As I have prepared for both yesterday's message and for Advent, the texts reflect the time of exile, when the people of Israel (the northern kingdom) and Judah (the southern kingdom) were scattered, many sent to Babylon or to other places in the Assyrian Empire so that there would not be a class of leaders in the land to rebel against foreign rule. So, I paged back in the Bible to 2nd Chronicles to read the account of what led up to that devastating event. I found the accounts to be fascinating in light of my interest in historical cycles in our more recent history. The story concerns the kings, primarily. One "does what is good in the sight of the Lord." But he dies and his 20-something son takes over. He "does what is evil in the sight of the Lord," mostly permitting or encouraging the worship of gods belonging to other peoples - perhaps even to the aliens living among them. Then he dies, and the next 20-something takes the throne, and he throws out the sacred poles and idols and restores worship of Yahweh. But he dies and the cycle repeats. The writers here are clearly biased, not only toward the worship of Yahweh, but to a particularly ordered and limited worship of Yahweh. The priestly perspective.
My guide to cycles, Generations by Strauss and Howe, identifies a swing between outward concerns - infrastructure, corporate development, institutional growth - and inward concerns - the world of ideas, of personal expression, of spiritual searching. It is pretty clear that the priestly class valued the outward concerns, they praise building projects and creating order in the temple and in the celebration of prescribed holy days. The neighboring religions were much more about personal license and inter-relationships. They were earthy, addressing the daily personal needs of their adherents more than the corporate needs of a rigidly defined people. Not much new under the sun, it seems.
I'm of a generation with a strong attachment to the personal growth and expression side of this pendulum swing, but I also recognized that we swing too far in that direction before we call a halt and begin to turn again to ordered community and outward, physical development which has been so neglected in our time. The still current administration's passion for deregulation is less Republican than it is generational. It takes a practical and forward thinking Gen-Xer to turn the swing toward order. Oops, that sounded more political than I try to be. But it is less about party, I think, than about timing. Why were so many people willing to listen to the very junior senator from Illinois? Was it just because he could put words together well? No, I don't think so. I think he expressed a general sense of time for change, change toward new community and unity. His opponent, for all his efforts, just did not embody that change the way this younger, and very different face did. John McCain was the very last chance for a member of his generation to sit in the oval office. But he is a generation older than George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Obama is the next younger.
We have come to the end of the pendulum swing. The direction is shifting. What wisdom can we, who have lived through this part of the cycle, share with the young people who will be the builders of the next one? As I asked on Sunday, how can we raise authentic and respectful kids, who will be strong team members and creative builders of the next new world? How can we encourage the strengths that will be theirs as well as impart the best of our own ideas - respect for diversity, a place for personal expression, and whatever else we might name an important? Now is the time for us self-centered Boomers and cynical older X-ers to turn our focus away from our own troubles and even some of our dated ideals, and look to those who are growing amongst us.
As Advent begins, the time of anticipation of a new life among us, it is quite appropriate to look to a new star, a new model of hope for our world. Let us pray that we can all, from most prominent to most humble, dwell in that hope and work hand in hand with our God to bring Christ's reign to earth.
Peace, Marlea
