Wait, watch, work

"The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"

I know you think I am quoting Chicken Little, but really, I am paraphrasing the 13th chapter of Mark where Jesus is pointing us to a time when it is all coming together.....or all coming apart depending on your perspective.  It is the point in time when God re-establishes a new heaven and a new earth, Jesus comes in glory, all is in all, and apparently the world is going to turned upside down.  Following the way of Jesus will no longer be an option, it will be the only way and those who have turned their backs on the call from heaven will find themselves somehow left out of the Lord's glory.

Now, your first question might be "What exactly is this going to look like?"  Your post-enlightenment brain will begin to list all the scientific objections to the implausibility of Mark's description.  Your human defense mechanisms will kick into gear and try to discern places or positions of safety.  Our legal brain will begin developing the case for our worthiness.  Then the great cynicism will overtake all the others and we will dismiss this picture as fanciful.

Well, call it fanciful if you like.....and in fact, it is intended as more of a poetic vision than a paint-by-number description.......but it is there in Mark, and Matthew and Luke.  It is at the core of the biblical witness:  there will be a moment in time when God brings all the dithering of this way of life to an end and a new earth will begin.  Some scholars and theologians believe this means a return to the Garden of Eden (which, BTW, is not a place but a concept of a time and locale where God's reign is total and life is at its fullest).  Jesus tells us he will come again in glory. The second resurrection or great resurrection will occur for the faithful. This isn't the first or last time people of faith have pointed to a revelation of God's rule in a time of wholeness and life.

Except none of us knows when this is going to happen; even Jesus said only the Father knows.  May be tomorrow.  May be next week.  May be 1000 years from now.  But it is going to happen.

If you have no interest in the kingdom of God, in the way of life that Jesus taught or in the kind of community that Jesus formed in his own body, then I expect you haven't even read this far.  However, if you are with me here, then go back to whatever you were doing.

However, if you have heard the voice of the Creator in Jesus, if you have encountered new life in the proclamation of forgiveness, if you have been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and long for a time when these experiences are more than temporary and fleeting........then your question might be  What do I do now?  How do I prepare for this coming time?

Our preacher Sunday gave us a wonderfully easy answer to remember.  Wait. Watch. Work.  We wait with anticipation the coming of the Lord....like we would if we were waiting for dinner guests to arrive, we keep checking out the window, while continually preparing for their arrival.  We wait......with anticipation.

We watch for opportunities.  These are opportunities to make straight the path for the coming Lord.  We do the work of the coming kingdom:  feeding the hungry, protecting the weak, confessing our brokenness, reconciling with enemies, forgiving others.  We watch for opportunities to complete our own 'bucket list' of kingdom preparation.

We work.  We work at telling the story of this returning Lord, inviting others into a relationship and community that brings them and us life.  We work until the last moment bringing the message of God's desire for the wholeness of creation and Jesus' invitation to each of us.

Wait. Watch. Work.  That's what we do in the meantime, in the advent of our Lord.