November 2015 – Year C Advent 1

The time of advent is a special time of waiting in expectation and in hope for the second coming of Christ. It is unique in that it allows for a look back and an appreciation of the first coming and the events that led up to the Nativity, while simultaneously looking forward with hope for Christ’s return to earth.

Jeremiah 33:14-16

The prophet Jeremiah states that God will, “cause a righteous branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” The importance of the advent and the second coming of Christ is to right the cosmic balance and to provide humanity with completion and fulfillment. As the common saying goes, “there will be justice in this world or the next.”

Psalm 25:1-10

This Psalm states what most of us feel, a need for ultimate justice. The world is unfair, but there just may be more than this world and its earthly kingdoms, so Christians wait with a hopeful expectation for Christ’s return.

“Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous” (Psalm 25:3). The Psalmist points out that hope makes for a good breakfast but a poor supper. Hope is future oriented, but when the wait is long we feel abandoned. “It belongs to the depth of the religious spirit to have felt forsaken, even by God” (Religion and the Making, 20). It is during these moments that we must remember that as Paul says, love is the greatest of the triad: faith, hope, and love. This is because God is love and thus, his loving nature is constant and present, not future oriented. “Love neither rules, nor is it unmoved; also, it is a little oblivious as to morals. It does not look to the future; for it finds its own reward in the immediate present.” (Process and Reality, 343). The point is not to fear about the past or to be presumptuous about a future advent; it is to be alive in the present in God’s love, which is eternal and salvific. “Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O LORD!” (Psalm 25:7).

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

An intriguing aspect of the advent of Christ is whether or not Jesus’ arrival will usher in a universal homecoming or not. Paul states in 1 Thessalonians 3:12 that

“May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you.” This aspect of interrelatedness that appears again and again in Paul is echoed by Whitehead, “But no two actualities can be torn apart: each is all in all. Thus, each temporal occasion embodies God, and is embodied in God” (Process and Reality, 348). So, on a process view it is erroneous to assume that you or I are individuals in the sense of uniquely isolated personalities or souls. For process thinkers God saves all the value and experience that is attained in the temporal world. There is an objective immortality moment-to-moment. This means that God stores all of the events that happen in the totality of his nature. However, as to whether or not we have a subjective immortality that survives this earthly body, Whitehead is ambiguous.

Luke 21:25-36

This passage from Luke is problematic from a process lens because the notion of an omega point is not universally shared or accepted by process theologians. Thinkers like Pierre Teilhard de Chardin do suggest that an advent will unfold, but Whitehead and Hartshorne are far more vague on this issue. Many process theologians would be concerned that too much attention paid to a coming eschaton would take the focus off of our duty as stewards of this world as discussed in Genesis. Instead, the advent or coming of Christ or God is to be experienced moment-to-moment in the initial aim given by God as a lure for feeling for every entity in the universe.