How to Wait for a Promise

December 2, 2007

Grace United Church of Christ

Rev. J. R. Luck, Jr.  D. Min. c., Th.M., M.A.

This past Tuesday over 50 parties from the international community,
including Syria and Saudi Arabia were invited to Annapolis, Maryland to
participate in the bilateral talks between Israel and Palestine.  In the
days preceding, I listened to the news reports with some faint curiosity.
But what fascinated me the most was that it was all over by Wednesday.
Perhaps I just wasn't paying attention, but I had assumed that the parties
would be meeting for days, if not weeks.  I had no idea that it was to be a
one-day talk.  I mean, after all, how much can you get done in one day?  But
essentially, these weren't talks, but rather speeches offered beside and in
front of each other. Maybe that was important in and of itself.  Maybe it
was important for Syria and Israel to be exchanging words instead of
gunfire.  Maybe it was important for the entire Arab world to be present at
these speeches while leaving Hammas at home.  But having said that,is there
anything here to get excited about?  Is anything really going to happen?  I
mean already the US has engaged in an about-face and has withdrawn a
draft security council resolution that simply supported what already
happened in Annapolis.  That's it. It supported what had already happened.
But Israel said it hadn't been consulted as to the language used, and
besides, it didn't want the security council to be directly involved in the
peace process.  So let's be real here.  When one of the parties is balking
at a resolution that supports what's already happened, what are the chances
that there is ever going to be peace between Palestine and Israel?  And as
long as we are being real, what are the chances that this passage from
Isaiah is ever going to come true? 

"And all the nations shall come together and proceed
to the House of God."  Folks, I don't know if you noticed or not but the
churches of the United Church of Christ can't come and proceed together to
the house of God.  If we can't do it, how are we supposed to get the nations
of the world to do this together?  "And there they shall learn of God's ways
and practice God's ways."  Wonderful, but pardon me for being cynical and
pessimistic, but isn't more likely that we will practice the ways of the
Greek God Narcissus and the unholy trinity of me, myself and I?  How easy is
it to practice the ways of God when we've been invited to participate in
this shopping orgy with the so-called name of Christmas?  "And they shall
beat their swords into plowshares and nations shall not lift up their swords
against one another."  Let me get this straight Isaiah:  you think that the
nations of the world are going to give up their weapons?  And you are
scheduled for your next psychiatric appointment when?

But there's at least one person who didn't think Isaiah was crazy,
although she has been called crazy and worse but more than one pundit.  Her
name is Esther Augsburger and she and her son believe in the promise of
Isaiah.  So for 2.5 years, the Augsburgers worked with the Washington D. C.
police department who provided them with handguns they had confiscated.  But
the public got involved as well.  They turned in their own handguns to the
police who then disabled them and then passed them on to the Augsburgers.
All told, the Augsburgers shaped and welded 3,000 handguns into a 16
foot high steel plow blade.  You can find a picture of this monument to
Isaiah's vision on the back of the bulletin and a close up of this work of
art on the front cover.

But, again, let's be real here.  What good is a piece of art?  What
good is a vision of a dead prophet from millennia ago who had delusional
tendencies?  I like the way that Lutheran minister Peter Marty said it:
[It is]. a prophetic announcement of God's long-standing hope for the day
when God will get God's way, a way grander than one governed by judges,
bailiffs and parole officers.  In God's society, gunpowder will become grain
to feed the hungry. Nations will be infected with love for each other.
Armies will develop amnesia and forget how to fight." The day when God will
get God's way.

When you look at the gospel lesson today you find that
it begins a series of parables.  One of those parables tells us that when
earthly masters use their power, the rich usually get richer while the poor
get poorer.  But then we are told in the last parable of what will happen
when the Son of Man comes in all his glory:  Those who fed the hungry, gave
water to the thirsty, visited the sick and imprisoned, clothed the naked are
gathered into God's kingdom.  Meanwhile, the people that decided to look out
for number one and focus on their own needs are left gnashing their teeth.
As I have told you before, despite the perspective of some psychotherapists,
despair is directly related to our future perspective.  That is to say, do
we believe that things are going to get better?  Yes or no?  Who do we
believe is going to get the last word?  The masters who keep getting richer
while the poor get poorer, or, will there come a day when God will get God's
way?  Do we believe that the leaders of the nation who wage war will have
the last word, or will the God of Isaiah have the last word?  In short,
Advent is our yearly reminder that God has made us a promise.  And the
promise is this:  there will come a day when God will finally get God's way
on this earth.  There will come a day when there will be justice.  There
will come a day when there will be vindication for the downtrodden and the
marginalized.

And so Christ tells us that we need to be ready for that day,
because we never know when it might arrive. And so we wait, and wait and
wait some more.  The Apostle Paul thought it was going to happen in his
lifetime, and now, here we are some 2 millennia later.  And so we ask,
"When?"  When O God are you going to come?  When O God are you going to
speak on behalf of the poor and those who receive only injustice?  When are
you going to make things right?  The problem is that God answers back.
When?  When are you going to get to work?  When are you going to speak on
behalf of the poor?  When are you going to speak on behalf of those who
receive only injustice?  When are you going to make things right, at least
in your own small part of the world?  You see, while we are waiting for
Christ to come and put the finishing touches on things, in the mean time -
and it is a mean time we are living in - we've been given a job to do. No,
we may not be able to enact peace between Israel and Palestine.  After all,
neither side is willing to compromise or acknowledge the legitimate security concerns of the other.

However, churches have their own turf wars.  Sometimes its about doctrine;
but usually its just about power and who has it and who doesn't and who
wants it.  Maybe what Isaiah is asking us to do is to put down our weapons
of gossip and start talking to each other, right here.  I wondered what
would be possible here if we laid down our weapons and proceeded together to
the house of the Lord.

Maybe some of us are called literally to be ambassadors and
diplomats and UN workers and to work for peace between nations.  Maybe some
of us are called to be prophets who speak truth to the powers that be.  Maybe some of
us are called to turn literal weapons into artful visions of possibilities.
But all of us, all of us have been called to do two things: to prepare and
to watch.  As for the first, I think we prepare for Christ's coming by
simply acting like the people of Christ.  Novel concept altought I think
doing so is a lot harder and a lot easier than we might think.  And who
knows, perhaps God is waiting for us to start acting like the people of God
before Christ comes back.  But second, we're also called to watch for signs
of Christ's arrival.  The problem is that God has a tenacious tendency to
show up in the least expected places and the least expected people.  After
all, the last time Christ showed up he did so in a manger of poverty and
invited a bunch of lowlife shepherds to the event.  And then, a bunch of
illegal immigrant magicians were invited to throw Mary a baby shower. These
aren't the places you expect to find a king. The cross isn't the place you
expect to find someone who wields power.  But that's our problem.  We've
been so conditioned by the world, that we only think of power in terms of
military might or financial means. Such is not the way of the Lord.  And one
day, one day God's kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.  Until
then stay watchful and remember that we have a job to do.  The house needs
to be cleaned before mom gets home.  Yes, I know your brother and your
sister did most of the mess, but shouldn't we work on cleaning up for all of
our sakes?  Amen.