Active Waiting

We are in advent. We are preparing for the coming of Christ. Not so much a preparation of the celebration of a birthday but the promised coming of our Lord. The radical indwelling of Jesus into our world to transform it into the kingdom of God.

I have been thinking about the Spirit of the Age, the Spirit of this age.  

The Spirit of the age flows like history. The spirit of the age is influenced by people and events. Strong personalities probably have more influence than others but ultimately the spirit of the age is an amalgamation of the contribution of every single person on the planet.

So I have been thinking about the zeitgeist, the Spirit of the age, and the spirit of this age, and things are pretty messed up! In this age, in this time it seems as it always has that the failings of some, has consequences for the many. Do you know there is no such thing as private sin? When you fail to live as you should many more than you are affected.

Jesus was once summoned by a blind man who wanted to see. Jesus was questioned about who sinned him or his parents. Jesus said it wasn’t that.

But the idea that this man was being punished by God was founded in Hebrew scripture, both in the book of Deuteronomy and Exodus where Moses receives the Ten Commandments.

⁴ Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. ⁵ Do not bow down to them or worship them, because I, the Lord your God, am a passionate God. I punish children for their parents’ sins even to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. ⁶ But I am loyal and gracious to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

  It’s my understanding that God gave the law for the benefit of humanity. And when we transgress the law the consequences are the natural ones that come from bad decisions.

It seems to me that we live in a time where bad decisions abound!

Even when the system works according to the set rules past sins still have their effects.  August 9 Michael Brown was shot dead by Darren Wilson of the Ferguson Police Department. Michael Brown was unarmed.

On Monday the grand jury met and found no grounds to bring charges against Officer Wilson. I trust the decision of the Grand Jury. They had the pertinent information. I trust that they made the right decision. But when they made that decision Ferguson blew up. Massive riots broke out and many businesses were burned to the ground by protestors. There is a protest march underway right now.  120 miles from Ferguson to Jefferson City the capitol of Missouri.

White people are shaking their heads. “He was a thug.” “He just robed a convenience store.”

The retort to that is always: “that doesn’t deserve a death penalty.”

White people generally see the situation as a bad guy who was being bad had a confrontation with a cop and got shot. A tragic situation but one that was definitely avoidable.

Now think about it from the perspective of a people who come from a background of slavery. They come from a perspective of entrenched institutional racism. They come from the perspective that jails are filled with people that look like them and not so much like Darren Wilson.

They see members of their own community dying from gun violence at a much higher rate than the white community.

Then they see one of their young men gunned down by a white police officer who doesn’t get into any legal trouble over it. Those who swore an oath to protect and serve are also pulling the trigger.  From that perspective it seems that the world is a very unsafe place to live.

The facts are the facts. The grand jury determined that Officer Wilson was justified. But the sins of our society have led to the spirit of this age where the Black community cannot trust the system of their own government and that has led to this violence.

Currently, the Spirit of the age is a bad one.

The current spirit of our age seems to me to be bad.

This reminds me of what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians:

¹⁰ Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and his powerful strength. ¹¹ Put on God’s armor so that you can make a stand against the tricks of the devil. ¹² We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens. ¹³ Therefore, pick up the full armor of God so that you can stand your ground on the evil day and after you have done everything possible to still stand.

What is happening is evil. But our enemy is not flesh and blood. When store get looted and burned. That is bad. When people get shot, that is bad. When one group of people speaks evil against another people, that is bad.

People are saying that race relations are the worst they have been for a long time. But our task is not to add to the failings and the sin of the past but to stand firm and work toward the kingdom of God that Jesus initiated when he was born in a stable 2000 and some years ago.

The promise (that which is to come but is not yet here)

The lesson (look around you. Incarnational faith. In the body.)

Holy Spirit working through us should be the prevailing spirit of the age. But we have to put feet to our prayers. We have to put sweat into our prayers

Army Song, Marine Song.

Are God’s people getting shouted down? By the humanists, the atheists, and those who are against God?

The thing is, many of the protesters in Ferguson are also Christians. We just say “to heck with them”?  

The point: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. We can have complete confidence in God.

The word of God is the only lasting thing. Our divisions will not last. If we persist in our divisions we are further from God rather than closer. Paul says in Colossians

¹⁰ and put on the new nature, which is renewed in knowledge by conforming to the image of the one who created it. ¹¹ In this image there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all things and in all people.

¹² Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

This is what heaven looks like. And Jesus is bringing it with him.

So stay ready ‘cause God wins!

The Holy Spirit, the active, empowering nature of our God lives and moves in you. When we have confidence in God’s word and live it out. The spirit of the age increasingly becomes the very Spirit of God.

So how is it with you today? Are you ready to receive Jesus when he comes? Staying ready means staying in God’s will. If you don’t know what that is like try this: the next time you want to tell someone to go to hell, instead show them what Heaven is like. Then repeat the process.