“THE ONCE AND
FUTURE KING”
THE ADVENT OF
THE KING & HIS KINGDOM
Christ’s Kingdom
of Grace
Adventide
Midweek 3: 18 December Anno + Domini 2014
Fr Jay Watson
SSP
In The Name + of
The King, Christ Jesus
God is awesome, powerful, and omnipotent.
God created all from nothing. [Gen 1.1 ff]
God sustains the vast universes, galaxies, planet earth, and you. But
that doesn’t comfort you much as you age, become daily more infirm, and see
your loved ones die. A transcendent God is a truth that doesn’t wipe away the
tears.
God is King, Judge, and the Fullness of
everlasting life which comes for His own at the end of this time and space—at
the final Advent—when the motion of events changing are taken into the Heavenly
realms of unchanging eternal glory, bliss, and peaceful rest. And it won’t be a
boring or dull stasis but a lively, laughing, and loving mansion-meal of
Mercy! But while that does comfort you
and give you hope and strength, that too is not quite now. It’s close; it’s at the door; it’s shimmering
just over the horizon like a mirage about to become solid and stable…but it
doesn’t take away the emptiness and fear, of children gone astray, unemployment,
addictions, failed marriages, internal turmoils over things you want to
control—but can’t.
You are sinners but you don’t really even
understand that…because you are a sinner. You are Pharisees, I am a Pharisee; you are “old adams” (simul peccator) and so am I.
Would it do any good for me to preach right now each of the 10
Commandments in specificity, look at each of you, and try to mirror your own
personal breaking of said Law in thought, word, and deed—just today? Maybe. Yes. Your newly + washed creation
would grasp the bloody bleeding sinful entrails gushing out of your ripped open
bowels and you would sink to your knees (at least spiritually) and cry with
Bartimaeus, Mary Magdalene, King David, Adam, and Paul “Lord have mercy upon me a sinner!”
But your sinful nature would bristle and “humph” and clench fists in cussed rage over the “other guy”…the one you spend most of
the day hating.
What are you? Why are you? Where are you?
Can anyone save you from this body of decay and damnation? Transcendence in God is not enough.
Why does the sermon bore you: tonight’s and
every Sunday’s? What does it take? Not me, not you, not any deed or devotion,
not any self-chosen work of sanctification—good though they are, and not
anything in this world will save you and give you a sense of wholeness. Advent is hard on people. Every day is hard
on you. Christmas is NOT the most
special time in the world for people, for you, no matter what Coca-Cola, the
NFL, Hallmark, and your past memories cajole, suggest, or demand. It is a time when past remembrances of
perceived ‘better-times’ dredge up
the loss, the dislocation, and the passing of this present evil age.
Okay, now you sigh, “pastor is going to end with some generic Gospel of how Jesus loves me,
kept all that Law for me, suffered and died on the Cross, and is not just for
me but with me—Amen.” Yes. What
else is there for a blood bought Saint but Blood—Blood of God?
The Church IS. You are.
While you want easy, “fixed now,” joy
as you perceive it, semblance of control and well-being, sense of progress, and
damn it…even a small miracle now and then…what do you get—a seeming dark night
of weeping and an ugly tomorrow of everything flying apart at an even faster
break-neck speed. Your center cannot hold.
But
His does. His center was speared through and gushed out Blood and Water. That is His Church washing over you all.
Jesus has His Kingdom of Grace in His Church and its parishes, and that my
friends is all that there is and all that matters. I’m not even sorry that the only answer seems
repetitive and not instantly gratifying.
You suffer and you will suffer. You are daily martyred in spirit and
mayhaps be martyred in body sooner than anyone imagines. The life you live while under the cross—a
phrase that you think is used too often and that you’re frankly tired of
hearing, is your new birthright in His Holy + adoption of you. It too IS!
Sure, too long of a homily for a Thursday
night…too much explication without attending Bible verses…to much “blah blah” “about”
and not enough IS, even after using the word.
Jesus loves you…and you…and…
Jesus is with you, not in spirit and feeling,
but in truth and bodily Presence! You have an imminent God/Man. Jesus is holding you now in your
wetness—tears morphing, changing, into your vine-like new creation’s moist life
of belonging. You are grafted into His very Body in this parish, this Church
of which He is Head and Heart. Jesus
forgives you…now…He forgives you everything. He weeps over your gut-hurt and
your loss. He groans over your loneliness
and illness as much as He groaned over your sins 2,000 years ago on that
hideous and beautiful tree. He loves
over your hate and embraces you tight in this His family, Augsburg now with all
its imperfections and warts, and Heaven soon, very soon. Now is your Advent, soon will be the always
Mass.
Here, this evening, this NOW, you are safe
and home in the only family that really matters…really IS…His Kingdom of Grace.
I love you.
In The Name of The Father and of The + Son and of
The Holy Ghost
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