Recognizing God’s God’s Presence

Luke 21-25 to 36 homily KHK

Recognizing God’s Presence

Kathryn Kreutzer

Luke 21:25-36

Why this lectionary text on the 1st Sunday of Advent? I thought Advent was a time to talk about Mary, Joseph, the innkeeper, Jesus! A time to prepare with excitement, anticipation and hope – not to talk about end times! It would make more sense to start Advent with the beginning of Luke’s gospel and talk about Zechariah, Elizabeth and baby John.

Given this is my first time writing a homily, Bob gave me the freedom to select whatever text I wanted for today. So I looked, and I pondered, and I tried to find just the bible story to represent the theme for the first week of Advent – hope. In the end, I was drawn right back to where I started – Luke 21.

I think many people in our world feel like they’re living in the apocalypse right now. Simply put, apocalypse means destruction or disaster. So many issues in our world have and will continue to bring destruction and disaster – various wars in the middle east, nuclear armament in North Korea and possibly Iran, hunger and poverty in every country, and then there is global warming. Think of Thousand Oaks, California. It was known as a peaceful suburban community about 40 miles outside of Los Angeles, until the day an ex-marine marched into Borderline Bar and killed twelve patrons and himself. The following day, as residents were just beginning to mourn their losses, they looked up to blood-orange skies and were ordered to evacuate their homes and businesses due to the Woolsey fire. That sounds apocalyptic to me!

Those in our own congregation have lived through their own “little” apocalypses – crises that felt like they were bringing destruction to their worlds. I suspect that Jim and Becky felt that way when they received word of their 6-year-old granddaughter’s leukemia diagnosis. No doubt Melissa felt her world was ending last January when an airborne Porsche came hurtling towards her head-on. Even Melissa’s doctors told her that her world might be ending. Before they rolled her back for surgery, they told her daughter to prepare for the possibility that she wouldn’t come out.

But, the theme for today is hope – and there is hope in such apocalyptic times! Sweet little Mollie is in remission. She has more difficult chemotherapy in her future, but the treatments have worked! Cancer is not currently detectable in her blood! And Melissa is alive and well. She walked into church by herself today with only the help of a walker and her bionic limbs!

Scholars think today’s text was written near the end of the 1st century, maybe 20 to 30 years after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem – and basically destroyed the world as Jews and followers of Jesus had known it. It felt like doomsday for the Jews of the time. This text is often called “The Little Apocalypse”. And whether I’m reading the little apocalypse or reading from the book of Revelation, I don’t believe in “the apocalypse” – at least not in the way it was taught to me at a fundamentalist revival when I was about 12 years old. That apocalypse story scared the hell out of me – and I’m pretty sure it was the purpose of the preacher that day to scare the hell out of everyone in that room – literally, to his way of thinking! But I don’t believe that was the purpose of Jesus when he shared these words. I think Jesus was telling his followers (then and now) to have hope in dark times and to trust that God is with them.

Verse 28 says, “Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Redemption means rescue, and I think the important message here is that God is ready to rescue us from the fears and anxieties that plague us in our darkest times. The challenge is recognizing and being receptive to God.
At some point, we will all experience some situation of impending doom – a death, a divorce, a diagnosis, an addiction. I could go on, but you get the point. Don’t expect Jesus to float down from the clouds. He won’t because the season that we begin today reminds us that she is already here! Emmanuel mean God with us. Recognize that God is all around you as well as within you. Be receptive to God in ways you may not have experienced God before.  It’s easy to see God in a beautiful sunset at the beach or in a scenic mountain view; it’s easy to hear God when the phone rings and it’s an old friend or when we hear our choir sing the Christmas Cantata; it’s easy to feel God in a hug from a Sardis friend when we pass the peace of Christ.  But recognizing God when times are tough is not easy.

In tough times, we don’t drink living water.  Instead we drink fear.  We plan for the worst and ruminate on dreadful outcomes.  Bob Dylan conveyed this well in his song, “Let Me Die In My Footsteps”.  A few lines of the lyrics are printed on the front of your worship guide:

There’s been rumors of war and wars that have been;
The meaning of life has been lost in the wind.
And some people thinkin’ that the end is close by,
‘Stead of learnin’ to live they are learnin’ to die.

It’s hard to recognize God in negative places, but God is there.  Melissa says she is going to write a book about her experiences during the last 10 months, and the title is going to be “It’s Not All Bad.”  Ask her about it when you have an opportunity.  She has managed to have hope and to keep some positive perspective throughout her ordeal.  Despite her tragedy, she’s recognized God’s presence. May we all do the same.