The Waiting Game

I want to share with you a small picture... something I observed last week that taught me something about the process of waiting.

Last Sunday at church, we had a minor prop malfunction, as it came time to light the first candle on the advent wreath. The safety matches wouldn't strike up and in the end, the only way to get the candle to light was to take the taper up to the altar and use an already lit candle to ignite it. Then it was a case of precariously wandering back to the wreath and lighting the candle.

Fire is a very powerful element - difficult to control and a force that in full flow, consumes all in it's path. However, when fire is made up of just a single flame... it is easily snuffed out, it is vulnerable.

So as I observed the taper going back down the chancel - it's flame dimming and flickering, constantly flirting with the threat of being extinguished; I couldn't help thinking it was a picture that perfectly summarised the meaning of Advent.

Advent is all about waiting.

Advent is about waiting for a number of things - it is about waiting to celebrate the birth of Christ on Earth, some 2 millennia ago. It is about waiting to celebrate the Christmas in our present day, a time when we give and receive gifts... and are reunited with friends, family and people who are near and dear to us; when we give thanks for all the gifts and relationships we have been blessed with. Finally, advent is about reflecting on the wait for Christ to return at the Second Coming (something that is a central tenet of Christian belief... and is in various forms of the Creed, but is often overlooked... or even seen as a fringe fundamentalist belief by some even within the Church).

What is it about waiting? It invokes emotions from deep within us... right across the scale. In Britain we've even turned the process of waiting diligently into an art form. I don't think anybody else in the world queues in orderly fashion, quite like the British.

What we are waiting for... often affects our anticipation, our experience and how we wait. For those who are waiting for something negative, the waiting process often incorporates feelings of dread, panic, anger, nervousness or anxiety; whilst those who are waiting for a good thing will often experience longing, doubt, impatience or frustration.

The point I'm trying to illustrate is that whatever we are waiting for, there is something we universally share as a collective... waiting is uncomfortable.

This is especially the case when we are waiting on the promises of God because by their very nature they are invisible and immeasurable... we often can't see them until they are realised. This is something that is echoed throughout scripture. How many times in the psalms do we hear the anguish filled question: "How long?" Or for just how many years did the Israelite slaves languish in suffering and misery waiting for deliverance from their Egyptian oppressors? Even when the time scale of certain events were known (such as the prophecy concerning Babylonian exile), the feelings of doubt or hopelessness must have been immense.

The problem with waiting upon the divine, is that it is out of our reach and beyond our control; we have to wait until the divine promise comes to us.

Think back to my anecdote about the advent wreath. The taper could not be lit at source by the matches provided. It had to be taken to the altar (the place that is symbolic of the divine), lit there and then there came a tense wait as the flickering taper returned to light the candle.

That's what waiting on God is like. You can't even begin to receive the promises of God until you abandon your ineffective matches and take your taper to the one who can ignite it with hope. Even then when the hope is kindled... there is often an even more anxious wait as time passes by as the fragile flame gradually journeys towards us.

There's a verse in the Old Testament that has had a strong impact on me in the past... and to my mind sums up perfectly the agony that accompanies waiting:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 13:12

Waiting is by definition the process of enduring while your hopes and dreams are deferred. Realization of those hopes and dreams then, is the fulfilment... the tree of life that comes as a reward for our patience and long-suffering.

In The Lord of the Rings, the kingdom of Gondor has been awaiting a king for a very long time... in fact so long has the wait been that some (including it's corrupted steward, Denethor), have even dismissed the need for a king. With the forces of darkness gathering around the city of Minas Tirith, Gandalf resolves to do something about the situation and persuades Pippin to light the beacon of the city in the hope that Gondor's allies will rally to her defence. Even when this happens, it takes time for the successive beacons to get their message to Rohan... and it takes even more time for Aragorn and Theoden to muster their respective forces, save the city and restore the throne to Aragorn.

Western Christians in the modern age live in a time where many in the world around us have similarly grown either doubtful, sceptical or resentful of the idea of a God who is king.

Christianity started out as a single flame... Jesus. Revival begins by putting down our useless matches and going back to that one, original sacred flame. I believe as Christians we can set the world ablaze in two ways; if we do it in our own strength we will misrepresent the Gospel... burning and consuming those we meet. Yet if we take God's flame it will enrich the lives of others... only consuming that which separates them from him.

Finally I want to offer a word of encouragement to all who are waiting, but can see no end to their wait.  Perhaps you are waiting for the end of some difficult circumstances... or perhaps something you feel long promised by God, has not materialised after an extremely long wait. I shall leave you with this final passage which I feel is appropriate in advent... for it reminds us that in every given circumstance (his birth, our lives, and his return), the promise and the presence of Jesus... is not far away:

Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Revelation 22:12-13

Venting in Advent

I caught a little bit of Question Time last night, specifically the "Christianophobia" debate.

It was Ken Clarke's comments on the subject that first drew my attention. He rightly pointed out that there are fringe groups of fundamentalists in every religion (he did not include atheism or secularism in that assessment - he should have), but that the vast majority of followers of a belief are actually not unreasonable (essentially, religion and belief are not the problem... but sometimes those who practice it are).

However it was the subsequent discussion on the "radical fundamental" side of Christianity that really grabbed me. First, Clarke himself suggested that Christians who reject Darwinism are among this group. Now I am a Creationist (though not in the stereotypical sense); I happen to think the ideas expressed by neo-Darwinism (i.e life without God) are foolish... I certainly don't disregard people for holding those views though. I also don't feel that we have to adhere to a literal 6 24 hour day creation period, because the Bible in the original Hebrew does not restrict Creation to that time period.

The most controversial statement was made by a member of the audience though. He challenged Clarke's assertion that people with radical views were in the minority, by pointing out that something like 44% of Americans believe that Christ will return in the next 50 years. Clarke conceded that, but pointed out that this was the UK and not the USA.

However at the risk of sounding a nutjob, I want to challenge the assertion made by that audience member myself. The idea of Christ returning in the next 50 years is only as ludicrous as it is sensible. The early apostles believed that Christ would be back within their lifetime and the sense of urgency that came from that belief, fuelled in part the enthusiasm for spreading the Gospel message. In truth, the "50 years" part of the statement is irrelevant though. He most likely raised it because he finds the idea of Christ returning ludicrous in itself... and do you know what? I feel sure a lot of churchgoers do to.

I don't.

I believe Jesus will return one day... because he said he would. Whether that is tomorrow or in the next 5 millennia - I wouldn't like to call it, but he will come back.

If you think that is outlandish and you are a churchgoer yourself, then you should consider that what I have just said is nothing less than what is uttered every week in various forms of the Creed... and if you hadn't realised that, maybe you should pay more attention when saying it.

Truth be known, I don't think the idea of Jesus returning within 50 years is ridiculous either. We know how big the Earth is now... and the Gospel is day by day reaching new cultures... even the remotest tribes. We live in an age when when the consequences of Adam's sin are maturing. By this I mean that man is growing very much to the point where he feels as a species that he is independent of God and has no need of him.

Many reject the concept of the Second Coming because of doubt in Christ's divinity and/or because of arrogance or complacency that the world will continue each day as it always has... and yet really irrespective of whether we acknowledge God... none of us is guaranteed another sunrise.

Jesus himself said the following:

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

Matthew 24:36-44

We merrily go about our business and rarely give a second thought to it, do we? The only times you'll hear mention of the Second Coming are as a joke when something surprises us... or as a comparison that something is a long way off. Yet this is advent, it is a time when the church assigns time to contemplate these things. It isn't just about waiting for the babe in a manger, it is about waiting for the king descending with the kingdom and manifesting it fully on Earth.

No one knows the day or the hour... oh it might be a million years away... but it might just as easily be tomorrow. Would you take that chance?

Would you really take that chance?

There's an old proverb that I've quoted here before. It might well be cliched... but I happen to believe it is something to aspire to:

"You should live as if Christ died yesterday, rose today... and is coming back tomorrow."

Maybe it's time we paid attention and started to get our houses in order.

You.

Me.

Everybody.

Happy New Year

So Happy New Year! You made it into 2006, congratulations. By now if you are lucky you will be receiving phone calls , text messages or e-mails wishing you well for the next run of 365 days.

Whenever we enter a new year I am always reminded of the lyrics to the U2 song "New Year's Day":

All is quiet on New Year's Day

A world in white gets underway

I want to be with you

Be with you night and day

Nothing changes on New Year's Day

On New Year's Day

I will be with you again

I will be with you again

Under a blood red sky

A crowd has gathered in black and white

Arms entwined, the chosen few

The newspapers says, says

Say it's true it's true...

And we can break through

Though torn in two

We can be one

I...I will begin again

I...I will begin again

Oh...Maybe the time is right

Oh...maybe tonight...

I will be with you again

I will be with you again

And so we're told this is the golden age

And gold is the reason for the wars we wage

Though I want to be with you

Be with you night and day

Nothing changes

On New Year's Day

For me that song is all about the anticipation of Jesus' second coming. The tentative waiting, the endless hope that maybe tonight... Jesus will come back again. You might think it's all hocus pocus... that's your perogative. You might think we have never had it so good and that we are living in a golden age. I believe Jesus will return one day, more than this I believe he longs to be with you in in your heart now. We live in a world of immense beauty, but it is also a world full of violence, pain and sorrow. Thankfully it won't always be so.The Bible's "New Year" begins with Jesus' return. In it we are promised:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. (Revelation 21:3-6)

The great thing is, you don't have to wait till then to experience some of this. God longs to be with you, be with you night and day. The question for you this New Year's Day is... will nothing change?

You have a chance to make your own world in white get underway.

So Happy New Year to you, in every context I can express. May God bless you in 2006. May he wipe away any tears of 2005, or perhaps longer. May joy find a place in your heart from this day forth. May you prosper and find friendship with God and man alike.

Happy New Year... Happy New Year.

N

The Manner of Jesus Return

I'm a little upset with something I heard the other night... I do not feel in a position to do much about it at church, so I thought the only really positive action I could take, was to write about it here... lest the error be repeated.

I was involved in a discussion last night, which moved onto the subject of Jesus' Second Coming.

Everybody who was involved agreed that the Bible says it will happen, but what surprised me was one comment that came from a surprising source.

It was with regard to the nature of Christ's return. A young person asked if Jesus would come back as an adult or a baby. The response was that nobody knows how or when Jesus will return. That took me aback a little. We definitely don't know when... but the Bible is pretty clear on how he comes back. I offered a scripture from Acts to back it up:

"After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." " - Acts 1:9-11

When I mentioned that though, I was told that that scripture was "a bit dodgy"...
...
...
... I cannot fathom why they believed that to be the case. You can interpret scriptures different ways... but you cannot simply dismiss them if you don't like them. It's certainly bad to describe it as "a bit dodgy".

I was sure of myself, so I went back home and looked it up, to see if it could be interpreted any other way... it can't - the concordance offers no alternate meaning. While looking it up, I used the word "cloud" to try and track it... and came up with the following:

"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory." Matt 24:30

"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." - Matt 26:64

"At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory." - Mark 13:26

"I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." - Mark 14:62

"At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." - Luke 21:27

"Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen." - Revelation 1:7

So the Bible is pretty clear on it... Jesus is coming back riding the clouds in his resurrection body. Even as a teenager when my sister was watching The Omen part III and I caught the end of it; I knew even then that this was so, I can remember thinking the film was pants because the theology was so poorly researched. Jesus will not return as an infant... when he comes back, it'll be as he is now... the Son of the Most high... as described in Daniel, the prophets and Revelation.

This has nothing to do with the endless debates of pre-millennial, post-millennial, amillenial, ad infinitum (with regard to the order of events at the end), it is merely concerned with "dodgy teaching" of the manner of Christ's return.

Be watchful

Nick