Last Sunday Before Christ the King
For a while now the understanding of what is apocalypse and armageddon have been confusingly conflated. Biblically Armageddon is not an occurrence it is instead a place – a geographical and human community – a place like Ocean City is a place. Armageddon is a place referenced in the book of Revelation. What it has come to mean is a metaphor for utter desolation: like the mass extinction that nearly eliminated the dinosaurs. My worst imagining of what the pandemic might become; that was what we usually mean by armageddon. Apocalypse is different. Apocalypse and revelation basically mean the same thing. The curtain dividing on opening night, that joke jar of nuts with the snake. A present you don’t know the contents of. It is however more profound than those – it is a welcoming of a child. It is not just a tickle, but the deepest life-changing kind of experience. A seed sprout breaking the soil, a hard duty done. Apocalyptic does not have to be armageddon-y.
Today in this lesson if we’re honest, suddenly Jesus has become our embarrassing relative or coworker we introduce with anxiety and maybe make apologies for because they say such strange things. We always invite them, but never know which friend we will get – the one who tells compelling stories about finding sheep and who usually somehow makes sure all are fed: or this one. We get that loving him is important, but we are challenged by him. If we’re sincere, we may admit,that much of the time we’re just trying to not cause any trouble – and there our friend is, holding court about the end of all we know.
Jesus’ very life was apocalyptic. The Christmas day we are leaning towards already bursts with an awe-full surprise into the whole creation. The incarnation of God as a backwater displaced child – is a decisive change in the order of the universe. In his time, I’m not sure Jesus could have gotten much traction as a serious radical holy person if he hadn’t spoken in such uncomforting apocalyptic terms. In Jesus’s time apocalyptic is a genre expected of God’s potent friends. It has its stock photography, and predictable battle-y storylines like modern action movies. Keep awake, the hour is nigh – love will conquer all! Yet as time continued, there is tension in the primordial church, and therefore in the texts of the New Testament, about what it means that the final things of Jesus, didn’t seem to follow our calendar interpretations of soon and very soon. It bothered us, and then we kept going. Except for bursts of awe-full excitement now and then, the church has mostly gotten very good at sweeping this ultimate unveiling topic into the box of random stuff that unusual people shout about, or things we are too busy to care about. But human history has an end.
Whether that is the sun burning out in a kazillion years or us bringing it on ourselves, or something else. There being a point and an end to all of this is a central Christian foundation, Not some fringe made-up thing. So how do we take Jesus’ apocalyptic teachings seriously, And not find ourselves in survivalist mode? Well – astrophysics might be able to help. We think of time as linear – a line from our birth to our death and all those blocks on our calendars condition us to think geometrically. However, contemporary astrophysics including the work of Einstein – more than suggests that time is not linear. It is more like multi-dimensional bursts. Reality is bursts of energy that spread out infinitely, with the auras overlapping with other bursts. Imagine a fireworks display. We sort of see it in two dimensions,but it is actually multi-dimensional explosions of light and smoke, and sound that crisscrosses each other. In the theory, all occurrences in time are bursts spreading out and intermingling. So in this idea our time is this burst, and Jesus’ life and death are this one (overlapping fingers), and the decendants we never dreamed of are this one, and this is the beginning, and this is the end. A theory of deep study that perhaps gives us space to embrace the apocalyptic words of Jesus as the truth that history is going to have an end, it is close – just not on our calendars. The beginning of everything – and the end – overlap us now. (It is a bit of Schrodinger’s cat.)
This creative interplay gives us room to take this apocalyptic stuff seriously, to open it as a gift as a generative question for who we are and who we will become. Asking us to be alive awake and alert in a world that is revealing itself as devastating and dysfunctional, but that is not the entire story of the now, or who we are, or will be. If we are brave enough to see it, t is also a generative time of more than enough smarts and resources and creativity. Plenty of generative possibilities, bursts of ordinary learning and growth, and justice shining through what sometimes can seem like rot or emptiness. Demanding times bring out strength we didn’t know we had, bring out compassion we hadn’t summoned, and innovations we had no reason to experiment with. It can turn our heads to the wise voices in the world.
Our mission of love and generosity and dignity for all in Christ’s name is reaching a thousand miles beyond what we could have imagined 3 years ago. CCRP has always been working with forms and materials that are imperfect (just read the parish history). And yet there has always been more than enough work and wealth and wonder to fullfill our promises to Jesus. Enough to be light in subtle and powerful ways to neighbors and strangers who desire a religious practice that doesn’t fan the flames of exclusion. As we continue our annual pledge campaign I want to name two things. First is that over the last two and a half years we have done hard things. At shutdown, I was doing some stark depression-era forecasting. Yet we adapted and shifted and were patient and careful and steadfast. We have never stopped serving and praying and giving. We have let go of stuff that had good and mixed memories but didn’t match the “future” God is sparking in us. However, a church community cannot be all followers and not leaders (nor all fans and not practitioners). The crisis of the early pandemic had to ask for less hands-on volunteerism from many, and more from a few. And that habit has stuck longer than is good for a healthy church. We are not where we were, and the hands-on volunteerism, the lay led events and spiritual groups and new ways to be good news haven’t sparked fresh in the way we are capable of. We have the space and the foundation and the affection to what I trust God is asking of this community now. I pray each day that we trust in being more than enough to dare to dig in, dare to take hold of what God is working in you, by putting a hand up and saying ‘I will lead, I will serve, ‘I have an idea’. We have more than enough bodies and hearts, more than enough work and wealth and wonder to try the new things that might become the mission that we are known for ten years from now.
And, secondly, you don’t have to be a financial muckity muck to know that the financial markets have been hard hit this year. What you may not know, is that over half of this congregation’s annual expenses are met by the invested planned giving of our forbearers. Persons whose bursts of light and life overlap ours everyday. We expect that the nothing-but-grace gift of generations past will be less this year than last year. The time to show our love and trust in Jesus is now. The time to tell a generative story with our wealth and work and wonder is now. There is more than enough in this community to glow with God’s love.
So does the apocalyptic language of our lessons today turn you toward bravery and honesty and active duty? Or do you find it to be more like the package on your front step, the one that you forgot you ordered? If it is the latter, God loves you, and might be wondering what you will do with this package in your hands? We have enough to shine and grow and share as we have promised and in ways our founders never imagined. Let us step into the revelation – the apocalyptic – into the generative questions and creativity and leadership that the Spirit is calling out of us in this complex “time”. Scripture and reason properly balanced, and inwardly digested, ask us to not fear the apocalyptic any more than you would fear opening a present. It could be the most amazing thing ever, an unwrapping of meaning and purpose and wellness, that changes everything. The revelatory final things are happening for real, not in human calendar time, but God’s.
November 13, 2022 RCL C Proper 28