Advent 1: Don’t Grasp, Rest

I was stressed out anyway, but the new book by theologians Richard and Christopher Hayes (father and son) on homosexuality set me off (The Widening of God’s Mercy). I valued elder Hayes’ earlier work—The Moral Vision of the New Testament (’96)—a diamond-like interpretive key that etched the Cross as the lens to view the New Testament in general, and in particular, any sex outside of marriage as immoral while enfolding homosexual strugglers with grace and biblical truth.

That season changed for Hayes. Winsome ‘gay’ Christians have persuaded both father and son for no good scholarly reason that God widened His mercy to include ‘gay’ practice. And professor Christopher has brought the bad news to Fuller Seminary, violating holy boundaries at my alma mater.

Stuck in gridlock, wearied from the 40-day fast, I struggled to assimilate another battering of God’s best for His people. I checked out. I grasped. My first thought was a glass of wine. A vat of wine. A baptism in wine. Next came the illicit sexual fantasies. I always marvel at how creative my perverse imagination remains. Then I just got mad: freaking mad at the Hayes team stripping the Gospel of salt and light. As neither was within ear range, I f-bombed the jerk in the obnoxiously large truck who swooped into the line of cars in front of me.

Happy Advent. I took heart at today’s readings from Jeremiah, 1 Thessalonians, and Luke. Somehow, Jesus’ warning in Luke 21:25-36 of unprecedented terror and assault throughout the earth felt right; it matched my inner turmoil.

Threats without, anxiety within. The good news unfurling from the muck? Such chaos signals the soon-coming King. And should alert us not to sin (as I did inwardly) but rather to ‘Stand up and raise your head; your redemption is at hand’ (Lk. 21:28).

Jesus gets our childish ways. He warns us of the interplay between fear-infused stress and its destabilizing power; anxiety tempts us to grasp and seek equilibrium badly by attaching to various passion plays, e.g., barking at the wrong guy and opiates of choice, including other bodies.

Smart Jesus: ‘Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth’ (Lk 21: 34-35).  

We need to own our ungrounded humanity and secure ourselves in the unseen fortress of the Living God. For that, we need kinsmen, earthy and holy, who know our distress and can gently lead us to the Rock. Don’t you love spouses like that? Friends? These are the real Presence of Jesus: listening with His ears and redirecting us to holy shelter.

More than I like to admit, Jesus’ members ground me before sins of the heart lash out like loose wires. I can let go of distress in loving arms. We can heed Paul’s exhortation to ‘abound in love for each other, as to strengthen our hearts, and so be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Thess. 3:12).

Holiness. It is hard to live blamelessly when trusted Christians declare right is wrong and wrong is right. When will the Church land on the truth that our bodies speak a better word? We can and must aspire to grow into them so that the logical fruit of our love—children—have a fighting chance to aspire beyond the dead-end of ‘friends with benefits.’

Elder Hayes passed down an empty way of life to his son, who now teaches men so. Grieve. And in your distress, take shelter. God, through Jeremiah, promises that ‘I will raise up for David a just shoot’…so ‘Judah will be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure’ (Jer. 33:15,16). Be vigilant and pray (Lk 21:36).  Rest in Everlasting Arms.

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