Advent Devotional for Monday, December 4
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Monday, December 4
Luke 21:20-28
Part of the reality of Advent is that we are not only preparing our hearts for a Baby; we who live today also prepare our hearts for the Second Coming of Christ. And so here, right off the bat in Advent, we find ourselves struggling with this great text of apocalypse.
People generally have one of two responses when it comes to the apocalypse. Some are convinced the apocalypse is imminent. For many years, “prophets” have foretold the date when Jesus will return. William Miller, founder of an obscure religious sect, predicted that Christ would return on March 21, 1843; when that date came and went without incident, undaunted, he predicted a date in late October 1844. More recent was the book by a prophecy teacher, “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Occur in 1988.” And lately, Dr. Harold Camping of Family Radio predicted the world would end in September, 1994; that failed and he now predicts a 2011 date. I won’t hold my breath.
The other response people typically have about the apocalypse is a certainty that whenever it is, it isn’t coming soon. Perhaps because of people like the ones we looked at who are so sure when it is coming, these people tend to think that it really isn’t coming at all. With all the false prophecies, they don’t believe this day could come anytime soon.
I, of course, plead total ignorance. I have no idea when Christ will come again. But there is no doubt that passages like this one are meant to fill us with a sense of urgency. We are to be urgent about living out the gospel, about sharing Christ with others; our lives take on a deeper sense of meaning. We are not simply living out our days, but we are always living under the specter of Christ’s potential return. “What if it were today?” the old hymn goes; and it challenges us to think of how we are living in light of the fact that, for all we know, it could be today that Christ returns and we are called to account for the way we think and live. Rather than driving us to search for dates and times, rather than making us throw up our hands, a text like this one is meant to make us realize that our lives are urgent, that our time here isn’t infinite.
And when we live this way, with a realization that Jesus could come again at any moment, we are of course empowered to see the ways that Jesus is already present here to us. When we realize that life is not just existing, but urgently carrying out God’s plan for us, we see Christ in the face of those we are called to serve. We see Christ in the poor and the poor in spirit; we see Christ in “the least of these,” all those we serve. When we anxiously await his return, we are more attuned to the ways in which he’s already here!
Monday, December 4
Luke 21:20-28
Part of the reality of Advent is that we are not only preparing our hearts for a Baby; we who live today also prepare our hearts for the Second Coming of Christ. And so here, right off the bat in Advent, we find ourselves struggling with this great text of apocalypse.
People generally have one of two responses when it comes to the apocalypse. Some are convinced the apocalypse is imminent. For many years, “prophets” have foretold the date when Jesus will return. William Miller, founder of an obscure religious sect, predicted that Christ would return on March 21, 1843; when that date came and went without incident, undaunted, he predicted a date in late October 1844. More recent was the book by a prophecy teacher, “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Occur in 1988.” And lately, Dr. Harold Camping of Family Radio predicted the world would end in September, 1994; that failed and he now predicts a 2011 date. I won’t hold my breath.
The other response people typically have about the apocalypse is a certainty that whenever it is, it isn’t coming soon. Perhaps because of people like the ones we looked at who are so sure when it is coming, these people tend to think that it really isn’t coming at all. With all the false prophecies, they don’t believe this day could come anytime soon.
I, of course, plead total ignorance. I have no idea when Christ will come again. But there is no doubt that passages like this one are meant to fill us with a sense of urgency. We are to be urgent about living out the gospel, about sharing Christ with others; our lives take on a deeper sense of meaning. We are not simply living out our days, but we are always living under the specter of Christ’s potential return. “What if it were today?” the old hymn goes; and it challenges us to think of how we are living in light of the fact that, for all we know, it could be today that Christ returns and we are called to account for the way we think and live. Rather than driving us to search for dates and times, rather than making us throw up our hands, a text like this one is meant to make us realize that our lives are urgent, that our time here isn’t infinite.
And when we live this way, with a realization that Jesus could come again at any moment, we are of course empowered to see the ways that Jesus is already present here to us. When we realize that life is not just existing, but urgently carrying out God’s plan for us, we see Christ in the face of those we are called to serve. We see Christ in the poor and the poor in spirit; we see Christ in “the least of these,” all those we serve. When we anxiously await his return, we are more attuned to the ways in which he’s already here!
posted by Rev. Michael Jordan at 1:23 PM
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