This past Wednesday night on PBS, during The Newshour, there was an amazing interview between Gwen Ifill and Aretha Franklin. It was spellbinding. The great Aretha Franklin was being recognized by the National Portrait Gallery. There was a portrait of her with “ARETHA” painted at the bottom. She is one of the few people who need only one name to be recognized. Sitting down in this interview were two African American women of very humble origins, clearly connected, clearly talking to one another in a passionate way, for both Gwen Ifill, the interviewer, and Aretha Franklin are preachers kids, or PKs. There was a moment in the interview where they both gave a knowing smile as they talked about being children brought up in a Christian home. Gwen Ifill asked Aretha Franklin, “Will you ever consider stopping?”
Aretha says, “No, not ever, no. I’m not ever going to retire. That’s — that wouldn’t be good, for one, just to go somewhere and sit down and do nothing. Please. No, that’s not moi.”
Gwen asks her a really probing question: “But when did you cross the line from gospel to pop?”
Aretha looked her straight in the eye and said: “I didn’t cross the line. Gospel goes with me wherever I go. Gospel is a constant with me.
Gwen was a bit cynical in saying, “So when people hear you sing Pink Cadillac there’s gospel in that?”
Aretha laughed, and said, “No, that’s secular. But the Gospel is always with me.”
It was one of those rare moments in television when you realize that you were getting something really prophetic.
Maybe I was listening and watching with very specific eyes, maybe that would pass by a lot of people, but I don’t think so. Aretha was making an extremely powerful point, mainly that for a person of faith there is no distinction between the secular and the faithful: there is no distinction between the life that you live in a secular world and the life that you live as a person of faith and convictions. It didn’t matter if she was singing Pink Cadillac or Respect, for her, the Gospel was always within her, and not just the Gospel tradition of music, but it was obvious The Gospel was always within her. Now, we are living in a day and age where we are almost forced to think that there is this distinction between the secular and the faithful, and that the realm of faith and the realm of the secular world are two very distinct spheres. In fact, we are forced almost daily to think like that, because we are being told that is the reality and that is the way the world should operate: there is the secular world, and then there is the world of faith, and the two can remain separate. So, if you are a person of faith, for example and you are living your life in a secular world, you leave your faith at the door the moment you enter the world of the secular. It also implies that when you actually live your life of faith, you must leave your secular life behind. While I understand that constitutionally, legally, politically, in an environment such as ours, there are legal distinctions that made between the secular and the religious spheres, and historically that has been something that has been for the betterment of society to avoid the dangers of theocracy. Nevertheless, from the point of view of the believer, we do not live in two different spheres or two different realms. To quote Aretha, “The Gospel is always with us.”
I say that is important, because today we are looking at a passage from the Gospel of Luke, which is known perhaps as an apocalyptic text. “Apocalyptic” is simply the forecasting of the ultimate destination of the world, or maybe of the imminent destruction of the world. Apocalyptic is not only found in Christian literature, it is found in Jewish literature, it is found in Babylonian literature, it is found even as I am going to suggest a little later on in so-called secular literature. Apocalyptic, this sense that we can forecast the end of things, has become part of literature and faith for thousands of years. When we come to read an apocalyptic text like this, there is always the danger that we read it with that dualism in mind, namely that there is a distinction between the eventual effects on the secular realm and the realm of faith. When we do that we miss-read this passage, and so I want you to keep that in mind as we look at it a little more closely.
Clearly, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is saying these words while he is in Jerusalem. It is the last week of his life. He has made the triumphal entrance. He has given some wise words and performed some miracles. There has been some profound teaching. But now, he takes the disciples aside and says, “There are going to be signs of the coming of the Son of Man in clouds.” There will be signs of the ultimate end of the world. The language that he is using is very much the language of The Old Testament and the language of the Apocalyptic – of Daniel and Ezekiel. Nevertheless, he is talking about a time when the Son of Man will come in glory. But it is not a word of fear. It is not a word to suggest to the disciples that they should retreat; rather it is a word of encouragement. If you look at the text closely, it says “So stand up. Lift up your heads. Take a stand.” In other words, don’t be dismayed by what might happen. Don’t be afraid of the coming destruction. Stand firm in the faith.
We also need to understand that he wasn’t talking about events that were occurring at that very moment. Jesus knew that his crucifixion was pending. He knew that he was coming to the end of his earthly life, and he was ready for it. But he wasn’t talking to the disciples about that, as if somehow after his crucifixion or even his resurrection everything would fall apart and the Son of Man would come in glory; he is talking to them about after all of that, what would transpire much later. He doesn’t want them to lose heart. They are going to see him be crucified. He says, “Don’t lose heart. Stand firm. Lift your head up high. Be ready for this, but do not let it get to you. Do not let it destroy you. Do not let it worry you.” Jesus’ apocalyptic words then, were actually not words of doom and gloom; but of hope and inspiration.
I ask myself if we are people who live between the death and the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus and his coming again in glory, something that Christians believe, and if we believe that, how then should we live? What should our attitude be? What is Jesus saying to us? Well, he is clearly telling the disciples – and us – that history has a place, and this is absolutely critical. In the first century, the people really felt the world was coming to an end. The Jews certainly thought so, because the Romans had invaded their land, they had taken them over, they had just gone through the rule of the Greeks, and they thought that everything was going to be destroyed and they were terrified. Later on in 70 AD, when the Temple was destroyed, there was this sense of imminent doom and despair and destruction. Luke is writing at a time when the people in the first century really thought the world was coming to an end. They really did! And there was this sense of impending doom.
Many times we have gone back and re-read that passage, and applied that same sense of imminence to them. We wonder why the world didn’t end at the time when they expected it to end. We look at the two thousand years that have transpired since and say, “What happened? Wasn’t it going to be destroyed there and then? Wasn’t the destruction imminent?” Well, elsewhere in the Scriptures Jesus says, “You are not to know the time or the seasons when the Son of Man is to come again.” It is not for us to know. The problem is the people of the time that Jesus spoke thought it was all going to end. If you think it is only those few in the first century who had this apocalyptic sense of doom, if you think that it was limited to them and maybe a misguided fanaticism on their part, think again, for there are a plethora of books being written right now that suggest that we have no future. In fact, Steve Paikin himself on The Agenda was interviewing such a writer this week, who really doesn’t believe that humanity and the world has a future.
There are many apocalyptic passages being written about environmental destruction. While we all know that this is a major concern, there is also in some circles this sense of such imminent doom and disaster that it just leads to a sense of nihilism, a sense that there is no purpose to history, no purpose to our living, that it is all going to be destroyed and go dark on us. It is not just people of faith with an apocalyptic mindset; it is also people in the completely non-religious or secular world who think in such terms: the world is going to come to an end, and we are simply here to watch. Go to any bookstore and you will be surprised how many books you find concluding in such a way. When people read the words of Jesus and have this apocalyptic mindset, they think: “Oh, my goodness! We are clearly in this time!” Look at the words of Jesus. He says, “Nations will be confused.” Well, what have we got going on in the world right now but the confusion of nations and confusion of leaders to know what to do in the chaos?
It is also suggested that the earth – and I love one of the translations – “the earth is perplexed.” Jesus said, “The earth will be perplexed. There will be storms. There will be roaring seas.” All you have to do is listen to the scientists tell us that the sea is going to rise a meter by the end of this century and the destruction that will bring. There is a real sense of foreboding. People read the words of Jesus, “People will be frightened, in fear of terror, and they will faint at the thought of terror.” How literally could you interpret that in our day and age? People read these passages and think: “Oh my gosh! Christ must be coming again! It must be the end of the world!” This is all part of the sense that now it is all over.
What should our response be? Well, there are some who suggest that you basically just opt out. For two thousand years people have been reading the same signs and they have been opting out. Some of the monasteries were opting out. Some of the cults that have developed over the years – remember the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, years ago opting out and getting ready for the demise of the world? People living in an apocalyptic fear that the world is going to come to an end. There have always been those! Do you remember just how many years ago, fifteen years ago, when the new millennium was coming and there was this sense of the world’s destruction? Maybe this was it? It was all going to be over, and people reset their computers hoping they would still be working the next day! Opting out is a big part of apocalyptic thinking. So too, is this sense that all we are on is a treadmill, and that really there is no purpose to life: we just get on a treadmill and keep on going. The Stoics always believed that every three thousand years there would be a conflagration and the world would be transformed. And so basically they went along for the ride, because the reset button would be pressed and everything would start all over again.
Then there is the Christian view, which is that the world has a purpose. The Son of Man did not just come into this world to get it ready for its ultimate destruction, but out of God’s love for it. What is that great passage celebrated at Christmas time? “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” The Son of Man not only came into the world because of God’s love it, but is also the purpose and goal of the world. Therefore, we are not passive; we don’t just sit back and allow events to happen. We know that history means something, because it is history getting ready for God. It is history being animated and moved by God, for the purpose of reaching its goal.
This last week, I watched the memorial service in Paris for those who were killed a couple of weeks ago. The service was very touching, very sedate, very French, very moving. When they showed the pictures and read the names of the people who had died you couldn’t help but be touched. As I was watching, I was actually thinking about the great French story of Gilles Michelle, who in the nineteenth century wrote the very famous book, Histoire de France. This great writer was also a lecturer to students. In July 1830, there was the revolution when the despot Charles X was replaced by Louis Philippe and the Constitutional Government. At the time, Michelle was with his students at L’ecole Normale (the Normal School). The students heard what was going on outside, for canons were being fired and bombs were going off and they were terrified. Michelle said to them, “Gentlemen, those outside are making history, but we are the ones who are writing it.” He didn’t want those students to become so concerned, so mournful, so frightened that they didn’t do what it is that they were called to do, namely to write the history. History was going on around them. Others were making that history, but their job was to write it, to form it, craft it, and explain it. They were the ones, as Michelle did in his history, to make sense of it.
Is not the role of the disciple, the follower of Jesus Christ, knowing that history has a purpose and a meaning, to be so engaged in the world with the Gospel that we are writers of it, interpreting it? This is not a time for people of faith to retreat into the shadows while the world experiences chaos. This is a time for the people of faith to walk in the light as our opening hymn said. And, in walking in the light to walk with our heads up, because we know history has meaning. How do we live with this tension between the world on the way and the world as it is now? How do we live between the world that God wants this to be, and the way it is? Sometimes, ironically, the secular world will tell us, and pave the way for us.
I was quoting this morning at the first service from Professor Paul Wilson’s commentary on this passage only to find – and if this isn’t daunting – that professor sitting in the pew this morning! As I was quoting from his book, he tells the story of two very eminent preachers, Steven Farris and Richard Topping. He says, “Isn’t it amazing that even at Christmas time you are walking in the shopping malls and the Gospel is being proclaimed?” It is being proclaimed in songs and carols being sung. I thought of that, when I was in a Shoppers Drug Mart this week and heard over the air: “O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend on us we pray, cast out our sin and enter in” – and what are the next lines? – “be born in us today.”
There is the message of those who live in tension between the way and the current situation, between the world to come and the world that is, and that is to let our lives reflect the fact that Christ was born in us today, not to live a life as the Scriptures call it, of dissipation and drunkenness, of sensuality, of self-centredness and gluttony. How many times do you hear people say, “You only live once, so you might as well enjoy yourself.” That’s nice if you are the only person on earth, but we are not. We live in the community of the world. We are not isolated individuals doing our own thing. We live within the context of a culture and a history and a purpose. Therefore what is required of us is something much deeper. It is to allow the Christ who is both the beginning and the end – the Alpha and the Omega – to be born in us today. That means not being passive, not just sitting and waiting for Christ to come again, but also to watch him. And by watching I mean embracing the world, caring for the world, hoping for the world.
When I came back to Canada from South Africa, I was settled in a fishing village in northern Nova Scotia. It was a small village, but it had a great fishing fleet of lobster boats and scallop fishermen. I realized very soon after I had arrived in River John that I wasn’t just the minister of a congregation, of a religious group; I was the pastor to the community. There was no secular or religious distinction in a fishing village, believe you me! At times, fishing can be dangerous. I remember one day, one boat that had gone out and the fleet hit some very bad waters in the Northumberland Strait. Word was going through the community that one of the boats called back into the Cape John port had not arrived, and there was great fear. I knew that some of the wives of the fishermen were members of my congregation, and so after having received a phone call from the Fire Department, I went down to Cape John to be with the wives as they waited.
As I did so, I remembered a story of a similar fishing village in Scotland many years before, where again another one of the trawlers hadn’t come back in. Many of the wives were waiting for the fishermen to come in, just like these women were doing. The boat in River John finally came back and they were safe. There was great rejoicing and hugging and prayers of thanksgiving at the dock. I remember it very well. The same thing happened in Scotland, and they had got word that the wives were actually waiting for them and they had sent a message to the boat saying “Dave, your wife Sally is here. Tom, your wife Margaret is here. They are waiting for you.” And there was great joy! But, one fisherman in Scotland got off his boat only to find that he wasn’t greeted by his wife. Upset, concerned, looking for her everywhere, really needing a hug at that moment, he walked up the hill to his home and he saw the light on. He knocked on the door and went in. His wife is there and she says, “I have been waiting for you.”
He said, “Yes, my dear, but all the other men’s wives weren’t just waiting, they were watching for us to come in.”
Not only did they go down to the docks to wait, they were actively watching for them.
That distinction between waiting and watching is exactly the distinction that Jesus wanted to make to his disciples. Don’t just wait for the Son of Man to come in glory, but watch for him! How do you watch for him? You watch for him by living his life in the world. You live it by not adhering to nihilism. No matter where you see people hurting, even if it seems costly, you go and save them from the pit of darkness and despair. You go and lift up the people whose hearts are broken – another phrase in this text – who are concerned about the state of the world. You go and change the things that are broken in this world, and you do it in Christ’s name, knowing that it is his world, and when he returns, it is still his. You do it out of “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” You do it because you do not make a distinction between the secular and the religious. For people of faith, the entire world, every part of it, is of concern to the God who came to it at Christmas. He engaged the world. He embraced the world, because as Aretha said, the Gospel never leaves us. It never leaves us! May that be your experience this Advent! Amen