A sermon preached at Kowloon
Union Church on Sunday 30
November 2014, First
Sunday in Advent, by the Rev. Phyllis
Wong. The scripture readings that day were Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Corinthian 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37.
Opening prayer:
Dear God, we thank
you for the full presence in our life and the hope given through Jesus Christ.
May your word inspire us and transform us to become more like Christ. May the
Holy Spirit guide us to walk in Your way of truth.
May the word of my
mouth, the meditation of my heart be pleasing and acceptable to you, my God,
our personal savior and liberator of all. Amen.
Introduction
Today we have started
the season of Advent according to the church liturgical year. It marks the beginning of the Church liturgical
year.
The word “advent” derives from the word adventus meaning “coming” or “arrival”. The Latin
translation of the Greek word parousia, a reference to the Second Coming
of Jesus Christ, the Lord.
Therefore, the season of
Advent serves as a dual reminder of the original waiting that was done by the Hebrews
for the birth of their Messiah, as well as the waiting for the second coming of Jesus
Christ by Christians today.
In about a month from
now, 2014 will come to an end.
Looking back on this
year, there were many events big and small, that happened in Hong Kong and in the
world.
In March, Malaysian airline flight MH
370 carrying 239 passengers and crew went missing on their routine flight to
Beijing and eight months later we still have no idea what happened to the plane
and the passengers. Disaster struck again to another Malaysian airline flight
MH 17, shot down over eastern Ukraine in July killing
all 298 passengers and crew onboard.
In May this year, over 200 girls were abducted
from their Christian school by Islamic extremists and being forced into
marriage or slavery, and despite a lot of media coverage and outcry, they are
still missing.
In
late September, 43 teacher college students went on a protest against drug crimes
in Guerrero in Mexico and then disappeared. Recently they have been declared
legally dead. Their disappearance has provoked outrage and has led to the Mexico
President declaring a national anti-crime campaign.
On 9 August,
Michael Brown, a black young man, was shot dead by a white policeman. The case
has aroused a lot of racial tension and even amidst the recent riots over this
shooting, another 12-year old black boy has been shot dead by another policeman
in Nov.
In September, the Umbrella
Movement in HK begins to strive for genuine universal suffrage. The Movement
has impressed the world because of its peaceful and self-refrained manner
demonstrated by the protestors seeking for democracy. But it is sad though that
the government does not response constructively to the widely expressed
concerns. The police have used excessive violence against the peaceful
protesters. The
movement has taken place for two months. There is no sign of resolution and is
a bit stuck at the moment. Dialogue between the government and the student
representatives has gone to a deadlock. The Umbrella movement has created a lot
of divisions and conflicts within family, work place, church and society at large.
Broken relationships are yet to be healed and reconciled. The fight for genuine
universal suffrage that affirms equal rights of everyone and to avoid misuse of
power remains a rough and tough battle in Hong Kong.
Advent, which starts
four weeks before Christmas, is traditionally a season of quiet and joyful
expectation of the coming of Christ.
Where is joy and hope
in the midst of all these human tragedies and injustice?
Are these tragedies
and human sufferings signs of the coming of the Lord who will come to judge and
save the world?
The gospel reading
taken from Mark today, enlightens us to learn about the coming of the Lord (the
Son of Man), the sign of the fig tree that reveals his coming and Jesus’ warning
-- to be watchful and to keep awake upon his coming.
Jesus warned his disciples to ‘keep
awake’ in waiting for the coming of the Lord.
Keep awake is a shift from control to ‘letting go’
The end comes without any warning. No one know when the Son of the Lord
be coming. The angel does not know even the son does not know either. Only God
the Father knows. Coming of the Lord is
a mystery and it is totally in God’s hands. We have to recognize that God is
the one who take the initiative and make things happen. God is God of sovereignty.
In the tragedies I mentioned, we still don’t know what happened to
MH370, we still don’t know when the abducted school girls can be returned to
their families, we don’t know when justice will come. But we know they are all
in God’s hands. We have to learn to let go of our desire to be in control. We
need to learn to accept that many things will remain mysteries to us.
From passive waiting
to hopeful waiting
The second paradigm shift I would like to say about ‘Keep awake’ is from
passive waiting to hopeful waiting with active participation.
Jesus used a parable about a master
who leaves home and assigns to his slaves works to do. He then asks the
doorkeeper to be on the watch. As there is no idea when the master will come
back, all the servants have to keep awake.
Waiting without a time frame could be
a torture. Waiting would be terribly unbearable if we do nothing in the process
of waiting. You may have experienced these – waiting for an exam result, baby
to be born, a beloved is dying…
Advent, is a time of waiting for the coming of the
Lord. Waiting, however, is not
passive inaction. On the contrary, waiting is taken as active participation of
here and now which induce implication for future.
Like the slaves and door keeper in the parable, we
are all God’s servants and called to do God’s work. Each one of us has assigned
a role and we have to take our responsibility to work according to the will of God.
We all have a part to play in God’s world.
‘To keep awake’ is a shift from passive waiting to hopeful
waiting by actively engaging in God’s Kingdom of justice and peace. We wait
actively, with action, patience and humility.
Advent is
a season for prophecy, calling on us to repent, prepare, and be ever watchful.
Isaiah is an
important prophet in ancient Israel to proclaim the coming of the Messiah who
saved the Israelites and brought to them a new heaven and new earth. (Isaiah
65)
From the Book of Isaiah
64:1-9, Isaiah prophesized that God took the initiative to meet with his people
and to meet with the righteous. Although there are times the people turn away
from God, Isaiah affirmed that God’s relationship is forever there. Whenever
the people repent and turn to God, the steadfast love God will heal and
forgive. One emphasis of Isaiah’s prophetic message is to affirm the covenant
relationship between God and his people the Israelites. In Isaiah’s prayer to
God, he said:
“Yet , O Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay,
and you are our potter; we are the work of your hands. Do not be exceedingly
angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.”
(64:9-9b)
The prophetic words
have given us light today. We are people of God as we are created in his holy
image. We are forever God’s people only if we acknowledge this relationship. If
we don’t turn to God, we have nothing to do with God and God’s kingdom. The
coming of the Lord has no meaning to us.
God is a righteous
God. As Isaiah pointed out in his prayer and dialogue with God: “You meet those gladly do right, those who
remember you in your ways.” (64:5)
The prophetic message
of Isaiah inspires us today: a deep knowledge and understanding about the
coming of the Lord. When we are doing righteous and walk in God’s way, God will
meet with us and we will be with God.
Coming of the Lord is
thus not about prediction. It is never a scare tactic to control believers and
to make sure that they behave themselves without doing wrong.
Coming of the Lord is
about doing righteous and remember God and his ways. God reveals himself in
Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. Whenever we
follow Christ’ way by leading a life of love, forgiveness and sacrifice, God is
with us. And we are in God.
Coming of the Lord is
a mystery. It involves many complicated theological discourse such as “eschatological
hope, already but not yet”. This sounds a bit difficult to people who don’t
have formal theological training.
Yes, the Coming of
the Lord is a mystery on the one hand. On the other hand, the mystery of the
coming of the Lord is this: at the very moment when we engage in a Godly life with
Jesus Christ, to live a life of faith, hope, justice, peace, joy and love, the
Lord has come in us.
Although
there are a lot of problems yet to be solved and the occupy movement has
created a lot of tensions in the society. The beauty and success of the
Umbrella Movement that I find is this: the people of Hong Kong – young and old,
men and women, professors and van drivers (people of different socio-economic
status), have demonstrated their courage and determination to strive for
democracy and demand for an equal and just society which allow people to share
power and resources that may improve the lives of many. Another aspect of the occupy movement that touches
my heart deeply is the goodness of the people that manifests. I found peace, love,
generous sharing, mutual support and care amongst the people in the occupy
areas. Many people who have experienced it regarded Occupy Admiralty a heaven
on earth. In my point of view, this is the sign and image of the coming of the
Lord.
In the
season of Advent, we are called to ‘Keep awake’. Keep awake is a paradigm shift
– a challenge to our existing belief. Sisters and brothers, in the season of
Advent, ‘keep awake’.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, November 30, 2014
