Cadences of God

Well, there is no way to candy coat the topic for today. Today, Jesus is talking with his disciples about the end of the world and the coming of God’s final Kingdom. One day, Jesus is walking with the disciples through downtown Jerusalem. And, being simple fisherfolk, they are looking up at the tall buildings and taking in the din of the city and they are all starry eyed. They are farmers who grew up without TV or out of town visitors and they just accidentally stumbled into Times Square. And they’ve had their socks knocked off of them.

When they point to the Temple of Jerusalem and comment on how grand it is, Jesus pretty sharply says: Do not be impressed. Pretty soon, there will not be a single stone in that building on top of another. Then the disciples ask Jesus when this terrible day of the Lord will come. Jesus does not give them any date. He just says that there will be false prophets, and wars, and rumors of wars, and famines, and then the end will come.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I am pleased to announce that the time you’ve all be waiting for, the end of the world and the beginning of the Kingdom of God, will be here in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . .

Hmm. I guess I was wrong. I know, I know. I forgot to carry the one when I computed that this morning. One second. Ok. the end of the world and the beginning of the Kingdom of God, will arrive in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . .

Hmm . . . No. No. I see what I did wrong. It’s gonna be at this hour on November 19^th, 2084. Or is that 64? Yeah. Maybe 64. Let’s go with 64. Sorry, folks. False alarm! You’ve got almost another 60 years.

Now all that may seemed silly, but Christians have been doing just that for about 2000 years now. We Christians have had lots of faith based obsessions over the years. Some have been good. We have been forever obsessed with taking care of the poor, the needy, and those forgotten our neighbors. Some obsessions have been bad. We have had an obsession with killing people over our faith, whether in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, or way back during the Crusades. But one of our deepest and strangest obsessions is with the end of the world.

In the year 60, St. Paul wrote to a church in Thessalonica that the world would come to an end within the life time of those people in the church to whom he was writing. That was the year 60. It didn’t happen, but that prediction is in the New Testament to this day.

In the year 70, when the Roman armies sacked Jerusalem and burned the beloved Temple there to the ground, Christians thought that the end of the world had come. After all, Jesus (in the passage we just read) said the Temple would be destroyed and not a single stone would left upon another. And that happened in 70 AD. But, the end didn’t come.

In the year 90, Clement one of the earliest popes believed that the end would happen that year. The only thing that ended that year was Clement, when he caught a bad flu.

In the year 365, a bishop named Hilary (which back then was apparently a guy’s name) predicted the end of the world would happen before the year was out. His student a few years later, St. Martin (for whom the Episcopal church down the road is named) decided to cover for his teacher. He said it was sure to happen before the year 400. The student was just as wrong as the teacher on that one.

The year 500 AD got the very first known year-with-a-nice-round-number-panic. You all remember that from the year 2000, the most recent year-with-a-nice-round-number-panic. The year 1000 got the second known year-with-a-nice-round-number-panic. In 1205, a monk named Joachim d’Fiore predicted that the Antichrist was already in the world, and that King Richard the Lionheart of England would defeat him. If he did, no one thought it was important enough to mention in the histories of Britain, although King Richard did spend a lot time killing Frenchmen.

Pope Innocent III favored 1284 (that is the year of the founding of Islam plus 666).  So, he was not big into the whole politically correct thing. In 1346 the Black Plague hit and most people thought that was the start of the end of the world. It was, but only if you count the Italian Renaissance and a rebirth of scientific learning and medical advancement as the end of the world.

The Mennonite Melchior Hoffman predicted that Jesus’ return would happen in 1533 and that the New Jerusalem would be established in Strasbourg, Germany. I kid you not. I’ve been to Strasbourg, Germany; and let me assure you that if the New Jerusalem ever was there, it has since been moved to an undisclosed location.

Just so you know, we get into the game as well. Charles Wesley author of so many of our hymns liked the year 1794. His brother John placed that date in his official notes on the book of Revelation which are still doctrinally binding on Methodist churches. I guess between The American Civil War, Auschwitz, the Atomic Bomb, and ethnic cleansing in the Sudan, the rest of the world must have missed Brother Wesley’s memo.

The most famous date in recent history was from a guy named William Miller. He liked March 21, 1843. When that dated passed he changed it to October 22 the next year. This is a true and very sad story. On that day, October 22, 1844, literally hundreds of thousands of people quit their jobs, sold all their worldly belongings and climbed up on mountains and hilltops and waited  . . . and waited . . . and waited. And, on October 23, they went and found new jobs and homes.

At different times, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have offered 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975 and 1994. None of these have panned out, though suspiciously one of those is the year I was born. I have no idea which date they are working with now.

Since Israel was re-founded in 1948, we have heard dates raging from 1988 to 2048. Hal Lindsey predicted in his book “The Late, Great Planet Earth” that the Rapture was coming in 1988. But all I can remember is George Bush the elder becoming president. You can argue among yourselves whether that was rapturous or the end of the world. Personally, I’m not sure it was either.

But I do not want to depress you all here. So, let me give you all something to look forwards to. According to the Weekly World News on the shop rite just a few weeks ago, the end will occur on the 7th hour of the 7th day of the 7th month of the Hebrew calendar year that corresponds to 2007. But you might want to take that with a grain of salt.  See, a British group called the Lord’s Witnesses says it will happen on MAR-21-2008; while scholar Philip Brown says it will be April 6 of that year; religious leader Jack Smith says you will need to wait until 2009; scientist John Dutchman’s analysis of comets suggests August 29, 2009; and both Phil Stone of Bible Time Magazine and denomination the Worldwide Church of God independently have reason to believe that it will be in 2010 (although one thinks Spring and the other Autumn). Meanwhile, Michael Drosnin, author of “The Bible Code, says he is certain we can relax until 2012. So, maybe you should all just leave a packed bag under the bed to be sure. Don’t set aside drinking water. Jesus will come with spring of life. He’ll also supply the robes, so maybe just bring some toys for the kids in case the car ride is long.

There is a reason why I give you all this information. I want you to know why so many pastors and leaders in the church are skeptical of predictions about the end of the world. The first and best reason is that when Jesus was once asked for a specific date to the end of the world, he said: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, not the Son, but only the Father.” If the angels in heaven who have to carry out the order and even Jesus, the Son of God Himself, do not know, then what the heck are we doing trying to figure this stuff. But the second reason pastors and leaders in the church are skeptical of predictions about the end of the world, and the reason for all that information before, is that we have heard countless predictions already. The ones I gave you are just the tip of the iceberg. The history of God’s people on this planet is filled with thousands more of just these predictions, some silly like Strasbourg, others sad like the Millerites.

Let me point out a couple of things about all this end of the world speculation. I hope some of this will be helpful as you try to come to terms with working out your faith in fear and trembling before the almighty God.

First, the Bible does not give any clear timetable for something like the end of time. For me, Matt 24 is such an important chapter. That’s where Jesus says the angels and even he himself do not know when the appointed time for the kingdom of God is. People who seek to figure out the time and day of the end of time are attempting to know more than Jesus himself knows about God’s plan for the world. I’m not sure about it, but I think that starts coming pretty close to heresy.

Second, no one knows what the coming of the kingdom of God looks like exactly. It might come all at once, either with angels blowing trumpets or like a thief in the night. Or, it might come over a thousand years, slow and steady like a freight train. We do not know because God does not give us that information. So, be wary of all those people who have a sign that shows the kingdom is coming. They haven’t got a clue. Also, be wary of people who speak like they know what the kingdom of God is all about and what it looks like. Liberals would have you believe it looks something like a perfect socialist state and conservative will tell you the Kingdom of God is a slightly better version of the early American Republic of Jefferson and Franklin and Hamilton mixed with a heavy dose of capitalism. Neither side has a clue. Neither does anyone else. When the Bible tells us about the Kingdom of God, it turns from clear and concise details to poetry. The kingdom of God is a place where the blind see, the lame walk, the broken are mended, and all are filled by the spirit of God, where all enjoy an original relation with God that sinks beneath and endless bliss of perfect goodness. In short, it’ll be awesome, but don’t pester me with small talk about the details.

Lastly, most people assume the end of the world is a bad thing. This has never been the Christian assumption. According to the book of Revelation, the apocalypse will be the final show down between the forces of God and His Son Jesus Christ on the one hand, and the forces of oppression, tyranny, and abuse embodied in Rome on the other. When God brings the kingdom, it will be the downfall of hate, division, hunger, alienation, sorrow, war, strife, pain, suffering, and all other enemies of God and His unquenchable love and passion for the earth. There are only two kinds of people: those who think such a world is a good idea and those who think that is a bad idea. Christians have always looked at such a world, where the poor are raised up, where the brokenhearted and made whole, where the outcast are made one with the rest of us, where the sick are healed and the love is the only law as a pretty darn good thing. Some people, however, make quite a tidy profit off a world which is a little rougher and tougher. Some people like things the way they are because they know that they have the stuff to rise to the top and beat on all the people they climb over to get there. They know that when they get to the top, they will have a pretty cushy life. These people like the dog eat dog because they can eat with the best of them. These people do not want that kingdom to come. They will be scared of it when it comes, not just because it means and end to their way of life, but because they have some inkling deep in their soul that God does not think to highly of those who devour other people.

            So, you are either for the politics of God or against them. You either like the whole idea of Jesus’ kingdom or you hope it never comes. But, Christians have always favored the kingdom of God as our only political agenda in the world. When it comes, we will be grateful and we will rightly praise God for it. The coming of such a world is nothing to fear, but something to give us hope and longing and peace.

            It is worth mentioning that the word Jesus uses in today’s reading for the Kingdom of God coming into the world is birthpangs, or labor. God is going to give birth to the Kingdom in the world when the time comes. Now, I must be up front about the fact that I have no first hand knowledge of giving birth. But, I was there is the room when Cordelia was born and I know these two things at least. The first thing I know is that it is a painful and messy affair. This is where all those horrible images of the apocalypse come from. God’s giving birth to the kingdom in our world will be a messy and painful event when it comes. But that leads me to the second thing I know about births: They are a beautiful and wonderful thing. The day Cordelia was born, two people entered that room and three people left. Something new was brought forth, a life full of hope and expectation and bubbling with new energy and determination. There is nothing wrong about it, nothing to fear. Nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing less than wonderful. That’s the kingdom of God. Something wonderful. Something good. Something perfect. Something hopeful. Even if all the stones will be turned over to bring it in, what a beautiful banquet awaits us in the aftermath.You know all those people with there nutty predictions I mentioned before? There is one thing that they all have in common. Funny enough, it also the one thing that they are all right about. They all held the one same and central conviction: God is doing something wonderful in the world. That is a witness I cannot never mock, never find fault with, and never reject. All those guys who were so wrong, we absolutely right. God is doing something wonderful in the world. And that is good news.   

Tags: Kingdom of God by Administrator
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In the Book of Revelation, when the fifth seal is broken, the martyrs are disvered below the altar of heaven. From their, they cry out to God that their blood may be avenged while they are handed white robes. (Rev. 9:9-11)

Why? Why do martyrs cry out for blood? These are the one people in the whole of the Kingdom of God who should not better than all that blood cannot be quenched by more blood. They are the one people in the Kingdom who should know better than all others than blood does not pay for blood.

In fact, the very idea is a anethema to the God revealed in Jesus Christ. The Son of God gave blood so that blood would not have to be spilled. He sacrificed, so that the rest of us would not have to be sacrificed to eternal death for the sin-debt we had incurred against the Father.

Perhaps this is the root of the response from God through the angels of Heaven. The martyrs are given robes and told to sit down and wait and see.

Perhaps this is a nice reminder that the great martyrs of the faith - Stephen, John the Baptist, Perpetua, Felicity, Clement, and more recently Rev. King or Dietrich Bonhoeffer - were far from perfect and are capable of a vengeful moment once in a while even after their entrance into the music of heaven itself.

Either way, there is some comfort for me in the fact that no one ever tells them that they are right to hope for blood, right to claim it, or right to expect it. Apparently, even in a place of perfection, where the Perfect God resides, we will all still be frail, simple, and small.

And that is the deep truth of this. Christians have at times and in many places been given to a touch of blood lust. Sometimes it have been in the Name of God - such as in the crusades. Even good souls like St. Bernard of Clairvaux were not immune to these spirits. At other times, it has been a blood lust in service to a false god mixed with the true God - such as in various form so patriotism or ideology. In the end, these phases pass and we are left with the collective embarasment for what we have done. Perhaps it is good to know that very much in spite of these faults, we can still hope for a while robe in the end.

Tags: Peace, Heaven, Hell, Discipleship, Kingdom of God by Administrator
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Rachel and I both love languages, though neither of us have any real aptitude for learning them. As human beings we swim in a sea of language and we cannot escape that. Knowing lots about your own language and how it works can help you out with any number of issues – legal, professional, communicating clearly with people, appreciating anything you read, and all that. Like I said, I’m not very good at languages, but I’ve thrown my hat into the ring from time to time. I have at different times attempted serious the study of German, Russian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and Czech. If I add languages I’ve studied just long enough to know that I never want to study them (which take me about a ½ hour) you can throw in Hindustani and Arabic. One of the neat things about languages I like is that every language can do some things that other languages cannot; even do them better than other languages can. For instance, there is this one Amazonian tribe that has seven different words for the under side of a leaf, depending on it’s color, textures, and the way it is different from the top side of a leaf. I’m not sure English has even one word for the underside of a leaf. Greek has different words for “love”, depending on whether you love your friend, and object, your spouse or lover, or God. I think that is pretty sensible. It seems kind of cheap that in English we use the same word - “love” - for how I feel about the Almighty God who made all that is, and a really great piece of chocolate cake. I may love both, but really not in the same way. In Hungarian, they do not use the pronoun “he” or “she” for God. God is kind of a he. But God is also kind of a she. And truthfully, God is not too much like either. So, Hungarians invented a whole new pronoun just for God (which is neither he, she, or it). It is just God’s pronoun. That seems pretty sensible to me.

Of all the languages I’ve studied, the only one I can claim to come close to speaking for real is Spanish. In Spanish, they also have one of these things were they do something better than we do. Spanish has one word for here. That word is aquí. However, Spanish has two words for “over there”. Now, that may seem a little nuts at first, but it does make sense. When I say, [Ron Jenkins] is over there. I might mean in the back row where he is. Or, I might mean in Cuba, which – if my longitude is right - is also “over there” somewhere.

So, the Spanish have two words for this – allí and allá. Allí means “over there”. You know, kind of where Ron is. But allá, that means way the heck over there. You know, where Cuba is.

Aquí, allí, and allá. Here, there, and way on yonder over there. Three different words.

See, that one observation of Spanish speaks to me of the whole mystery of the feast of All Saints. In Christian life, we tend to think mostly of the aquí, the here. We think about the church. We think about our finance, about the finance of the church, as Ruth prompted us today. We think about our “to do” list for today, while we zone out during the sermon. We think about the people in the pews next to us, their needs and concerns. We think about our families and their needs. We think about ourselves and what we need. We are present here and now. We live in the here and now, in the aquí.

We are reminded at times, here at church that we are also about the allí, the over there. We are reminded about our Christian brothers and sisters in another town, at other churches, and even those in West Africa, India, China, and so forth. Even though we live most of our lives in the aquí, the here and now, we do take time for the allí, the over there. Our apportionments that we pay, about 12% of our church budget, goes to a lot of these projects. Our United Methodist colleges and hospitals in Africa, Drew University, churches in the slums of Camden and Trenton. For some time now, churches have been helping out quite a bit with the flood damage in Louisiana, which is far from taken care of. So, in our spiritual lives, we also live in the allí, the over there.

But, if we are usually living in the here, and sometimes in the over there, we are almost never in the allá, the way the heck over there. That is the value of Church and the communion of saints. See, the communion of saints reminds us that there is more to the body of Christ than just those who are here with us, and those who are over there (be it the next town over or China). There are also those Christians sisters and brothers who are in the allá, the way off over there. Spanish creates a separate word for the way on over yonder, because it knows that the way on over yonder effects us and we effect it. That deserves a word.

Days in the church calendar like All Saints, or the Day of the Death, or liturgical practices like prayers for the dead are about those who are way on over yonder, but are always with us all the same. They are about those who are way on over yonder, but who are effected by us no less, since they watch over us still.

Every religion in the world takes time to step back and reconnect with the alla, those who are way on over yonder. We Christians are not spiritual adventurers going where no man has gone before on this on. Asians and Africans both make a point out of honoring the ancestors regularly. Here is America, people who spend lots of time delving into history or their personal family genealogies do this as well. They are connecting with the way on over yonder that still connects with us.

I’ve always liked the quote by Joseph Cinque, the black slave who in 1841 successfully sued the US Supreme Court for freedom because he was kidnapped illegally. He had former president John Quincy Adams as his lawyer. When asked by Adams before the trial is he was scared, Joseph Cinque said, “No. I will not be alone out there. My ancestors will be there with me. I will call into the past, far into the beginning of time, and beg them to help me at the judgment. I will reach back and draw them into me. And they must come…for at this moment I am the whole reason they have existed at all.”

That is the communion of saints. We Christians should take a breath to remember the ancestors, to call them into us from the very beginning of time, and from only a short while ago. We call them into ourselves because they have paved a pathway for us and us alone. As every parent lives for their children, they have lived for us. We reach back and draw them into us. And they must come. For at this moment in time, we are the whole reason they have existed at all.

There is a mystical connection tied by a cord that never breaks between the dead and the living. The prayers we say, the hymns we sing, the faith we confess with it’s creeds and confessions are all the hard labor of Christians who have gone before us to the undiscovered country. Many of them we do not even know their names, except we know that someone was there to do many of these great and small jobs. 

When I think about the congregation where I worship on Sunday, about the building, about all of it, I cannot help but remember that is has been a work in progress since 1789. It has been deeded over to us by those who have lived and worked hard in the fields of the Lord and are no longer with us. 1789. Think about that! George Washington was only just inaugurated President. They had just elected the first Congress. Our church has moved locations three times and each of those locations saw significant changes in the time we inhabited it. And all those moves and changes were done by people just like us, singing hymns a lot like ours, and reading bibles that sounded very similar to ours. Everything we enjoy as a church is just as much the fruit of their labor as it is ours.

I am sure that every person who counts themselves a Christian, can say that they are probably a Christian because of someone else, someone who might not be here with us anymore, someone who inspired you and had you want to tap into just a little bit of what they had – be it power, or peace, or depth, or whatever.

Almost everything we are is the gift of the saints now in heaven and their continuing watchful eye over our work in life. They have never left us, whether they effects us still in memory alone or by more direct and spiritual ways. They are always with us, for here and now, we are the only reason those who are alla, those who are way on over yonder, have ever lived.

In deed, there is a mystical connection tied by a cord that never breaks between the dead and the living. And it goes both ways. One day, when we have passed, we too will watch upon our children and their children and children not yet dreamed of. And we will watch over them as they lead churches which look unlike any we can imagine. For then, they will be the whole reason that we have ever existed.

We also need to head the responsibilities of the saints, because we will one day be among their number. We need to be about our Father’s business so that, when we ourselves will be way on over yonder, that there be a church at all in 30 years, 100 years, a 1000 years.

In the Christian faith we take very little time for the alla, for the way on over yonder. So, let us take hold of those moments and suck them dry for all they are worth. Let us revel in the saints who have departed from us in body and form, but never in spirit. Let us thank them. Let us conjure them unto ourselves once more and sit at their feet in learning. Let us build ourselves in holiness and faith that we too can be accounted among their number when our time has come. Let us live – not just in the aqui and alli, but in the alla as well.

Tags: Death, Heaven, Hell, Kingdom of God by Administrator
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