Inspired by Luke 21, 25-26
Christ Church, Dec. 1st 2024
A very first sermon by Pamela Pianezza
Here we are : entering a time that is, according to every infant or grown up child, the merriest in our christian calendar : the advent. A 25 days adventure, a carefree journey towards the warmest light in the very heart of darkness.
And yet, here we are too : about to explore the text chosen for us by the lectionary. Luke, 21. Verses 25 to 36.
Several friend asked me if this choice of text was the episcopal way of bullying new preachers. I also heard three experienced priests discussing how this text was « the worse choice ever » to enter the time of advent, unless our goal was to scare off people tempted to join our churches.
But reading the gospel always means investigating till we encounter the « euangelion », the good news.
So let’s investigate…
Our advent adventure starts with the promise that terrible times will come, with « signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars », with « earth distress » and « nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. » A time so terrifying that people will « faint from fear ».
Can we even picture it ?
I guess we could just watch the news, but I was born in the eighties and I come from the film industry. So I can’t help but picturing those words like the first scene of a very high budget American blockbuster : a lovely, promising sunny day and suddenly, crushing sounds and crumbling walls and screams and barking dogs and collective panic and everything about your life, your beliefs, your desires and dreams, everything about your sense of identity and safety… all of this, gone.
I picture it as the kind of film where a lonely, fearless and very muscular hero (who would unfortunately look nothing like me) would do everything and even more to save his family, his love interest, his neighbors and in the end, the whole planet. All this, despite the opposition of people in charge : town mayors, politicians, corrupted cops… You know who I’m talking about : officials, those who think they know it all because they have power, a big office and an expensive tie.
In my generation that kind of hero was often played by Bruce Willis. Or Will Smith. Hopefully we’re getting a bit more diversity, heroes have now many faces… But the scripts rarely change. Because it’s a genre film and genre films always kinda look like other genre films.
This specific kind of story could start with « the end » written on screen. It always plunges you right into the worse you could imagine. That’s an apocalyptic film for you : it forces us to wonder how we would deal with the end of times. With the end of our time. Or with our fear at the very idea that what matters to us will end.
Apocalyptic was a very popular genre in the movies when I was a teenager and, far before that and in a different way, it was a very popular genre in Jewish literature since exile.
When Luke writes what should become the Gospel, approaching the end of the 1st century, he knows the identity of the awaited savior, the Messiah, the Son of Man announced by prophets and dreamers for centuries. Luke has investigated, he has met witnesses of Jesus’ miracles, he has travelled with Paul and he has made his choice: Jesus’ path, Jesus’ way, will be his own too and by writing it down, he will share it. With people of his time. And today, with us.
But at Luke’s time, not everyone felt that confident about who the Messiah was. Because they were old fashioned Jews who feared this man called Jesus went too far from what they had learned and understood about God. Or because they were Pagans and why would they abandon the gods their ancestors have been worshipping for ages ? Or because even though they felt in their heart that following Jesus was the rightest way to get as close to God as they could ever get, this path was also paved with danger, mortal enemies and the risk of seeing your time end on a cross…
So where is the good news ?
The good news is that our « redemption is drawing near ».
That « the power and great glory » has nothing to do with big offices, expensive ties, or raising an army of Roman soldiers.
It has everything to do with a tiny tiny king born in a tiny village.
A patient king that will wait many many springs before he reveals himself as the son of God. A king who not only cares about the usual forgotten ones - children, women, the sick and the poor - but also speaks like a loving gardener, mentioning plants and seeds and growth…
A king who will die far too soon and will yet come back, « with power and great glory »…
So, to the question « how do we prepare for the end of times », should we really be surprised by the proposed strategy ?
« Look at the fig tree and all the trees ».
Yes. We are asked to look at winter trees. Naked trees. Fruitless, colorless trees.
Vulnerable trees we tend to disregard because they remind us how naked and fruitless we sometimes feel. Especially when darkness crawls, around and within.
Naked trees don’t look like the comforting landscapes we love on postcards. There’s an end of times depressing spirit to them.
But winter trees know what to do when darkness crawls around and within. They know by heart the way back to summer and its endless days because this is a path they have taken for ever and forever will. They know patience and they know resilience.
Unfortunately we are busy people. We do our best to do our best, to contemplate the gifts we receive, to express gratefulness and to share. We do our best to be kind and attentive. But we have so many priorities and responsibilities and tasks… And worries ! In our daily lives worries multiply much more than bread and fishes. Winter days may feel shorter and shorter, those 24 hours are still packed with « dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life ». No wonder our apocalypses, our intimate and collective apocalypses would « catch us unexpectedly, like a trap », when they come.
So how could we find our way back to watching the trees ?
Despite everything that distracts us, we have to find a way because this Tree mission is our key to survival. In trying times, times of revelation it is the way to protect our hearts and minds from freezing fogs. It is how we will keep the sap warm and alive in our vulnerable, bare bodies.
But here comes the good news : we don’t need a spear, a helmet or big muscles. We just need to « be and stay on guard », to watch each others' hearts. And to pray. Because what better way to keep us warm and alive than prayer ?
And because advent is a true adventure, with twists and turns, a final good news for the winter road : this staying on guard and praying all the time, we don’t even have to do it alone. For we are a church, we are families, we are neighbors, we are friends, we are citizens, we are lovers…
For we are many and… we can take turns…
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