Apocalyptic and Advent and a Change is Gonna Come

Apocalyptic and Advent and A Change is Gonna Come

Apocalyptic and Advent go hand in hand.  So, I was quite pleased this morning when a Jehovah’s Witness came to Manna House, and asked if she could pass out tracts.  On the cover of “The Watchtower” was the question “Is Satan Real?”

            Providentially, some of us had just been sharing with each other the “Word of the Day” from First Peter, “The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining” (1 Peter 4:7-9). 

Is Satan real?  No guest doubted the existence of Satan.  “Look around” one said, “there’s plenty of evidence for Satan.”  And no guest doubted that the way things are needs to come to an end.  “This world is hardly fit to live in.” The reign of Satan needs to be replaced with the Reign of God. “I’m sure ready for something different.”

Apocalyptic, like Advent, is radical stuff; both proclaim the coming of the Lord who has a very different world in view than the current world. How do we get ready to welcome God into this world and into our lives?  First Peter makes it plain, “maintain constant love for one another.  Be hospitable to one another without complaining.”

            Apocalyptic, like Advent, is not complicated (though religious folks are sometimes good at complicating both).  A good Advent song is Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.”  Listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOYuhLNwh3A

            When I looked around at Manna House this morning, I could hear this song echoing among the guests.  Homelessness is rooted in poverty, in the way in which our economy is organized to help “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I've been running ever since
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

            Religious people who want to preserve the ways things are have turned apocalyptic into a bus schedule for the end of the world.  This keeps apocalyptic safely removed from judgment about the present as it promises “a pie in the sky when you die.”  But Sam Cooke keeps apocalyptic real.

It's been too hard living but I'm afraid to die
'Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

            Our guests know the realities of exclusion based upon race and class, upon appearances and money and social status.  They know how the police and the courts and the jails are arrayed against them.  Apocalyptic unveils the present order.  It tears away the veneer of respectability and established power, and boldly names the system for what it is, “Satanic.”  In apocalyptic there isn’t a lot of grey; its black and white.

I go to the movie
And I go downtown

Somebody keep telling me, "Don't hang around"
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Our guests know how the world is organized.  They know the system is corrupt, unjust, racist, horribly sinful and in need of redemption.  Homelessness doesn’t exist in the Reign of God.  Homelessness, like the killing of black men and women in the streets of the United States, reveals the way things are as evil, reflecting the powers of sin and death.
Then I go to my brother
And I say, "Brother, help me please"
But he winds up knockin' me
Back down on my knees
            And our guests know hope, they know the way things are is not the way things are supposed to be.  They know the Christmas message of Love overcoming Hate and Life overcoming Death.  In true Advent and Apocalyptic spirit, they are resilient resisters to the status quo.

Oh there been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will.