thanksgiving 2019

The Feast of Thanksgiving is literally a holiday of gratitude. It is a time dedicated to looking to the heavens and giving thanks and praise to the God who mysteriously provides. 

Gratitude. 

It is, I believe, a proof of creation that gratitude is actually something which benefits a human. Being thankful makes us physically and emotionally healthier. Gratitude is the acknowledgement that we are not the recipients of a blind process or accident. One cannot be grateful for something which was not given; we might be happy about it, or able to see we benefited from it---but good luck is not a gift. Good Luck is just an accident that worked out for our benefit.

If there is a Gift Giver, if life is somehow more than a series of blind, mechanistic events which are uncaring and unintentional, then gratitude does make sense. Thanks for what you have given me makes sense if it is actually addressed to a Someone.  

How then to nurture a gratitude attitude? If you are like me, you were taught to be thankful in a legalistic way. By this I mean there is a rule, often expressed in terms similar to these. Upon receipt of something my mom would say, "What do you say?" The prompt was a reminder that the expectation was to say "thank you." While this is a good thing and no doubt part of the learning process, I wonder if it was actually helpful. You see, comliance with an outward expectation is not always the best way to shape the heart. 

Perhaps we would do better to reflect upon the reaction to a gift. How does it feel to be cared about or singled out for a blessing? Do you recognize a grace? Do you experience the joy of an undeserved kindness? Do you understand that you are not entitled to everything you might want?

Perhaps inviting children to reflect on what is happening within them would be more to the point? Perhaps looking heavenward and reflecting upon the Invisible Giver would make saying thank you more natural. 

Fear and Doubt are constantly reminding us that bad things happen as well, and that todays good fortune will be overturned by less agreeable times. Gratitude and Trust, however, also have a voice. They say, even in the worst times, there is much to be thankful for. They say, even in the worst times, there is a gracious love which awaits us all. They say, I believe, so I thank.

Happy Thanksgiving   

This is How it Goes...

Malachi 4:1-2a

Psalm 98

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Luke 21:5-19

Today’s Gospel is set in holy week. In chapter 19, Jesus prophetically enters the city on a donkey. He weeps because the people have failed to recognize Him, and He speaks of the coming doom. When Jesus cleanses the Temple—it is prophetic symbolism overturning the sacrificial system. He has multiple conflicts, culminating with the charge that the religious professionals are bilking the widows and pray for the sake of appearance. When Jesus sees a widow giving into the temple treasury, He announces that she has given more than the rich. I believe, He is also condemning the corruption of the religious institution.

When the people speak of the beauty of the Temple, Jesus counters that the Temple will be destroyed. In Christ, God has offered the way of salvation. In rejecting the Lord Jesus, they have embraced death. Jesus is God's Messiah sent to save Israel, and He will be crucified a few days later. Like the Temple, He will also be destroyed. He warns His disciples that they will suffer as well.

In April of 70 AD, as Jesus warned, the Roman army laid a siege around Jerusalem. (Ironically, within the city, warring factions of Jews actually fought and killed one another.) After four months, the walls were breached, and for eight days the Roman fought inside the city, slaughtering man, woman and child. The Temple was set on fire.  On September 8, the city was in ruins. The NT writes of the fall of Jerusalem in both prophetic and apocalyptic terms. Apocalyptic is a symbolic template unveiling human sin and God's justice. It is true in every age—not so much a prediction, but more a description of how the creation operates.  

This timeless message is found in the writings of the prophet Malachi. Today we hear God's response to those who complain that it is futile to serve God, and ask, “What’s the point?” Unexpectedly, it is an offer of Good News, “I will be a tender Father toward those who revere Me,” says the Lord. However, for those who reject His offer of salvation, “that day will be like an oven.” The image is important. The Hebrew word, tannur, is translated as fire pot, oven or furnace. This will be the last time it appears in the Old Testament. The first appearance provides insight. In Genesis 15, God plan for the salvation of the world begins with cutting a covenant with Abraham. The Scriptures speak of deep darkness and terror. Surprisingly, however, it is YHWH who passing through the divided parts of the sacrificed animal. In verse 17 tannur appears: “When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts.” (Later, God will be revealed in a flaming bush.) Psalm 21 celebrates God's faithfulness to King David. In verse 9, we hear what this means for David’s enemies: “You burn them up like a fiery furnace when you appear, the Lord angrily devours them; the fire consumes them.” As Hebrews 12:29 says “our God is a consuming fire."  Malachi goes on to say that the unrighteousness shall be consumed as straw in a fire, but for the righteous it is a sun of victory which brings healing.

The sun is both a source of life and death—not enough or too much are equally deadly. This metaphor for the holy fire of God reminds us that when God comes it is both good news for His people and bad news for those who choose other gods. Each of us has been warned, and all of us have been offered the way of life. Choose well.

end of the ages, end of an age

Job 19:23-27a

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

Psalm 17:1-9

Luke 20:27-38

Sadducees did not believe in resurrection of the dead. Jesus does, but He says in “the age to come” that things will be very different, in this example there is no more marriage, because we will be the children of God. This life is only a preparation for something which is more angelic. Yet, is it not true even of this life, that there are stages and “ages” of development? In each new age, the world is turned upside down through a process of dying and rising.

“The age to come” is an apocalyptic term. It is a symbol which ‘unveils’ or ‘reveals’ reality. Apocalyptic reveals the “Grand Finale” of creation, but it also reminds us how each act will close out as well. Think of time as a cyclical wagon wheel. Like the seasons of the year—Spring-Summer-Fall-Winter. Each time it rolls around there is birth-life-death, and a new cycle emerges to continue the repeated pattern. Yet time is also linear, moving from the big bang of creation to the end of all things. That is because the wagon wheel only goes around and round, but as it does so it also carries us forward to the finish. Another apocalyptic term is the Greek word Parousia—presence, or coming, which was a technical term for the arrival of a Ruler or Judge. He came to execute justice, and his presence initiated a new age. Christians applied this secular political term to Jesus. They said Jesus is Lord (not Caesar) and the “Parousia/Coming & Presence” of Jesus begins the New Age.

This tension—Jesus has already come, Jesus is ruling among us but yet He is not here and is not ruling—can be confusing. Apparently, the Thessalonians were concerned that Jesus had returned but they were left out. Paul tells them that Jesus will not return until the Lawless One appears and sets himself up as God. At the end of time there will be a great apostacy led by antichrist, but on the wagon wheel of cyclical time the Lawless One takes many shapes and forms.

In 1 John 2:18-23 we read, “Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come.” He goes on to say, “The one who denies the Son is the liar; antichrist denies both Father and Son,” and that “sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 4:2-3 concludes that “the spirit of the antichrist…is already in the world.”

Every cycle of history is an age. In each there is a battle between the rule of the Christ and the apostacy of the antichrist. The lawless one stands ready to mislead people, or to persecute them. The most important revelation of apocalyptic literature is the call to be holy, to be brave and faithful. It is a reminder of what we hope and an exhortation to stand firm.

The Anticrhrist comes in many forms, more famously as Stalin, Hitler, or Mao—but equally so in our own political, educational and entertainment institutions, and most importantly within the church. The Lawless Ones, who reject Christ for some other good. The Lawless One is at work with our own minds and hearts. Apocalyptic is as big as the whole universe and as small as each one’s soul. Within each of us, Jesus battles with Satan for our heart.

Jesus has come, Jesus comes among us in the church, world and sacraments. In each case Satan and his worldly minions battle against Him. They are defeated, and that will be clear on the Last Day, in the beginning of the Ultimate New Age. Until then, be faithful. Be very brave. And pray with the early church: Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus