Dear friends:
One of the most enduring challenges of preaching is how to make abstruse biblical teachings applicable to current reality. This challenge is particularly stiff when it comes to liturgical seasons like Advent. We know what time it is but we're not sure why. Clearly it has something to do with the value of waiting, watching, and staying alert, but what precisely are we waiting for?
This weekend's scripture passage, known as "The Little Apocalypse," tells us. It begins ominously: the sun is darkened, the moon fails to give off light, the stars are falling. And suddenly, the Messiah will appear (again!). It suggests that the coming of the Lord demands of us a certain fear and trembling, that the Messiah is coming and not in a sleigh with eight tiny reindeer.
I've long struggled with this kind of theology. Many tightly constructed theories of the second coming have come and gone throughout history without so much as a hint of the sun darkening and stars falling. It reminds me of Oliver Wendell Holmes' famous poem "The Deacon's Masterpiece, or the Wonderful One-Hoss Shay," which poked fun at tightly constructed Puritan theology by describing a carriage where every part was logically crafted and each piece just a strong as the next one:
"You see, of course, if you're not a dunce,
How it went to pieces all at once,
All at once, and nothing first,
Just as bubbles do when they burst."
It would be easy for most of us -- reasonable and rational people that we are -- to let all apocalyptic thinking burst like a bubble and evaporate into nothingness. But to do so would be to dismiss a substantive dimension of Christian faith. So I invite you to read the passage closely, consider its teaching, and come to church this weekend with a spirit of appreciative inquiry.
We're extremely fortunate to have Brian Blount, President of Union Presbyterian Seminary, and a highly regarded biblical interpreter, preaching in the Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall services. We're equally fortunate to have one of his students and our intern, Ardy Skidmore, preaching in the Chapel. In addition, we'll have great music in all services.
Come, and bring a friend,
