Breaking Open

Since we started a “sermon series” this Advent on the way God comes to us, and makes God’s presence “incarnate,” it’s made me think differently about the lead up to Christmas… and therefore, Christmas itself. The series idea started as a riff on Martin Luther’s “three advents”—Jesus Christ’s birth as the Word incarnate; the way the Word comes to birth in us; and the third, Christ’s second coming or “second advent.”

It’s this idea of the Second Coming connected to Christmas that feels a little jarring. In popular culture, the Second Coming is all “doom and gloom” and judgment. We had three parables on that topic at the end of Fall (Matthew 25); as parables they weren’t doom and gloom and the “judgment” was full of nuance. But still… are you ready for Christ’s coming—Christ’s “Second” coming?? I’m not even ready to celebrate his first one!

On a more serious note, Christ’s second coming reminds us of some basic things. The first: we can’t save ourselves. It is a reminder that just like the first time, God has to enter into the world to save us from our sin and death. The first time, God came in humility, vulnerability, and surrender. Or as Paul puts it in Philippians 2:7-8, “emptied himself… being born in human likeness…he humbled himself.” From a manger in a stable to a cross… and then an empty tomb. God entered in through Christ to conquer death and be the source of eternal hope. Which is the other basic thing about the Second Coming—HOPE! The Bible uses apocalyptic language (apocalypse means “to break open”) to remind us that human evil has effects and consequences. It is easy to see images of war, violence, and death, and that God can break in suddenly like an earthquake or tsunami. All to bring everlasting peace!

All of that can carry with it elements of fear, but it’s a reminder that God breaks in—like a baby in a manger—but also with power and awe. Christmas prepares us for both!