November 27, 2005
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
Most of us hate to wait. We get up at 5:00 in the morning on Black Friday so that we wouldn’t have to wait in line to check out our Christmas shopping purchases. We have these “time saving” devices to reduce our waiting time. We make popcorn in the microwave in two to three minutes. We instant message instead of putting a 37-cents stamp on an envelope. We eat at fast food restaurants with a guaranteed that if our meal doesn’t arrive in a few minutes, we get to eat free. How about driving? We routinely drive over the speed limit without being stop for a ticket.
Some of us don’t like to wait in the vestibule to come into the sanctuary and when we are in the sanctuary, we can’t wait until the sermon is over to go outside. Waiting seems to be equated with emptiness, with delay, with a void between more meaningful activities, with a feeling of being unproductive, dreaming about a more productive future. Most of us hate to wait because it seems like it’s a waste of time.
But waiting in Advent is different. It is purposeful waiting, active waiting. In fact, it isn’t really waiting in the traditional sense at all. Rather, it is anticipatory watching, where we know the future reaches back to influence us in the present.
For instance, take some of the biggest events in life—marriages and births. When a couple is making plans for a life-long relationship until death do them part, the couple envisions what the future to be and then plan their wedding day to reflect their new life to be. They make their vows public in front of family and friends knowing fully that they haven’t even begun to understand what they are promising to each other. The future reaches back to influence the present.
How about the birth of a new baby? Before the baby is born, the parents are dreaming of names that would characterize the child’s personality and identity. They make plans of what college the child might attend and what kind of profession he/she might have. When we wait for the child to be born, we are already allowing the future to reach back to influence what we do in the present. I read in Great Britain that they want to develop a curriculum for babies (newborns to 3 years old)—they are already thinking about what these kids will grow up to be and it means that they would be educating them earlier than before.
On this first Sunday of Advent, we point to the time when Christ returns. Jesus calls us not to dead waiting in the present that has no meaning except as a marker of time between more significant activities. Rather, he calls us to be expectant, purposefully waiting and watching to prepare to anticipate the joy and wonder of that future event.
Stay Awake
In our gospel lesson for today, Jesus is saying that the Son of Man will come to bring justice against foreign rulers. After great suffering, God’s deliverance will depict cosmic and natural disturbances such as the darkening sun and moon, the falling stars and earthquakes. The elect from all parts of the world will be gathered by the angels. God’s people will be restored.
But no one knows when this will happen. Jesus announced, “Truly, I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” (Mk. 8:11-12) With the story of the fig tree, we know summer is coming when the branch becomes tender and puts forth leaves. We are told to not seek a sign from heaven but rather to know that the sign from God may come like the changes on a fig tree.
Outside our house, we have two dogwood trees that we planted as reminders of dogwoods we had around our house in Pennsylvania. Right now, almost all of the leaves have turned orange and red and most have dropped on the ground. Every year these trees will produce tender leaves in the spring. The leaves will turn larger and greener in the summer. And by the fall, the leaves will change colors only to fall for the winter. Our dogwoods like the fig tree suggest that we are not to seek an exact time for the end but for us to discern what we do in the present.
In Mark 11:12-14, we see that Jesus condemns a fig tree when he only found leaves and no fruits on it. Jesus calls us to have faith discerning what we are to do in the present when we know and anticipate the future of Christ returns.
Waiting and Working
Protestants have often had a hard time waiting. We don’t understand the monastic life and have pretty much abandoned any forms of devotional practice. Instead of cultivating a sense of attentive waiting, we work while we wait, filling up our time with productive labors on behalf of the kingdom.
If the Protestant reformers insisted that our work benefit not simply ourselves, but serve the glory of God and the good of our neighbor, later generations often forgot God and neighbor. Working while we waited became an antidote to idleness and a means for personal advancement, even for some a sign of God’s blessing. The more one worked, the greater the promised reward.
Our culture has a hard time waiting. When we have more labor-saving technologies, we actually increased the number of hours spend in the workplace. Most of us work too much: both immigrant workers who toil at minimum wage jobs for their families’ sake and corporate climbers hungry for the latest creature comforts. There is a corresponding relationship between work and spiritual practices. The more we work the less we practice our faith. Simply put, the more time one spends in front of a computer or on the assembly line, the less time and space for attentive prayer.
Jesus tells us that there’s a lesson in the fig tree. “As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.” By paying attention to God’s world instead of just our world of working 24 hours a day, we keep awake, wait, and prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ once again. Though we do not know the day or hour of his arrival, our waiting and watchfulness are not marked by fear or speculation, but assurance. Advent marks a time that we wait for God. In waiting for God, we attend to God’s creation: the fig tree, the sun, moon, and the stars. Christ’s coming will change things, but will also come in the midst of the everyday. While we work and while we wait, the one who will come is also already here.
Having Hope
Although we don’t know exactly what to expect, our not knowing does not diminish our hope. We know that we have hope because whatever we may expect, we believe that history is ultimately in God’s hands. The world is not in chaos but the world is seeking how to relate to God as its loving parent. The real power in the world is not brute force, not the weapons of mass destruction but the goodness of Christ who calls the entire world to its final place in his mercy. This is not a naive or Pollyanna-like view of the world but we believe that ultimately this world will be saved not from our bravery but from Christ’s power.
We know that we have hope for each person and we have hope for this world because it is into this world that God has spoken good news. The angels sang it at Christ’s first coming: “Good news of great joy for all people… and on earth peace” (Lk. 2:10, 14). We know we have hope for this world not because we are by some nature optimistic and not because things are going so great in this world, but because we have heard the promise of God. However dark the world may seem, we still see the light on the horizon, that advent hope that Christ will indeed triumph over all the hurts in human life.
On the darkest days, people of faith are able to sing it. The story is told that when Jews were herded into the gas chambers of Nazi extermination camps and the doors were shut and locked behind them; they could be heard singing, and the song they sang was: “I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah. And though he tarries, still I believe and wait for his coming every day.”
Some of us here have dark days. We wonder and worry whether we have the strength to go on to see another day. Some of us are consumed with the toils of work trying to make ends meet. Some of us are stretched beyond our human capacity striving to care for loved ones both near and far. We hardly can appreciate the brightness of the day when our lives are darkened by concerns.
But as Christians on this first Sunday of Advent, we believe in the return of the Messiah and believe that in Jesus Christ we have seen God’s decisive clue to what history shall finally become, and though the world grows dark, still we believe and wait his coming every day.
So in the meantime as we watch with anticipation, we are not to be wasting our time in meaningless activities. We know in the meantime, we have work to do. “It is like someone going on a journey,” Jesus says, “who, upon leaving home, puts the servants in charge, each with a particular task.” We know we have work to do and the work we have to do is given shape and meaning by our hope of Christ’s coming in victory. The future hope reaches back to influence what we do today.
Sanctuary of Hope
Scriptures tell us that Christ’s kingdom will be a kingdom of justice for all people. This hope encourages us and gives us strength as we stand with Christ against everything that betrays and destroys human life. We know that Christ will establish a holy city where everyone will find home, and thus we are encouraged in our ministries of hospitality. So here at our church, we fashion this place to be a place of welcome to those who would come to worship God and to join us to proclaim the Lordship of Jesus Christ as Lord.
I know that we are not perfect in making our church a sanctuary of hope. But we are certain that we have seen some part of that vision of Christ’s kingdom that in time, “all of God’s children got shoes,” as the old spiritual sings it. And we can add toothbrushes and clothes and books and good teachers and everything they need in this world.
We know that hunger will be a thing of the past, and to witness to that faith we feed the hungry here and now.
We know that homelessness will be a thing of the past, and to witness to that faith we advocate for affordable housing here and now.
I know that people in unfortunate situations who come for a $20 giveaway will be a thing of the past, and to witness to that faith we give handouts here and now.
The real reason why we come to worship is to follow Jesus’ command of us to stay awake and to watch. In worship, especially in Advent, we watch and wait and tune our ears for good news. In some sense, worship is an elaborate dress rehearsal, where we practice and get our cues right for that day when, “at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
With this beautiful Advent Candelabrum, we see the unlit candles and know with hope that every Sunday that we return for worship, we will light yet another candle until that day on Christmas Eve when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ of lighting the white Christ candle. That is living in hope. We can see the unlit candles and the promise of them being lit in the future reaches back to us today so we come to worship.
Waiting and Watching
There’s a difference between waiting and watching. Waiting is a passive response to Jesus’ coming while watching is an active response. Picture two people in a nursing home.
One is waiting—waiting for someone to stop by, waiting for someone to break the loneliness of his existence, to bring joy and love into his life. But nobody comes, or only infrequently does a visitor appear. The waiting person becomes passive.
The other is a watcher. She knows that someone is coming to see her. She may not know exactly when, but she knows someone will come because he has come before and he can be relied upon. She is looking forward to the visit with great anticipation. She is anxious to fix herself up and make her room presentable. She rehearses what they might discuss. She makes sure nothing else intrudes in the visitation. Then she watches, listening to the footsteps she has come to recognize and to love. And because her life has a forward view, she has a joy she communicates to those around her. Rather then retreat to a corner of her room, she reaches out to others and tells them about the one who is coming.
I think about children who watch for Christmas morning. They do the same like the woman in the nursing home who watches for her visitor. Our children count down the days before Christmas. They are looking forward to unwrapping gifts. They negotiate with you on how soon they can wake up on Christmas Day. The promise coming of Christmas Day reaches back to influence how our children behave today. God doesn’t want us to just wait. God calls us to trust in his promises of the future when his kingdom will reign in all the earth and in heaven and invites us to do his work of justice and peace while we actively watch for Christ’s return.
Let us watch with hope.
Let us pray.
Precious Lord God, in the spirit of Advent, we watch for the signs of that which is to come. We look for Jesus who is our hope and your promises of joy and peace. Be patient with us, dear God when we lose interest and our focus is dimmed to your truth. Thank you, O God, for the clear testimony of Jesus Christ who has, is, and will reign on heaven and on earth. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.