Wake up

To what do we need to wake up? 
As with all of Jesus’ teaching about the parousia, it is about waking up to love. Not, as many in the modern understanding of the second coming would have it, waking up to our dislike or hate of the behaviour of others. How does our behaviour need to be woken up, by our realization of the imminence of God of Christ?

So as we enter this season of Advent, this season during which more than any other we stand on tiptoes and crane our necks in an attempt to see over the horizon and speak of expectation and promise and hope, what do we have to say in the face of the gathering clouds of darkness? ( Environmental issues, War and violence, despair and meaninglessness, the death of the church as we know it!)
As people well trained in anaesthetising ourselves to our fears of the future, can we find something in the message of Jesus that speaks with genuine hope before the all too real and all too concrete perils bearing down on our generation? To say that the end is nigh is no longer seen as a sign of religious excess, just an unwelcome statement of the obvious. How then shall we live?


We need to be promoting a lifestyle for a new era not a harking back to lifestyle of 40 years ago. Community instead of competition. Shared belongings instead of over-consumption. That sounds like a lifestyle that could be light to the world’s dark fear. That sounds like a lifestyle that could prepare us for Christ’s return.

Where are the voices crying out in the wilderness calling us to repent and return to God? I speak of the God of justice and mercy: the God who calls us to love mercy, do justice and walk humbly with God. One of those voices is the poet who wrote Hymn 621. This hymn not heard often in our churches – at least I haven't heard it often – but it is a hymn that calls us to the world Isaiah and Dr. King and God envisioned:

O God of every nation, of every race and land,

redeem the whole creation with your almighty hand;

where hate and fear divide us and bitter threats are hurled,

in love and mercy guide us and heal our strife-torn world. 

http://www.laughingbird.net/SermonTexts/0087.html 

Therefore, keep awake

The sun it will be darkened

the moon won’t give its light,

the stars will fall from heaven,

the days will be as night.

The Son of Man’s descending,

they say he’s coming near.

These verses, strange to comprehend;

perhaps by now he’s here.

The pictures show him in the clouds

a-coming through the skies;

while he looks upon the faces

he sees through the disguise.

They say he’ll soon be present,

they say to read the signs,

the fig tree and the heavens;

we still can’t tell the times.

His words are here for telling;

the truth, it won’t be sold.

There are no buyers out there;

love’s latte has grown cold.

The planet waits its lovers;

the reserve has not been reached.

The walls have been erected large;

one day they will be breached

You say that you’ve been waiting,

your lamp is filled with oil;

the ocean’s growing warmer

while your hands are free of soil.

And the arrows keep on flying,

and the boats still run aground;

and no-one seems to listen,

while lies and wrongs abound.

And still the faithful servants wait;

truth and justice guide them.

They’ll not be silenced, not be still;

while love and anger drive them.

Faith isn’t in the coming,

or in judgement’s promise – threat;

in the doing, loving, waiting:

proof that faith's not finished yet.

© Ken Rookes 2011
consider this a work in progress. I thought I'd put it out there and see where it took me - Ken

Parousia is not for whimps

The church in history lives between the times, and some times are worse than others. Today it is easy to let fear govern our lives. A whole political and social culture is nurtured by fear, and it stalks our church life. Traditionalists fear the gift of the Second Vatican Council and a changing church, and want to keep their treasure intact through a return to dated rituals and arcane theology. Those who welcomed the aggiornamento of Pope John XXIII often want to freeze it in time and are fearful of renewing the renewal. The wise women at the wedding feast, the enterprising servants in today’s Gospel and the good wife of Proverbs were people of foresight, initiative and independence. The church today has been given vast treasures of “talents.” Will these increase or remain hidden and guarded?

http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=2590