BE ADVENT-UROUS
I am not a theologian, and therefore must look at matters religious from a non-theological point of view. By observing, what we commonly call, the Church, I have concluded that organized religion is stuck in a certain modus operandi, that has remained the same since the Reformation in 1517, while the world has changed immensely.
When Martin Luther affixed his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31 of that year, he set into motion a revolution, culminating in the Thirty Years‘ War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, that became one of the most destructive conflicts in human history.
But the Ecclesiastical Reformation did not change a great deal in the way the church operated. True, the Lutheran movement abolished the papacy. True, the money racket which the church had become, was abolished. True, the Rome church organization was simplified, but, basically, God’s WRITTEN WORD, the Bible, remained the central vocal point in the Christian movement, prompting Guido de Brès to write a concise confession, the so-called ‘Belgic Confession’, composed in 1565 in Antwerp, Belgium, with a dual emphasis: Creation and the Bible.
In it the young Guido asked: “By What Means is God Made Known?”
Here are his answers.
First:
We know Him by two means: first, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe; which is before our eyes as a most elegant book, wherein all creatures, great and small, are as so many characters leading us to contemplate the invisible things of God, namely, His eternal power and divinity, as the apostle Paul saith: For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So, they are without excuse. All which things are sufficient to convince men, and leave them without excuse.
Secondly, He makes Himself more clearly and fully known to us by His holy and divine Word; that is to say, as far as is necessary for us to know in this life, to His glory and our salvation.
Please note the priority:
What comes first? What did he see as the church’s priority? Creation. What did the church do? It saw the Bible as the only source of divine knowledge.
Advent is coming: Not the arrival – advent – of the baby in Bethlehem, but the grown-up Jesus in his Second Coming. And he will take with him not an updated version of the Bible, but a ‘renewed’ Creation. And, says the last chapter of the Bible, I am coming soon. Repeatedly I should add, taking with him a New Creation!
Trees!!
This world today has a rapidly decreasing number of trees, and an increasing number of church-denominations. But the new creation is described as “And there was no temple there”, no church, no Bible. But trees galore: trees, miraculous trees.
The Bible starts with The Tree of Life. In the centre of history stands, The Tree of the Cross. Into that tree, symbol of all trees, Jesus’ flesh was pounded, from which Jesus’ blood dripped into the earth, making it too, forever holy.
Trees. Ever heard a sermon on trees? Ever gone, as congregation, to a forest, and wonder and wander there, and soak up the aroma of The Trees. Yet the Bible starts with a Tree, the Tree of Life, has at its centre the Tree on Calvary, and ends with the Tree that feeds the new creation.
ADVENT-URE
We must more see ADVENT as an ADVENTURE into the new world to come, in the wonderous world of TREES, those marvelous miracles of the ecosystem that regulates the natural world, the creator of clouds, the master of the atmosphere, the maker of rain, the organizer of organic compounds and the miner of minerals, ‘the leaves – the leaves! are for the healing of the nations’ – and…. the list goes on.
The Bible and the church will disappear, never to be resurrected again. Creation, God-made creation, will last from eternity to eternity: it is God’s Primary Word, now and always. That is the world – and the Word! – we will inherit.
That’s the reason why our emphasis in life and on religious assemblies must change, fitting more and more into a mode that is God-ordained. That calls for deep reflection and constant reorientation. Perhaps large gatherings, filling the parking lots, should be fitted with small house assemblies, where neighbours and secular friends can meet and discuss. Now the carbon-age dominates the church.
To become ready for the New Creation -now rapidly approaching, as the Old World is digging its grave – we need a new orientation, from advent to adventure, imagining and daring to think outside the box, the four walls of a church, and orient ourselves to prepare for the New World to come.
That is our future: START LIVING IT NOW. Be ADVENT-UROUS