Rev. Kenneth M. Locke, Interim Pastor
Orchard Park Presbyterian Church; Carmel, IN
Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 24:36-44
I hope everyone had a happy, joyful thanksgiving. I hope you were able to gather with those you care about and enjoy some time together. We all have much to be thankful for. We all have personal concerns and worries, of course, but we also have much for which we should give thanks.
I’m sure some of us got up on Wednesday morning and said, “Hmm. Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving. What should I do? Should I cook something? Maybe hangout with some friends?”
Many of us must have looked up a week ago and said, “Wow. Next week’s Thanksgiving. I should do something. I wonder if anyone I know will be celebrating?”
I am certain many of us started weeks ago devising a perfect vision in our heads of our dream Thanksgiving. The emails and phone calls started, and you negotiated which kinds of pie and how many kinds of stuffing and who would host this year and what time you would eat. Were any of you like that? Did you have a vision, a dream Thanksgiving in your mind and by golly you were going to make it happen! Anyone like that?
I suspect quite a few of us, maybe more than we want to admit.
But what if we didn’t know what day Thanksgiving would be? Hmm? Then what? What if all we knew was someday there would be a huge celebration with food and friends? But no one knew exactly when. One day this vision would be real, but no one knew when. Would we still make plans? Would we look forward to it?
As Christians, we know God has a vision for our future. God has a dream of what our future should look like. And we as Christians should work towards that vision. We should aspire towards that vision to make it happen. It’s an old vision. The details change from generation to generation, but the general shape remains the same. The prophet Isaiah shares his version with us:
They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
Today we might say, Tanks will be transformed into tractors and missile silos will become silos for grain. And all the soldiers will go home.
We’ve talked about this: God’s Shalom. Peace, but more than peace. A life where everyone has enough and no one has to be afraid. Everyone has enough, and no one has to be afraid. This is God’s great vision for humanity.
As Christians, we know this time will come. This vision will be fulfilled when Jesus returns. Someday, this dream will no longer be an aspiration; it will be a reality when Jesus returns in glory.
But, as Jesus makes clear, no one knows when that day will be. It may not be in our lifetime, or 1,000 lifetimes, or even in 100,000 lifetimes. No one has a clue, except God alone, when this dream future will be fulfilled.
In the meantime, then, what do we do? Do we forget about it? Do we remember it but sit on our hands? Do we get on with life like the people in Noah’s time?
People were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.
Do we just ignore God’s vision and get on with life?
No. Of course not. That’s not what we do. Until Jesus returns we worship God with joy. We pray powerful prayers. We sing beautiful hymns that move our souls. We change people’s lives with our ministries, constantly on the alert for chances to make Shalom as real on earth as it is in heaven.
God’s Shalom: Everyone has enough food, drink, medical care, housing, friends, human touch, love, purpose, peace of mind.
No one has to be afraid of random violence, political violence, domestic violence, losing their job unjustly, discrimination, losing their purpose in life.
During Advent, these four weeks of preparation before Christmas, we tend to look backwards, back towards Baby Jesus, the manger, the angels singing to the shepherds.
And this is a good thing. Looking back matters. We renew our belief in how much God loves us. Looking back energizes us to look forward and stay active, joyfully embracing the dream, empowering the vision, aspiring to make the Kingdom of God as real on earth as it is in heaven. The time when swords are turned into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks. The time when everyone has enough, and no one has to be afraid.
This is God’s vision. This is our vision. May we all delight in making it real. Amen.
