Already but not yet

Last night, while we were out to dinner, Mary noticed that the lamp sconces were festooned with Christmas wreaths.  In other news, radio stations are playing Christmas carols 24/7, and Pumpkin Spice is out, Christmas blend is in.  We haven’t even celebrated Thanksgiving yet and Commercial Christmas has begun!  Oh well, 'tis the season.

Sometimes our readings at Mass seem just as out of kilter to us as Christmas before Thanksgiving.  Here we are, getting ready to thank God for all of the wonderful gifts he has given us, and we in this country have certainly been gifted with unimagined plenty.  Then we turn to the quiet preparations of Advent, and only then, with lights blazing, hearts filled with joy, and the air ringing with carols, we will celebrate the coming into the world of our salvation in the innocence of the baby Jesus in the stable.

But this morning, as prepare for a season of joy, we hear Daniel and Mark 13 at Mass…the “fire and brimstone” imagery of Jewish apocalyptic writing…a time unsurpassed in distress, the sun darkened, stars falling from the sky, Jesus coming as an almighty judge to gather the chosen and damn the wicked, etc., etc., etc.  Ouch.  Where’s that “Joy to the World” or “Silent Night” or “O Little Town of Bethlehem” now?

In its wisdom, the Church forces our attention away from the comforting warmth of family gathered around the table laden with the turkey and trimmings of a Thanksgiving feast, the bright joy of remembrance of that first Christmas morning.  For it is easy for us to become complacent and think that Jesus saved the world some two thousand years ago, what more need we do but celebrate the coming of the kingdom?  In just a few short days, many of us will enjoy an abundance of gifts that are surely signs of God’s grace and his kingdom. 

In our complaisance, we can lose our sense of the kingdom to come where true, absolute, and eternal joy and peace reside.  This is the source of our Christian hope, that even though we know not when, we know not where, we know not how, Jesus will come again and all things wrong will be put right, not just for now, but for ever more.

This “already but not yet” tension has been with us since Jesus first came into the world. The kingdom is here, “at hand” as Jesus proclaims in the very first chapter of Mark, yet is “to come in glory” at the end of time.  Our readings today urge us to reflect on how we live in this “already but not yet” stage.

As we were horrified to hear just a few days ago, Satan seems intent to force us to dwell in and obsess in the “not-yet-ness” of our time.  In fact, he would rather we forget the “already” altogether, to write it off as pious foolishness.  He would rather we despair completely in the “not yet” and assume it will be nevermore. 

The tragedy in France compounded for us the horror we felt most personally here in Newtown not three years ago, and the horror the world felt some fifteen years ago on 9/11.  How are we to appreciate the “already” when we seem to be buried in and blinded by the “not yet?”

Fred Rogers gives us a clue.  Fred McFeely Rogers was the creator and host of what is perhaps the greatest children’s television show ever produced – Mister Roger’s Neighborhood.  He also happened to be a Presbyterian minister, and part of the appeal of his show was the richness of Christian spirituality which pervaded each episode.

He gave us a pearl of wisdom that helps us see the “already” especially in times where we are blinded by and lose hope in the “not yet.”  As he tells it, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things on the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.’”

And doesn’t that resonate with us here in Newtown.  Take a moment – or, as Fred Rogers would say – “close your eyes for ten seconds and think” – think of the reverence in which we hold the first responders at 9/11, many of whom gave their lives that day and many of whom are still dying today from their efforts during the recovery.  Think of the gratitude we felt – and still feel today – for the thousands upon thousands of people throughout the world who offered us material and spiritual support after 12/14.  Imagine the doctors and nurses in trauma centers in and around Paris these past few days.  Imagine the people rushing to the aid of friends and strangers as bedlam descended on Paris.

Where you find the helpers, there you will find faith in the “already.”  

There you will find hope in the “not yet.”

There you will find the light which darkness cannot overcome.

There you will find God.