We live in an “in-between” time, the time between
Jesus’ first coming to inaugurate the Kingdom of God and when he comes again to
bring the Kingdom in its fullness, a day which culminates in resurrection and
creation being made new. The Christian
Gospel, contrary to popular belief, is not about how we get to heaven when we
die. It is ultimately about God’s reign breaking
in from heaven and coming to earth culminating with Jesus’ return. Jesus was indeed being quite literal when he
taught us to pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done…where?...on earth as it
is in heaven.” This passage that we read
here from Luke points us towards that event, that day.
Granted Jesus says what he says in as weird a way as
he could say it with these images of eclipses (signs in the moon and sun and
stars), roaring seas, the shaking of the heavens amidst times of great anxiety,
confusion, and cosmic upheaval. Now,
don’t worry. I’m not going to go freaky
on you. These images are what we could
call apocalyptic code phrases. There was
a genre of literature popular in Jesus’ day (of which the Book of Revelation
is) that Bible scholars have dubbed “Apocalyptic.” It was a way of talking about political
things in public that wouldn’t get you in trouble. What you did was use coded images that your
community of faith understood the meaning of but those in power did not.
If Jesus were to say outright that the God of the
Jews was going to put an end to Caesar and his false reign, he would in turn be
tried for treason and leading a revolt and sentenced to crucifixion. Since Jesus couldn’t say that outright he
uses this apocalyptic imagery to make his point to his disciples. Eclipses
represent divine acting and judgment upon those in power. The roaring of the seas is the chaos among
people that erupts when regimes fall.
The shaking of the heavens is the catastrophic changing and dismantling
of institutions that people believe will never change, things like empires,
banking institutions, democracy, marriage, the Church, etc.
One of the deeper points that Jesus makes here that
is cloaked behind the imagery is that when the Kingdom draws near, when God
does indeed act in history things on earth get quite wonky. To say this in a more personal way, great
teachers of Christian spirituality past and present often remark that when God
is trying to draw near to us personally as individuals or draw us closer to
himself his doing so causes turmoil and trying times in our lives but then having come through those times we come to realize that we have grown in faith
and been changed to be more Christ-like.
This happens for whole congregations as well. And what Jesus is indicating here is that
this happens for nations and all of humanity.
When God draws near things get wonky and so Jesus says “Now when
these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your
redemption is drawing near,…you know that the Kingdom of God is near.”
He also says that we should pray so that we may have
the strength to escape the turmoil of the Kingdom drawing near and in turn stand
in his presence. It is my experience
that we simply don’t get the importance of prayer. We are very utilitarian about it as opposed
to seeing it as the very foundation of living these lives that God has
entrusted to us. The popular Christian
author Oswald Chambers who wrote My Utmost for His Highest once said, ““Prayer
does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.” We pray before doing things rather than
understanding that prayer is what we are always called to be doing. We are to live as those devoted to prayer,
like monks and nuns.
I bet you didn’t know it, but our Reformation roots
hold that the everyday believer should live a life as devoted to prayer as any
monk or nun supposedly does. One of John
Calvin’s main tasks of ministry was to attempt to take the prayer-filled life
that he had observed behind the walls of convents and monasteries and make it
the way of life for the ordinary Christian.
Inside the walls of the monastery, the monks rose very early for morning
prayer in which they prayed and read Psalms, and then ate and worked. At mid-morning they prayed and read Psalms again. The around midday they had worship with
communion and then worked some more. In
mid-afternoon they prayed and read Psalms again. In the evening they had vespers and then
again before bed they prayed and read Psalms.
Then at some point in the middle of the night they rose again to pray and
read Psalms. They also studied at some
point in the day as well. Roman Catholic
priests follow something called the Liturgy of Hours which follows this
schedule and if followed, you will have prayed through all of the Psalms in a
forty day period and also read a good chunk of the Bible in a year. Calvin and others did not see why one had to
live in a monastery to follow this routine of prayer. Give it a shot.
There is another aspect of the life devoted to prayer
that is not so routine-ish and needs mentioning. Paul said, “Pray without ceasing,” and so
many people try to train their minds to do just that. Training the mind is crucial to living a sane
and peaceful life. If we do not choose
to discipline our minds with prayer, we essentially let ourselves suffer or
wallow in all forms of unhealthy thinking.
Therefore, the biggest part of living a devoted Christian life is
disciplining our minds to pray and the rest of the Christian life will take
care of itself and blossom. Here’s a few
suggestions on how to do that.
In the
Eastern Orthodox tradition they have the Jesus Prayer which they try to pray
continually throughout the day. “Lord
Jesus Christ have mercy on me.” They
will pray that prayer over and over.
Many carry a rosary with them to keep them mindful of the task. I’ve attempted this and can honestly say that
once established in it you will find that it becomes a rhythm or even a song in
the back of your mind that you just pray automatically. There’s a book called The Way of the
Pilgrim that chronicles the life of an anonymous peasant as he learns to
discipline himself to pray the prayer. I
recommend you find and read it. You can
do this with the Lord’s Prayer as well.
Similar to this is a method of prayerful Bible study
called Lectio Divina. It involves taking
a verse of Scripture, memorizing it, and disciplining yourself to pray it
continually. I once did this verse by
verse with the Sermon on the Mount a few years back. It took 140 some days and I finished with a
deeper knowing of Jesus’ personality especially his non-judgemental and
forgiving side.
Another way one might take down this road of
continual prayer is the practice of the presence of God. There was a Franciscan monk named Brother
Lawrence who lived in the 1700’s who wrote a book chronicling his attempt to be
aware of the presence of Jesus with him at all times. Its title is The Practice of the Presence
of God. This practice was something
I discovered back in my university days when one day it became inseparably
clear to me that Jesus is with me always.
No prayers to be said, no bargains to be made, and even if I am in the
midst of sinning, he is with me. When
Paul wrote in Romans 8 that nothing can separate us from the love of God in
Jesus Christ he was not speaking of a metaphysical idea or some sort of
conclusion that he arrived at by reason.
He was speaking of the unconditionally loving presence of Jesus with us
through the Holy Spirit always.
Well, why all this talk about prayer? Well, read the news. With all that’s going on in the world the
Kingdom of God is obviously drawing near.
Things are wonky to say the least. Stand up.
Watch lest you miss something really wonderful that God is doing. But moreso…we Christians have a role to play
in the drawing near of the Kingdom. Hope
comes alive in and through people who pray.
True strength, true grit, comes in and through prayer. I know from my own spiritual journey my struggles have
been easier and I have grown as a person in Christ in the times that I have
been a praying man. Living as prayerful people in prayerful community is how
God creates healing grounds in this anxious and confused world. Jesus is breaking into the world with his
Kingdom. Prayer-filled Christian
community is where he and his kingdom are most evident. Friends, pray. This world needs us to be praying. Amen.
