One of the highlights of my time at Seminary in Berkeley was an "A" grade I was given on a final term paper by a Franciscan Priest and Professor there. The title of this paper was "The Parousia", meaning, End Times. That is, the End Times for our earth, as described in the Bible, primarily in the book of Revelations. Among other things expected to happen during these End Times was the Second Coming of Christ. The Second Coming of Christ is also a major theme in today's Bible readings and will continue to be a major theme as we approach the Advent season and Christmas.
In my Seminary days I was fascinated by thoughts of these End Times, as has been the case with many others throughout history. Perhaps you have also had thoughts about these End Times. And I had my own visions of these events as described in the Bible.
Among the visions I saw was Christ returning to earth in great glory from the sky with all his Angels. I saw the first Resurrection of the souls of the dead from the earth, those who had been faithful to Christ. I saw Christ ruling the earth for a thousand years of peace along with those who had been faithful to him. I saw Satan being tossed into the fiery lake of burning sulphur along with his cohort, the false prophet. I saw the great battle of Armageddon expected to occur in the Middle East between the forces of good and evil. A number of movies have been made about these events and popular books have been written on these subjects. Perhaps you have seen some of these movies or read some of these books.
I also thought about the major events occurring around us at that time as we began to approach the year 2000. There were then, as now, catastrophic events occurring such as earthquakes, famines, floods, and wars, which were supposed to be signs or predictors of the coming of the End Times. Along with many others I wondered if the year 2000 would be the beginning of the End Times. Obviously it was not.
Perhaps you are beginning to wonder why I am talking about these subjects as an introduction to my sermon today. It is because my interests and understandings about the Second Coming of Christ have changed significantly since my Seminary days.
While it is very interesting and exciting to think about the Second Coming of Christ in those catastrophic End Times, I am more excited now about the coming of Christ into our lives each day and every day, and not just a second time, but a third time, a fourth time and many, many times in many different ways through the events of our daily lives.
And what has caused this change in my interests and understanding about these things? It has been changed by a number of key Spiritual experiences in my life, reinforced by new knowledge I have acquired from the writings of several very wise people.
I have spoken to you in the past about several of what I call my "Mountain Top Spiritual Experiences". These were experiences where I perceived that I was in the presence of the Spirit of Christ in a very powerful way. For me each of these experiences was a second, or a third, or a fourth coming of the Lord into my life.
Such a special time for me with the Lord was the first time I attended St. Thomas in 1966. As many visitors do I tried to be very inconspicuous so I sat in the last row in the back of the Church. I had just completed working on a very difficult assignment for my Company in Alaska where I had been under great stress. And suddenly, as I was praying before the service started, I felt surrounded by a wonderful loving presence. It was so marvelous that I began to cry. And as I cried I could feel the heavy burden I had been carrying being removed. I knew in that moment that St. Thomas was the place that the Lord wanted me to be for some purpose, unknown to me at that time. It is interesting that Bill Cowans mentioned in his recent sermon here a similar experience on his first visit to St. Thomas.
A second special time for me with the Lord occurred on my Cursillo many years ago. I was in a prayer workshop on my knees praying with other members of my group when I again felt the wonderful presence of the Lord. It was at this time, that I first realized that God was present in each one of those other men there in that room. This realization of God's presence in others has been a great blessing to me and changed my way of looking at and dealing with the other people in my life.
A third special time for me with the Lord was when I was miraculously and instantaneously healed of bone spurs on both heels of my feet. This healing occurred a long time ago at a Kathryn Kuhlman evangelical service in Oakland. It was through this healing experience that I learned how much the Lord cared for me and my well-being. This healing was an unexpected gift that I had not asked for or expected. For me this was an example of how salvation works with the Lord. It is a love gift from Him to us that is not earned or deserved. And I am ever grateful to the Lord for making this point clear to me.
More recently I have begun to see the presence of the Spirit of God, the same Spirit that was and is present in Jesus, in all of creation, and especially in all human beings. I have received these insights primarily from reading the works of Neale Walsh, Bishop Spong, and Barbara Brown Taylor. Again, I commend these authors to you for your reading. Their books are available in our Church Library. These new views of creation and the idea of the presence of God within all of creation reinforced my own experiences, mentioned above. These new views of creation were also reinforced by many other experiences of mine too numerous to mention here. The idea of a creation in which God puts a part of Himself, that is, a part of his Spirit in each part of creation, including every human being, makes real sense to me. Perhaps God does this so that God Himself can experience the joy of living in His wonderful creation right along with the rest of us.
But what does all of this discussion about the Second Coming of Christ mean? Is it just an academic exercise or can it have meaning for each of us? Can it change our views of the way we view God's creation and all of the creatures within that creation, especially the way we view and treat other human beings? Can it make us more comfortable with our environment and encourage us to take better care of that environment? Can it help us to better understand the events that are taking place around us, events that we perceive to be both good and bad?
I don't know about you, but for me, my belief that the Spirit of God is contained in every part of creation, both animate and inanimate, has changed my life for the better. It has relieved me of many of my tensions about what is going on in my world and in the world around me. This belief has changed my views on the way I see and treat every other human being, regardless of their race, color, creed, nationality, religious tradition or their sexual preferences. It has changed the way I treat the natural environment around me and my enjoyment of that environment. All in all my life has become more of a joy and less of a struggle because of these new understandings.
Perhaps you have had similar experiences and results with the Coming again of the Spirit of Christ into your life. If so, and if you are comfortable with the idea, I invite you to share those experiences with us in our sermon discussion session today right after the service in the Parish Hall, or at some other appropriate time. I anticipate that such sharing would be a wonderful inspiration to each one of us!
Amen