Advent should remind justice-minded Christians their “yearning” and “longing for more” is rooted in the awareness God’s Kingdom has come, but it also is yet to come, theologian Will Willimon told religious leaders on a Zoom call convened by Pastors for Texas Children.
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Christians live “in the meanwhile” between Christ’s first advent as a baby in a manger and his second advent when he returns to set right all that is wrong, said Willimon, a former United Methodist bishop.
So, observing Advent reminds the church “what we need most we don’t have,” he observed.
‘Take the longer view’
In times of discouragement and defeat, Advent reminds Christians to keep the end in mind rather than focusing on the disappointment of the present moment, he asserted.
“There come those times when the discouragement is so deep, and it seems like the opposition is so effective against us, that we have to take the longer view,” Willimon said.
He made that observation when the Zoom call resumed after temporarily being disrupted by a malicious hacker.
Some of the “pushiest prophetic poetry” in the Hebrew Scriptures that focused on hope grew out of the exile in Babylon, Willimon said, citing the late Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann.
Consider the scope of the gospel
“The good news of Jesus Christ is more than personal. It’s more than subjective. It’s more than individualistic,” Willimon said.
In an “aggressively subjective, individualistic culture,” Christians need to be reminded of the scope of the gospel, he asserted.
“This thing with Jesus is more than personal. It’s cosmic,” Willimon said. “Your little heart is too small an arena for what God is busy doing. … Everything is being turned upside-down so it can be turned right-side-up.”
The prevalence of bad news may be opening up the possibility for good news, he suggested.
Advent challenges Christians to hold loosely to temporary human systems and structures, because God is at work doing something on a grander scale, he insisted.
“In some of the dismantling that is going on, some of the letting go that I’m being forced to do that I find very, very painful, is God maybe in some of that, too, so that something new can come?” he asked.
In fact, he suggested, “God may be taking away some false idols.”
‘God is doing a new thing’
Without a long-term, Advent-informed view, Christians who strive for justice and goodness find it “hard to keep at it,” Willimon acknowledged.
However, the Advent message centers on the idea: “God is doing a new thing among us,” he insisted.
Kyle Childress, recently retired pastor of Austin Heights Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, asked Willimon how his preaching has changed since he began in the ministry. Willimon replied he gradually has learned to “take the long view.”
“I hope that the long hope we have — who has a name and a face, Jesus Christ — gives us enough short-term hope to keep working for the good and for others,” Willimon said.
“I do know we have a relentlessly redemptive Savior.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Ken Camp and originally published by Baptist Standard.
