An advent reflection
by Canon Jon Lownds

Death, judgement, heaven and hell

Fifty years ago, when I (Jon+) began in ordained ministry, the season of Advent, the four Sundays before Christmas, focussed on four “last things:" death, judgement, heaven and hell. With the Advent this year being as short as possible, and largely ignored even by devout Christians, (and being older!), I have been recalling Advents in the past and am reminded of this seemingly long-lost focus on last things and how they were indeed good news for Christians and helpful in preparing the way of the Lord.

Death, one thing it seems no one can ignore, and one that certainly gets a lot of attention in our society today with ongoing controversy over abortion access, Medical Assistance in Dying, and the increasing demands on our medical professionals and health care system to prolong life and avoid death. So what is it about death that could be called “Good News?”

Jesus, before raising his friend Lazarus from the dead, makes a remarkable statement to Martha, the man’s sister: “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’” (John 11:25-26) Good question: “never die” - do you believe this?

It becomes more than an academic issue when your wife dies at age 60 unexpectedly during surgery. I am faced with the question! I have been preaching the reality of the Resurrection, do I really believe death is transition, not termination - that death as death is a lie? That is Jesus who came for her, not death? Really?

In the Book of Common Prayer, the ‘Proper Preface’ for Easter in the Thanksgiving and Consecration Prayer says, “BUT chiefly are we bound to praise thee for the glorious Resurrection of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord: for he is the very Paschal Lamb, which was offered for us, and hath taken away the sin of the world; who by his death hath destroyed death, and by his rising to life again hath restored to us everlasting life.” (BCP Page 80) Do you believe this?

The death of death as death? Death destroyed? Death not faced by those who believe in Jesus? I am reminded of a story told by Dietrich Bonhoffer in one of his letters about a Gestapo Officer torturing a Lutheran Bishop who in frustration gave up because the man was not afraid of death because he had already given himself to Jesus. To have made that decision to entrust yourself to Jesus, to rely upon, depend on, have confidence in Jesus is the gift of faith (Romans 12:3).

Today the First Sunday in Advent is the Sunday of Hope - the sure and certain hope we have in eternal life through our Lord Jesus. So the question remains, Do you believe this? And the answer makes a difference in that we look at ‘death’ as transition, or as the Salvation Army like to call it, “Promotion to Glory.”

Judgement is also interesting from this point of view. Jesus says that those who believe in Him do not face judgement but have passed from death to life. So, while all face Him after what we call death, resurrection is not optional, but judgement is and is based on our acceptance of His gift of Life, or more correctly, of Himself. (See John 3:17-18, John 5:24, 28-29.) Methodist Evangelist John Hobbs was fond of saying, “Peace is not the absence of conflict, peace is the presence of Jesus.” Peace then is the fruit of moving from death to life through entrusting ourselves to Jesus.

Heaven happens here. In Mark 1:14 we are told Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Good News, saying the Kingdom of God has come near. The King has come and where the King is, there is the Kingdom. So Heaven is a state of trusting in, relying on, depending on Jesus rather than ourselves or anyone or anything in our world.

I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life!

I came to Fredericton in 1967, Centennial year, as a political affairs reporter for Radio Atlantic, CFNB. Eventually I became a member of the legislature press gallery. This was during the days of Premier Louis Robichaud (Premier 1960 - 1970) and the Equal Opportunity era. Sitting alone in the press gallery one day I heard (in my inner ear), “There is no salvation here.” In these days of political unrest, particularly south of the border, it is helpful to remember that the Kingdom of God/Heaven has not changed - Jesus is Lord, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, or as I like to say, ‘large and in charge’. So no matter what happens, I can return to Joy if I will shift focus to Jesus. (Hebrews 12:1-2). Again a favorite saying of John Hobbs, “living in the Kingdom on the way to the Kingdom.”

Hell is a different issue. Love, the word associated with the last Sunday of Advent, carries with it the awful consequence of what is perhaps the second most important gift given humanity by the creator (after the gift of Jesus of course) - consciousness, awareness, which gives rise to self-consciousness, self-awareness, with the resultant danger of self-centeredness and self-reliance - also known as ‘sin.’

The Book of Deuteronomy records Moses telling the people “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life” (30:19) This is the fruit of love, the gift of choice. It is a gift and choice we get to make over and over again daily - to rely on, depend on, entrust ourselves to Jesus, to follow Jesus, or not. His way or the hell way, your choice. That we are given the freedom to choose is the cost and consequence of Love. This is where Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell come to a climax in the life of each and every one of us. “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life!” The total extent of human freedom is this choice - His way (“Follow Me”) or your way (“I can do it myself”). Pray that no one ultimately hears “OK, have it your way.”

Advent, the call to prepare the way of the Lord, to make a highway for our God, to prepare in your heart a home where Jesus is welcome, listened to, relied upon and can bring us home. The challenge of Advent for me is to keep my focus on Jesus. “O come, O come Emmanuel ...” Amen.

20/12/23

An advent reflection
by Canon Jon Lownds

“The Meaning is in the Waiting” by Paula Gooder is the Advent 2023 Diocesan Study book choice and being discussed in an online / Zoom conversation. After reading the Introduction and first chapter, I decided to join the conversation. Early the next morning, while reflecting on and praying about the book and discussion, a question “occured” to me - imagine you are in a waiting room, what are you doing? Where is Jesus and what is He doing?

The obvious answer to the first question - “sitting in a chair watching and waiting for ... the bus to arrive ... was dissatisfying.” The answer to the second - where is Jesus? - even more so - “He’s in the washroom cleaning the toilets.” Now to be fair I need to tell you a story.

A long time ago, before children, we (Ada, my wife, and I) met an Episcopal priest, the Rector of St. Paul’s, North Andover, Massachusetts, who invited us to stay with him if we were in the area. As it happens, we did - another story. While visiting he asked if we brought evening wear - suit or sport coat and dress pants, dress shirt and tie for me, dress or such for Ada.

Well we had and so he took us to The Andover Inn for dinner, and I immediately understood. This was a formal dining room and there was an enforced dress code. All the staff were dressed in tuxedos. There was a man dressed in a tux with tails playing a grand piano in one corner of the large room, and the staff had a desk on the far wall opposite us some distance away.

During dinner my attention was drawn to a couple sitting nearby as she opened a small evening bag and took out a cigarette case. (I said this happened a long time ago.) There were matches in the ashtray on the table, and her companion was reaching for the matches when a waiter appeared with a lighter already lit. As I said, the desk was on the opposite wall some distance away, and he did not draw attention to himself as he moved across the room to attend to his customers. While watching this I heard in my inner ear, “that’s what it means to wait on me.”

Ever since that experience I have been and am convinced that waiting on the Lord is a verb implying active attention to Jesus, focus on Jesus, awaiting His instruction, direction, indication of need and desire.

Some years later we were at a buffet restaurant that prided itself on immediate service - a sip of water from the glass and someone was there to refill it. Now I like hot coffee and wait staff that attend to that ‘need’ rate high in my estimation. But here the service was oppressive! I found myself covering my glass to try to avoid service I did not want.

... I realized that sitting and waiting for Jesus to show up is not what Advent is all about.

The result is prayer advice - pray for direction, wait for direction, follow direction, leave the rest to Him. John the Apostle quotes Jesus as saying, “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me.” (John 10:27). Luke the Evangelist quotes Jesus as saying, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23). While thinking about the waiting room, these Bible passages came to mind. Reflecting on them I realized that sitting and waiting for Jesus to show up is not what Advent is all about.

Some time ago I heard a reflection on Matthew 9:38 - “ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest” - noting that the Lord hired the harvesters and sent them out, they did not go on their own. Somewhere in the writing of Oswald Chambers he cautions about working ‘for’ Jesus, not ‘with’ Jesus. (Matthew 7:22-23) It doesn’t turn out well.

Borrowing on the prayer of St. Richard of Chichester. “Lord, please let me see and hear you more clearly, love you more intensely, follow you more closely, walk where you lead, do what you want, when you want, the way you want, and to, for and with whom you want, today and every day.” This requires living in the moment, actively watching and listening, and responding as appropriate. In short, this is waiting and watching in the same way waiters and waitresses do every day. And that reminds me of something else we are told Jesus said: “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)

02/12/23