Getting Ready

A Sermon preached on Advent I, Nov. 27^th 2016 at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden

Isaiah 2:1-5, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:36-44

You would be forgiven … now that’s a good start to a sermon isn’t it. Perhaps I should stop there. No … you would be forgiven for thinking that we have been offered two or three different, even competing visions of the future in this morning's readings. Isaiah offers a beautiful vision of peace in days to come, when “they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:4) Matthew on the other hand offers what sounds like a more disturbing vision, like something out of a horror story. On that day, two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. (Matthew 24:40) Oh and whatever you do, don’t go to sleep! Finally, that old spoilsport Paul tells us to stop having fun and to wake up, get up, and get dressed!

Well I know which vision sounds more appealing; Isaiah’s beautiful inspiring vision of a world without war. Swords into ploughshares, in German Schwerter zu Pflugscharen, taken from the identical passage in Micah (4:1-4) was the motto and symbol of the East German church’s peaceful resistance movement. Ironically the illustration they used was a picture of a sculpture of that the Soviet Union has given the UN in New York. Now bullies, despots, and dictators have no sense of humour of course and the GDR police and security authorities would brutally remove this symbol, and often the young people wearing it, whenever they could. But the more the regime tried to suppress the symbol and the movement, the more popular it got and in the end, as we know, Communist rule in East Germany fell, peacefully. This vision of peace gave those Christian groups a focus, something to hold on to, something to dream of. 

But there is no fast forward to Isaiah’s state of peace and harmony. Former East Germany, despite Chancellor Kohl’s promise of flourishing landscapes (blühende Landschaften), has not turned into the eschatological mountain of the Lord that all nations stream to. In the Bible, this vision comes right at the beginning of the Book of Isaiah, and so is followed by warnings that Jerusalem and Judah will fall, violently, as they did, by descriptions of the suffering during the time of exile, and by a report of a less than triumphant return to Zion. Nor, sadly, did Israel’s sufferings end there either. Their martyrdom continued, as we know and are constantly reminded of, especially in this country, into the 20^th century. A beautiful, inspiring vision is not enough.

So perhaps Jesus’ dire warnings in Matthew of a sudden, unexpected, violent end are more realistic. “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:38-39) That does not sound like something to look forward to. But that is not the purpose of this passage. One purpose is to warn against speculation about exactly when the Son of Man will return. If we were to focus our attention entirely on looking for signs as to when that might happen, we would be paralyzed, and as so many self-appointed prophets have learned, we would get it wrong. No one knows when it will happen, not even – during his time on earth – the Son who shared our human condition so fully, that even this information was kept from him.

The other purpose of the passage is to tell us to be ready, every day. This is not a call constantly to be looking over our shoulders, to be nervous and afraid – as we would be if we took the metaphor of staying awake too literally. But it is a call to live our lives as if the end was about to come. It is a call to live our lives as if the new world and the new age were already here. Not because we can force God’s hand and bring the day of the coming of the Son of Man forward. But because this is what we promised to do at our Baptism, to start living our lives as Jesus lived his. Which is what Paul means when he tells the Christians in Rome to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Romans 13:14) live as Jesus did, live a life that reflects God.   

Paul uses another metaphor for this state of preparedness, to “put on the armor of light.” (Romans 13:12) He does not explain that further here, but in his first letter to the Thessalonians (5:8) he describes the armor as being made up of faith, hope, and charity. Faith and hope are what sustain us during the long haul, during the time we wait for the fulfillment of that promise that Christ will come again. Faith and hope keep us free from anxiety and fear. Charity – practical love – is how we should live now. 

Being ready in this sense is not something we can do at the drop of a hat. It requires training. The Church offers the season of Advent, not as a countdown of shopping days until Christmas, but as a call to prepare and train for God’s arrival, which we do by living into our Baptismal Covenant every single day.   

The two visions we heard this morning, Isaiah’s and Jesus’, are not contradictory, but complementary. We cannot have one, without the other. There is no point in being prepared, without having a positive vision to prepare and hope for; we would not be able to keep up that state of preparedness. And we will not achieve our vision, if we are not prepared to endure setbacks, frustration, and a long period of waiting, one that may well go beyond our own lives. The East German peace movement I mentioned earlier had both: a compelling vision and a daily life rooted in Christ. 

The Guardian is a liberal English newspaper known for its rational, secular bias. Yet in one article this week, I read the following:  “The task for all those who love this world and fear for our children is to imagine a different future rather than another past.” How true. Recently too many visions, too many politically successful visions have been focused on the past. Make xxxx great AGAIN. Take BACK control. They are attempts to turn the clock back to a time that was supposedly better. It never was, not for the various minority and immigrant groups who now fear for their own freedom, well-being, and even their lives. To be honest the old days were also not even better for the groups who think they can regain their privileged position. These dangerously nostalgic visions are not Christian. They are selfish, they want to put a particular country or a group within a country first. I don’t know about you, but as far as I recall, Jesus said the last will be first, not the first will be first. (Matthew 20:16) And the Jesus I know said “whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant.” (Matthew 20:26) Our vision of the future transcends nations – just last Sunday we celebrated the Feast of Christ the King – when we declared that our primary allegiance is to Christ. Isaiah’s vision is equally inclusive. The new Zion is no longer a national shrine, instead all the nations shall stream to the mountain of the Lord, all the nations shall walk in the light of the Lord. 

But just imagining a different future is not enough. We must make ourselves ready now for that future, we must live by the standards of that future now. The world seems pretty dark and threatening right now …. Not just because we put the clocks back and are approaching the shortest day. Advent and Christmas are all about light. We light an extra candle each week during Advent, we celebrate the coming of the light of the world at Christmas. Isaiah tells his readers to walk in the light of the Lord. Paul tells his readers to put on the armor of light. We do this by letting the light of Christ shine through us in how we behave. We do this by allowing the light of the new age of unity, peace, and harmony that Christ has already inaugurated shine through into this age. We do this by living lives of faith, hope and love. We have something to look forward to. Christ will come again, at an unexpected hour. Let us get ready now.

Amen.