SCRIPTURE: Matthew 24:36-44
TEXT: 44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. THEME: The signs of God moves us towards hopeful future. INTRODUCTION When we began to believe in Jesus, there were all kinds of things for us to believe; Jesus rising from the dead, the promise of resurrection, and God loving us so much that God forgives us of our sins as a parent forgives the hurt a child has caused. Then there was more as we came to believe; Jesus was born of a virgin, the God of Creation created the conception in Mary, Jesus is Divine and human at the same time. The signs that fill his life reveals God’s presence among us. Jesus’ ministry and his insightful teachings revealed the heart of God for us to live. Jesus shows us how to live beyond the strict observance of the Law, into a fluidity of a life lead by God’s Spirit. But now, like the people of old, we too wait, for the Messiah to come, as he promises to return from heaven, back to Earth. As we begin this year’s Advent journey to Christmas, we take on the posture of a people, who has their waiting shaped by their relationship with Jesus. SCRIPTURE When we first came to believe the learning, curve was huge. We used the Bible as our guide, referencing our experiences of God with the stories of our spiritual ancestors. We used the Bible, our friends, pastors, and books as guides along our pilgrimage. We took on a few templates as maps, but with new understandings we had to set aside these maps, for more detailed descriptions of where our travels would take us, while discovering more about God as our traveling companion. Advent marks the beginning of the Church’s New Year. The Church marks time with the hope of the coming Lord. This is the setting for our lectionary reading for this First Sunday in Advent, from the end of the Gospel of Matthew looking towards the second coming of Christ. Just like the story of Noah. Of all of the people, in all of the ‘world’, Noah was the only one who had an acknowledgment, an awareness, and a relationship with God. Aware of the creating force of life, living in skillful mastery of all that was around him and in relationship with his family and the ways of God, he was aware of God’s intent that warned him of the flood. As destruction was eminent, God planned to save what was most precious to him; those who lived in fellowship with God, including the animals. This is key to understanding the rest of this passage, Those who were saved, were the ones who were left behind and not swept away. Living in the time of the Roman occupation of Judea, if you were not alert you could be abducted into the Roman army, kidnapped, enslaved, abused, robbed or killed. Those who tended to their tasks and were aware of their surroundings had a better chance at being left behind. Using that template, we can see that the result of vigilance is being aware of what God is doing around us as we prepare and participate in what God is doing. So instead of escaping danger, we are moving towards a hopeful future with God. If we know when the robber is coming then we would be awake at that hour, but because we do not, we lock up our valuables, we lock all of our doors and windows and make sure everyone is tucked in for the night before we go to bed. We have a dog that will sound an alarm with a vicious bark. We can live unaware and let tragedy befall us, or we can live in fear and worry and tragedy could still catch us. How could the people in the day of Noah miss what he was building in his back yard? Or ignore the collection of animals that he was accumulating from around the world? It may be like our ignoring of the signs of climate change or severe weather, or the effects of coal burning industries that deplete the ozone. We are more concern about our comfort today than the destruction of the earth a few generations from now. We, like them, are so caught up in the affairs of our world, that we are unaware of the presence of God, God’s signs around us, or how our selfishness affects others and is destroying our world. APPLICATION Our hope in the coming of Christ, is not to try to escape pain, sorrow, fear, or hardship, but to live with God as our parent, in a community of faith with companions, and to help others along the way with a hope for a better life. In whatever situation we find ourselves in, God is there to help us navigate through it. As we begin this season of waiting for our Messiah to come, we are hoping for something better. It comes with being aware of what God is doing around us. Here is one thing that I see, Iao UCC not having a pastor and WUC being in a unique situation of having resources available to meet a variety of pastoral and worship needs. I am proposing that our churches with the Revs; Wayne Higa, Kealahou Alika, Roxanne Whitelight, Fa’anu Mau, Jack Belsom, and myself get together to talk about how we could coordinate our ministries, ethics, music, to address the Pastoral needs of our Parish. We have addressed the language needs of the past with our separate ministries but now maybe it is time for us to be church in a different way and coordinate our efforts, combine some of our resources, and share our expertise. I am wondering if this is the ark God is beginning to call us to build? People and the skilled mastery of creation are important to God. I am wondering how we could participate in this faith venture with our neighboring churches. CONCLUSION If we are aware of what is going on around us, we can continue to be on a learning curve with what we believe, shaping our theology, and writing our story as the people of God at WUC. The Wailuku Mission Housing project is backlogged in the State Historic Preservation Department. Prayers to help this move forward are needed. The news last week of shootings that targeted the LBGTQ community were disturbing. The dividing lines that used to be drawn as sin are becoming erased, as we bridge those ties with love, understanding, friendship, respect, grace and acceptance. One summer while on vacations, I got to worship in several different churches. Almost all of their architecture looked like upside-down ships. Open beamed arched roofs, that could become the haul of a ship if turned over. Now paired with the story of Noah, maybe the ark was more of a treasure box than a life boat. What was most precious to God was placed in that box: life, relationships, goodness, joy, happiness, fellowship and love. These are the same values that get repeated in Paul’s letters to the church as he encourages Christians to live their relationship with God together as a church and into their daily lives. Our theology is changing from focusing on sin, to affirming the incarnation, that we are good, loved by God and so we too can discover the good in others and be loving. Then maybe people in our neighborhood will see the collection of animals that make up our church and wonder, “What’s God up to now?” As Christ comes to reign, we can be awakened to a hope, to be something new with God.
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