11/29/2015 ~ First Sunday in Year ‘C’ of the Three Year Lectionary Cycle ~ First Sunday of Advent ~ The Sunday on Which the Christian Virtue of Hope Is Celebrated ~ Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25:1-10; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36.
Hope?
“People will faint from fear in anticipation of what is coming upon the earth. The powers in the heavens will be shaken.” — Luke 21:26
I have oftentimes referred to my work in theater in my Sunday comments. But, more broadly, work in the theater involves a number of formats, mediums.
For me personally, aside from the stage, the work ranged from time in the recording studio to developing club acts to work in children’s theater. In fact, people on the inside show business refer to it as simply “the business.” (Slight pause.) Now, I have heard it said by people outside “the business” that vaudeville is dead.
People inside the business never say that. Why? Vaudeville is, by definition, nothing more than a series of unrelated, often varied presentations by different artists.
So people inside “the business” realize vaudeville is not dead but has merely migrated to other mediums. These include television, night clubs, recordings, the circus, comedy clubs— the list goes on.
A place to which vaudeville once migrated but now, like vaudeville, is a venue which has itself migrated, was the so called Borscht Circuit, Borscht Belt. As many of you know since it was not that far away from here, the Borscht Belt was a circuit of vacation spots in the Catskills. As an entertainment medium, the resorts were best known for its stand up comedy stars.
I’m going to rattle off a list of comedians who appeared at Borscht Belt resorts. It’s likely older folks among us will recognize all the names. But even the young will recognize some of the names, as many of them were and are well known both as comedians and in other ways— as writers, producers, directors.
This list just skims the surface. Woody Allen, Morey Amsterdam, Jack Benny, Joey Bishop, Mel Brooks— most of you I think know Mel Brooks— George Burns, Gracie Allen, Red Buttons, Sid Caesar, Rodney Dangerfield, Buddy Hackett, Harvey Korman, Jerry Lewis, Carl Reiner, Don Rickles, Joan Rivers, both Rowan & Martin, Jonathan Winters, Henny Youngman, Jackie Vernon.
Even though he is probably a lesser known personality on that list, I have always had an affinity for Jackie Vernon. Perhaps that’s because he had a distinct, dry, deadpan sense of humor.
He recited odd monologues where nothing seemed to work out for him. His bits included lines like: “I was unpopular as a kid— Dale Carnegie once hit me in the mouth.” “I called Dial-a-Prayer— they hung up on me.”
Another routine was the “Vacation Slide Show.” No slides were visible; your imagination made them real. All he did was described the slides while using a hand-clicker which signaled the advance of each unseen picture. “(Click:) Here I am, tossing in coins at a toll booth. (Click:) Here I am, under the car looking for the coins.”
In yet another monologue he talked about his Uncle Ralph. “My Uncle Ralph,” he said, “always predicted the world would end on March the Second, 1958.” Then he’d pause. “For him it did.” That’s a real apocalypse, isn’t it. (Slight pause.)
These words are in the Gospel we have come to know as Luke: “People will faint from fear in anticipation of what is coming upon the earth. The powers in the heavens will be shaken.” (Slight pause.)
In order to try to make sense of this reading there are a number of things to be considered. First, it is a modernism to see the end times, the apocalypse, in personal terms, an idea illustrated by Jackie Vernon’s Uncle Ralph.
To see the end of the world as if it played out exclusively on an individual level, only in our time, is absurd. The Uncle Ralph story is funny because we know a personal version of the end times is absurd.
In fact, a question sometimes posed by people both worried about and predicting an apocalypse is straightforward. “Will you be among the 144,000 thousand?”
Why? The 144,000 is mentioned twice in the book of Revelation as the servants of God who will be the redeemed. And that’s a small number, is it not? So, the real question offered by those who dwell on this number is obvious since it relies on fear and is phrased in the form of a threat. How will you, personally, get to be among the select.
There are, needless to say, problems with that predictive analysis. As I suggested, seeing this in personal terms is a modern conceit. But more importantly, in ancient times people were concerned with the collective, the whole, the entire society, everyone.
Hence, 144,000 was not meant to be seen as an absolute, exact number or taken on a personal level. It was meant as a sign of completion or perfection for society as a whole.
Next, as was mentioned when the reading was introduced, we know this work was written at least fifty years after Jesus was raised and probably later. Those who recorded these words knew the apocalypse had not arrived and likely understood it was not about to arrive.
That having been said, there is yet another aspect to consider, a contrast we need to draw, when we look at apocalyptic literature in Scripture. The contrast is we need to look at modern apocalyptic literature, popular in our society today. “Joe,” I hear you protest, “what do you mean modern apocalyptic literature is popular?”
Well, this is a very abbreviated list of movies currently, recently or about to be in release and/or current TV programs. Victor Frankenstein; The Hunger Games— all four of them; The Martian; The Walking Dead; The Game of Thrones; Star Wars— all seven of them; Doctor Who— all 50 years of it.
My friends, all these are in some way modern apocalyptic literature and none of these has anything to do with the end times, even though that is a recurring theme. These are about issues we face today in our time.
These are written today; these are about issues we face today. I think most of us understand that. Put another way, apocalyptic literature, especially in Scripture is always reflective— always reflective— of what people are facing. Apocalyptic literature is never predictive— never predictive.
This poses an obvious question: if ancient writings which sound apocalyptic are not about the end times, what are they about? Or, perhaps more to the point for today: what is this passage about? (Slight pause.)
First things first: why might an apocalyptic passage appear in what was even then— in that era— was called the good news? Well, what you need to ask is ‘what were the experiences of the people who recorded these words and first read these words?’ (Slight pause.)
What they saw was the complete and utter destruction of what had been Israel by Rome. Jerusalem is destroyed in the year 70 of the Common Era and the Jewish population experiences a diaspora. They are banished from their homes, their territory.
No longer welcome or safe where they had lived, they become refugees scattered across the Mediterranean. In short, they survived but what they witnessed, what they saw, felt like some kind of apocalypse. Hence, that they might write an apocalyptic piece of literature contained in the good news has little to do with predictions and a lot to do with a reflection about their experience.
Next, if this section is a type of apocalyptic literature— and it is— we need to ask ‘what does it mean?’ rather than ‘what does it say?’ In terms of meaning, I think the proclamation is simple. The Messiah has come. The Messiah is with us.
Indeed, from the first words of Luke that has been the message of this Gospel: the Messiah is real, present, with us. That the message of the presence of the Messiah might be reiterated, here in apocalyptic terms, is not out of character with the rest of the Gospel.
That leaves a final question: ‘why does the church, in its wisdom, assign an apocalyptic reading to the First Sunday in Advent and then label that Sunday as a day on which hope is celebrated?’ After all, what is hopeful about apocalyptic literature? (Slight pause.)
Well this is what I think: hope is where a deeper meaning of these words lie. You see, by definition hope is never in the present tense. Hope, by definition, cannot be about what is complete. Hope is about what is to be.
Therefore, a proclamation that says the Messiah is real, is present, is with us is an invitation to the future— an invitation to the future, not a prediction about the future. More importantly, this is an invitation to us to participate in the Dominion of God now, right now, because the Messiah is real, present, with us.
So yes, we celebrate hope in Advent. We have hope not because of what might or will happen. We have hope because God is with us now, not in some other place, time or space. God is with us now as we move toward the future. We have hope because we have been invited by God through the presence of the Messiah to participate in the Dominion of God.
So today, let us go from this place filled with hope and, therefore, filled with a desire to walk in the ways of God. Today let us go forth not succumbing to fear but proclaiming hope.
Today let us go from this place filled with hope because we are empowered to work toward the reality of God’s world. And the reality of God’s world is known to us in the words we celebrate in this Season of Advent: hope, peace, joy, love. Amen.
11/29/2015
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “Why was there apocalyptic literature in New Testament times and why is apocalyptic literature today? We, like those who lived in New Testament Times, apparently are being told we need to live in fear. But we, like those who lived in New Testament times, need to be clear that the Advent of the Messiah means hope, not fear leads us toward faithfulness. Why does hope lead us toward faithfulness? The Messiah, the Christ, is present, is real, is with us.”
BENEDICTION: Let us go in joy and in love and in peace, for our hope is in the one who has made covenant with us. God reigns. Let us go in God’s peace. And may the face of God shine upon us; may the peace of Christ rule among us; may the fire of the Spirit burn within us this day and forevermore. Amen.
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