3rd Sunday of Advent 11.12.11 Emerging joy
Whatever our age we have never seen the world looking as it should – according to the prophecies - swords turned into ploughshares, lion and lamb playing together etc.
Instead we have suicide bombers, murders, cruelty, and all manner of such things. It is fairly obvious the world is not what it should be.
Yet we are told to rejoice! How can we sing the songs of the Lord in a strange land, as the Israelites once asked? How can we be happy when so much is wrong around us?
We have never experienced the world the way it is supposed to be. The crucial point of decision is do we despair of things ever being better? Or do we believe it really is possible to have a better world and we work towards it? Despair or Hope? Which way do we go?
To believe in something we have never seen is difficult, but with sufficient grace and signs along the way it is possible.
We may never have seen such a world but it does exist already: in Heaven. Fine, we might say, but that is out of our reach.
No, the life of heaven intermingles with life here. We can claim some share of heaven whenever we pray. If we pray, thy kingdom come, some of it does come.
Also it is comforting to know that there is a place which is all good and only good things happen there. This tells us at least on principle that goodness can exist unopposed.
There is not some law of nature that a certain amount of things must go wrong, or that a certain number of people must be bad.
Our task then is to bring more goodness into this world. There is no shortage of it; just a shortage here.
We are not just wishing for better things. We have the means to make it happen, the power of Christ working in us and through us, transforming us within, changing the way we think; giving us the capacity to love, to suffer, to persevere.
We can claim the joy in two ways:
One, by getting the little things right. By seeking to do everything according to His will. We might think this is a very slow way of healing the world, but it is a good thing to do anyway, and if it caught on there would be massive transformation.
Take the simple example of voting. One vote does not mean much but millions of ‘one votes’ do. Everything we do, for good or evil, affects the whole world. We make the world better every time we get something right according to the will of God.
The other way we can claim the joy is to realize that God holds all the aces. He has the power to make things right if we will not do it first. So He reserves the right to come again and claim His creation. He will come to judge the living and the dead. All evil will disappear before Him. All good will be rewarded.
He will return either way, with or without public support. If we do welcome Him He will probably come sooner and much more happily for all concerned.
Meanwhile the crucial thing for us is to believe, hope, and trust no matter what the present circumstances.
If we have hope we have joy. Not the joy of grinning from ear to ear or dancing in the street, but a deep-rooted joy that will enable us to persevere through difficulties, ironing out our faults, encouraging each other – a serene joy that will sustain us until things actually do get better.
Come, Lord Jesus. Come into our hearts; come into our world.
No comments:
Post a Comment