November 26, 2023
St. Andrew Church
Rev. Anne McAnelly
First Lesson: Isaiah 64:1-9
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence—2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! 3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. 4 From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.5 You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed. 6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 7 There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. 8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. 9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.
Second Lesson: Mark 13:24-37
24 “But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. 27 Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. 28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… A man walks into a bar… Once upon a time. Stories often start with familiar lines. Star Wars takes us on an intergalactic journey, a joke will offer a punch line, and a fairytale promises “happily ever after.” On this the first Sunday of Advent you might be expecting angels or shepherds, or at least John the Baptist, anticipating the Jesus is born climax. But we got “tear open the heavens” and “the sun will be darkened.” How is that the beginning of good news? We know Advent is about waiting. But wait! “The something for which we wait is not the birth of the baby Jesus. It is not a manger or an overcrowded inn or shepherds in search of a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. Nor is it the baking of sugar plums, or covering gifts with shiny reflective red, green, and silver wrapping paper. (This passage) is not what we expect to hear at this time of year, or perhaps, it is just not what we want to hear. In fact, at first glance the prophetic overture is dim” (Working Preacher, Courtney Buggs).
So why does Mark tell this apocalyptic story? What was his purpose? Mark’s theology is wrapped up in, “Where do we find God?” His is the first gospel written and it speaks to the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. But you say Jesus was already dead and raised. Yes, you are correct. But Mark is telling the story of hope 40 years later. He is telling the story of hope based in the fact that Jesus and not the stones of the Temple, Jesus and not the power seat of religion is where we find God. The people were struggling because their Temple was destroyed. Jesus is the hope for the hurting people who feel like the sun is not shining and their world is torn apart.
In October I went to a conference in Tahoe where the theme was Hope. Mary Ann McKibben Dana presented insightful ideas about how we think about hope and why we need it. She writes, “Hope, first and foremost, is a story we live in, a story we cultivate and perpetuate. It’s a story with characters who help us along the way and sadly, some who harm us- maybe villainously so. There are challenges and climaxes and cliffhangers and codas. The story goes on and on” (Mary Ann McKibben Dana, Hope a User’s Manual, p. 92).
She also shared the work of Ted Chaing looking at conservative and progressive stories. These are trot political terms but note how stories are constructed and resolved. A conservative story format: The world starts out good; Evil intrudes; Good defeats evil. The world goes back to being a good place. Conservative: Good, evil, defeat evil. Back to Good.
Progressive stories, by contrast, are: The world starts out as a familiar place; A new discovery or invention disrupts everything. The world is forever changed (McKibben Dana p. 95). Progressive: Familiar, new discovery, forever changed.
Hope can be found in either story. If the goal is status quo, then a conservative story offers hope, things go back to the way they were. Sometimes the church lives in the conservative story, longing for the church to return to its glory days rather than change. But what would the world be like, what would this Advent be like, if we live in the progressive story of hope? Where Jesus is the new Messiah who disrupts everything, and we are forever changed? McKibben Dana writes, The Christian story, is deeply progressive. It begins in a garden populated by two people and concludes in a city teeming with folks from north and south, east and west. Along the way there are disruptions: enslavement, plague, exodus, conquest, scandal, exile, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, more ministry, persecution, conversion, mission. And the world is never the same (p. 96).
How we tell our story matters. Where we find God matters. If we tell the story of the Israel/Hamas war as terrorists killing and Israel’s self-defense, then there is hope for Israel. But no hope for Palestinians. It denies the 75 years of brutal occupation and the 12,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza compared the 1200 deaths in Israel.
Mitri Raheb, a Lutheran pastor in Bethlehem, is the President of Dar Al-Kalima University. A place we visited last year. “His entire life since the age of five has taken place under occupation. A self-described ‘prisoner of hope,’ Raheb could have left the region, as so many Palestinian Christian have. Instead he faithfully labors on behalf of his people and his homeland, imagining a liberated future for Palestine … His motto- his statement of faith- is ‘hope is what we do.’ I love the double meaning: hope is ‘what we do’ in the sense of the business we are in, like (pastoring) is what I do. But even deeper is this: Hope is wrapped up in what we make real. Hope isn’t what we think. Hope isn’t what we feel. Hope isn’t even what we imagine is possible. Hope is what we do in the face of suffering, pain and injustice. Hope is what we do.” (McKibben Dana, p. 38-39)
This week I attended a Climate Coalition meeting in Santa Cruz with other faith leaders. We brainstormed ideas of how we can work together as faith communities to address the devastating pain and injustice of the Climate Crisis. Advocating legislation, sharing resources, and most importantly taking action together to address this crisis. Global warming is one of those things we worry about but don’t know how to address, or change. We see the pain and suffering from fires, floods and record heat, praying for a solution, but stuck in helpless resignation. We close our eyes, we hide from reality, we turn away. Can you hear Jesus saying to us, as we fret over the destruction of the world, instead of the destruction of the Temple. Jesus is saying to us, “Keep Alert” “Watch” “Keep A wake!” Jesus is calling us to action. Thinking about hope as what we do, empowers our action around this existential crisis. If you would like to be part of this effort, this mission of hope, please let me know.
The climate crisis is familiar, the new discovery is the action of Hope, that hope is what we do, and may the world never be the same because of our collective actions. That’s a progressive- story of Hope!
“Thinking about hope as a narrative of our lives- as a story in which we live our lives- helps give us something to live for” (McKibben Dana, p.93). Knowing and celebrating that Jesus is the hope of the world, the incarnation of God’s love, the Messiah who transforms our lives, gives us something to live for and animates the story of Good News we share! Reflect on how knowing Jesus changes everything forever. Maybe its like Isaiah said, we are the clay and you O Lord are our potter. However our clump of clay is shaped right now, may we allow God to transform us, shape us into a new creation bound in the hope of Christ.
On this first Sunday in Advent where do you find God? Where do you see hope? How can you tell the story of Jesus in a way that is progressive and transfomative rather than returning the way it always was.
The darkness of our scripture readings is really an opportunity for hope. We face the darkness of war, climate change, political chaos, but we are advent people waiting for Christ’s return. One commentator writes, “At the heart of apocalyptic literature is encouragement arid hope. To some extent, this is Jesus at his pastoral best. That which looks like devastation and defeat will be God’s victory. Out of the theological turmoil and confusion surrounding the destruction of the temple will be a new presence of God. Out of the suffering and death of their Messiah will be new life. God’s new way of being in the world will turn a cross into resurrection and a baby in a manger into salvation for the world” (Working Preacer, Karoline Lewis). Amen.
