The Importance of The Journey
Posted by stpauls on November 28, 2010 under Sermons | 
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Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
These are words I have used in a sermon before, but they are words that still bring tears to the eyes of many parents: after months of hard work, after packing suitcases and loading your car, after carefully stowing the cooler with drinks and food, after a last washroom break, you are finally ready to go, anticipating the time in a place that promises respite, relief, and rejoicing. And then, ten, no, five minutes into the journey a high-pitched voice in the back-seat pipes up:
Are we there yet?
Thank God, car manufacturers have now responded to the nerve-wrecking nagging of the little “monsters” by installing all kinds of electronic gadgets. In a recent commercial, two smiling parents check their children in the rear mirror: One has his mac-book plugged into the onboard socket. Another child is watching a cartoon, and the oldest daughter is watching a teenage flick. Each kid has his or her own way of killing time on this “tedious” trip, while the parents enjoy peace and quiet. No wonder they are smiling!
But, as an article in the Globe and Mail a few years ago confirmed, there are also problems. Not only do our hyper-technologised and hyper-individualised cars tempt us to stop interacting with each other, but all the gadgets used to silence the interruptions by children also prevent us from interacting with the beauty of the world going by. The Globe and Mail article mourned the disappearance of a sense of awe for the wideness and beauty of this country.
And I would add something more theoretical: We are un-learning the importance of the journey. We don’t understand any more how getting there is part of the goal. We can no longer appreciate the value of relational processes.
Despite the commercials that imply a state of peacefulness in the car, shutting out everything but our own desires is not peace at all. It might create a silence, but this disconnected silence does not bring forth fruits that help any of us. Despite all the wonderful inventions, our contemporary world is faced with the danger of disengaging from the reality around us and disengaging from one other.
Are we there yet?
Unfortunately, this is also the cry of many of our co-religionists. For many, the Christian faith is just like a family van, which chauffeurs us from our earthly and often painful existence to the bliss of Paradise. However, as we speed through the landscape of reality towards the promised reward in the future, we too often ignore what goes on outside the van, ignore the beauty of creation and the awesomeness of life, and we ignore also and particularly anything that might have gone awry outside or inside the van.
So, the food packed for the journey is eaten in silence and by ourselves – and, woe, if we don’t get our favourite sandwich! The TV screens and CD-players play to our desires – and woe, if I don’t get my favourite movie, my favourite artist, my favourite musician, my favourite entertainment. For some there is only one single task: to get to the final destination, to get to “heaven” as fast as possible, and nothing, not even the needs of our sisters and brothers, should divert us from focusing all our energy on this one goal. Many see this kind of religion revealed in texts like today’s reading from Isaiah. “In the days to come,” Isaiah says, “in the days to come.” Yes, then, and only then everything will be better, will be resolved. In the meantime, let’s focus on getting there.
But this kind of future-oriented faith is not the faith to which God calls us. Neither God’s self-revelation in our Bible, nor God’s unique self-revelation in Jesus the Christ tell us to focus on getting to the end, while ignoring what it means to be on the journey with fellow sojourners. Christianity is not some cheap consolation that puts off God’s reign and bliss to a future date. God does not want us to live in anticipation of some age to come. But God wants us to live now so that we can discover God’s reign, which is here, which has already broken into our reality ever since that day when the angel announced unto Mary that she had conceived of the Holy Spirit and was pregnant with the Saviour of the world.
Biblical prophecy like today’s reading from Isaiah is far from being simplistic and one-dimensional: We would miss the point, if we would only interpret it as revelation about future events. Biblical prophecy is not just about “days to come,” but it is also about here and now. The prophets were not fortune-tellers who could make predictions about the future. But God’s prophets speak God’s wisdom, God’s will, and God’s truth into the reality of our existence, into the reality of now. Biblical prophecy holds up a mirror and reminds us what is already going on around us.
In this sense, Isaiah proclaims something that is happening around us: “The mountain of the LORD’s house is established as the highest of the mountains. Out of Zion already goes forth instruction. And nations are already beating their swords into ploughshares!”
But wait a minute!!! What the heck am I talking about? How can I say such nonsense when the reality of war and oppression is all around us, when North Korean tyrants kill their South Korean sisters and brothers and when sabre-rattling is heard all over the globe?
At last Thursday’s brownbag lunch, we had a wonderful discussion about current events. And we also discussed the looming crisis on the Korean peninsular. I had a rather bleak outlook, while some others were more optimistic and shared their general hope that war most often can be avoided by supporting and aiding those inside the country. This didn’t really convince me, especially because I believe the members of the North Korean leadership to be power-hungry, oppressive, and irrational despots with little regard for human life.
But then our new seminarian-intern spoke up.
Will shared a story about a friend, who through a program at Trinity Western University right now is teaching English to North Korean children and adults. It doesn’t seem like much, but by simply being present in her student’s lives, Will’s friend puts a human face on what the North Korean propaganda brands as “imperialists oppressors.” In a small way, Will’s friend is defusing the animosity, is building bridges across the divide, and is beating swords into ploughshares. She is revealing that God’s reign has already come among us – even in North Korea.
And this is true, not just on the big geopolitical scene. All over the world, followers of Jesus oppose injustice, work for peace, build bridges, and mend broken relationships. In every corner of our planet, God’s reign is revealed by those who dare to exit the family van, dare to take the Good News of God in Jesus Christ beyond our church walls, beyond our Sunday services.
When someone kneels at our healing station, receiving God’s healing of body, mind, and soul, then out of Zion already goes forth instruction. When our Altar Guild adorns this sacred place, then the LORD’s house is already established right here in our midst. When we provide for formation and study, then the Word of the Lord already goes forth from Jerusalem. When members of our choir enrich our worship, then nations already are taught in the way of the LORD. When our Homeless Outreach Worker embraces a homeless man and connects him with volunteers in our Advocacy Office for shelter and food, then nations already are streaming to God’s holy hill. When we open our doors to host the Vancouver Men’s Chorus, Sing City, the WestEnd Community Choir, the Food Bank, twelve-step groups, and other organisations, then many people already are going up to the mountain of the LORD. When our Labyrinth Guild unites people regardless of where they find themselves on the journey of faith, then spears already are beaten into pruning hooks. When feet are washed not minding the dirt, the bruises, the smell, or the history, then we have already been taught in the ways of the God of Jacob. When we exchange the peace with gusto and joy, then war is no longer taught amongst us. When we hold hands as we walk up to receive Christ’s body and blood, then we are already walking in the light of God. When we in whatever ministry welcome strangers and when we through whatever ministry reach out to the lost, the unwanted, the hurting, and the forsaken, then God’s vision is already alive in our midst.
Yes, we are a long way from the fulfilment of God’s reality. But this doesn’t mean that God’s reality hasn’t dawned on us yet. Yes, the day of Jesus’ triumphant return is yet to come. But this doesn’t mean that the evils and powers of the world have not already been overthrown by his birth, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. Yes, only God’s Spirit will finalise the vision she revealed to the prophet Isaiah in today’s reading. But this doesn’t mean the Spirit isn’t nudging us to discover how this vision is taking shape all around us already.
Advent is not about anticipating the return of our Saviour. Advent is about celebrating Jesus, who has already come among us.
[The Reverend Markus Duenzkofer delivered this sermon on November 28, 2010.]