Pastor's Monthly Message

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Don’t Wait for the Kingdom—See It

As Advent and the new liturgical year begin, we look forward to the celebration of Jesus’ first coming to the world in the light of a text that promises his final coming. We, like the gospel writer, Luke, live in the time between these two “advents” of Jesus. The gospel appointed for the first Sunday in Advent gives us guidance on how to live faithfully as we wait for Jesus to return. 

As we navigate this in-between time, it is easy for us to become complacent, distracted and to lose sight of the promises of Jesus. Daily tasks and routines can lull us into apathy. Ease and success can allow us to ignore our spiritual needs. Struggles, setbacks, and disappointments can cause us to lose hope and fall into despair. 

Despite these human tendencies, Jesus says we should not feel beaten down or defeated by the struggles of this world, but instead he calls us to “stand up and raise [our] heads, because [our] redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).

Jesus encourages us to keep an eye for the signs of his coming: signs of new life and growth, such as the sprouting of a leaf on a fig tree in the summertime. These signs are perceptible to us here and now. They let us know that God’s kingdom is coming. 

For Us and for Our Salvation

The Christmas gospels from Luke are all about the invisible God made visible in the flesh of the baby of Bethlehem. The Christmas gospel from John is about the cosmic Christ who was present before the birth of the whole world. The prologue to the Gospel of John reads like a creed with its faith claims. Its poetry moves us into that space of belief, beyond what we can see. It is a set of beliefs that are absolutely theological in their composition, beyond history and fact-checking.  John’s gospel moves from faith claims about the preexisting Word that undergird our creeds to a story located in history beginning, not with Jesus, but with John the Baptist. It moves from the creation of the world to the re-creation of the human being that takes place in our baptism. 

Becoming Who We Were Intended to Be

In this Christmas season we celebrate that Jesus has come among us to free us from our enslavement to sin and to restore the dignity of our human nature. With Christ dwelling richly within us, we are empowered to answer our divine callings.

We see Jesus model this as he spends time in his “Father’s house,” listening carefully and learning from the teachers. This faithfulness allows him to increase in wisdom and “in divine and human favor” as he becomes who he was meant to be. Christ’s example helps us recognize that each one of us is called through our baptism. God seals us with the Holy Spirit and sets about to transform us through that call. As we answer it, we become who God intends us to be.

Have a safe and blessed Holiday Season! Merry Christmas and Happy new Year! 

Peace in the season, 

Pastor Andy