December 19th, 2023
Scripture
32‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
36 ‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
--Matthew 24:32-44
Reflection
There’s so much we don’t know about God. Yet, given enough time in church settings, Christians develop a sense of God ownership. What begins as curious exploration into the relationship between the person and God, seems to phase into an absolute truth regarding God. Lines are drawn. Doctrines are created. Denominations rise. Divisions multiply. The body of Christ slowly dismembers itself, detaching and moving further away from each of its parts in the name of wholesome wholeness. It is out of our desire to be right, that the actual knowledge we hold—the axiom of ‘God is love’—is lost in a maelstrom of we-versus-them theology.
Recently, a woman told me about her experience in prison. More specifically, the times in which baptisms were offered to the populace. Due to time constraints and security, many of these baptisms occurred in large numbers; multiple ministers from varying denominations would take turns baptizing inmates who identified with their denominational structures. As each minister went to the podium, and then to the baptismal font, she remembered feeling a sense of confusion and hurt. Small statements were made by each minister, subtly dismissing their previous counterpart’s theology through thinly veiled statements or corrections. In all of this, she felt lost. When she was released from prison, she didn’t want to attend church. She said, “Why would I go to a place that was so worried about what the other people were doing that they might forget about me?”
I didn’t know what to say…
Our constant pledge to spread the good news of Christ by word and example can be sullied by our inability to articulate what and who we are in Christ. Rather, we utilize the practice of proclaiming what and who we aren’t, all too often. It is in this mode that none of us can be ready to receive the arrival of Christ, being too preoccupied with our constrained perceptions of him. If we would let our sense of knowing be scaled back, just a bit, perhaps an anticipatory and curious unknowing could reassert itself, allowing us the grace to be accepted when Christ comes. Perhaps the body of Christ can be drawn back toward itself with a small amount of humility in that same unknowing.
Being ready doesn’t mean being right; it means remaining open to the myriad mysteries that have been revealed to us by the resurrected Christ and open to the possibilities of those which have yet to be revealed by his coming again. My hope during this and every Advent, is to embrace the knowledge and love of God that I feel, while also waiting in joyful anticipation for the Christ who comes again to reveal the remaining truth that passes all understanding.
The Rev. Sean A. Ekberg, Rector
Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, OKC