Home and Holidays:

Straight AheadWe have just returned from a brief trip to Nashville for Thanksgiving. We wanted to be with my parents for the special day; but we also wanted to see for ourselves how my mother is doing. She has had some health problems recently and is recovering. I guess I've always been a little odd when it comes to home and holidays. People frequently talk about going "home" for the holidays. I know what they mean, of course. They mean they want to go back to where they grew up, back to where their parents are. I've always considered my home to be where I am currently living with my wife. When we lived in the Hampton/Newport News area of Virgikia, I especially felt as if that were my home. After all, we lived there nearly fourteen years. I realize that I'll probably never have the same sense of being "rooted" in an area again during my ministry. Still, it seems a little strange to refer to Nashville as "home." I like it very much. I would be very happy to live there again; but the fact is that I haven't really lived there since I graduated from high school in 1968! I love going back there; but my home is with Lydia; and I suspect that I will always think of "home" as wherever I happen to be living. I'm also a little funny about the holidays themselves. Being with family is good; but if I'm not with family on the exact days of Thanksgiving or Christmas, it doesn't bother me all that much. Of course, all things considered, I'd rather be with people than all alone on special days. I want to be with people I like. But I've spent Thanksgiving at seminary. I've spent many Christmases with Lydia--just the two of us--and we were perfectly happy. I knew I would be spending time with my parents later. (As my parents age, I realize such times will soon come to an end.) We enjoyed our visit to Nashville for Thanksgiving. Lydia fixed the dinner for us. We didn't have turkey. We had steaks, mashed potatoes, fresh salad, Lydia's traditional fruit salad, and pie. Even Lydia said that it was relaxing for her. At the moment, my mother seems to be improving; so that was encouraging. Of course, I had the football games on TV. (That's about as traditional as I get for Thanksgiving.) The weather was mild enough that I even went out on the front porch during the afternoon--my own tradition when I go to Nashville. I lived in that house during my teen-age years, 1962-1968. The house means a lot to me; but I know the time will soon come when that house will lie in ruins--torn down by some developer and replaced with a new mansion. Perhaps part of my attitude about home and holidays was shaped by the fact that so often as I was growing up, I never was "home" for the holidays--especially Christmas. My parents usually went to Atlanta or sometimes Memphis for Christmas. I enjoyed those trips; but my home was Nashville, and I was seldom there on Christmas. So as a teen-ager, I was very ambivalent about home and holidays, and all that kind of sentimentalizeing. Now that I'm a minister, I have a Christmas Eve service, making it very difficult to spend my Christmas anywhere but my home--I mean, the place where I actually live. As far as I'm concerned, however, that's fine. Besides, spring and summer are better times to travel, anyway--and we'll probably be with my parents for New Year's Eve!

Revelation 1:4-8, November 20-26, Christ the King, Year B:

This is a divine revelation.  In this epistle, the Holy Spirit is making known to us, through the words of Christ and the writing of the apostle John, things that could not be known otherwise.  John is the agent, writing about things to come.  Of course, we also have, in chapters 2-3, the messages to the churches of that day.  In this opening chapter, however, we have a victory statement, an affirmation about the undefeated Messiah, Christ the King!

 

The beatitude of Revelation 1:3 makes it clear that we are talking here about a book of Scripture, not a human product.  This is a prophecy of divine origin, a word of truth which is totally reliable.  It is meant for the whole church of every age.  As one commentator has put it, it is the message of a "suffering man with answers for an agonized church."  The people of Christ are made a kingdom and are become priests.  This is a triumph which will be revealed in eternity, but which is also for history.  The resurrection is the evidence and the foreshadowing of this.  We need not, we dare not, be in retreat.  Through Christ, we are the victors!  Christ comes to us continually throughout history in clouds of judgment.  He is the beginning and end of all things--not just one more path to God!  

 

There are descriptions here of Christ and of what He has done.  Even more important for our present concern is the fact that all history is bounded by God's decision.  This epistle is at the same time prophetic and pastoral.  We hear people talk about being "trapped," defeated by "the system," and expressing worries about the future.  Add to this our personal fears, family situations and difficulties and uncertainties, and it is not hard to see why so many of us face anxiety, depression, and severe tension and panic attacks.  None of these are unimportant or insignificant to us as we try to live our present, physical lives here on earth.  If we're Christians, however, we can endure all these with confidence, knowing that these are the costs of the war we're in; but the ultimate outcome is not in doubt.  We are winners.  We have an inheritance that is real.  We are heirs with Christ, and He will not fail us!

 

As Christians, we have every reason in the world to be optimists.  In fact, we are really the only ones in the world who *do have a reason for optimism.  The improvements in technology, economic development, and disease control, for example, wonderful as they may be in the relative short-term considerations of this life, mean nothing for eternity.  This present physical age is doomed; and all those who fail to come to Christ are doomed with it!

 

Some people in the evangelical, premilennial wing of the church, talk a lot about the rapture, the tribulation, and all kinds of speculative and obscure possibilities for the meaning of Revelation.  I have conducted several detailed studies on the book of Revelation.  I do believe it points of to some indicators of present world history conditions and realities.  When we get too dogmatic, however, about specific references, or tribulation periods and "thousand-year reigns," we're getting very close to a kind of arrogance that assumes we can fully understand God's plan.  We will never fully understand God's plan on this side of eternity.  We can understand all we need to know, however.  And what we need to know is that Jesus Christ has issued His manifesto!  He is all in all, beginning and end.  He is the King, the Absolute Sovereign.  He will receive honor and glory from His subjects; and eventually, His church shall reign and shall rule for all eternity.  He will rule, but not by suicide bombings, terrorism, or any military might.  His will be a rule through righteousness and His own divine justice and mercy!