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In the Biblical worldview, 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 way bigger than 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, Creation being made anew, resurrection, a great setting of things to right,…and “He shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.” 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.”
Our reading here from Luke known as Jesus’ Little Apocalypse 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. These things sound so big and scary.
But, 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 that Bible scholars have dubbed “Apocalyptic.” The word means “to reveal or unveil”. The Book of Revelation is the best-known example. It was a way of talking in public about political things current to their day that wouldn’t get you in trouble. What you did was use coded images that your community of faith knew 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 rightly sentenced to crucifixion. Since Jesus couldn’t say such a thing outright he used 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, and even the Church.
One of the deeper points that Jesus makes here that is cloaked behind the imagery is that when the Kingdom draws near, when God draws near to 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 draws near to us personally as individuals or draws us closer to himself, turmoil and trying times erupt in our lives and having come through those times we come to realize that we have grown in faith and been changed to be more Christ-like, but most of all, we’re just more aware of God’s presence with us. 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.”
When God draws near, anxious times erupt. It goes without saying that things are pretty anxious at present. Economic concerns, the instability in the American political situation, the threat of a tariff war with the U.S., wars in the Middle East in which it seems like every step forward towards peace becomes a major disheartening and scary disappointment. Changes in climate where storms are getting more severe. Wildfires here and wildfires there. We don’t feel it’s safe to let our children go out and run and play like we did as kids. Anxiety, depression, and addiction are at epidemic levels. All the while, for several decades now people have been abandoning the Christian faith left and right. This may sound weird, but when God draws near we can safely say that the powers of darkness that are just out there behind the scenes can be expected to become all the more aggressive in lies and violence and orchestrating those things that come out of left field. Jesus’ message here is when crazy overwhelming stuff is happening instead of burying our heads in the sands of anxiety, despair, and disillusionment, stand up and look around because God is somewhere in the midst of it. God is drawing near to us, so we need to draw near to him.
Anxious times are the sign that we need to draw near to God because, and though it may not seem like it at face value, God is drawing near to us. Jesus asks us to pray so that we may have the strength to escape the turmoil of the Kingdom drawing near and in turn find ourselves standing in his presence.
It is my experience that we simply don’t get the importance of prayer. In anxious times mostly what we see is people complaining, scapegoating people who are different, abandoning the faith, placing their hope in authoritarian figures. We will do anything besides develop a deeper, more disciplined prayer life in which we open ourselves up to God’s presence. When God draws near we need to draw near to God, but our inclination is to do completely the opposite; flee and become disillusioned and deceived. There is a war going on right now and our only weapon is prayer.
Prayer is the very foundation of living the 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 called to be doing always. 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 does. One of John Calvin’s main tasks of ministry in the Swiss city of Geneva where he pastored 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. Then 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. Calvin thought that all Christians, not just monks and nuns should follow that sort of a routine of prayer.
The Apostle Paul said, “Pray without ceasing.” 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. Months ago, we did a series on the Lord’s Prayer and I encouraged you to try to pray it continuously.
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 more so…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 that my struggles have been easier and I have grown as a person in Christ in the times that I have been a praying person. Living as prayerful people in a 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 right now needs us to be praying. Amen.
