and to the Holy Spirit:

As it was in the beginning, is now,

and will be for ever.  Amen.

Jonah 3.9-10:  “Who knows?  God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish?”  When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

There have been a few folks along the way who’ve asked me Are you a universalist?  If you’re not necessarily familiar with the word, they wanted to know if I believed that “at the end, everybody gets in.”  Obviously things I’ve said or done along the way have precipitated this question.

If I were to die today, and I guess there’s a chance I might, then I would have to answer the question this way: I reject universal salvation as a doctrine, but I wholeheartedly support universal salvation as a hope.  Clear as mud, right?  Basically, I don’t know; only God knows; but I can hope.

First, some would immediately counter that if something clearly contradicts orthodoxy or dogma or doctrine, then you cannot hold to it and still call yourself Christian.  Second, a minority might add that if there’s no damnation, then why be a Christian in the first place?  As to the latter, fear of hell is undoubtedly the worst possible reason for being a Christian; it reveals the most childish of understandings of the Father: I’ll be good so I don’t get whacked.  As to the former, well, maybe…maybe not.

This is not the time nor place to bring all the scriptures to the table.  There are some that are very powerful in presenting a destiny of separation from God (sheep and the goats).  However, there are others which leave the porch light on, so to speak; they present a God who tells those who worked faithfully all the live-long day Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last as I give to you.  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to Me?  Or do you begrudge My generosity? (Matthew 20).  This is essentially the same speech the Father gave the older brother when the prodigal came crawling home.  God has a tendency to give speeches like that when He sees resentment all gussied up as justice.

The king of Nineveh said Who knows? Annie Dillard said I don’t know beans about God.  As of right now, looking forty-two years in the eyes, I’ve got to say I’m right there with the king and Annie: I don’t know.  But I can hope that God might change his mind, as He has done before, and choose mercy over justice.  Justice is sorta the hip word these days, but I’m not sure any of us really want justice.  Mercy is what we need.  Who knows?  I can hope we, all of us, get it.  If God’s grace could pull off something like that, well, there’s only one word – amazing.

and to the Holy Spirit:

As it was in the beginning, is now,

and will be for ever.  Amen.

Psalm 29.3-9  The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over mighty waters.  The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.  The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.  He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.  The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.  The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.  The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, “Glory!”

“…the mind I love must have wild places, a tangled orchard where dark damsons drop in the heavy grass, an overgrown little wood, the chance of a snake or two, a pool that nobody’s fathomed the depth of, and paths threaded with flowers planted by the mind.”  – Katherine Mansfield

We often talk of wanting to hear the Lord’s voice: Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.  We still ourselves and get all solitudy, trying with all our might to catch his whisper.  We center down and await the brush of angel wings upon our furrowed brows, a sure sign that God is about to reach in the pocket of his wool sweater and give us a Werther’s Original.

From the scant verses above, it sounds like the Lord’s voice is a thunderstorm, is not just sorta majestic but straight-on-full-of-it-no-chaser, has the ability to de-cedar the cedars, makes Lebanon and Sirion skip like calves and young wild oxen (you ever been around a young ox?), takes “inferno” to a whole new rage, and makes the wild places even wilder, so much so that the oaks have no recourse but to strip and dance.  All anyone can do is grab their ears and cry Glow-ree! I guess there is that still, small voice stuff and then there’s this madness.

I fear we, I, too often assume God will make gentlemanly requests like Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  Little pig, little pig, let me come in?  The God of the Word sounds free to not knock, ask permission, huff or puff; this God, the LORD, might just decide to speak and blow our house down, let the calves run wild through our roses, engulf our illusions in flames, and have us chased into the next county by oaks in the raw.

Glow-ree, indeed.

Speak, Lord, and well, I’ll try and hang on.

and to the Holy Spirit:

As it was in the beginning, is now,

and will be for ever.  Amen

Psalm 126 – When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.  Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongues with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”  The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.  Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb.  May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.  Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.

‘Twas the third week of Advent and what should appear?

But mouths filled with laughter and eyes full of tears.

I know of these things; I’ve laughed ’till I cried -

could that be the reason the LORD lived to die?

Surely there’s more to our dear Savior’s birth,

than weepy old priests just brimming with mirth.

The world still long lays, in error and pining,

still seeking a sign all sparkly and shining.

Is that what they seek  – not a star in the sky,

but a hearty guffaw mixed with tears in the eye?

Could Bethlehem’s star o’er the earth and her races,

unstabled have come to rest on our faces?

So we light the third candle, may joy brightly gleam;

we merrily weep, like those held by a dream.

- John Blase, Advent 2008

and to the Holy Spirit:

As it was in the beginning, is now,

and will be for ever.  Amen

Mark 1.1-8: The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.   As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.  I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

How are you preparing during this Advent season?  What are you doing to anticipate the celebration of the Lord’s first and second comings?  Have you put up your tree?  Hung the lights?  Bought a few gifts?  Written your Christmas letter?  Attended an elementary school’s seasonal concert?  Watched Frosty?

Allow me to cry out an alternative suggestion – confess!  Now before you think I’m fixin’ to get all moral on you, cinch up your leather belt, put a little honey on your locust, and give me a minute to explain.  I’m willing to bet my boots that John the baptizer did not hear things like well, I looked at that woman’s cleavage or I said a bad word when the dryer went out yesterday.  For many of us, far too many of us, stuff like that has been our sum total understanding of confession.  Sweet lord in heaven.

I believe what old John’s non-Q-tipped ears did hear those wildernessy days were things like, well, something like this:

Lord help me walk another mile just one more mile/I’m tired of walking all alone/Lord help me smile another smile just one more smile/I know I just can’t make it on my own/I never thought I needed help before/I thought that I could do things by myself/Now I know I just can’t take it anymore/With a humble heart on bended knee I’m begging you please help me.

And the wildman smiled through his beard, took their trembling hands in his calloused mitts and gently plunged them beneath the waters of forgiveness and raised them on wobbly, forgiven legs to look for the one even more powerful than John who was coming.  And with water dripping down their face, mingling with the tears from their eyes, they heard John say:

He’s come down from his golden throne to us, to lowly us/
We’ll feel the touch of his tender hand/
He’ll remove the chains of darkness and let us see, oh he’ll let us see/
Just where we fit into his Master plan.

If we’re offering the world or even ourselves anything different this season, then it’s not worth opening.  It’ll either be too big or too small or in due time it’ll wear out or go out of style.

and to the Holy Spirit:

As it was in the beginning, is now,

and will be for ever.  Amen.

Mark 13.33-37: “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake– for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

Today is the first Sunday of Advent.  The Church calendar begins anew as Christ’s coming is remembered and his return is anticipated.  And we are reminded to live on the edge of our seats, for when he comes, he comes suddenly.

You can read passages like this and get all nervous-nellie as Larry Norman’s I Wish We’d All Been Ready plays in your head – Life was filled with guns and war/And everyone got trampled on the floor/I wish we’d all been ready…There’s no time to change your mind/The Son has come and you’ve been left behind.

How can we grant Larry’s wish and not be all nervous-nellie?  How can we stay on the edge of our seats without falling off and getting trampled on the floor?  How should we then live when life is filled with guns and war and always getting left behind in some form or fashion?

If you were to count the words in the passage above from Mark (which I did, so you don’t have to), you would find that the 54th word begins a phrase – each with his work.  As much as that passage emphasizes God only knows, and I believe only he does, it equally emphasizes us.

Yes, I know Rick Warren’s book began with the phrase it’s not about you and we all jumped on that like a duck on a junebug, but I fear Rick’s true intent got trampled on the floor.  You bet your sweet love handles it’s about you and if we don’t live each with his work, the Son will come and there’ll be no time to change our minds for we will have missed the gift the master of the house gave us when he went on his long journey.

Or as my friend Robert Benson puts it: When I was younger, I worried a great deal about whether or not I was going to make it home to God…What I fear now is that I will somehow miss what it is that I am supposed to learn here, something important enough that the Dreamer dispatched me, and the rest of us, here to learn.  What I fear now is that I will somehow miss the point of living here at all…

Be alert.  Keep awake.  Pay attention to your life.  It’s not all about you, but a little bit of it is.  What are you supposed to learn here, do here, make here, be here, see here, hear here?  You see, it’s possible that we can all be ready and still be quite behind.

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life, between the dreaming and the coming true. Amen.

and to the Holy Spirit:

As it was in the beginning, is now,

and will be for ever.  Amen.

Matthew 25.31-46: “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats…Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?  And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?  When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

The passage continues with the unlucky goats being scattered somewhere between hell and breakfast and obviously wondering why.  The Lord then states Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.

When you hold Matthew 25 up beside Matthew 7, you hear the goats pleading Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? To this the Lord replies Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.

In recent years, the word good has come under fire.  The line of thinking is that no serious believer wants to be just a good man or woman these days.  No, the goal is to be God’s man or woman.  And being God’s man or woman involves distinctives in your life that are observable and audible; big stuff like signs and wonders and power and authority and declarations that Jesus is Lord and campaigns to Keep Christ in Christmas.  I understand the thinking behind it, but it makes me nervous for it has the whiff of butt-headed arrogance about it.

I’ve a hunch when the Son of Man comes, he will motion to the quiet man from Tennessee -

the man who never went through 40 days of purpose because he never doubted his; the man who would work all day and then help his kids with their homework each evening; the man who stayed married to his wife long after the blush fell off the rose; the man who would often pull the graveyard on Saturday night and go straight to church on Sunday morning and teach the jr. high boys class because no one else would; the man who called his mother every Friday night to say I love you, Mom; the man who faithfully visited the high school buddy who got drunk one night and stabbed his wife and ended up behind bars for life; the man who sponsored four Compassion kids for over 20 years; the man who sent the young pastor a $100 bill every Christmas with a card that said Hang in there; the man who built props and sets and dunking booths for Vacation Bible School and youth extravaganzas for no charge; the man who said Thank you, Lord as the sun rose and Thank you, Lord every as the sun set and Have mercy all throughout the day; the man who would weep in the wee, small hours of the morning at the grace of God upon his life -

and the Lord will say I’m the number one fan of the man from Tennessee.  Well done.  Enter into your rest.

But God’s men and women will raise their hooves and say But we not only said Jesus is Lord, but Jesus is Lord, Lord and we wrote books against atheism and we led thousands to raise their hands in worship and we midwifed the rebirth of the New Testament church and we called men and women to be more than good – we called them to be God’s because God’s men and women are easy to pick out in a crowd.

And the Lord will say Yes, but a good man is hard to find.

and to the Holy Spirit:

As it was in the beginning, is now,

and will be for ever.  Amen.

Matthew 25.14-19:  ”For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.  To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.  Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents.  In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more.  But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.”  Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them…

We love to fixate on numbers.  Our eyes are quickly drawn to “five…two…one” and “five more…two more.”  We applaud the first and second servants for doubling their talents and look down our noses at the third, the digger of holes.  We sense the first two servants were obviously quite savvy in matters of business, whereas the third, although fearful, just really didn’t have the smarts.

We love to take parables about God and fill them with mammon.

What if we focused on the phrase “went and traded with them”?  What if the first two servants received a well-done simply because of their courage to go into the market place and trade, to take what they had and keep it in conversation with the world?  And what if the third servant’s not-so-well comes as a result of a basic self-hatred, that hiding-it-under-a-bushel thing, that there’s-no-way-one-can-be-as-good-as-five?  

The third servant could’ve followed the little drummer boy’s wisdom and possibly the parable would’ve ended more hopeful, more lyrical.  Maybe something like this: Then He smiled at me/pa rum pum pum pum/Me and my drum.  

The doves that remained at home, never exposed to loss,

innocent and secure, cannot know tenderness; - Rilke 

We think we know the Master.  We think we know of his hard-edged reaping without sowing, gathering without scattering stance.  And so we dig holes, hide, bury our true selves.  But what do we know of his tenderness?  His smile?  Dare we believe that, as the psalmist said, “God is on my side”?

We love to take parables about grace and bury them with judgment.

Blessed Lord, who has caused all holy Scripture to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them; that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life…pa rum pum pum pum.

and to the Holy Spirit:

As it was in the beginning, is now,

and will be for ever.  Amen.

“Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”  Matthew 25.13

This is the final verse from the gospel reading for today.  It’s known, if at all, as the story of the wise and foolish virgins.  There are ten of them, waiting for the bridegroom to arrive; five foolish and five wise.  And in the waiting, all of them became drowsy and slept.  The bridegroom arrives, at midnight, and the foolish virgins realize their lamps are going out and they haven’t brought additional oil.  When they ask the wise virgins to share, they are told “go…buy some for yourselves.”  By the time they go and purchase oil, the bridegroom has come, the party has started, and the door is shut.  The foolish virgins knock and ask to be let in, but the bridegroom says it’s too late.  In fact, he says, “Truly…I do not know you.”

I am struck by this phrase: all of them became drowsy and slept.  It’s hard, isn’t it, when the bridegroom is delayed, or the promotion doesn’t come, or the sickness doesn’t go away, or the marriage continues to wither, or the child doesn’t obey, or the church doesn’t grow, or the prayer that you pray in the deepest of night isn’t answered, to not become drowsy and fall asleep?  Karl Rahner has a metaphor for this kind of existence – “the rubbled-over heart.”

“The night that came was no uncommon night;/hundreds like it go by./ Then dogs sleep, and then stones lie./ Alas, a sad night, alas any night/that waits till it be morning once again.”  – Rilke, “The Garden of Olives”

It is hard for our rubbled-over hearts, be they foolish or wise, to wait till it be morning once again.

There is no denying the aspect of Matthew’s story of the midnight cry being sounded and the fools coming up short.  But there is also the aspect, if you listen closely, of these virgins, one and all being foolish, for in the waiting, in the meantime, in the in-between where we all live and breathe and have our being, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

How are you, how am I, living in the meantime?

Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.