In a funeral sermon, one image I like to lift up for the mourners is that of God's people as a waiting people. That is to say, everything which God has promised to do hasn't come to completion yet. Therefore, we are a people who are expectantly waiting for the fulfillment of those promises. We long for the day of Jesus' return and to see our beloved friends and family who have already died. We have something more to look forward to than the empirical world that surrounds us. We have something more to hope for than a generic God who is “nice” or “friendly”. Indeed, we hope in a future where the reign of God is apparent, clear and unchallenged by any human rebellion. We hope for a future with life as prevailing truth and death as a forgotten oppressor. The same is true for the beloved dead who are doing their waiting in the presence of Christ.
In some ways, “the battle is o'er the strife is done” when a believer dies. They have already died the death of eternal abandonment in Baptism and been redeemed to live for God. Their second death is now a passage from waiting here on earth to waiting in the near presence of God. But we sell God short when we imagine their waiting place as the complete picture. If we bound in the waiting church in heaven, transforming it into some sort of cosmic resort, as though those who have died are on some sort of vacation of a lifetime, we disregard their eagerness to see the kingdom fulfilled too. So even though many things are transformed at death, Christians are God's waiting people both here and after death.
Waiting for the day when Christ will return and there will be no separation between the living and the dead. When the victory of God will be clear, and that victory will be Christ's triumph on the Cross, not some sort of maneuvering in the cosmic equivalent of extra innings. We are waiting to see the promises of scripture fulfilled, where those who have fallen asleep in Christ will be the first to become fully awake. We are waiting to see that vision from Revelation of God coming down to earth to dwell with us forever, remembering that ancient promise, “I will be your God, you will be my people.”
In a manner of speaking, you could say as we prepare for Christmas this year, that God's people in heaven and on earth are hoping to celebrate Advent for the last time. Oh what an Advent that would be! Oh what a morning, when the stars begin to fall! A peaceful and blessed Advent to you.
