Father
John McGinn, Rector
Two year old Jack leans on his father’s knee, his rumpled baseball jersey shows a fresh spaghetti
sauce stain. “Daddy, tell me a bunny
story.” And Rob tears his gaze away from the computer screen, “What was that,
son?” “Tell me a bunny story,” says Jack, “one with
a truck in it.” Rob sighs and his gaze
turns back to the screen. His paper is
due in a couple of days. His professor
tries to be sympathetic, but there are only so many times she will let a
student stretch a deadline. On the other
hand there is only so much time before this boy grows up, and stops listening
to his Dad’s stories. “A bunny story?” asked
Rob, and the blonde head bobbed up and down.
Placing Jack on his knee, Rob begins to tell a tale of a mischievous
bunny who gets into trouble in a big truck.
Every great story has to have an obstacle, and Rob uses the same villain
in every story, the big, bad wolf. Rob
begins to introduce the wolf into this story.
“No wolf, Daddy” insists Jack, “No wolf.” And how can you have an adventure story
without a wolf? “Jack, how does the
bunny story always end? Happily ever
after, right? I know the end of the
story, and the bunny is going to be just fine.”
Jack covers his father’s mouth, and in the sternest voice a toddler can
muster he repeats “No wolf!” Not wanting
to create strife before bedtime, Rob sighs and says “OK, Jack its OK, no wolf.”
Already at the age of two, being introduced to
evil, this little boy has an understanding of evil. He would not have feared the wolf if he had
not already been introduced to evil.
Sensing the wolf destructive nature, Jack thinks nothing of editing the
world to make evil disappear. This would
be nice wouldn’t it?
Editing the world to make evil disappear. And what a nice gift on the
first Sunday of advent in 2006, a world without evil, a world without the big,
bad wolf. Biblical faith
acknowledges the reality of evil. That
is the truth of the matter. The bible is cannon. There is no place on earth that evil,
suffering and death do not exist.
Americans were stunned when Islamic terrorists
struck on
No one.
They called it ‘The day that changed the world.’ It was a reminder to us that evil is real
and present in our world. We are never prepared
on a societal or a personal level for the wolf; whether it is cancer, Alzheimer’s,
an automobile accident or a fire. No
wolf, no wolf, but suddenly there is a monster in the room from which there is
no escape. We turn to the scripture for
reassurance, and we come to the words from today’s gospel “There will signs in
the sun and moon and stars, and the earth’s nations will be in anguish and
perplexity at the anger and tossing of the sea.
People will faint from terror and hysterics, apprehensive about what is
coming in the world. The heavenly bodies
will be shaking, and at that time they will see the sun of man coming in a
cloud, in great power and great glory.
When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads
because your redemption is drawing near.”
Biblical faith acknowledges the reality of
evil. Most scholars classify today’s
gospel reading with apocalyptic teachings of the last days of the earth’s
existence. That is the reason we find
this imagery at the beginning of advent.
Advent is the celebration of Jesus’ coming into the world. The Second Advent is when he will return in
great power and glory.
When will that be?
No one knows. One thing is clear,
there will be many trials and tribulations, “Nations
will be in anguish at the anger and tossing of the sea. And people will faint
from terror and hysterics, apprehensive about what is coming in the
world.” This can be a very cruel world,
and we are never prepared.
In November 1963, the year President Kennedy was assassinated;
17 year old Laura Welch borrowed the family car to attend a party with some
friends. A few hours later the Welch’s
received the telephone call everyone dreads.
Staff from a local hospital was calling to tell them that Laura had been
in an accident. She hadn’t seen the stop
sign, and driven straight through an intersection at normal speed, plowing
through the car that had the right of way.
Laura suffered only bruises, the driver of the other car, Laura’s good
friend, died on impact. Laura would later
say that this tragedy shaped her life at a young age. She gained compassion and wisdom from
it. Friends and family marveled at her
serenity and strength. You have seen
these qualities in her as an adult; Laura Welch went on to become Laura
Bush. Laura Bush, wife of the president
of the
This can be a very cruel world, and no one is
exempt. Wealth, position even a loving
family can not exempt us. Saints and
sinners alike must realize that a wolf is among us. A wolf that brings
heartache and suffering to even the best people. Why this is so we do not know, and why God
allows suffering we do not know. Some
think it is the only way for God to make us who we need to be. This is the only way God can make us strong.
Earl Woods, father of golf icon Tiger Woods, died
this past year. Tiger will tell you that
he is what he is today because of his father, and by his own admission, earl
Woods used some unorthodox methods to train his son for success. When Tiger was a young boy, Earl would try to
distract him by throwing golf balls at him as he was playing, or getting in the
way of his putt. He deliberately tried
his son’s concentration, teaching tiger to concentrate so intently on each shot
that he stopped noticing his father’s presence on the course when he made his
shot.
Is that why God allows adversity in our world, to
help us find spiritual grace? As we face
challenges, we do mature, is this why God doesn’t make our lives easier? Is this why he allows the wolf to run
free? Because
ultimately, it makes us strong enough to bear the heaviest loads. That may be as good an explanation as any for
evil in the world, but still people must feel that God has overdone it. This can be a very cruel world.
Sometimes we are left sobbing “No wolf, no wolf.” But the wolf is there, and the destruction is
enormous and the pain is overwhelming.
In this morning’s gospel reading Luke uses words
like “Anguish,” “faint from terror” and “apprehensive.” And Luke describes a world shaken to its
foundation. But then we read these
words: “When these things take place,
lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near.” What a powerful message for troubled
times. It doesn’t matter if we are
talking about next week or next month, the message is the same,
“lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near.” I think this is the ultimate advent
message. Our, yours and mine, redemption
is drawing near. No matter how heavy the
load, or how stark the situation and how discouraging the dilemma, we can make
it. We can conquer, because Jesus has
come into our world.
Sometime back I read a story, a single mom whose
husband had left her with twin girls and a boy, her dad was in a nursing home
with a broken hip and wanted her to come visit. She didn’t have the money or the time, but
she felt the guilt, and after getting the flu, she felt lousy and tired and
worn out. One evening she finds drugs
in her son’s bedroom and there is a terrible fight, and she cried miserably
through the night. The next day is a
disaster, with patients and co-workers and one of her favorite patients
dies. While she is still processing
this, she bumps into an orderly spilling a meal tray. She walks home with a feeling of despair, and
on the way she passes an old Episcopal church.
Inside she can hear carols, so she goes inside and sees a typical children’s
reenactment of the nativity. There is
something different about the baby in this scene. It is not a doll in the manger, it is a real
baby doing what babies do, creating havoc.
She sees the baby Jesus reach up and try to pull Mary’s nose off, then
it gets fussy and begins to scream.
Nobody can hear the boy at the lectern, and a woman leaves her seat and
takes the baby in her arms, but it doesn’t help. The congregation sings Silent Night, while
the baby screaming at the top of his lungs is taken from the church. The service is over, and the nurse is
energized. It was a real baby. The nurse marvels, Jesus
was a real baby…he cried and fussed and messed. And because his mother anguished, he was one
of us. “God really cares about us,” she
thought. She becomes radiant at the thought,
and she steps from the church onto the cold street. She smiles at strangers, something deep in
her changed, all because she realized, Jesus is real.
Jesus is real.
Our redemption is at hand.
Whatever you are going through in life, Jesus will help you
through. In this world there are trials
and tribulations, but be of good cheer.
As for the wolf, here is what Isaiah prophesied; “The wolf also shall dwell
with the lamb and the leopard shall lie with the kid, and the calf and the
young lion and the together and a little child shall lead them”
I don’t remember if there is a bunny in the prophesy or not, but just remember when trouble comes, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near.” AMEN