A New World

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

December 8, 2013

Second Sunday in Advent

A New World

Isaiah 11:1-9

A world without war;

a world without violence;

a world without hunger or want,

poverty or need;

a world without anger, argument or polarization;

a world without worry or stress or fear;

a world without traffic jams;

a world without alarm clocks.

        

This is a world we may well hope for,

but it is world we know we will never see,

never experience.

This is a world that can exist only in our dreams.

Or can it?

Haven’t I just described the world that God wants for us?

Haven’t I just described the world

that God will someday create,

create when our Lord comes again?

This is no dream world;

this is the new world that God will create.

It is so easy with our focus on Christmas,

on celebrating the birth of our Lord,

to forget that Advent has a double meaning.

Advent refers not only to the Christ who came,

it also refers to the Christ who will come,

come again in glory to make all things new,

come again to usher in God’s new creation.

Jesus tells us it will happen.

He also tells us that when it will happen

even he doesn’t know.

How many different times in the gospels does he tell us,

“But about that day or hour no one knows,

neither the angels in heaven,

nor the Son,

but only the Father.

So beware, keep alert;

for you do not know when the time will come.”

(Mark 13:32-33)

The advent of a new world lies before us.

It will come.

It will come on that day,

at that time when Jesus comes again.

And it will be a world radically different

from the world we know now,

radically different from the world we live in.

It will be the world Isaiah prophesied about in our lesson.

A world where the wolf will live with the lamb

and not have lambchops for dinner.

A world where the leopard will

lie down peacefully with the kid,

the two curled up together,

keeping one another warm.

A world where the lion and the ox

will stand side by side

eating straw from the same manger,

no longer one the hunter the other the prey.

This is the new world that God will create,

a world where sadness, mourning and weeping

will be no more

because God will “swallow up death for ever.”

(Isaiah 25:8)

A world without war;

a world without violence;

a world without hunger or want,

poverty or need;

a world without anger, argument or polarization;

a world without worry or stress or fear;

a world without traffic jams;

a world without alarm clocks.

Advent reminds us that we live in the

in-between time,

the time between that cold dark evening 2000 years ago

when God revealed himself to us through Christ as a baby,

and that time when Christ will come again,

when “the Son of Man [will come] in the clouds

with power and glory.”

(Mark 13:26)

Advent reminds us that we live in a time of watching,

of waiting;

a time when we are called to make ready,

prepare ourselves.

But how are we to do this?

How are we to prepare ourselves

for the coming of the Lord,

for God’s new creation, new world?

We know how to prepare and make ready for snow storms,

for hurricanes, other bad weather:

stock up water, bread and milk;

make sure we have batteries for the radio;

perhaps a generator in case the power goes out.

But what things should we do to prepare ourselves

for the Advent of our Lord?

Is it enough to go to church on Sunday?

To put our offering in the plate?

To help out with charities from time to time?

After all, we are busy people

with lives to live,

other responsibilities weighing heavily on us:

jobs, family, school.

Preparing ourselves is more than just taking a few steps,

doing a few things,

checking off the list as we would before a snow storm.

To prepare ourselves is to learn,

to learn how to live as Jesus calls us to live.

It is to learn that lives spent chasing money,

possessions,

prestige, popularity,

won’t prepare us.

After all, doesn’t our Lord teach us,

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth

…but store up for yourself treasures in heaven” ?

(Matthew 6:19-21)

The best way to prepare for the new world,

God’s new creation,

is to begin laying down the foundation

for that world here and now.

If God’s new world will be a world

without war and violence,

then shouldn’t we work now for peace?

Doesn’t our Lord teach us,

“Blessed are the peacemakers

for they will be called children of God”?

(Matthew 5:9)

If God’s new world will be a world

without hunger or want,

poverty or need,

shouldn’t we work now to eliminate hunger and want,

poverty and need?

Don’t we read in the Psalms,

“God has taken his place in the divine council;
 in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

…Give justice to the weak and the orphan;

maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.

Rescue the weak and the needy;…”

(Psalm 82)

Didn’t we hear in our lesson

that the shoot that will come out from the stump of Jesse

will judge with righteousness for the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek?

If it is to be a world without stress and worry

and fear,

shouldn’t we live by the words of our Lord

who said,

“Do not worry…but strive first

for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness…”?

(Matthew 6:31ff)

Advent should awaken us, 

awaken us to where we are missing Christ’s words,

God’s teachings.

Advent should awaken us to the voice

that cries out to us,

“Prepare the way of the Lord!”

(Matthew 3:3)

It is no crazed prophet who says to us

“repent, for the kingdom of heaven

has come near.”

It s the very word of God to you and to me,

calling us, almost pleading with us,

“Make ready, make ready,

prepare for the coming of our Lord.”

For “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed

and all the people shall see it together…”

(Isaiah 40:5)

All the people.

Are we listening?

Are we paying attention?

Are we preparing ourselves,

making ready for the Advent of our Lord?

Two weeks ago the new pope, Pope Francis

released a long document in which he spoke

to a number of needs he believes

the faithful of all denominations,

all followers of Christ,

are called by God to address.

One of the areas he touched on was the widening gap

between rich and poor throughout the world.

He framed the issue with such a simple question:

“How can it be that it is not a news item

when an elderly or homeless person dies of exposure,

but it is news when the stock market loses two points?”

In God’s new world,

no person will die of exposure or hunger,

so shouldn’t we work to see to that now,

that no elderly person anywhere dies of hunger,

or from the cold,

or even alone?

Isn’t that a way we can prepare for God’s new world?

The Pope went on to condemn the idol

we have made of the marketplace.

We live, he said, in a time when

“everything comes under the laws of competition

and survival of the fittest,

where the powerful feed upon the powerless

and as a consequence, masses of people are excluded

and marginalized.”

The poor condemned for their poverty,

rather judged with righteousness and equity.

(Evangelii Gaudium; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.html)

What do you suppose the reaction to the Pope’s comments were?

Fury and rage, pundits calling his comments

“neo-socialism” and “Marxism”;

“stick to faith and morals” sneered another.

Wasn’t that exactly what he was doing?

Tom Toles, the brilliant editorial cartoonist

of the Washington Post,

captured the reaction perfectly last Sunday

with a cartoon featuring a pin-striped executive telling the Pope

“You’re making exactly the same crazy

impractical mistakes as Jesus.”

(Tom Toles, in the Washington Post, Dec. 1, 2013)

http://www.gocomics.com/tomtoles/2013/12/01#.UqThbo01fm0

A voice cries out to us in the wilderness,

“Prepare the way of the Lord,

make straight a highway for our God.”

(Isaiah 40:3

This is the voice of Advent,

the voice calling us,

awakening us,

shaking us,

stirring us up.

The new world,

the world we hope for,

long for,

hunger for,

dream about

is at hand.

Its Advent awaits us.

Are we ready?

Are we prepared?

AMEN