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Sermon for Advent 1, Year B 11/26-27, 2005 St. Luke's Episcopal Church The Rev. Eric M. Williams
“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, not the Son, but only the Father.”
1) 2005 has been a year of disasters—wars, earthquakes and famines, not to mention hurricanes and floods. Throughout the ages, people have looked for a divine reason for these disasters. a. Two options i. End of the world ii. Punishment for our sins 2) Bible tells us that there will be an end, if not to this world then to this age a. OT--Day of YHWH i. Judgment on the unrighteous ii. Reward for the faithful remnant iii. Prayer of Isaiah in our lesson today b. NT—Return of Jesus in glory i. Round one was the suffering servant who died like a common criminal in weakness ii. Round two will be the warrior messiah everyone wanted in the first place 3) Current cottage industry in whipping up fervor about the end times a. Started with Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth in the 1970’s b. Left Behind series of books c. TV preachers d. Based on the system invented by John Nelson Darby in the 19th century 4) Millions of Christians convinced that these are the end times a. One poll showed that 20% of Americans believed that the apocalypse would happen around Y2K 5) I don’t buy it. a. Immensely profitable to stir up fear b. Gets people to church and gets books sold c. Speaks to a powerful human need i. We know the world is screwed up and unfair ii. We’d like God to do something about it 6) I believe that all of this recent obsession with the End Times is misguided a. Yes, I believe in the classic Christian faith that Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. b. No, I do not believe that it will necessarily happen according to Darby’s system, the Left Behind books or even the book of Revelation. c. In fact, I think it is a mistake to dwell on the second coming at all. 7) Bad outcomes from obsessing about the apocalypse a. We don’t need to care for the environment or one another because God will sort it out. b. We don’t need to deal with injustice in our nation and world because God will sort it out. c. Puts us in an exciting and dramatic story and makes us feel important. d. Occasionally leads to terrible tragedies when leaders go off the deep end i. Jim Jones ii. David Koresh iii. Heaven’s Gate mass suicide 8) So what are we supposed to do? a. Keep awake. In other words, live every day as if it were your last. Pretend for a moment that you have received a top secret memo that the world ends on Monday. What will you do with today? b. The answer should be…the same things that you would do normally. Go to church, eat a meal with your family, do something for someone else. c. Use the gifts we have been given to serve God in every moment you are given. “He will strengthen you to the end.” ( 1 Cor.) 9) Best way to prepare for the hereafter is to focus on the here and now a. Last week’s gospel—feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners.
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