Look Up! Jesus is Coming!

We spend a lot of time rushing around getting ready for Christmas. Shopping, wrapping, tree decorating, baking, cooking, going to parties and family gatherings, more shopping, more wrapping, more… . It’s exhausting just thinking about it. And it’s just as busy in the church!

A lot of extra planning and effort goes into getting ready for this very special time of year when we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—the baby born in a humble manger—God coming down to us, becoming human and living among us in the ordinary rhythm of life.

And as we rush around getting ready for this big event, it’s easy to focus only on Jesus’ birth, (the event that has already happened) but forget about his promised second coming, when he will return, the world as we know it will end, and he will establish his kingdom (the event that has not happened yet). And this 'already, but not yet,' in-between time is where we live, going about our daily lives, busy with all the things we busy ourselves with.

But in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus warns that at times just like these, when people are busy with the ordinary rhythm of life, when the world is busy with all its business, Jesus will come again. Interestingly, it was like this when Jesus came the first time: people were just going about their usual rhythm of life when he was born. God came down into the world that first Christmas. And only a few people even noticed.

But when he comes again, Jesus warns, it won’t be quiet and peaceful like the first time. There will be fire, lightning and fear. The world as we know it will come to an end. And he tells us that when we see these signs, we should LOOK UP. Because in the midst of everything in our world spinning out of control—the end of life as we know it—Jesus comes back down to us and creates a new and different world, a new and different life—for us.

But I don’t think his coming again is something reserved only for the end of time. Because I believe that Jesus comes down to us in the here and now, when we least expect it, when the rhythm of ordinary life is broken and life seems turned upside down by things like a diagnosis of cancer, the death of a spouse or child, a divorce, the loss of a longtime secure job, closing of a family business, foreclosure of a house or family farm, the economic recession, reduced retirement funds, concern with global warming, or even the anxiety created in the church about rostering pastors living in committed same gender relationships.

In times when the rhythm of our lives is broken, when our world is shaken and it feels like everything is coming apart, Jesus invites us to LOOK UP! Look up and see him coming down to us—right here, and right now—to walk with us, carry us in his arms, and give us new life—with him and in him.

As we busy ourselves making all our preparations for Christmas, please take time to consider the wonder of a God who loves us so much that he has come, continues to come and is coming again to make all things new.

For a child has been born for us, a son given to us. Isaiah 9:6a

Rejoicing with you,
Pastor Roy+