“By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion” (Psalm 137:1). By the ruins of our homes, we sat down and wept when we saw the devastation from the tornadoes, when we mourned our dead, when we realized life will not be the same.
I don’t remember his exact words, but a professor in college, a popular professor, Dr. Curtis Peters said one day in class that a reason Christianity is true is because it works, it’s practical. How does that apply to the terrible destruction of last Friday night? Public officials are encouraging prayer, charities are mobilizing, people talk about rebuilding, and as appropriate as that all is, the fact is thousands and thousands of people like you and me are going through an unimaginable terrible trial.
There is a teaching in theology called “inaugurated eschatology.” “Eschatology” is a study of the end times, when Christ will appear in glory and judgment to usher in what the Bible calls “the new heaven and the new earth” (Revelation 21). “Inaugurated” means that it has begun by the birth and life of Christ, His first advent, but the wondrous promises are not yet come to fullness. When you and I see Christ at the end of time, all tribulations and trials will be forever over. That is Christ’s second advent.
The collects for Advent are less about Jesus’ birth and more about our taking refuge in His Word and promises until He comes again. “Stir up your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be rescued…and saved by Your mighty deliverance.” “Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Your only-begotten Son…” “Lord Jesus Christ, we implore You to hear our prayers and to lighten the darkness of our hearts by Your gracious visitation.” Luther: “Let not Thy good Spirit forsake us; Grant that heav’nly-minded He make us” (Lutheran Service Book 617:3).
Christianity works because it lets us lament knowing that the perfect is coming. We are born to lively hope of “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:4-6).
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