And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. 1 Thessalonians 3:13
Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28

Even though these two verses are my focus point for today I want to come back to them latter. The message it seems to me that comes through most strongly in Luke’s Gospel is that there are portents in the sky which are signs of disaster coming.

“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. [26] People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Luke 21:25-26

The advent, that is, the coming of Jesus ushers in a time of Judgement. It is the apocalypse. There has been a strong temptation among Christians to use this warning for fear mongering; To scare the hell out of people. You might well ask then how can this be good news. Does it tell us anything about a God of love?

The message of Christ’s coming is entirely continuous with the Bible’s testimony to God’s love for creation, for humanity, God’s affirmation of our life in the world, God’s adapting to our historical, cultural way of being—with the covenants, the law and the prophets—yet it’s quite discontinuous from what we humans regularly make of all this.
Associate Professor Scott Cowdell
Research Fellow in Public & Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University; Canon Theologian, Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn

Yet the good news is that this judgement is at the same time the renewal of Israel, as Jeremiah celebrates… Jesus, too, teaches that this divine assault on false meaning heralds the onset of humanity’s redemption—good news, not bad. Scott Cowdell

“Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. Luke 21 29-30

It is not unlike the flowering of the jacaranda tree. Every student in Southeast Queensland knows this is a sign that exams are upon us the end of the academic year is nigh. If we have failed to do the study and assignments necessary we will be in trouble. If we have worked hard, prepared for exams and submitted our work then holidays and new adventures are on their way. The Jacaranda flowering is good news.

But this apocalyptic warning does need to be taken seriously. Perhaps the roaring of the sea mentioned in Luke reminds us of the heating of the worlds oceans. We might well faint for fear of what is coming. The signs, it would appear are loud and clear. We humans have greedily consumed everything in sight without any thought about the earth, about God or tomorrow. On top of our greedy consumption we have become obsessed with oil and coal. In many respects we have used them well but too often we have become addicted to them.

As Christians then, while today is the beginning of the journey to Christmas, it is equally a journey into the presence of Jesus. The good News is that we make this journey with confidence, holding our heads up.
Luke says, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. We go out if you like to welcome Jesus just as a Child runs to welcome the parent who has come to pick them up from kindy. We welcome Jesus with Joy.

The Rev. Kirsten Klepfer explains that this is what we proclaim in Advent.
He says, Jesus came as God incarnate, yet God’s newness is always, yet again, to be discerned and received because we have not yet seen the fullness of God’s Realm. Klepfer quotes Walter Wink who writes, “The advent we are waiting for is not an apocalypse but the beginning of human beings again and again as they recommit themselves to bring the Realm of God here.”
Wink, The Human Being: Jesus and the Enigma of the Son of Man, 170.

Elke and Ava today become a part of this company who go out to meet Jesus. They have become a part of a community that week by week washes away the rubbish of our lives. A community that is nourished week by week with God’s grace. Don’t underestimate the value of weekly nourishment and cleansing. The Church does provide the warmth of a great community which you enrich by your presence but as we immerse ourselves in Christ we gain much more than just a great community.

While the coming of Jesus is a great joy for us if you reread the passage we had from Luke it sounds more like bad news. “distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea” “People will faint from fear and foreboding” “day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap.”

The message of Christ’s coming is entirely continuous with the Bible’s testimony to God’s love for creation, for humanity, God’s affirmation of our life in the world, God’s adapting to our historical, cultural way of being—with the covenants, the law and the prophets—yet it’s quite discontinuous from what we humans regularly make of all this. Scott Cowdell

Cowdell quotes Tennyson who captures it well in his poem, ‘Ring out, Wild Bells’.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

So yes the coming of Christ brings judgment. But it is a judgment on all that is destructive in life. It is good news for those who have embraced godliness.

Often we have an image of God as being outside the world. Like a basket ball God spins us on the tip of his finger. But as the basket ball coach tells his team the ball needs to be an extension of yourself. It becomes part of you. To my mind the earth and God are one even more than the basketball player and his ball.

In my mind then the judgement which we need to be hearing loud and clear is of our gluttony for more and more possessions. Australia has many things to be proud of but we are up in the top two nations of the world for our manic greed. Every time we want a new phone, computer, play station etc we are gobbling up the worlds resources. The Godliness that we are being called to is one of simplicity and generosity. We get caught up in this way of life without even realizing it is happening.
Along with our possessions is our obsession for oil. We go to war with all sorts of excuses but woven into our fear of terrorism is our fear of being without oil. The Godliness we are called to is to simply to walk more often.