Second Advent and Passivity - Sabbath and Eschatology

As noted above, when humanity remembers the Sabbath one is commemorating the creation event. This is a component, but it is more than commemorative, it is also participatory. Every week we participate in the Sabbath. We are seeking to live in God?s intention. First, it seeks to commemorate God?s original intention. To commemorate and participate in God?s original intention, we must first understand what God?s intention was at creation. Reflection on my own ecclesial and ethnic traditions informs me that first of all God?s original intention was to make all of humanity in God?s image. God?s original intention was for humanity to live equally. A reflection on how the Sabbath evolved through the Biblical record confirms this for all individuals in Israel including slave, free, rich, and poor took part in the responsibilities as well as the benefits of the Sabbath. Even the animals were to ?rest? (Exodus 20:10). For the purposes of this paper, I will use equality as a component of God?s original intention. Thus, to commemorate and participate in Sabbath we should be commemorating and participating in God?s original intention which includes equality. Seventh-day Adventists sometimes have emphasized the refraining from work aspect of the 7th day without emphasizing this participation in God?s intention aspect. We participate in equality in the world as we stand up for the vision of the Sabbath in the world.

The Sabbath allows us to live in God?s original intention although partially today. Today we can see the in breaking of the Kingdom. Today by reflection on this symbol we can gain a clearer perception of what God?s intention is and thus what the fullness of God?s kingdom will look like. The Sabbath itself does not allow one to fall into a trap of quietism where one does nothing. The Sabbath pushes us to see the world as God would see it. This first step clarifies our view of the world in light of others.

Because of the participatory aspects of the Sabbath, one cannot ever fall into a trap of just looking on or observing. If one is truly remembering God?s creative acts, or as I have put it remembering God?s intention, one will participate in it which means an active disengagement with all that is not in line with God?s intention.

Second Advent and Passivity - Three Symbols

Sabbath

In this section of the paper, I will briefly describe the three symbols that I will use. The first symbol is the Sabbath. This is a symbol that reminds humanity to look back at creation. Thus, the Sabbath is a symbol of the commemoration of divine creation. Because God called what God created ?very good? (Gen 1:31), I will call original creation God?s original intention for humanity. Creation is a work solely of God. Humanity did not participate in it, but humanity participates in its celebration. Contemplating and understanding God?s world as originally given will cause one to contemplate God?s desires of wholeness, equality, perfection, and justice.

Second Advent of Jesus Christ

The Second Advent of Jesus Christ is another symbol that is important to my own theological reflections. Here there is a breaking in of divine into the human realm. I wish to describe this as the institution of God?s ultimate intention in the world. God?s original intention at creation has gone through some change as a result of human failings, but God still has a plan. Humanity had no part in creation that we symbolize in the Sabbath. Humanity also will not have any part in the Second Advent per-se? beside just watching and celebrating. This might give one the impression that there is nothing for humanity to do. However, the Heavenly Temple ministry of Jesus Christ is a symbol where we can see humanities role in the realization of the ultimate intention of God in history. The Heavenly Temple ministry of Jesus Christ is also a historical bridge between the creation symbolized in the Sabbath and the Second Advent. This is God?s current intention for the world.

The Heavenly Temple Ministry

The Heavenly Temple ministry is a time when Jesus is guiding history towards God?s intention.One can see glimpses of this ministry by looking at how Hebrews speaks of Christ as High Priest in the heavenlies (Hebrews 7-9) and the picture of Christ as priest in Revelation (see Revelation 1:9-17). While Jesus Christ is performing this work in heaven that he became qualified for because of his humanity (see Hebrews 2), the Holy Spirit is performing a role on the earth as comforter (John 14:6). So the Holy Spirit performs a work on earth while Jesus Christ is performing a work in heaven. Seventh-day Adventists believe that this work is the same work observed from different angles. Jesus Christ in heaven is performing a work for us while the Holy Spirit on earth is performing a work in us. Both work together to bring history to the climax that will end at the Second Advent of Jesus the Christ. For my purposes, I will not differentiate between the work of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. In this paper I will only speak of the Holy Spirit?s work in humanity on the earth rather than talk about Jesus Christ?s work in heaven.

Must Belief in the Second Advent of Jesus Christ Promote Passivity?

In the next few posts I will serialize a paper I wrote to address this question. In this post I will give the introduction of the paper:

The Second Advent and Passivity: A Position Paper on Eschatology

As one reads the literature produced by many who accept a literal Second Advent of Jesus Christ, one sees what I believe to be a problematic emphasis on passivly waiting and seeing God unfold what God said would happen in the Bible. In many cases there is nothing for humanity to do and the Christian simply watches with "inside information" on what will happen in the end. This kind of eschatology can promote a passivity that merely supports the status quo in the world. I believe that there will be a literal, visible Second Advent where Jesus Christ will break into human history to fully set up the Kingdom of God on this earth. However, this belief does not necessarily promote passivity or mere acceptance of the status quo. I will show that this kind of emphasis on passively waiting actually postpones the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.

The Seventh-day Adventist church teaches that right now both human and divine agencies are in a work that is a pre-requisite to the Second Advent. In other words there is something that humanity, with the help of God, must do before the Second Advent can take place. In this paper, I will describe this work as bringing God?s intention for humanity. At creation, we see God?s original intention for humanity. At the Second Advent, we see God?s ultimate intention for humanity. Today in the ongoing work of Christ and the Holy Spirit, we see God seeking to implement God?s current intention for humanity.

We cannot fully describe any of God?s intentions for we don?t have a full record of creation neither do we have a full record of how the Kingdom of God will look after the Second Advent, but we can catch a glimpse. We can catch a glimpse of these intentions by appealing to ethnic tradition as exemplified in the yearnings of the slaves in their spirituals. We can catch a glimpse by theological reflection on the demands of justice and mercy. We can catch a glimpse by looking at God?s intentions in the Bible and in the doctrines and teachings of my own and other ecclesial traditions. In this paper, I will organize my reflection with three primary symbols from my ecclesial tradition that speak to God?s intention and humanities work in bringing God?s intention. My guiding purpose is to show how reflection on God?s intention can help to sidestep the possibility of passivity in light of the Second Advent.

C. D. Brooks Resources

Someone wanted me to send them links to all of the C. D. Brooks resources that I know of. Well here they are:

The first is a link to the sermon "Want my Church Back!" This one is hosted at adventist affirm. In it Pastor Brooks speaks to his desire to have the church return to a core identity.

If you actually want to hear the sermon on a MP3 you can go to HopeMedia. They have two MP3s of pastor Brooks. In addition to "I want my Church Back," they also have a sermon "A sense of Urgency."

You also might wish to see Pastor Brooks' sermons at the General Youth Congress of 2005. I have a post to about it here. At the General Youth Congress site you can actually watch two of C.D. Brooks' sermons.

I also have a link to a CD Brooks sermon entitled "Trash Talking."

Finally I would invite you to read my post on Pastor Brooks' preaching style in my Preaching with Power series.

Revive us, O Lord. Pastor Charles Brooks presents 3 sermons at the Riverside Chapel Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nashville, TN. You can see all three of them at this link.

Thanks to Cheryl Palmer for sending in these links to C. D. Brooks Sermons.

• Who in the World are You? - Preached at North Philadelphia SDA Church. Found on Pastor Keith Goodman's website.


• A Sermon at ChurchPond.com


• The Faithful Witness - This site has a number of sermons from Pastor Brooks. They are mostly links to other sites.

1. Friendly Fire - It is the fourth sermon from the top.


2. South Eastern Conference Campmeeting - Sermon from 2005


3. Sermon at the Evangelism Council


4. The Royal Line - Look at April 21, 2007.

Don't forget the website CDBrooks.com.

Thanks for sending in these locations. You can find 2 of Pastor C. D. Brooks videosat this link: http://www.theloudcry.net/C.D.%20Brooks.html.

If you know of any more resources available please let me know...

The Sabbath - Disengagement From the Present World

The Sabbath is a disengagement of the community from the present world. It is difficult to live ones life, feed ones family, and even work in a job, without
accommodating the structure. Our very participation in the present world promotes its continued existence which includes all of its attendent problems. Our working for the company that refuses to pay a livable wage to its poorest workers helps that company to survive. Such accommodation in a sense promotes the present evil world. We support the system as we live in the system. We cannot really live in this system and totally separate.

The Sabbath command makes provision for this by stating "six days you labor, but the Seventh-day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God." If I may paraphrase, six days you go ahead and live in the system, but on the Seventh-day you radically break from it by not working (Exodus 20:10) and not buying and selling (Neh 13:14).

This constitutes an economic boycott that reminds the Sabbath keeper (and those who are in relationship with her) that the present world is not all there is. It reminds the Sabbath keeper
that the vision of the Sabbath with its basic idea that all are equal and all are to take part and be blessed by it will ultimately overcome the present world as the Kingdom of God is fully made evident. The Sabbath reminds us that while we are living in the system, this system is not God's ideal or God's will. The Sabbath reminds us that this present order is not what God intends. The Sabbath reminds us that the ultimately our responsibilities are to God and not to the system that oppresses us and others. that oppressive system that we have rightfully named Babylon.

The Sabbath pushes us to disengage from the world at least one day a week. The Sabbath-keeping church must show the weakness of the present order by disengaging from it. This will demonstrate to the world that this is not all there is. Our disengagement from the present order reminds us all that God's kingdom will overtake and overcome eventually. This disengagement includes total separation from the present world on that one day as well as much separation as possible on other days.

This disengagement is not a passivity in the world. We would fight those things that are not in line with the vision of the Sabbath, but the disengagement helps us to find the vision and gain strength to fight anything that is not in line with the vision the Sabbath gives us.

The Sabbath - Celebration of Community

"The Sabbath is about individual rest, the church has turned it into a day of corporate worship." So says many I have come in contact with. Such an individualistic understanding of the Sabbath divorces the Sabbath Keeper from one of the greatest blessings of the Sabbath which is a celebration of community. In fact Leviticus 23:3 reminds us that a holy convocation or meeting was required of the community in the Hebrew Bible. It was to have elements that would be kept in community. In addition, the Sabbath was not just to benefit the Sabbath-Keeper. Exodus 20:10 reminds us that all who are in contact with the Sabbath keeper would benefit from the rest of the Sabbath Keeper by not doing work that would normally be done for the Sabbath Keeper. Even the animals were to be blessed by the Sabbath. We are told in Exodus 23:9-10 that even the land was to keep a "Sabbath-year" this would expand the blessing of the Sabbath to include even the creation itself. Thus the Sabbath is communal and affects not just the Sabbath-keeper, but also all those who are involved with the Sabbath keeper. If the church will be a Sabbath-keeping church it must be a benefit to all who are in community with it.

A Sabbath-keeping church must see itself as one that makes sure that its Sabbath keeping is not an individual endeavor. It is one that must affect others. It is one that even those who are not Sabbath keepers must be blessed by. It is one that all those who are in relationship with us are affected by. The Sabbath-keeping church must throw away any totally individualistic gospel that ignores the communal aspects of that gospel because the very idea of Sabbath is communal.

Preaching with Power - Walter Pearson

Walter Pearson followed C. D. Brooks as the speaker/director of Breath of Life ministries. Elder Pearson has been a pastor and an administrator in the Adventist church including a stint as associate secretary of the Ellen White Estate.

Understanding of Preaching

Elder Pearson referred to the call to preach as a call to "positively invluence people." This statement demonstrates Elder Pearson's belief in the power of preaching. Preaching, according to Pastor Pearson's culture and philosphy, is the center of ministry. This refers to the fact that in the Black church often-times the whole of ones ministry is evaluated by the quality of ones pulpit work. Pastor Pearson believes that Jesus speaks through the preaching event to humanity. Pastor Pearson states, "I believe that the revelation of divine power through the spoken Word is the recurring miracle which energizes and sustains the church." And to answer the question of his understanding of preaching in summary form, he states that "A sermon is God communicating a divine message to humanity, through humanity, by a process which He alone makes effective."

Method of Sermon Preparation

Pastor Pearson decides what to preach from the needs of the people, events, books, and situations. He notes that God ultimately gives the sermon, but God uses many of these avenues to get the message to us as preachers.

Elder Pearson has a personal study regiment that is not necessarily for sermon creation, but it does inform his sermon creation process. Like Barry Black, Pearson notes the importance of personal devotion which sometimes informs his preaching.

Pearson reads the Bible for sermon preparation by actively listening and letting the Word speak. When he does not understand the passage, he consults resources. Interestingly enough he pushes himself by reading "passages that are not naturally interesting" to try to understand why they are written. This pushes him to expand his mind. He even notes that sometimes he reads dull, dense and poorly written books and materials to stretch his mind as well.

Pearson attempts to take the texts and put them in an unusual frame of reference. He quotes the Adventist preacher Samuele Myers who stated that even a familiar room becomes different when you enter it through a different door. Another approach that Pearson suggests is to invert the sequence of events or look at a different character in the story to provide freshness to the story.

While any individual sermon may take more or less time, Pastor Pearson stated that it takes roughly 16 hours to put a sermon together.

Understanding of Adventist Preaching

Pearson stated that the Adventist preaching tradition is one that emphasizes a holistic message. Thus Adventist preaching must affect the entire person. He notes that both the Adventist and the Black preaching traditions are "unambiguously Biblical." While both are Biblical, Pearson notes that the Adventist preacher can probably be a little more prophetic in its preaching by pointing out the injustices in this society.

Understanding of Black preaching

Pearson is quick to note that Black preaching is not a monolith. Black preaching is manifested in different ways according to denomination and even according to individual churches. However he does note that Black preaching is Prophetic in taking on the injustices of today. In addition, Black preaching engages in a "a kind of in-your-face preaching" that speaks truth on issues that are neglected by others.

Elder Pearson is known for his story telling ability. I thought it was interesting that he spoke about looking at the Bible story from a slightly different angle. Such an approach can be very helpful to the preacher. Eugene Lowery speaks of "Upsetting the Equilibrium" in The Homiletical Plot. Here we look at the story from a slightly different vantage point to allow the sermon to be fully heard. A preacher can provide freshness to stories that have been heard many times by following this approach that Pearson and Lowry suggest.