Pastor s Column: Garbage trucks and the Second Coming
By R. LANEY KUHN
Hillsboro United Methodist Church
While living in New Orleans, Louisiana, I heard them rumbling through my neighborhood at about 5 a.m. It was the unmistakable sound of trash cans being emptied and the truck compacting the contents so that more could be put in. The noise brought me out of a deep sleep and I thought, "It isn't the right time for the garbage trucks." But they were working nonetheless.
Suddenly, for some odd reason the scripture concerning the second coming of Jesus popped into my head as I listened to this sleep-disturbing grind. "Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect." (Matthew 24:42-44).
It seems strange to have noisy garbage trucks remind you of the Second Coming. But then that is the nature of the event itself. Surprise! It can come any time. It can come any place. It can come to any person. It can come to any group of people. Jesus can come again in one cosmic ending when all of time is wrapped in a ball and brought to completion.
Or Jesus can come again in the second birth of every individual who accepts him into her/his heart and allows him to live in her/his spirit. Yes, Jesus can surprisingly come again and again. And, I believe, he will come one final time when all of history is gathered together in his total triumph.
The more pressing message is that we need to be prepared to meet the Christ in the middle of the night or in the middle of our sinful life and we need to be prepared to have serious conversation with him at that point.
As we are reminded of the new birth of Jesus in our lives and as we prepare our spirits for the coming of the Christ child, may we not go glibly into that good night. Instead, may we genuinely be watchful for the coming of the Lord and may we have ready ears to hear his coming — whether in the garbage trucks in the early morning hours, or in the words of a friend or an enemy, or in the events of the world, or in the statements from other persons of faith that make our blood boil — may we hear his coming, for "in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ Enters in."
It is indeed a journey to walk with the Christ isn't it.
