Justin Appel

Dear Friends in Christ,

As we enter the season of Advent, our lectionary readings call us to consider the many ways in which Christ comes to us—whether past, present, or future.

In today’s lesson from St. Peter’s second letter, we are reminded not to become complacent about his future coming, and the associated judgement of “the living and the dead,” as the Apostle’s Creed puts it.

Peter tells us that the same word that created the world has also reserved it for judgment by fire. It is coming; it will happen. God’s promise is true and for him time is inconsequential, for “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.”

Mercifully, this seeming pause amid created time reminds us that God is patient with us, that he has not forgotten his promise. Rather, God’s patience means that he wants all people to come to repentance.

This doctrine of the Last Judgement, an important theme in our Advent preparations, is admittedly a hard pill for us to swallow as modern people, but it is a traditional teaching preserved in the Scriptures and in the Church’s interpretation.

In this context, I am grateful for a short homily on the topic by Fr. Alexander Schmemann, an American Orthodox theologian and pastor whose teaching has been a great benefit to me over the years.

He teaches that the final criterion of Christ’s judgement will be whether we have managed to demonstrate God’s love to those in our immediate experience, in their particularity—not to humanity in general. This love allows us to see Christ in every person God brings into our lives.

Yours in Christ,

—Justin