Tag Archives: Second Coming

Living in the Now

Preparing for Advent

November 30, 2019

Scripture Reading: Matthew 24:36-44

‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then 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. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

Why are we letting our house be broken into? Christ has come. Have we forgotten that? Christ showed us the way, the truth, and the life*. Why are we ignoring what we are taught?

‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.  (John 14:15-18)

As you may have guessed, I am not “into” what is dubbed the second coming. I am “into” changing the world in which we now live into the vision Christ has for us loving one person at a time as I learn to love all people all the time and to walk with others as they do the same. I surely do not have all the answers and am not perfect by any means. I do serve the living God who is love and foresees how this massive puzzle we call the world and all that is in it can dwell in harmony. I trust that as we all grow in love with the guidance of the Spirit, we can end the brokenness of our world. I like to think when Christ returns, he will be very pleased to find we are living the way he taught us.

Prayer: Thank you for the gift of the Spirit. Help us keep the lines of communication open with the Spirit and uncluttered with the things of the world. Amen.

*See John 14:16

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.

God with Us

Eastertide

April 26, 2019

Scripture Reading: Revelation 1:4-8

Look! He is coming with the clouds;
   every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
   and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
So it is to be. Amen.

 ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. –Revelation 1:7-8

Is God here with us right now or not? When I hear people talk about the second coming, this question comes to my mind. There are even some that seem to think they can hasten God’s arrival by causing a war in the Middle East. Some seem to forget that the gift of the Holy Spirit was given whether as John reports (John 20:22) immediately or as Acts 2 describes during Pentecost or perhaps both. I tend to lean toward both. I stood with my mother in the hospital waiting room when the doctor came to report that my dad had had a massive heart attack severely injuring his heart. If he survived the heart attack, he would be an invalid. He had the second heart attack one week later and died. My mother does not remember being in the meeting with the doctor after the first attack. Shock and grief play strange games on all of us. A later dramatic reminder of the promise of the gift of the Spirit as described in Acts is fitting in dealing with the human state.

My, perhaps fanciful interpretation, of Christ’s return in a cloud is that he will rejoin us as the Omega when and if we ever become the people of love and peace, he taught us to be and do. Not war but shalom will usher in the returning Christ who through the Spirit guides us in the direction of love and peace, if we allow it.

Prayer:
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness,
blow through the wilderness calling and free,
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness,
stir me from placidness,
wind, wind on the sea.

You call from tomorrow,
you break ancient schemes.
From the bondage of sorrow
all the captives dream dreams;
our women see visions,
our men clear their eyes.
With bold new decisions
your people arise*. Amen.

*Chorus and Fourth verse of Spirit by James K. Manley https://digitalsongsandhymns.com/songs/3373

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.

Second Coming is Now

Living in the Spirit
November 18, 2018

Scripture Reading: Mark 13:1-8

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, ‘Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?’ Then Jesus began to say to them, ‘Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, “I am he!” and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs. –Mark 13:3-8

We all want God to wave a magic wand and make everything right, whatever that is. Apparently, there are as many definitions of what is right as there are humans on this earth. Right is often me-centric.

What is righteousness in God’s view? When we commit to following God, we commit to, at the very least, seeking God’s righteousness for all and working to make it a reality in our world. I have this rather quaint idea that when we align with God’s right all will be righteous. We will know what real justice is and we will be comfortable with real justice. God will feel at home pitching God’s tent among us*.

For righteousness to be, each of us must wrestle with how our concept of what is just and God’s concept match. They do not always. There are few if any people who are wholly unrighteous, but we all have pieces of our being that feel dis-ease when we encounter life situations that were once the rules, we were groomed to believe that are no longer acceptable. I was in a group of people recently that started comparing their family’s norms of eating order at large family gatherings when there were too many people to seat at a table. In my family when I was a child, the men always went first, followed by the children and then the women. Today everyone seems to hold back waiting for someone to break the spell of what is polite with the hostess going last. Now that we have young children again, their plates are often filled first. Younger adults hearing that there was ever an order prescribed just roll their eyes. Family traditions probably change easier than cultural tradition.

Cultural traditions, norms, mores, whatever we want to call them can get tangled in how we identify our self-worth. We once had norms, some even made into laws, that people of color sat at the back of the bus, could not eat in the same restaurants as whites, or use the same restrooms. Those laws/norms were given up with great anguish and discomfort.  We now are dealing with similar concerns targeted at people of other faiths or other sexual orientations. I could give many examples. When I was a child many people smoked anywhere, anytime. We threw everything in the trash and let it build up in larger and larger areas set aside for it. Children who could not make the grade could drop out of school. Criminals were electrocuted or sentenced to long terms in prison with no thought to restoring them to wholeness. The sick who could not pay for health care died young. Mental patients languished in institutions. Children died of malnutrition. Some of these examples still ring true today.

I rather think Jesus is saying in the scripture today, “Bad things are going to happen when I am gone, what are you going to do about it as my Body in the world today?”

Prayer: Guide us, O Lord, in understanding your righteousness and working to make it happen. Amen.

*See Revelation 21.3

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.

Christ Pitching His Tent among Us

God loves worldLiving in the Spirit
May 30, 2015

Scripture Reading: John 3:1-17

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. –John 3:16

This may have been the first memory verse I learned. I use to love to sing it. I don’t know if children continue singing it today. The song I learned may not pass the Theologically Correct test, but here are the words, I still like them:

 For God so loved the World,
 He gave His only Son,
 To die on Calvary’s tree,
 From sin to set me free;
 Some day He’s coming back,
 What glory that will be!
 Wonderful His love to me.*

“Second Coming” was the phrase used in my childhood to name the phenomenon described in the Bible as Jesus’ return to earth at the end of ages. We use a classier word, eschatology, now. I, for one, think God intends for us to work toward God’s righteousness right here and right now and the end of time will take care of itself.

In a bit of fancy, it cross my mind recently Christ may be waiting to return because we are so far from getting it right we would not be able to handle his full presence living among us. Pure love would not fit comfortably in our five or seven point plan for success. Perhaps world calamities, wars, and rumors of wars must die from lack of the nourishment of hate, greed, and hunger for power before we will be able to welcome Christ as an event of glory. It is something to think about.

Prayer: God of Grace and God of Glory on thy people pour thy power** so that right here and right now we may work toward your righteousness. Amen.

*Words by Frances Townsend see at http://www.smallchurchmusic3.com/Lyrics/D02/S02343.php
**First line of hymn God of Grace and God of Glory words by Harry E Fosdick see at: http://www.hymnary.org/text/god_of_grace_and_god_of_glory
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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Called As Partners in Christ’s Service

CallingChristmas
December 26, 2014

Scripture Reading: 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. — Mark 13:24-25

After recommending that we all see the movie, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, even though I have not yet seen it, I was pleased when my nephew, David, talked about it with some excitement at my Christmas party. It had made him dig deeper into what it meant and that is what I hope about all three movies mentioned yesterday. It also made me realize how very long ago it was that I had become acquainted with The Hobbit by J.R. R. Tolkien from which the movie was developed. The characters were fuzzy in my memory. I decided I wanted to read it anew before I saw any of its three movies. I had forgotten what a wonderful book it is. It deals with good and evil and finding and following the right narrow path.

And then the day after Christmas the lectionary gurus immediately force me to address not the birth of Christ but the promised return of Christ. For after all, it is all tied together in one package. While the book of Mark does not address the birth of Christ, I was not ready to jump to Jesus’ warnings at the close of his ministry on earth just before his arrest. Dark days of suffering are coming, he said. The path is narrow and there is evil as well as good awaiting us.

Called as partners in Christ service, we are not to burrow into our safe havens but seek that narrow path, take on evil with the help of God, and clear the way for making all things good, also with the help of God. Nobody said it would be easy. It seems we as the body of Christ in the world today cannot even agree on what is evil and what is not. I believe, there is purpose in such distraction and it is not good.

Called as partners in Christ service, we need to work together on those things with which we do agree and work with and through God toward discernment about those things with which we do not agree. Paul may have said it best in Romans 8:28: We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Prayer:
Called as partners in Christ’s service,
    Called to ministries of grace,
    We respond with deep commitment
    Fresh new lines of faith to trace.
    May we learn the art of sharing,
    Side by side and friend with friend,
    Equal partners in our caring
    To fulfill God’s chosen end.

     Christ’s example, Christ’s inspiring,
    Christ’s clear call to work and worth,
    Let us follow, never faltering,
    Reconciling folk on earth.
    Men and women, richer, poorer,
    All God’s people, young and old,
    Blending human skills together
    Gracious gifts from God unfold.

     Thus new patterns for Christ’s mission,
    In a small or global sense,
    Help us bear each other’s burdens,
    Breaking down each wall or fence.
    Words of comfort, words of vision,
    Words of challenge, said with care,
    Bring new power and strength for action,
    Make us colleagues, free and fair.

     So God grant us for tomorrow
    Ways to order human life
    That surround each person’s sorrow
    With a calm that conquers strife.
    Make us partners in our living,
    Our compassion to increase,
    Messengers of faith, thus giving
    Hope and confidence and peace.* Amen

* Called as Partners in Christ’s Service, Composer: John Zundel, 1870, Author: Jane Parker Huber, 1981 Available at: http://worship-organizer.awtrey.com/hymnal/?number=343

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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.