Driving
through Colorado in the 1970’s, a sign on a barn caught my attention.
Weather-beaten, dangling from the sagging old barn the sign warned: “O
Israel, prepare to meet thy God!” The sign’s dilapidated condition added
authenticity and urgency to its message, penetrating the heart. I
stopped my car and photographed the sign, whose message was made more
poignantly powerful and effective by its fading condition. Recognizing
the words of the prophet Amos, I realized that I, too, living in
withering time, stand exposed not only to the elements, but to the
approaching Judgement of God. Although a young man in my twenties, I
knew that I could escape neither the ravages of time nor the pending
Judgment of meeting God “face to face.” The thought that life is brief
indeed, that very soon in the sweep of time I would die, and must live
now prepared for that reality, burned itself into my mind as I headed
back towards our family home in Missoula.
Advent-Christmas tells a similar message, if we will but listen. The world and all we know of it is passing away. “You see this building? Not one stone will be left on another.” “Even now the ax is laid to the root of the tree.” In its sober wisdom, the Church’s ancient tradition proclaims the ever-pending end of the world as we know it, and God’s Judgment, at the same time we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ. Lest we turn our eyes away from the truth of passing reality, the day following Christmas the Church celebrates the death of Stephen, the first disciple to be martyred for his faith in Christ. Death in the world / life in God remain the two inextricably bound themes of Advent-Christmas. The poet T. S. Eliot gives voice to the wise men who travelled to Bethlehem to witness Christ’s birth:
“... Were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different: this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.” (Journey of the Magi)
Many of us clutch our gods on the edge of death: beer, mixed drinks, perhaps other drugs to numb awareness of the encircling night. “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow....”
The birth of Christ is joy to those on their journey into God.
Advent-Christmas tells a similar message, if we will but listen. The world and all we know of it is passing away. “You see this building? Not one stone will be left on another.” “Even now the ax is laid to the root of the tree.” In its sober wisdom, the Church’s ancient tradition proclaims the ever-pending end of the world as we know it, and God’s Judgment, at the same time we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ. Lest we turn our eyes away from the truth of passing reality, the day following Christmas the Church celebrates the death of Stephen, the first disciple to be martyred for his faith in Christ. Death in the world / life in God remain the two inextricably bound themes of Advent-Christmas. The poet T. S. Eliot gives voice to the wise men who travelled to Bethlehem to witness Christ’s birth:
“... Were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different: this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.” (Journey of the Magi)
Many of us clutch our gods on the edge of death: beer, mixed drinks, perhaps other drugs to numb awareness of the encircling night. “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow....”
The birth of Christ is joy to those on their journey into God.
