The Adventurous Lectionary – The First Sunday in Advent – December 1, 2024
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm 25:1-10
I Thessalonians 3:9-13
Luke 21:25-36
These days, many of us are struggling to find hope for our nation’s and planet’s future. As we look toward the next four years, many of us visualize a slow-motion train wreck in the making, driven by a vindictive and authoritarian engineer bound and determined to roll back human rights, persecute enemies, imprison undocumented immigrants, and bully his foes into submission. Lamentation and anxiety are the mood for many congregants of progressive congregations. The Cabinet picks give little evidence of vision, morality, or competence. Is any hope to be found?
Luke’s apocalyptic scenario seems all to possible in our nation’s divisive and increasingly violent atmosphere not to mention the fear of all-out war in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine and its allies. Climate change appears to be heading to the point of no return and our current leaders are failing to sound the alarm, and the next President’s only response is climate denial and the mantra “drill, drill, drill.” Will we be able to halt the train wreck, strengthen democracy, protect human rights, and reverse environmental destruction in time for us and future generations?
The signs of a new and destructive era are upon us and there is “distress among nations.” Apocalyptic end times Christians look forward with glee toward Jesus’ return, oblivious to the deaths of hundreds of millions as they plan to caught up to safety in the error. Yet, such end times predictions have been universally wrong and have only exacerbated the problems we face by turning peoples’ attention from earth to heaven and creating a chasm between saved and unsaved and rescued and left behind, perpetuating in my mind one of the greatest and most dangerous hoaxes in Christian history.
Few of my readers are looking forward to a supernatural rescue operation. Experience and scripture call into question such escape hatch theologies. Moreover, we perceive the image of God portrayed by such end time theologies as unworthy of the God of Jesus and the God of Love, for whom all 100 sheep are precious and who would look for a lost coin until it is found, regardless of how long it might take.
Can we find hope and empowerment in today’s scriptures? Can Advent lead to agency and claiming our role not as passive bystanders but as agents in companionship with God in healing the world?
Jeremiah images hope in a naturalistic fashion. God’s new era will emerge out of the people’s history and life experiences. God will fulfill God’s promises in ways that are continuous with God’s previous promises. A branch grows from a tree. God’s healing of the earth is gradual yet certain. God’s restoration of Shalom emerges from the world we live in and in accordance with its causal relationships rather than through a dramatic and supernatural intervention. God’s fidelity is naturalistic. God mercies are new every morning, although some may be more dramatic than others. Still, God works within the world to bring forth God’s realm of Shalom and we must be God’s gardeners of the future.
Psalm 25 also looks toward the future in a naturalistic way. Our hope is God’s pathway of righteousness and peace. God is our teacher and healer, and calls upon us to learn, grow, and reevaluate our values. God is the initiator, calling us to respond with our agency to claim new life for ourselves and our nation. In lifting our hearts to God, trusting God’s way instead of our own devices and desires, we embody God’s future in our time. While we can choose pathways of destruction as well as divinity, following God’s path leads to fullness of life for us and our communities.
The prayer from I Thessalonians is affectionate and affirmative in tone. The evangelist is grateful for his Thessalonian followers. They are running the race faithfully. But, more growth is possible, especially in an antagonistic social context. The evangelist prays for the Christian community and its members to grow in openness to God’s guidance, loving relationships, and spiritual maturity. While there may be mystical experiences and spiritual quantum leaps that radically transform our lives, the author imagines organic spiritual growth, building on previous experiences of faithful community and spiritual commitment. God calls and we respond and in that dynamic relationship, we become God’s hands and feet in healing the world. (Teresa of Avila)
The “apocalyptic” passage from Luke’s Gospel has often been read in a supernatural manner. The Son of Man will return in the clouds with power and glory. This rapture ruptures the world in which we live. Many commentators see this passage as a precursor to today’s “Left Behind” prophecies in which divine destruction is prelude to divine re-creation. Here the circle of hope is small and the circle of horror immense. According to those who claim insights into biblical prophecy, only a small portion of the earth will survive. The signs of the time herald destruction as well as redemption, and exacerbate the polarization already present our world. The saved and unsaved are separated eternally, one group to celebrate, the other to judgment. But, in real life, is the separation of saints and sinners, believers and unbelievers, really that great? Moreover, salvation must result from something more than the cheap grace of transactional sinner’s prayers without amendment in our personal and political lives.
Still, the imagery of the fig tree and the signs of the times speaks to our generation. The adventurous preacher might ask, “What are the signs of the times that we can discern in our world today? What threats and hopes do these signs bring?” The message of the fig tree is that dramatic future events are grounded in the naturalistic process at work in the present moment. By our actions, we can promote a culture of life or death for ourselves and the planet. From this perspective, we need to look out for the signs of the times and not tranquilize ourselves with trivia. The signs of the times herald future scenarios, each of which is contingent on our commitments to God and the planet. For many, the signs herald ecological apocalypse. For others, our future, positive or negative, is unfolding gradually. Still, we must discern the signs of the times and respond in ways that heal the earth and its peoples. We have work to do in embodying God’s vision on earth as it is in heaven.
Today’s readings open us to a divine, but not determined, destiny for our planet. They affirm that this destiny unfolds according to a dynamic divine-human partnership. In the creating the future, we are not omnipotent, but we also not impotent. We can tip the balances toward planetary health and open the door to greater influx of divine activity. We can choose intentional partnership with God to heal the earth.
In times like these, hope can be found in the interplay of the divine spiritual and moral arc of history, the reality of human choice and agency, an open-future, and the companionship of fellow seekers, who save the world one moment at a time by their prayers, loving action, and activism in confronting the evils we deplore.
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Theologian, pastor, and writer, Bruce Epperly is Theologian in Residence at Westmoreland Congregational Church, Bethesda, MD, and a professor in theology and spirituality at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is the author of over 80 books, including “Homegrown Mystics: Restoring the Soul of Our Nation through the Healing Wisdom of America’s Visionaries,” “Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet,” “Saving Progressive Christianity to Save the Planet,” and six volumes of 12 Days of Christmas devotional books, the latest of which is “Once Upon a Time: The 12 Days of Christmas in Stories and Films.” He may be reached at bepperly@wesleyseminary.edu.
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