The Rev. Patricia Templeton
Advent 1C
November 29, 2009
St. Dunstan's

Readings

"The Power of Hope"

Earlier this month an international conference on the environment was held in London with the intriguing title “Many Heavens, One Earth.”

What made this conference different from others on this topic is that it was a meeting of representatives from 50 major faith traditions from around the world. All flavors of Christianity were there, as well as Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists.

These various faith groups were able to put aside their theological differences to agree on one thing – that God has entrusted the earth to our care, and that as people of faith, we have a moral responsibility to carry out that trust.

Those invited to the conference already have systematic, long-term plans in place to be better stewards of the world God created. Conference organizers estimate that these plans could influence or affect the lives of 2 billion people across the planet.

There was a time when many scientists would have scoffed at the idea of inviting the religious world into the conversation on saving the Earth, said conference organizer Martin Palmer, an Anglican priest.

“Now there is a worldwide recognition that the religious world should be invited to the table,” he said. “The major, moral spiritual forces of the world also happen to own 8 percent of the habitable surface of the planet, are the third largest investment group in the world, play a role in 50 percent of all schools, and publish more books per year than the rest of the publishing industry combined.”

But those statistics are not the main reason why environmental scientists are increasingly looking to the religious world as partners.

“The environmental world relied on science and facts for 40 years,” Palmer said. “The result is that we’re in a worse place than we were 40 years ago.

“People aren’t moved to change the way they live by a pie chart,” he said. “Nobody actually changes what they do unless they are inspired, touched, given hope.

“The scientific world is very good at fear and guilt, but they are not very good at liberation and salvation and redemption, and they’re appallingly bad at celebrating. If there is nothing to celebrate, why bother?

“Scientists have been telling people it’s hopeless for so long they have decided it’s not worth worrying about.”

What the religious community can offer is hope.

“We know that we can ask people to fast and repent, but then you feast,” Palmer said. “If all you do is tell people to fast, fast, fast, they give up.

“The psalms say without hope the people perish. They perish because we can not live in fear indefinitely. Fear is disabling. It steals energy from you. You’ve got to give people hope.”

But that hope must be realistic, he added. “We can’t just say, ‘Don’t worry; it’s all going to be fine.

“Climate change is only a symptom. The problem in religious terms is sin, greed, selfishness, foolishness.

“The fundamental problem is that we are out of kilter with the planet. We’re out of kilter with God and our neighbors. Very often we are out of kilter with ourselves.

“But we have the stories, the language, to offer people a vision of living more hopefully, more simply, more faithfully.

“And in doing that, we may save the planet.”

Some may scoff at the idea that it is science, not the church, that deals in fear and guilt. And surely we can find plenty of examples of fear-mongering by people of faith.

But the real purpose of the church, of faith, should be liberation, and transformation, and hope.

The season of Advent is the perfect example of that hope.

Ironically, it begins with Jesus sounding somewhat like an environmental scientist with a pie chart, full of foreboding about the future.

“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves,” Jesus says,

“People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world.”

This season when we prepare for the coming of the Messiah always begins with apocalyptic texts, texts that warn of the end times.

The word apocalypse comes from the Greek for “uncovering” or “revealing,” which, as writer Kathleen Norris points out, makes it also a word about possibilities or hope.

“While uncovering something we’d just as soon keep hidden is a frightening prospect,” she says, “the point of apocalypse is not to frighten us into submission.”

It is not until we uncover, or reveal, the reality of the present situation – no matter how dire or bleak it is – that we can honestly begin to see the possibilities and hope for the future.

In a case like the environment, science helps us see the reality of the situation. But the stories of faith give us the hope that the present situation does not have to be the last word.

With God there is never an end without a new beginning. We hear that in today’s Old Testament reading from Jeremiah. Previous to this passage, the prophet has issued dire warnings about the coming end times, and the day of judgment.

But then the prophet offers this vision of hope.

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise made. I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David, and he will execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

We begin Advent with the reality of the direness of our situation, but also with the attitude of hope and expectancy that God’s promises of justice and righteousness will be fulfilled.

We believe, as our collect for the first Sunday of Advent says, that with God’s help we can cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

That is why the first candle of the Advent wreath symbolizes hope. Lighting one candle in the darkness reminds us of the light of hope that the prophets had in their expectations of a Messiah who would bring peace and love to the world.

And we remind ourselves that Jesus is continually coming into the world bringing peace and love and justice and hope.

But as people of faith we also have the responsibility to work for those things, and to be agents of hope in a world all too often filled with despair.

Katharine Jefferts Schori, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, reminded us of the church’s mission when she spoke in the diocese earlier this month.

“The church’s primary task is to help us care for, heal, and reconcile the world,” she said. “We do that by becoming like the one we worship, into whose family we are baptized, and whose members we become as we share in his body as this table.”

The presiding bishop told of a recent message she had received from the Anglican bishop of Taiwan, where Typhoon Morakot killed hundreds of people in the southern part of the country in early August.

An Episcopal church had been working with school children in the area before the typhoon, but the school principal had forbidden any efforts at evangelism. After the typhoon, the same principal asked the church to help with the spiritual needs of those devastated children.

The principal, like the environmental scientists, recognized that the children, and their parents, needed the hope these Christians could bring.

So the church is leading Bible study and prayer in addition to helping provide the physical needs of the people.

Amen.

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Readings

Jeremiah 33:14-16

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Luke 21:25-36

Jesus said, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

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