point, we’ve never had to deal with the doom of worldwide mass destruction that cuts off absolutely all and any help and relief, no matter where you go.  Neither paradise nor doom, therefore, can adequately provide us with a target to aim for, or a peril to flee.

But it would be a mistake to skip over these stories simply because we can’t look to them as a practical guide for living—because Jesus tells us where to look: “God’s Kingdom doesn’t come with observation… God’s Kingdom is within you.”  If paradise and doom seem like two completely absurd ends of a spectrum, then maybe they’re calling us to explore more of what’s in the middle, what’s closer to our understanding, what’s in our power.

God doesn’t want his people to live in anxiety, in constant fear of tomorrow.  But neither does God want us to live as though “the strife is o’er, the battle done”, for we still have much to do in the Creation we’re a part of.  No, God wants us to be alert, to look within, hoping that when we do, we’ll realize that we already have the seeds of God’s Kingdom planted within us.  Of course, only God can fully usher his Kingdom in, but when we start to look inside ourselves, maybe we’ll understand our role in bringing a piece of that Kingdom to earth.  And we’ll finally move along on that spectrum towards what we’ve never had: paradise.

Prayer of the Day

O God of power and might,

your Son shows us the way of service,

and in him we inherit the riches of your grace.

Give us the wisdom to know what is right

and the strength to serve the world you have made,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

—Collect for the Last Sunday after Pentecost in Evangelical Lutheran Worship, p. 53

Hymn: “‘Your kingdom come!’ on bended knee”

(Words: Frederick L. Hosmer, 1891; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013

Tune:

‘Your kingdom come!’ on bended knee

The passing ages pray,

And faithful souls have yearned to see

On earth that kingdom’s day.

The slow-paced watches of the night

Not less to God belong.

And for the everlasting right,

The silent stars are strong.

Lo, on the hills in breaking skies,

The flags of dawn appear,

Stand up, you prophet souls, arise,

Proclaim the day is near.

The day in whose clear shining light

All wrong shall stand revealed,

When justice shall be throned in might,

And every hurt be healed.

When knowledge, hand in hand with peace,

Shall walk the earth abroad,

The day of perfect righteousness,

The promised day of God.

Hope in the End Times

NEXT FROM LAST WEDNESDAY OF THE KINGDOM

20 November 2013

Readings:

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Mark 13:14-27

Key Verses:

2 Thes. 2:3, 4: “[The day of Christ] will not be, unless… the man of sin is revealed… he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped.”

Mark 13:21, 22: Jesus said, “If anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’… don’t believe it.  For there will arise false christs and false prophets.”

Reflection

Every generation thinks of itself as the pinnacle of history, living as though its times are much more important than those long gone, or those to come.  Obviously, though, no one time period can be the culmination of all recorded time, but I have to argue that our generation does have a measurable novelty that previous ones never had.  The last century saw the widespread rise of instant communication—telephones, radio, television—and this one has seen the addition of constant communication in the form of the Internet, with smartphones and tablets putting the world literally at our fingertips.

This really is something the world has never seen before, but it comes at a price.  For we are one of the first generations to be made instantly aware of everything that is happening in the world—especially the bad.  And in the religious world, this has the effect of fueling a doomsday worldview, where devastating storms like Typhoon Haiyan, the global economic crisis, earthquakes, terrorism, school shootings all become “signs of the end of the age”, and of Jesus’ return.

To be fair, this isn’t exactly coming out of nowhere.  Today’s readings are filled with the grim picture of the end of the world: a darkened sun and moon, stars falling out of the sky, false prophets, anarchy, etc.  But these last two are the ones that caught my eye this week.  At first I thought it’s because they’re easier to imagine, and closer to my experience (and I suspect yours as well).  I mean, the “false prophet” might be played by the doomsday preacher who uses natural disasters to predict Jesus’ return, and Satan can always fill in as the “man of lawlessness”.  That’s the easy answer.

The tough answer is that we don’t need to wait for doomsday preachers or demons to put on this show for us.  Whenever we turn to satisfy strictly our own self-serving needs, making ourselves the center of our own universe, we cast ourselves in the roles of false prophets and lawless people.  The parts are more subtle than a demon or a falling meteor, but the production is just as deadly—maybe even more so because these attack our spirit, our humanity, everything that God stands for.  If we as a society ever get to the point where we become the pinnacle of creation, acting just because we can and have the freedom to, regardless of the consequences; lording ourselves over nature; building temples in which to worship our own seemingly superhuman creations; loving lies, double-talk, and ways to cheat each other, then the End Times really may come.

But even here there’s still hope.  We can’t control the heavenly bodies, storms and earthquakes, and other natural disasters, but we can control our behavior.  We don’t have to be false.  We don’t have to be lawless.  In fact, we already know the core of God’s law: to love God, neighbor, and self—a trine that leads us nowhere except towards truth, goodness and honesty.  Maybe that’s why the end hasn’t come yet—because as long as there are still people who sincerely strive to do these, then God won’t be finished with us. 

Prayer of the Day

Almighty God,

no one can make void your sovereign purpose.

Give us faith to be steadfast

amid the tumults of this world,

knowing that your kingdom shall come,

and your will be done,

to your eternal glory;

through Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

—adapted from the Collect for the 33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time from the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Hymn: “Lo! He comes with clouds descending”

(Words: John Cennick, 1752 from Rev. 1:7; altered by Charles Wesley, 1758, and by Martin Madan, 1760; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013, in part from The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990)

Tune: ‘Helmsley’, Thomas Olivers, 1753; harmony by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906)

Lo! He comes with clouds descending,

Once for our salvation slain!

Thousand, thousand saints attending

Swell the triumph of his train:

Alleluia!  (x3)

Christ the Lord returns to reign!

Every eye shall now behold him

Robed in awe and majesty.

Those who jeered and mocked and sold him,

Pierced and nailed him to the tree,

Deeply wailing (x3)

Shall the true Messiah see.

Those dear tokens of his passion

Still his dazzling body bears,

Cause of endless exultation

To his ransomed worshippers.

With what rapture (x3)

We shall meet him o’er the spheres.

Yea, Amen! Let all adore you,

High on your eternal throne.

Crowns and empires fall before you,

Claim the kingdom for your own.

Alleluia! (x3)

You will reign, and you alone!

Judgment Sunday

NEXT FROM LAST SUNDAY OF THE KINGDOM

17 November 2013

Readings:

1 John 2:15-27

Matthew 24:1-14

Key Verses:

1 John 2:24b-25:  “If that which you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son, and in the Father.  This is the promise which he promised us, the eternal life.”

Matt. 24:13-14: Jesus said, “He who endures to the end, the same will be saved.  This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

Reflection

So now we’re in the final stretch, the last two weeks of the church year.  And as its draws to an end, we reflect on the “End Times”, a.k.a., “doomsday”.  This latter name actually means “Judgment Day” (as it still does in Nordic languages, and cf. “to deem”), and many churches designate the Sunday falling between 20-26 November as “Judgment Sunday”.  I’ve chosen to move the theme up one week, and reserve “Christ the King” (or “The Reign of Christ”) for the final week.  The two Sundays share similar themes, but have different nuances that I want to observe and explore separately.

We’ve had a lot of “doom” in these past couple of years, haven’t we?  Everyone remembers the end of the Mayan calendar on December 2012, but I bet you already forgot about that other doomsday prediction a year and a half before that.  American Christian radio host Harold Camping declared that on May 21, 2011, Christ would at last return to judge the earth, and that the rapture would occur as St. Paul once foretold (1 Thes. 4:16).  I confess that I had fun with that one!  I googled paintings of the Last Judgment and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and tweeted them as: “BREAKING! Live photos from New Zealand #Doomsday!”.  It was all in good and innocent fun.

But Judgment Day is no laughing matter.  And before you think this is going to turn into another doomsday sermon, I ask you to stay with me for a moment.  It’s a grave mistake for anyone at any point in history to think that s/he has “cracked the code”, and reached a definitive time, date, and even location of Christ’s Second Coming.  To do so would be to know more than Christ himself, and it’s a part of our faith to profess that this is impossible.

Yet, the more I study Scripture, the more I find myself developing more respect for the idea of a “Judgment Day”.  Jesus speaks for entire chapters in the gospels about “signs of the end of the age”: what will happen, who will betray whom, the wars, worldwide earthquakes, famines, calamities, the destruction of the heavenly bodies.  This imagery figures so prominently in Jesus’ ministry, that we can be certain he actually preached this—especially because we know he wasn’t the only Roman-oppressed Jew doing so.  And if this is so, then he’d probably sound more like Harold Camping than we’d like—and would we then make fun of him, or mock him on Twitter?

Obviously 2,000 years later, things didn’t turn out as they were preached or written.  But apart from how this dissonance is usually resolved—namely that we should just live every day as our “Last Day”—I want to leave you with another thought.  Both of today’s “doomsday” readings also include promises of salvation and of eternal life.  We have the assurance from God-With-Us that God will indeed be with us—to save, redeem, and heal us.  And if we’ve let God’s Word remain and abide in our hearts, then we will remain in God, we will live in God, we will have eternal life.  Nothing can ever hold power over God’s infinite love and faithfulness towards us, and we will have these whatever “doom” may come.

Prayer of the Day

Lord God of all the ages,

the One who is, who was, and who is to come,

stir up within us a longing for your kingdom,

steady our hearts in time of trial,

and grant us patient endurance

until the sun of justice dawns.

We make our prayer through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

—Collect #3 for the 33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, p. 393 in the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Hymn: “The King shall come when morning dawns”

(Words: Greek, anonymous; translated to English by John Brownlie in Hymns of the Russian Church, 1907; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero

Tune: ‘St. Stephen’, by William Jones, 1726-1800)

The King shall come when morning dawns,

And light triumphant breaks,

When beauty gilds the eastern hills,

And life to joy awakes.

Not as of old a little child,

To bear, and fight, and die,

But crowned with glory like the sun

That lights the morning sky.

O brighter than the rising morn,

When Christ, victorious, rose,

And left the lonesome place of death,

And conquered all his foes.

Still brighter than that glorious morn

Shall this fair morning be,

When Christ, our King, in beauty comes,

And we his face shall see.

The King shall come when morning dawns,

And earth’s dark night is past.

O haste the rising of that morn,

The day that e’er shall last.

And let the endless bliss begin,

By weary saints foretold,

When right shall triumph over wrong,

And truth shall be extolled.

The King shall come when morning dawns,

And light and beauty brings.

“Hail, Christ the Lord”, your people pray,

“Come quickly, King of kings!”

Amen.