The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come                       Rev. Tracey Davenport

Luke 21:25-36                                                                 December 30, 2007

          This passage from Luke is about what is commonly referred to as the Second Coming of Christ.  It is also known in Scripture as “the great and terrible day of the Lord” and in theological circles as the Parousia.  Christians believe and confess that Jesus will come again to the earth.  How much time we spend thinking about it, discussing it, or focusing on it depends largely on denomination.  It also depends upon where we are in history.  As Luke was writing this gospel, the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem had just occurred.  This was a cataclysmic event that signaled the beginning of the end for those who lived at that time.  For us, the advent of the year 2000 spurred many articles, books, and discussions about the Second Coming.

          Scriptures tells us precious little about the Second Coming and the end times of history.  It most certainly does not tell us when it will happen.  Cosmic signs will appear, but they have always appeared.  In 1982, the planets around the sun were in perfect alignment. This was sure to be the dawning of a new age, at least for all of us who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s singing songs from the musical Hair.  The truth is that no one knows when it will be.  Even Jesus said he not know the day or the hour, only his Father in heaven knew when it would be.

          With so little detail about the Second Coming, with no knowledge about when it will be, and with it taking so very long after the first coming, what’s the big deal? Should we be worrying about it or talking about it at all?  Yes, I believe we should live expectantly of the day of Christ’s second coming, just as we lived expectantly for the celebration of Christmas, the anniversary of his first coming.  Thinking in terms of a returning Lord is vital to the Christian life.

          First of all, the reality of the Second Coming means that God isn’t finished with history yet.  We live in a time theologians call “The Already and the Not Yet.”  Already, the kingdom of God has broken into this world.  Jesus Christ has come and lived among us, showing us how we should live as God’s people.  He has accomplished a mighty victory over sin, death, and Satan upon the cross. He is risen and seated at the right hand of God the Father.  He is already King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  But, we do not yet enjoy the fullness of the kingdom and of life only as it will be known when King Jesus returns.  Things will not be as they are.  There will come a day when wars will cease, when the lion will lay down with the lamb, when there will be no more death.  There will come a day when we will see Jesus, whom we have worshiped and adored, face to face.  Thinking about that day gives us hope.  It keeps earthly gains and loses in perspective for us.  It means that history is not some meaningless evolution or repetition of the past; history is headed toward a goal:  the universal reign of Christ, when every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord.  Waiting for such a day gives God and us time to work toward that goal.

During the worst of times in the Revolutionary War in our country, Abigail Adams, who was living outside of Boston, wrote to her husband every day.  He was in Philadelphia arguing out independence with the Continental Congress and believing that Great Britain would surely crush them before they ever got started.  He was gravely discouraged until he received these words from his wife:  “The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but the God of Israel is he that giveth strength unto his people.  Trust in Him at all times.”  God was not finished with these 13 colonies yet.

          If we look, we can see God moving and working in our world today.  We can find glimpses of the miraculous, of faithful obedience, of love conquering evil in a multitude of situations.  God is not finished with Pakistan or with Iraq.  God is not finished with Israel or Palestine.  God is not finished with the United States yet.  History isn’t finished until Jesus comes back.

          On a more personal and less cosmic level, the Second Coming means that God isn’t finished with us yet.  Whether we are 9 or 99, God is not finished with our lives. God is, right now, working all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.  A marvelous illustration of this is a true story told by Pastor Rob Reid. 

          A brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry to reopen a church suburban Brooklyn, NY, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities.  When they first saw their church, it was run down and needed much work.  They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

          They worked hard repairing pews, plastering walls, and painting. On December 18^th they were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On December 19^th, a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.  On the 21^st, the pastor went over to the church.  His heart sand when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit.  The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but cancel their Christmas Eve service, headed home.  On the way he noticed a flea market type sale for charity at a local business so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, crocheted tablecloth with a cross embroidered in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

          An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus.  She missed it.  The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus, 45 minutes later. She sat in the pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder and hangers and put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry.  The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked.  Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle.  Her face was like a sheet.  “Pastor,” she asked, “where did you get that tablecloth?”  The pastor explained. The woman asked to check the lower right corner to see if the initials EBG were crocheted in there.  They were.  These were the initials of that woman. She made that tablecloth 35 years earlier in Austria.

          This woman explained that before the war she and her husband were living in Austria.  When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.  Her husband was going to follow her the next week.  She was captured, sent to prison, and never saw her husband or home again. The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth, but she made him keep it for the church.  The pastor insisted on driving her home; that was the least he could do.  He took her to her apartment on Staten Island. She was in Brooklyn only for the day for a housecleaning job.

          What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. At the end of the service the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said they would return.  One older man continued to sit in one of the pews and stare.  The pastor approached and the man asked where they got the hanging on the front wall.  He said it was identical to one made by his wife many years ago in Austria.  How could there be two so much alike?  He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow, but he was arrested and put in prison. He never saw his wife again.

          The pastor asked if he would allow him to take him for a ride.  They drove to Staten Island and to the same place where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier.  He helped the man climb three flights of stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door, and saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.  God was not finished with that couple yet.  God is not finished with you either, or with your parents or with your children or with your coworkers.  God is still working – working out our histories until Jesus returns.

          And lastly, there is another sense in which God isn’t finished yet.  God is not finished inside each of us.  There is preparation in us to be done. As long as we live, we continue to ready our hearts, minds, and spirits to stand before the Son of Man on that day.  Jesus exhorts us to be ready for the day when he will come again.

          The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come comes silently to meet Ebenezer Scrooge. Without saying a word, the spirit shows him the future, and the lonely death of a man despised by all.  He sees the dead man’s belongings, stolen and pawned by his servants.  He sees the dead man lying in his house with no kind word spoken of him.  He sees men who will attend his funeral, only for the free food.  He sees his own gravestone. Worse than that, he sees Bob Cratchet’s family mourning the death of Tiny Tim, thanking God for his short but happy life.  “Answer me one question,” said Scrooge to the spirit.  “Are these the shadows of the things that will be or are they shadows of things that may be only?”  Still the ghost pointed to the grave by which they stood. “Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change.  Say it is thus with what you show me!” The spirit said nothing.  “Spirit,” Scrooge shouted, “hear me. I am not the man I was.  I will not be the man I must have been to lead to this.  Why show me this if I am past all hope?”

          Scrooge heeded the warning of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.  He changed in his ways. “Scrooge was better than his word,” Dickens writes. “To Tiny Tim, who did not die, he became a second father.  He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city ever knew.  It was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.”

          Have you made any New Year’s Resolutions yet?  I encourage you to make them this year mindful of Christmases yet to come.  What kind of person do you want to be?  What do you want to do with your life? What can you do to change the history of the world?  One member shared with me that her New Year’s resolution is not diet and exercise (as it has been in years past) but to love her enemies.  O my friends, that kind of resolution will cause changes inside of her, outside of her, and maybe even change the history of the world.  There is no telling what God will accomplish in you and through you before Jesus comes again.

          When Jesus came the first time, there were cosmic signs:  a strange star over Bethlehem at his birth, an earthquake and darkness at his death. When the second coming is imminent, there will be cosmic signs and great distress.  It will be so bad, Jesus said, that people will faint from fear.  Not us. We are the ones who are looking forward to that day, expecting that day, getting ready for that day. We will stand up and raise our heads high, because our redemption is drawing near.  We will be ready to meet the one whose birth, death, and resurrection we have celebrated for thousands of years.  We will meet the Son of Man not as one to be feared, but as a well known and welcome friend who will finish the work he started when he came the first time:  the final destruction of death and evil.  In the meantime, in the in-between time, remember that God isn’t finished yet, not with the world, and not with us.