Jeremiah 33:14-16; I Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36

 

The Reverend Paul D. Allick, St. George’s Episcopal Church, November 29, 2009

 

 

In this Season of Advent we will be learning how to get ready for Christ to come among us. While we prepare for the first Advent of Christ at the annual Christmass, we will also be reminded of the Second Advent of Christ.

 

 

Really, we hear these teachings about Christ’s Second Advent all of the time in our Liturgies. We hear it in our Eucharistic Prayers: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. We recite it in the Creed: He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

 

 

What does all of this mean? What are we waiting for?

 

 

When I have these questions, I always begin by going to the Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer: What do we mean by the coming of Christ in glory? By the coming of Christ in glory, we mean that Christ will come, not in weakness but in power, and will make all things new.

 

 

So we believe that Christ is returning at the end of time to recreate the universe. We also know that Christ teaches us in the Gospels that we cannot know when that will happen. So what to do in the mean time? We must learn about what it is we are waiting for.

 

 

Jesus tells us that, “People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world.” Yes, on the Day of the Lord, it will be hard but those who follow Christ will know what to do. It isn‘t about following Him perfectly it‘s about following him with all of your heart. He is telling us to be alert. We are not to let our hearts be weighed down with indulgence, drunk on the pleasures of life or held in anxiety by the worries of life.

 

 

 

 

He tells us that, “this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.” Is he speaking of those standing there with him? Did he get it all wrong? No, he is speaking of this whole meantime between His death and resurrection and His coming again. We are the generation of all disciples in all places. We are intimately connected to those first disciples who inaugurated the kingdom on earth, that is the Holy Catholic Church. In this generation we are guided by the Church through the ministry of her laity, bishops, priests and deacons until Christ’s coming again.

 

 

And here is the Good News: Much of what we are waiting for is already here. Christ is truly present with us now. When we remember that we can connect with him daily. When we connect with him daily we are ready for anything. We are ready for the little apocalypses that come up in daily life, the stresses and the hardships. And we are ready to meet our Lord when He comes in His glory.

 

 

It is through being the Church that Christ is present to us. Christ is present to us in each other. When we gather as disciples to worship, pray and study Christ is truly present. Christ is present to us in the Sacraments. We encounter the Coming of Christ every time we receive Holy Communion. We believe that Christ is truly, spiritually present under the form of bread and wine. These are a foretaste of what we are waiting for.

 

 

The Church in her wisdom and love has preserved this presence for us. Through the ministry of our bishops we are guided as if the 12 apostles were still with us. Through the ministry of priests we stay connected to the sacraments and the pardoning love of Christ. Through the ministry of deacons we stay in touch with Christ’s love for those in need. Through the ministry of the laity we stay in touch with Christ’s preaching of the Good News through words and actions out in everyday life.

 

 

 

 

There will be signs of Christ’s Second Coming: cosmic and great signs. But there are also signs of Christ’s presence with us now. We are the signs. When we deepen our discipleship the presence of Christ becomes apparent to the world.

 

 

St. Paul writes to the Church in Thessalonica, “strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.” We strengthen our hearts in holiness as we worship, study and pray. We become blameless when we strive to be righteous. This means we get right with God, with ourselves and with each other. Being blameless, holy and righteous isn’t just for the saints of the Bible. It is for all of us. The saints in the Bible are no different than us. They struggled with their faith. They struggled to understand Christ’s presence.

 

 

There is an old prayer that many of us say after the Holy Eucharist. It goes like this, “Blessed, praised, and adored, be our Lord Jesus Christ, on his throne of glory in heaven, in his most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, and in the hearts of his faithful people. Amen.”

 

 

Christ is in all time and space. He was, He is, and He is to come. Keeping that wisdom deep in our hearts will keep us alert for his presence among us. His coming on that Last Great Day and His coming to us in this very moment. So what are we waiting for?