The Rev. Frank Logue
King of Peace Episcopal Church
Kingsland, Georgia
December 3, 2000

Apocalypse Now
Luke 21:25-31

I want to share with you a story—one of the great tales of American literature. The story is that of Chicken Licken. I would like to read an adaptation of this doomsayers story found in a book I highly recommend, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. The story goes like this…

[read Chicken Licken from The Stinky Cheese Man]

In the story of Chicken Licken, disaster is coming, and coming soon. Any second now the sky is going to fall and the world will come to an end. In the classic version of this story, Chicken Licken is wrong, she gets hit on the head and assumes that the sky is falling. She doesn’t read the signs right. But, in this adaptation, disaster does come. However, disaster comes in the form of the unexpected—the table of contents page crushes all of the characters. What would it look like and sound like if the world really were crashing down around us? How could we know?

Jesus says, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and waves.” Signs in the heavens and confusion on earth. Is that the sound of the end of the world?

When U.S. Today was being created, the Editor used an illustration to explain to his staff the particular style to which the paper would aspire. He gave examples of headlines around the country in the event that we knew conclusively one day before the world was to end. The Editor wrote that The Washington Post would say, “World to End, Government Sources Say.” While The New York Times would proclaim, “World Ending, Third World Hit Hardest.” The Editor explained that U.S. Today’s approach would be a big banner headline proclaiming, “We’re Outta Here! State by state roundups on page A-11.”

Jesus says, “People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

Jesus foretold of horrors so great that people would faint with fear at the end of the world. But we are gathered here this morning on the First Sunday of Advent in the year 2000. According to prediction after prediction, we should not be here at all. The world should have ended 1,000 years ago when the first millennial scare hit. Or maybe one of the many other times a warning went out that the end is near. Time and again, people have wrongly predicted the end of the world. We only have to look back and snicker at how the Y2K threat fizzled out with hardly a whimper to see how big scares can turn into nothing.

Jesus says, “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory.”

The disciples thought Jesus would come back soon, maybe, probably, even in their lifetime. They lived their lives thinking that at any moment Jesus would return. It’s like holding off just a few more moments by saying, “wait for it…. Wait for it…. Now!” But they had the “wait for it…. Wait for it….” And “now” never came. In fact, it has yet to come. The Christian Church around the world has been collectively holding its breath for nearly 2,000 years. Always waiting, always watching. But, it has not been time. Not yet.

Jesus says, “Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Advent—the word means “coming.” This is the first day of the new church year, and like every church year, we start by remembering when Jesus first came into the world and remembering that he will come again. But we can’t walk around all the time with our heads raised to the sky in anticipation can we? We would look silly and nothing would be accomplished. What are we supposed to do if we think the world is falling down around us? The great Reformer Martin Luther was asked this very sort of question. Someone challenged, “What would you do if you heard that Jesus would return tomorrow?” Martin Luther said that he would plant a tree. For in all likelihood, the rumor would be untrue. After all, Jesus said elsewhere that no one knows the hour or day when he would return. No one but the Father. So, why not plant a tree and plan for the future. Then if Luther was wrong and his Lord did return, he would find Luther taking care of the earth.

Jesus told this parable, “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”

The signs will be there for anyone to see. We need only look around us to see that the world is coming to an end. But, there have been so many signs. Thirty years after Jesus death, the Romans crushed the Jews in a horrible war that destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. Many Christians at that time still worshipped at the Temple. How could that not be the beginning of the end. Or what about the fall of the Roman Empire, or the rise and fall of the Nazi Empire or the many other conquests for power which have ended in the deaths of tens of thousands. Were these not the signs of the end?

So what good are passages like this? Why bother with the Apocalypse anyway? We may get an Apocalypse—an end of the world sometime. But the Apocalypse is always soon. When will the Apocalypse be now?

It is the end of the world, right now. Today is the day for somebody. Thousands of somebodies, maybe a million or more. All over the world today is the day of judgment. Many, many people will die today. Many others will reach an important point of decision. For all those people the end is very near. Passages like this remind us that we don’t have forever to decide what we think about this Jesus of Nazareth. There is a time to decide and that time is always now. We always have now. Jesus reminds us that we don’t always have later. Jesus either was who he said he was, the Son of God, or not. And if he was who he said he was, we can have a relationship with him right now. Then the end of the world is more or less irrelevant, as we have already begun eternal life. But if he wasn’t who he said he was, then he was just plain crazy and we should drop the whole thing. It’s that straightforward. Passages like the Gospel reading for this morning remind us that we are in a radical option situation right now. We can accept or we can reject. Either way, the Kingdom of God is near. If we accept God we enter into that kingdom here and now. If we reject God then we are still standing by waiting and watching.

Chicken Licken ran around yelling, scaring everyone with the news that the sky is falling. She repeated, “The sky is falling. The sky is falling. The sky is falling.” Until everyone but the fox was scared too. Today, some folks have said the end is near so much that they can sound about like Chicken Licken to us. But, try this Christian version instead, “The Kingdom of God is near. The Kingdom of God is near. The Kingdom of God is near.” Because whether Jesus returns in glory before this service is completed or he waits another millennium, the Kingdom of God is near. The Kingdom of God is as near as a prayer. The Kingdom of God is as near as the bread and wine in this communion service. God is here among us, and the Kingdom of God is very near indeed.

Amen.