LIVING IN EXPECTATION
Isaiah 2: 1-8; Psalm 122; Matthew 24: 36-44
There is a
splendid story about the great thinker and writer
William Temple who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1940-1942.
During this time he had a habit of making totally unexpected
visits to his parishes. On one such visit, the local Vicar was
unaware of his presence in the pews until he commenced the
sermon. On noticing the Archbishop, the Vicar gulped but
continued with the service without comment. When the Archbishop
arrived at the porch at the end of the service, the Vicar greeted
him and said, “Your Grace, I feel I should explain that I
arrived in this parish the night before my first service without
any luggage. I simply had no time or resources to prepare my
sermon for the next morning. I therefore ended up delivering an
entirely extempore sermon. But, it was extraordinarily successful
and everyone said it was the best sermon they had ever heard. I
vowed then and there that I should never prepare another
sermon.” There was a cool silence. And then William Temple
replied, “I, William Cantuar., Archbishop, Primate of all
England, do hereby absolve your vow.”
Being prepared for the future is a key aspect of living and
people invest enormous effort and resources in their future.
There are many situations, both small and large, where decisions
about the future have to be made. Some big decisions might be
students leaving school to pursue career paths or further study;
families moving house or going overseas; people changing jobs or
retiring from the workforce. All of these require extensive
preparations for what is to come. If the future is to be filled
with hope and expectation then there must always be a recognition
that the future is filled with opportunity. It is not sufficient
just to move on from the old, there must be a graduation to
the new. It is this exact idea of the power of the
future which confronts us at this time of the year. Advent is a
call for us to be prepared for the coming of God.
I
The Gospel
reading is taken from what is sometimes called the
‘sermon on the end’. There was a widely held belief
among Matthew’s Jewish Christian community that they would
see the end of the world in their lifetime. Jesus would then
come again as judge to establish the Kingdom of God. Such
‘big picture’ writing forces us to confront the whole
notion of time: past, present and future. We are shaped by the
past and we are all moving into an unknown future. But we live in
the present and how we live our lives is very much determined by
how we view the past and the future.
In the past there are both blessings and mistakes. Each can
invade the present in such a way that the present is robbed of
its power. To allow the mistakes and the blessings
of the past to take over can mean that the present is a continual
disappointment. Life is lived, as it were, through a rear vision
mirror. There is a sense that ‘Nothing is as good as what
it was’. This is not to deny that there are things wrong
with the present. It is to say that to flee from the present into
the past is to be robbed of the future.
To live effectively in the present cannot be done without putting
the mistakes of the past to rest and to move the blessings
of the past back into the past where they
belong.
Putting the mistakes of the past to rest is done
through repentance. This is not just feeling sorry. To repent of
our mistakes is to bring them out into the light because that
robs them of their power. Once they are exposed, they can be
forgiven which banishes them to an impotent past. When the
Uniting Church came into being, it saw that our protestant
heritage lacked a very useful way of dealing with the past and it
turned to the age-old practice of confession. You will find, in Uniting
in Worship, a structure for making a personal
confession to a trusted other.
This technique is just as valid at a social level as it is at a
personal level. One of the real tragedies of Australian society
today is that there is a deep division between our indigenous
people and our Government. This issue has gone quiet recently but
it will not go away. It is a running sore that lies at the heart
of the unrest that surfaces from time to time. It will never be
healed until there is an official apology. To deny the Aboriginal
people this is to perpetuate the mistakes of the past and to rob
the original inhabitants of this land of their future.
The blessings of the past can
also act as a stumbling block to
the future. The old ways will not necessarily work in new
situations. We belong to the protestant tradition; a tradition
that is founded in change and change it has – often. Our
very name, Uniting, implies that we are not static. The remitting
of past blessings is not easy and it can become costly. We only have to
think
of the formation of the Uniting Church out of its three separate
Churches. You will remember how difficult it was to bring us to
where we are today. When that happened there were so many things
to change. It was a difficult time but it was also a truly joyous time
as well. The three church traditions learnt so much from each
other as they listened and debated and forged something new.
Yes, the remitting of past blessings can produce even greater
blessings. We have just replaced our hymn book. Do you remember
when the Australian Hymn Book was adopted? It wasn’t easy
then either, was it? But it was worth it.
To move blessings back into the past requires a willingness to
let go and to try anew; an openness to change; a broadening of
horizons and, in the final analysis, courage and faith.
The future has its difficulties too because, not only is it
unknown and uncertain, but it is inevitable. Time always moves on. The
great danger is that it is possible to focus so much on the end
that the present is lost. There is an old expression, hardly ever
heard these days: “Things will be all right once our ship
comes in!” To live life like this is to treat life as a
lottery. It is a sure way of ensuring that the past becomes
filled with regrets. It is to live the present as if the future
is pre-determined and there is no hope in that. The future is
always filled with opportunities to be explored. And that is
where real hope is to be found.
We have no knowledge of the beginning or the end of time –
nor can we know. But God is eternal. God is beyond time. God is
at the beginning and at the end. “I am the Alpha and the
Omega”. But more than this, God is in the here and now!
Always in the present! We are never without God
because that is where the eternal breaks into the temporal. We
can truly say, Immanuel – God is with us.
This is what gives us the power for day to day living. This is
what is at the core of what we know as real hope. Not the hope
that says, “I hope I will get a new frypan” or
“a new set of golf clubs for Christmas”. But a hope
that is based on the expectation of a certainty. As we move from
one second to the next, God is there, waiting for us. No matter
where we are or what happens, we are never alone.
II
And now to
the Gospel. Let us set aside the apocryphal writing
aimed at Matthew’s community and look at the simple story.
All the parables have one thing in common – they emphasise
being watchful; being prepared; being ready to meet God. When we
are watchful; when we are prepared for some event or encounter,
then we are in expectation of what is to happen. We are excited.
What we expect determines how we face the future. To live our
life now, expecting to meet God in the immediate future, is to
live in hope every minute of our lives because it makes God
forever imminent. And we can perpetually say, “Come, Lord,
Come”.
The parable about Noah differs considerably from the Genesis
story. The original story has God saving Noah and his family, and
destroying everyone else because they were evil. But here we have
everyday people going about their business. There is nothing evil
about them at all. They are enjoying each other’s company.
They are going to work and looking after their families. Noah,
however, was different in one way only. He was alert. He was
living expecting to hear God’s call. He was ready when God
needed him.
Those who would be ready to be called unexpectedly must go where
they would not normally go. They should be ready to help the
stranger; the downtrodden; the despised; the marginalised; the
unloved; the suffering. Those who would want to prepare
themselves for this work must be open to new ideas and
experiences. They must be prepared to step outside the comfort
zone. They must be wary of their preconceptions and prejudices.
They must guard against the judgmentalism that is often the
result of dogma.
To say, “Come, Lord, Come”, is to invite God into our
lives. It is to open ourselves up to new possibilities and new
opportunities. It is to invite the future, with all its
uncertainties and all its promise, into our lives. And if we are
vigilant, if we are ready, we can grasp the opportunities. If we
are too pre-occupied with ourselves then we are not living in
expectation. If we are not awake to the opportunities that we
come across in our lives, then the opportunity can pass us
by.
I know of someone – let’s call this person
“Robin” – who went into Flinders Street Station
when the refurbishment was under way. “Robin” arrived
just as a train pulled into the station and the constricted
concourse was flooded by a mass of people. Standing in the midst
of all this was an Italian widow who was quite distressed. She
was laden down with parcels and shouting out, “Help! Please
help! Won’t any one help me?” And there wasn’t
anyone. Of all those hundreds of people, not one would help her.
They all just gave her a wide berth and looked the other way.
“Robin” went up to her and asked her what was wrong.
She said that she could not find Platform 1 where she was told to
catch her train. “Robin” went off, consulted the
noticeboards and was then able to guide her to the new
platform.
Why have I told this story? Well, it is a simple, everyday story
that has nothing remarkable about it. It’s not about a
Martin Luther King or a Fred Hollows or even a
‘Weary’ Dunlop. It’s about us, isn’t it?
We recognise all the players. Who among us has not known what it
is like to be that woman? Alone, ignored, rejected. Who has not
been in that crowd? Too busy, a deadline to keep, not wanting to
get involved. Who has not been the helping hand? On the look out,
expectant, taking the opportunity to look for Jesus.
To live expectantly, waiting on God, is to invite the future
into our lives. It is to be prepared to see God at any moment, in
the most unlikely places. After all, who would expect to see the
face of God in a child in a cradle in Bethlehem?
“Come, Lord, Come!” Again and again and
again…
AMEN
___________________________________________________
A sermon presented by Robert Sanderson at St Aidan's Uniting
Church North Balwyn, on 28th
November, 2004.
IT MAY BE
REPRODUCED WITH ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
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