Maranatha. . .

The ancient and eternal prayer of the Church Militant is Come, Lord Jesus.  It is the fervent petition of a Church caught in the already but not yet and in but not of the world place -- always uncomfortable and mostly fraught with the pain of persecution, fear, threat, and anxiety.  But that is our place.  So we pray for all the things for which people have always prayed to God and underneath all those prayers is that ancient and eternal longing -- Come, Lord Jesus.  Though Advent encapsulates this prayer more formally in the blessed Stir up collects, it is not the only season in which this yearning is heard.

The problem lies not with the petition but with how we understand it.  We are most certainly not asking the Lord for more money.  This is not a stewardship petition -- at least in the way that stewardship has come to be known.  Neither are we praying for more buildings, better facilities, and nicer structures in which to do the Lord's bidding.  These things upon which no stone will be left upon another are not the focus of our prayers.  Finally, this is not a prayer for more power in the world or more prestige before the world's leaders or more influence over the world's affairs.  We are not building an earthly kingdom whose territory must be defended against all enemies and we are not creating a utopia out of the broken state of things around us or angling for the restoration of a Christian culture to dominate the culture of the world.  This may seem like the focus of the prayer but these are not our concerns.

God's Kingdom is always weak in the eyes of the world (and perhaps in our own) and foolish before the power of reason and intellect (the worlds and even our own as the people of God).  We are praying for the mystery to be fully revealed, for the hidden to be rendered obvious, and for the promised to be fulfilled.  Ours is not a longing satisfied by earthly temples or kingdoms or power but only by the advent of the new heaven and new earth of His promise.  Our hope lies not in the rescue and refurbishment of the old but in the break through of the new that will not be replaced and cannot be.  We are not in anticipation of a thing but of God, not of a time but eternity, and not of a place but of the presence.  This prayer is the prayer for God to finish what He began, to bring to consummation that to which time has pointed, and to bring to culmination all that this that now hint at the eternal.  It is for the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in His kingdom without end, wherein all boundaries of time and place are transcended for the eternal now of God.

Because of this we are not disheartened by the shortcomings of a world that must pass away or a body that must succumb to death before life or a Church that must suffer in the tension of what the world sees and faith sees.  No, this cannot steal away our joy or rob us of the peace that passes understanding. This is part of Epiphany's revelation, building upon Advent's promise and Christmas' surprise.  We are waiting for a new heaven and a new earth and for the God who is making them come and ushering the broken out.  A Christianity in love with the moment or committed to the betterment of the present or to the evolution of truth by whim, desire, passion, or preference cannot pray this petition.  Only those who are detached from this world and its curses and blessings enough to behold by faith the eternal that is our future.  Heaven and earth may pass away but God's Word shall not -- except in those places where the people have become embarrassed by or  ashamed of that Word and have change it to fit the times or the people's wants.  Those are the ones who should fear most the Marantha.  For when it comes the lukewarm who think they are the Kingdom but who bear the stench of Eden's rebellion without repentance will be spewed from His mouth.  That same mouth will bear only welcome for those who endure to the end.  Come, you beloved and faithful, enter into your Master's joy forever.