Advent

December 13, 2019

Scripture Reading: James 5:7-10

Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

I am puzzled by all the people who long for the second coming of Christ trusting that they are going to be among the elect, while assuming all those people with whom they disagree, dislike, judge as immoral, or otherwise disparage are going to hell. That seems to be at odds with Christ’s desire that all God’s children, to the ends of the earth, will live together in harmony in the Kingdom of God. I do not see anywhere in scripture where it says all the people in the Kingdom of God are going to be just like me. I cannot imagine how boring that would be. My guess is that if we got rid of all those we disfavor our human nature would cause us to turn on whoever was left.

I also think God knew what God was doing when God created a diversity of people in many hues and sizes with varying skills and talents and with a continuum of ways to express love much like God’s own self. Perhaps in this meantime as we prepare for the fullness of God’s kingdom, we would be well advised to practice loving like Jesus so we will be prepared for living in a world where:

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
   the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
   and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
   their young shall lie down together;
   and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
   and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
   on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
   as the waters cover the sea.—Isaiah 11:6-9

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for not loving ourselves as you love us resulting in our inability to love all your children without bigotry. Enable us to love like Jesus. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.