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Get Busy Living; (sermon 11/27/11)
Topic Started: Nov 26 2011, 09:21 PM (165 Views)
Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Mark 13:24-37
“But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. 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.
“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. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 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. 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, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”


=====

Today, we start the Advent season, the time when we anticipate the birth of Christ, and the Christmas holiday. Of course, the commercial world has us beat; they’re already well into the whole anticipation and hype of Christmas. “Black Friday” shopping the day after Thanksgiving even started earlier than usual this year, some stores opening at midnight or even earlier. People stayed awake to get into the stores and on with their shopping as quickly as possible. I actually went to Kohl’s at midnight, not to do any major power-shopping for Christmas gifts; I just needed to get a good deal on a warm jacket for myself. That was my very first experience with Black Friday shopping, the first time in my life I ever went out into it. And I’ve got to tell you, all you Black Friday shoppers out there – you’re all crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it; not enough carts for everyone, so people were sliding big piles of merchandise along the floor as they went through the store. Some people pushing their way through the mobs, being rude, but most of the people being very friendly and polite, even in their frenzy. People working as teams, using their phones to coordinate where they were, where they were going next, one person getting in line to check out while three others shopped and handed things off to the one in line. And every so often a Kohls staffer, directing traffic, passing out candy canes and telling jokes and trying to keep the people in line in good spirits. And the line! It wrapped completely around the store, with a couple of switchbacks worked into it, to boot. These were just people who were determined to get on with the season; they weren’t sitting around waiting for it another minute.

Here in the church, we’re looking forward to Christmas with anticipation too, but nothing like that. Although, could you imagine that? People lining up outside the doors of the church, waiting for the doors to open on Christmas Eve? People pitching tents out here along the sidewalk days in advance, sitting out there in lawn chairs, bundled up in parkas and mittens, just so they can get a good seat and be first in the communion line and to light their candle when we sing “Silent Night.” Maybe the Deacons would call an emergency meeting and start a ministry of compassion for them all out there, stretched all the way down past Stan & Kimber Jones’ house, and they’d start a cookie and hot chocolate brigade. I can see Betty out there, pulling a little red wagon down the sidewalk, passing out oatmeal cookies and cocoa. Maybe keeping them all occupied by singing Christmas carols. Who knows? Maybe some day that’ll happen.

The Advent season is all about preparing, and waiting, anticipating – maybe if not quite like that, but at least in our hearts – anticipating the birth of Christ, and celebrating the joy, and reconciliation with God, and hope that his birth has brought into the world, for us, and for billions of people across history.

This passage from Mark deals with anticipation, too. It isn’t a passage that talks about Christmas, though, it’s Jesus talking with his disciples about the end of the age. At first, it might seem like an odd passage to read during the Advent and Christmas season, because often when we hear this passage, we tend to think of it in terms of it being the end of the current age. And it is. But mostly, it’s all about the beginning of a new age, the era of God’s reign come to earth, the final consummation of God’s plan for creation and for us; and to see the signs around us when that new age is about to break into the world. When we see the passage that way, then it makes sense to read it now, as we’re in the weeks leading up to Christmas – thinking about the beginning of another new era in the history of God in the world – the era that begins with the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us; and preparing ourselves for that new beginning all over again.

Over the years, people have read the Bible’s words about the end of this age, and the beginning of the next one, and have had extreme reactions to them. Every few years, someone says they’ve come up with the answer, and figured it all out, and they’ll say that the end of this age will be Tuesday, and 3:15 in the afternoon, or something like that. We just had another one of those situations this past year, but there were many to come before him. There’s a whole industry centered around the whole end-of-times theme. When I first became a Christian back in the seventies and eighties, it was Hal Lindsey who had it all figured out. Now, it’s Tim Lahaye, the “Left Behind” books and movies, all that. There’s big money in Biblical gloom and doom, people are lapping it all up almost as quickly as it can be put on the market. I’m sorry, but I disagree with the interpretations of LaHaye and people like him, and even more to the point, if even Jesus himself doesn’t know the exact date that the new age is going to be ushered in – as he says in this passage – then I don’t think I need to waste any time trying to figure it out myself. Still, Jesus notwithstanding, there’s a great interest in the whole subject. And sometimes, when thinking about the end of the age, people will essentially develop a kind of paralysis. A kind of permanent waiting, not really doing anything constructive or positive in the world today, because Jesus is coming back soon and it isn’t really going to matter anyway. Some people can get into this mode where they’ve divorced themselves from the here and now, and all they’re doing is waiting for the sometime.

I had Thanksgiving dinner with some old friends from church. There were about a dozen of us gathered there. And as our host was pouring wine out into the wine glasses just before dinner, he was talking about a cousin of his – a real, devoted wine connoisseur, he was always buying rare, expensive bottles of wine at auctions, and his friends always bought him fine wines as gifts. He had all this fine wine, but he would never drink any of it. He always said he was saving them for a special occasion, something worthy of it. One day, he suffered a massive heart attack and died. On that day, he had a wine cellar full of some of the finest wines in the world, and he never enjoyed a single drop of it. He missed the opportunity, waiting for what was supposedly going to come, and what was supposedly going to be better than today.

When Jesus told his disciples to consider the signs of the times, to be able to see that God’s kingdom was about to break into the world – to keep awake, as he puts it in this passage – it wasn’t to tell them to just sit around and wait, and do nothing. It wasn’t to withdraw themselves from the concerns of this world, to just say that it will all be made better when Jesus returns so we don’t have to concern ourselves with those things now. It was actually the opposite. It was like those Black Friday shoppers who weren’t content to sit and wait for the store to open the next morning to get on with the coming of the new Christmas season. Jesus was saying that since the coming of God’s kingdom was so unpredictable, and in some ways so soon, that if we’re seeing the signs, we should be doing what God wants – and that isn’t just sitting around waiting, doing nothing; it’s getting out into the mix, doing something, trying to put God’s will, and Jesus’ words, into concrete action. Putting those words in action in the lives of other people, and in our own lives, too.

There’s a scene in the movie “The Shawshank Redemption” where prison inmates Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins are talking about what life will be like on the outside, and they figure that it all comes down to “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” Sometimes, we get so busy getting ready for something that’s supposed to be coming down the road that we stop getting busy actually living. Living in this world, this time, putting Jesus’ words to life in our hearts and our actions, and simply enjoying this wonderful life that God has given us. Just like those Black Friday shoppers, not just sitting around waiting for later, but getting on with it right now, and loving it.

Jesus, the Messiah, promised to return. But before that, God promised the Messiah would enter the world. And when he did, he did so in a way no one expected – God in the flesh of a newborn child, come into our world as a sign of his absolute identification with us and love for us in Jesus. And it’s through his coming into the world, and his death in this world, and his resurrection that he has set us free to get on living. So do just that - in gratitude, and in service to Christ, dive into life, and make a difference in your own life, and the lives of others, for God. Jesus has told us to stay awake - because time is short.

Thanks be to God.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
Mark 13:37 s in Shawshank too, just FYI.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
13:35, actually - but I admit, I couldn't remember the reference and had to google around for it. ^_^ . Good catch!
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
:wave:

Eh, just thought it might be handy.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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AndyD
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Senior Carp
I was reflecting yesterday morning that the thread between life and death is slender, and resolving to make better use of my time.
Then in the afternoon was persuaded to go shopping to Costco :doh:
Every morning the soul is once again as good as new, and again one offers it to one's brothers & sisters in life.

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