I left my heart to the wild hunt a'coming


Luke 21:5-19

The end and justice:

On November 14 I will be doing a preach and teach event at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Bellevue, WA. for the Lutheran Public Policy Office. Typically an LPPO Sunday is lead by a representative of the LPPO. The representative preaches, gives a presentation during the adult education hour.

This particular visit will be a little different. This is because Holy Cross is already a member of the LPPO’s congregational, state-wide network. In other words, this congregation is an “advocating congregation.”


Apocalypticism:

That is the context for preaching these apocalyptic words of Jesus. Certainly most mainline denominations will struggle with these words. Apocalypticism is box-office, biblical stuff. As popular as this literature is, it is just a prone to be abused as misunderstood.


-With that in mind, I am interested in thinking about apocalypticism in light of social justice/advocacy. This should be an interesting process of investigation.

This saying of Jesus in Luke is part of Jesus’ other sayings about the ending and preparation, and right after that the crucifixion begins. Therefore, we should keep in mind that Luke understands the ending in light of Jesus’ crucifixion. Also, we should remember that Luke and Acts are written by the same author, so what of these pronouncements does the writer of Luke have fulfilled in Acts?


Particular areas I want to investigate this week:

how Luke thinks about the temple, how Luke views the cross. And, of course, I also want to think of advocacy in.

I am really excited about this; partly because often apocalypticism in North America has been interested in a dispensationalist view. What I mean to say is, Christianity has all too often been opposed to care for creation. This opposition, which has to be mostly influenced by political ideology, reasons thus: the world is going to end soon, so why should we care for creation.

I say this idea has to be influenced by political ideology because belief in an immediate ending does not necessarily correlate to disregard for the world. For instance, Martin Luther, who was thoroughly apocalyptic, is fabled to have said he would plant a tree if he knew the world was going to end.

Anyway, the particular setting for this sermon, the illustrious history of Christianity, and this interesting periscope are all mixing for what should be an interesting adventure in the books! I welcome any thoughts.

Comments

  1. JennieOctober 31, 2010 at 7:08 AM

    I think it's very important to remember that apocalypticism is deeply rooted in the conviction of God's JUSTICE. The apocalyptic thinker/writer wishes for God's justice, ardently hopes for it, believes it will come to pass.

    It seems to me that you could connect this ardent hope for justice with an understanding of God's justice as it pertains to creation. In other words, how will God bring about justice not only for oppressed people, but for an oppressed creation?

    ReplyDelete
  2. SarahNovember 4, 2010 at 7:51 AM

    I like what Jennie said. I would maybe add that God's justice is never fair...if it were, we'd be doomed. God's justice is probably closer to what we call mercy. With that in mind, how do we pray/hope/work for God's mercy and show justice that is more than fair to all of creation?

    There is also the point in verse 9 that "the end will not follow immediately." Since we truly do not know when this will happen, the notion that we can just throw the world away does not seem to follow the logic given by the dispensationalist viewpoint.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SarahNovember 4, 2010 at 12:10 PM

    I was sifting through commentaries for Advent 1 this afternoon, and ran across one from workingpreacher that talked a bit about dispensationalism. I know it's not exactly this lectionary, but might be worth a glance:

    http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=11/28/2010

    ReplyDelete

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