Today is the beginning of a new year. In the church, the first Sunday of Advent is always new year's day. The green season of Sundays after Pentecost is finished. We now start to remember the great cycle of events from the birth to the resurrection of Jesus, which we observe in Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent and Easter. We begin today the third year of our lectionary, our cycle of readings. It is Year C, which means we will read from the Gospel of St. Luke for 12 months.

In the Episcopal Church, our focus in Advent is preparation for the two comings: as much for the second coming of Christ in glory, as for the first coming of Christ in humility. We do not sing Christmas carols during this season of preparation, and we try to avoid the holiday frenzy, by taking time for reflection and contemplation. This means we are struggling against secular culture, standing with one foot in Advent, and wherever we go, standing with the other foot in the 2 month long Holiday season. Even if we ourselves wait to celebrate Christmas until the 12 days that begin on the 24th, we'll be buying or making gifts, receiving Christmas cards, and being invited to Christmas parties and events. So I tend to feel pulled in opposite directions by church and culture, and maybe you do too.

That sense of being pulled in two directions is heightened by today's emphasis on the second coming of Christ in glory. Our Gospel reading is one of many prophecies that Jesus made, of events that will happen in the end times. Such events and prophecies are called apocalyptic, because they will reveal or disclose truths that have previously been hidden. In today's Gospel Jesus spoke of fear and distress caused by signs in the sun and moon, which will precede that day when the Son of Man comes on the clouds with power and glory. All our hymns for the 10:30 service: "Lo He Comes with Clouds Descending" and "Wake Awake a Voice Is Sounding" reinforce this theme. So I feel drawn into the Biblical witness to a second coming. But I am also pulled away from the second coming by Christians whose interpretations of these prophecies is misguided, distasteful, and unchristian.

We have all seen cartoons of a man holding a sign that says, "the end of the world at hand". And we may have heard testmonies from Jehovah's Witnesses, or others, which emphasize the end-times and the judgment. I believe this emphasis is misguided because it makes the last judgment the central message of the Gospel. In the Left Behind novels written by Tim LaHaye, and in the interpretations of some fundamentalists, I find three major flaws. The first is that they misunderstand the symbolic character of these prophecies, which were never intended as literal descriptions. The authors from Daniel to Enoch to Jesus, are using images and symbols to convey ideas. Second, there is an unchristian enjoyment taken in the deaths of unbelievers, which I believe is entirely foreign to Jesus, who gave his whole attention to the lost sheep of Israel, and wept over Jerusalem. And third, it elevates a single verse from I Thessalonians (4:17), about believers being caught up to heaven in a rapture, to the level of doctrine. The idea of a rapture makes the promise of resurrection, and a new earth, irrelevant. Frankly, I don't want to be mistaken for someone who beieves such things, so I am tempted to turn away from these prophecies.

What I want to do today, is first to take a careful look at how St. Luke presents this prophecy; second, to tell you what I think it might mean for us. and third, to say what we should do about it. I begin by reminding myself and you that it is impossible to know exactly what Jesus meant, despite the recent book of that title by Garry Wills. What we can do is to keep reading the New Testament, continue to study and discuss it, and trust that our understanding will grow. My own understanding of the second coming is certainly different today that it was 10 years ago. What I understand today is the likelehood that the coming of God's kingdom began on Pentecost with the descent of the Holy Spirit. Let me explain why.

The Gospel of St. Luke was probably written around 85 AD, 55 years after the resurrection, 20 years after the martyrdom of St. Paul, and 15 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. It was probably written by a Gentile convert to Christianity, and it is a two volume work, the second volume being the Acts of the Apostles. It was intentionally written for a wide audience, which it clear from its use of standard literary format, and its concern to place events in the context of Roman history. We read an example of this every Christmas: "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be registered . . . when Quirinius was governor of Syria" (Lk 2:1-2). Furthermore, St. Luke seems to have a theory of history, or really a theology of history. He believes there are three epochs or divisions of time: the epoch of the law and the prophets, which lasted from Abraham to John the Baptist; the epoch of the Messiah, which began with Jesus' sermon in the synagogue in Nazareth, and ended with the Ascension of Jesus, and the epoch of God's kingdom, which began on Pentecost, and continues today.

It seems that St. Luke is very much focussed on the fulfillment of prophecy, especially the prophecies of the end-times. If you compare his two books, you will see that near the beginning of each one there is a prophetic event, interpreted by a sermon, telling that this event fulfills apocalyptic expectations. In his Gospel, the event is in chapter 4, when Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth, and was given Isaiah's prophecy to read--the one about bringing good news to the poor and proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor. In the sermon after the reading, Jesus said, "today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (4:21). That event begins the epoch of the Messiah. Parallel to that, in chapter 2 of Acts, is the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples in the upper room. In his sermon just after that happened, Peter said that Joel's prophecy, that in the last days the Spirit would be poured out, has just been fulfilled (Acts 2:14-21).

Now, it seems likely that St. Luke is deliberately separating the beginning of God's kingdom, from the return of Jesus in glory. In today's Gospel, we hear a description of the return of Jesus, which apparently comes after the destruction of the Temple, and of Jerusalem. Since St. Luke was writing AFTER the destruction of Jerusalem, and since Jesus had not yet returned, this presented a problem for St. Luke and for the early church. St. Luke solved this problem by saying that God's reign had begun at Pentecost, but that the return of Jesus was in the future. If this idea seems obvious to you, that is because St. Luke's solution was accepted by the church, and we have not thought to question it.

What does this mean for us today? First, it means that we are living in the epoch of God's reign, BUT it is a reign that is still not revealed to the whole world. God's reign is the mustard seed growing secretly; it is operative wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in Jesus' name; it is operative wherever the hungry are fed, and the poor are clothed, and prisoners are visited. So the reign of God is not a state or a structure of governance, it is a dynamic process powered by faith in Jesus, by love of neighbor, and by the amazing energy given us by the Holy Spirit. Second, it means that this prophecy of the return of the Son of Man in glory is yet to be fulfilled. It is our hope that some day all that is evil and degrading and unfair and hurtful in our world will be put to rights. We have wonderful images of that time in the prophecies of Isaiah, and in the last chapter of the Bible, about the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. And therefore as these words of Jesus in our Gospel reading urge, and as the whole season of Advent announces, we are in a time of waiting and preparation. How shall we prepare? What shall we do?

You already know the first things to do, because I say them often. Read the Gospels at home. If you are here every Sunday for a year, you will not hear the whole Gospel of Luke, because we don't read whole chapters. So find out what Jesus said that you've missed! Spend time in prayer and meditation. Gospel reading and prayer are the two most important ways to become a friend of Jesus. Beyond that, I encourage you to take up the work of reconciliation. Ask yourself if you need to give, or receive forgiveness from anyone in your life, today or in the past. An even bigger step might be to forgive yourself for things you have done, or not done; after all, God has already forgiven you. Help the needy, and while you're at it, look for Christ's presence in the least and the lost. Be generous with your opinions, your time and your money. Make a deliberate effort to slow down the pace of your life, so that you can truly savor the beautiful moments, and truly love those around you.

When I had gotten this far in making my list of how to prepare, I happened to read the magazine from Trinity Parish, Wall Street, in New York city. There was a list of things to do while waiting for the second coming, by seminarian Lindsay Lunnum. In addition to the things I've suggested, she says, "Be a pilgrim--pick a destination that's meaningful to you, walk mindfully, and be open to surprises. Eat ice cream. Plant a native tree." And I thought, YES, it is important to do something that expresses hope, something that will live long after you and I are gone. So go plant a tree, or help a child to receive an education, or leave a legacy to a worthy cause, start a ministry project, work to stop global warming, or become a peacemaker: live in hope, expect Jesus to return, and assume that you are an important contributor to God's reign.