Sun Dec. 12 - Trusting the Future (The Davis Sisters)

"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life...[and] the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.  And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be any curse.  ... There will be no more night.  They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light..."
          - Revelation 22: 1-5

Let's talk about the Second Coming for a minute.  (Stay with me!)  As a progressive Christian, I have to admit that even writing these words makes me a little squeamish: there's WAY too much cultural baggage on this train.  Yet abandoning any talk of God's ultimate promises because of those Christians who revel in gleeful violence and self-congratulation may actually be the bigger sin.  So call it what you want: Christ's Return, the Final In-Gathering, Love-Made-Manifest-in-All-Creation... I'm going to take my faith and the pain of the world seriously enough to say that the power of God's love is in its tenacity: Love has ultimate hold of this world, and will not abandon or let us go.  

Many of the Advent songs in our first week seem to hit a similar note: "we need you God because things are pretty messed up around here!" and maybe this feels too much like Lent. But while Advent isn't Lent, Advent isn't a big party, either. Advent lives in a very strange and wonderful in-between place: in-between hope and somber waiting, in-between already and not-quite-yet, in-between eager anticipation and humble thoughtfulness.  

We'll Understand it Better acknowledges that we actually "live" Advent every day of our lives.  In the trials of daily life and our unknowing about the future we grow uncomfortable, so we try to create explanations, tactics, rules, boundaries.  We also try to take ecstatic prophetic visions like Daniel and Revelation and turn them into road maps and recipes.  But maybe what we need to survive in an Advent world is less absolutist theology and more trust in God's intentions: In Advent we practice trusting the future instead of dissecting it.

"We'll Understand it Better By and By sung by The Davis Sisters -- full lyrics to traditional song HERE

Maybe the most revolutionary thing we can say as progressive Christians about God's final promises for the world is that WE DON'T KNOW what it will look like; but we do know what it will feel like.  It will feel like the overshadowing of history by Love: scary and real and gorgeous (and deeply humility-inducing) - and ultimately... healing and grace-filled.  The wait for this time is an ache of need and a humble remembrance of our own brokenness.  The wait for this time is also full of humor and grace, love and peace-filled waiting because we trust the future, and live as though God's promises are already being revealed among us.

May we practice our trust in God's future, remembering that God's love in Christ is not a cold stone of violence but amazing song of wholeness.  And one day it will reveal the honesty and glory of all Creation.  Amen and amen.

                                   - Anna