Greetings and Salutations, HA!
Hope your day is off to a good start. These apocalyptic passages from the Bible keep showing up in my morning reading and they really get under my skin until I rethink them a bit.
I tried to do that this morning with this one from Luke’s Gospel.
Much love and more ☕️,
Glenn || PATREON / BUY ME A COFFEE
During the first week of Advent the church traditionally reflects on the return (or Second Coming) of Christ in the midst of also reflecting on his first coming, his birth some 2000 years ago.
Sigh.
Y'all know how I feel about these passages, don't you?
The Second Coming.
The End of the World.
The Apocalypse.
Wars.
Earthquakes.
I opened up my lectionary the other day (a guide or map of sorts that the church uses throughout the year where different passages are assigned to different Sundays) and this week's passage made my spirit cringe.
It's the passage from Luke's Gospel (21:25-36) where Jesus talks about how there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars and how nations will be distressed and people will faint because of what's going on in the world and how they'll see the "Son of Man coming on the clouds", how they should be on guard so that "the day" doesn't catch them unexpectedly, to be alert, to be ready to "stand before the Son of Man."
Jesus, help me - it's not even 6am and I'm already shaking and sweating.
These passages bring me right back to 6th grade where Mrs. Brotten took our class through the book of Revelation and taught us all about how Jesus would one day return to take the faithful with him while the rest of the world was left behind to burn.
I had nightmares.
I was horrified.
I literally cried.
Whether intentionally or not, these passages were presented to be in very abusive and traumatizing ways and to this day I can't read them without feeling a sense of sickness in my gut.
And so, yes - SIGH.
Even so, it's the passage for this week and so as I sipped my coffee this morning I began to wonder if we might be able to turn the diamond of this story a little bit so that the light might hit it differently and present it to us in a different and less terrifying way.
Here's the passage in its entirety (even if you've read it a million times, read it again so that the rest of what I share makes a little more sense) ...
“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.'
He told them this parable: 'Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
'Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
'Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
When I read these words this morning I tried to push away the mental baggage that these verses carry and open my mind to the Advent of something new, to a new way of thinking about them and seeing them and understanding them.
I began to think about the moments in my life when the sun and moon and stars began to fall from the sky of my heart, the moments when confusion set in, the times when the seas roared and the waves crashed. I began to think about the fear and faintness I often feel when I know some sort of hard time or difficult season is hovering over the horizon of my life.
I thought about the time when my grandma passed away.
I thought about when my wife went into surgery a few months ago.
I thought about when they rushed my daughter into the NICU after she was born.
I thought about family members who aren't well.
I thought about the many people who have turned on me as a result of my "deconstruction".
I thought about the horrible names I've been called by people I love.
I began to think about times gone by that have been hard and began to wonder what hard times lie ahead of me ...
What losses await me?
What deaths and passings will come?
What unexpected crises await me?
What relationships will come to a close?
... And as I thought about those things and felt my heart hang low, I heard the Spirit whisper verse 28 to me - "now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your head, because your redemption is near."
Redemption is near.
Yes.
The onset of hard times, the beginning of difficulties is merely a sign that the end of them will come ... right? Just as resurrection doesn't come without crucifixion, so the end of hard times doesn't come without their beginning.
"Be on guard", the Spirit said, "so that your heart will not be weighed down with the worries of life and that the difficult days ahead don't catch you off guard. Hard times will come upon you and everyone else on the earth, no one can escape them. And so be alert, pray for strength to press forward, the strength to stand next to The Christ who is holding your hand and will walk with you the whole way through."
I still hate this passage (is it OK to hate part of the Bible? If there's a hell, I'll see you there. HA!) ... but this morning a slightly new perspective was birthed in my mind and it made it feel a little less horrible.
Time for more coffee.