Three Years Later: Adventure is the True Meaning of Advent
A reflection on the spiritual evolution of
humanity, past, present, and cyber-future.
Today was the First Sunday in Advent, which we
celebrated at my church, Trinity Episcopal Church of St. Louis, MO. I had a
really marvelous and uplifting experience there, and I want to report and
reflect on this. Three years ago in 2005, just after I began blogging through
iBlog software, I wrote a series of six reflections spaced throughout the season
of Advent, which is constituted by the four Sundays before Christmas. I just
went back an re-read these reflections, because I wanted to make sure that I
wasn't going to unduly repeat something I had already said. And I AM quite
pleased with the nature of my past thinking, which is reasonably articulate and
quite representative of my current thinking. However, unlike Advent, 2005, which
was in some sense a true spiritual journey for me, Advent 2008, much to my
surprise, has just grabbed me and cuddled me like a baby. I never expected this.
Let me tell you a little about it.So
let us enter into the realm of science fiction. Christianity is an earth
religion, which like other earth religions, offers a view into the nature of
humanity and humanity's relationship to what created it. Christianity also
offers a path of evolution for humanity, a way that each human being can help
something called the "Kingdom of God" to come into full being. In traditional
Christianity, the Advent celebrates a season of anticipation: Mary, a virgin,
gave birth to God in the human form of Jesus Christ, who died for the sins of
humanity, who rose from the dead, and who will come a second time to establish
God's kingdom on earth. What is perhaps less clear to people is that the earth
religion, Christianity, is still in a state of evolution, a characteristic it
shares with all other full-fledged earth religions. It seems clear to me that
what all these religions, including Christianity, are evolving towards, is a
single, unified outlook. In this future time, all human beings will regard each
other as children of the same God, and will treat each other with the same
loving, caring reverence that God's children ought to receive. In this future
time, the resonance and harmony created by the mutual love and respect of people
for each other will create a new plateau and new dimensions to human experience.
Life on that lofty plateau and in those dimensions will be heavenly. The Kingdom
of God which we anticipate in Advent is exactly life on that lofty, far-away
plateau, life in those now shrouded, even hidden
dimensions.Clearly, what is here in
December, 2008 is a miserable reflection of the Kingdom of God. Today, we are
still crusading to kill others who do not agree with us, even as the Catholic
Church has crusaded down through the ages, spilling into the Holocaust in the
Twentieth Century. It is a miracle that cynicism can be staunched at all in the
face of such an opposition to mutual love and respect. But this Advent, I will
staunch my cynicism and enter into the New Advent-ure that I dimly perceive
before me and my neighbors. I am not better than the least of my enemies, and
they are legion. I am not better than my Christian high school friend who
tirelessly campaigned to support Proposition 8 in California. I am not on a more
preferred path to God than the Jews in my play-reading group. I am not more
sensible than the muslim suicide bombing woman who blows herself up to kill two
others. I am not on a better path than the Nigerian Archbishops in the Global
South. If I deny that these people are beloved of God—just as they
are—I am not taking my active role in bringing to this earth the Kingdom
of God.Today we read that famous
passage from Mark's "Little Apocalypse" which is worth repeating here, because I
am going to give my own metaphorical interpretation of its
meaning.Mark
13:24-3724“But
in those days, after that suffering,the sun
will be darkened,and the moon will not give
its
light,25and
the stars will be falling from heaven,and
the powers in the heavens will be
shaken.26Then
they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and
glory.
27Then
he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the
ends of the earth to the ends of
heaven.28“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.
29So
also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the
very gates.
30Truly
I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken
place.
31Heaven
and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass
away.32“But
about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but only the Father.
33Beware,
keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.
34It
is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in
charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.
35Therefore,
keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in
the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn,
36or
else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.
37And
what I say to you I say to all: Keep
awake.”This passage, written
nearly two millennia ago, for all its pre-scientific and earthy imagery,
contains some remarkably prescient content. I don't think Mark had the
intellectual or cultural tools to express the evolution of a
cyberspace-augmented humanity, and yet a core truth is in here. Never mind that
the clouds may turn out to be cyber-clouds, the angels may be bots, or that the
slaves have been freed two centuries ago, or that the elect from the four
corners of the earth may be gathered through on-line conferencing. Make no
mistake, there will be wars and rumors of wars, and perhaps a meteor shower or
two. Global warming will get worse before it gets better. Never mind that the
Son of Man may be straight out of Childhood's End. Never mind that we may not
even call it the "Kingdom of God." Our Future is Coming, our entry into those
lofty and heavenly dimensions of siblingly love. We should stay awake. We should
never fall asleep to the possibility that God is Love through Us. This is an
Advent-ure that I can embrace and look forward
to.By the way, in case you might want
to sample them, here are the 2005
reflections:* My
Heart Is A Stable* Second
Sunday in Advent* To
Tree Or Not To Tree, That Is The
Question* Who
Is The King?* In
What Sense Did Jesus Die For Our
Sins?* The
True Meaning of Advent
Posted: Sun - November 30, 2008 at 06:34 PM Of Course It's Boring, Idiot What in God's Name? Previous Next Feedback |
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Published On: Mar 18, 2009 10:50 AM
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