It seems the world is going to come apart soon -- no really, it is. In December of 2012, to be precise. I know this because the Mayan calendar runs out then, several other ancient cultures agree that’s when it’s all over, the TV tabloids have announced it between breathless commentary about Sarah, Oprah and Tiger, and then the new movie -- creatively named, no less, “2012” shows exactly how it’s done. (In case you can’t wait until 2012, California does fall into the Pacific.)

If you are still skeptical, you might be surprised that a major teaching of the New Testament is that the world as we know it will change. You see, the Kingdom of God is going to change everything, only it ultimately will be a change for far better than we can imagine, rather than a disaster.

When is it going to happen? Probably not in 2012, although that is a possibility. Actually, Advent is the time Christians have always used to prepare themselves for Christ’s coming. It is an appropriate time to ask “When ?”

When is the violence of neighborhood streets filled with rage in a world filled with war going to end? When will the shrill voices of folks who disagree with one another but have forgotten the elementary kindness their mothers taught them melt away into tones of civility and respect? When will everything be made right? When will God’s Kingdom come?

Jesus said he did not know. But it will happen. You have his promise.

So this really leaves me hanging. Here the Mayans and the media are all tweeting about 2012, everyone seems to feel something is up, and Jesus plainly offers no help here. He said no one knows when the big change will happen. You and I don’t, the angels don’t, Jesus himself didn’t. Only the Father knows. This makes me face a real problem. Why should I listen to Jesus when so many others -- including quite a number of preachers -- seem to know so much more about the details than he does?

That’s one of the big challenges of faith to me -- learning to just trust Jesus even though I don’t have all the details. I really would like to know the “when’s” of life. When am I going to get strength back after my the bout with H1N1? When am I going to be delivered from some of the same old bad habits that have plagued my life for the last zillion years? When are all the broken places in my life going to be patched up? For that matter, when are all the broken places in the world going to be patched up? Isn’t that what the Kingdom of God is supposed to be all about? When is it going to happen?

All we have are Jesus stark words recorded in Mark 13: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” But then he gives the challenge: “Be on guard! Be alert!” And much later, after establishing his authority to pretty much be trusted in whatever he said by rising to life after dying on the cross, he promises in Revelation 22 in one of the last sentences in the whole Bible: "Yes, I am coming soon."

We can be expectant this Advent because we know the one who promised the kingdom. We can join the heavenly chorus by shouting out “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” We won’t fall asleep on our watch because he has asked us to be faithful. And the Kingdom of God will come and the world as we know it will end -- for good!

Only trouble is, it probably won’t make a very good movie. I mean lambs lying down with lions and streets made of gold just do not sound nearly as exciting as California crashing into the Pacific ocean.

Traditionally Christians have played a major part in health care throughout the church’s existence. Their belief was that human beings are a unity consisting of both body and soul that are equally important and necessarily to our eternal being. This valuing of the human body prompted early Christians to discover and practice good medicine.

The early church played a pivotal role in developing hospitals, and in more recent history, the modern hospice movement began through the work of Cicely Saunders. She was an English physician who became a personal Christian in a conversion experience that gave her strength and motivation for her life and work. Her guide came from Psalm 37:5: "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."

Christians have had enormous influence in health care. In 1903,George W. Truett, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas asked “Is it not now time to build a great humanitarian hospital, one to which men of all creeds and those of none may come with equal confidence?” From that start Baylor Hospital began, developing a health insurance plan where schoolteachers secured coverage for 50 cents a month. Those roots grew and developed into what we know today as Blue Cross-Blue Shield. All because a Christian cast a vision for better health care!

Today’s debate over health care reform is sorely lacking a Christian vision, or even a forum where ideas can be discussed civilly with those who have differing views. I believe we as Christians need to voice the care for people that is found in the pages of the New Testament, where the sick and suffering are ministered to because it is the right thing to do. In the current atmosphere of chaotic name calling, Christians need to lead in developing new models of discussion that will lead to better health care for all.

Instead of being led through fear based tactics that drive people into knee-jerk reactions on bogus issues, Christians can voice the need for care that is affordable, appropriate and available. Instead of lowering our standards to the pits of current babbling through such farces as defacing President Obama’s photo with Nazi inspired graffiti and threatening the coming of death panels that will pull the plug on our loved ones, we can hold high the picture of a Good Samaritan who compassionately does God’s will in caring for “the least of these.”

Since the church has largely given up its traditional responsibility for health care, the least we can do as individual Christians is to help our government develop a way out of the current crisis into something better. Perhaps we start by doing what Cicely Saunders did, and claiming the promises of Psalm 37:5 for us as we talk about, advocate for, and ultimately benefit from a better way to wellness and life.

A child discovers a cocoon and grows excited about seeing the butterfly emerge. Waiting is so hard -- especially if it involves more than two or three minutes. It’s only natural that rescue plots are hatched. How about helping the butterfly escape and fly away? So the child carefully plucks away at the cocoon until the butterfly is free. Only instead of flying free, the butterfly’s wings are too weak to carry it toward the sky. The exercise it would have gained from struggling to be free from the cocoon is missing.

Sometimes we are like the child, stripping away at the butterfly’s cocoon. As adults, however, the cocoon and what we hope to see emerge are far more complicated. Also, as adults we believe we are in a position to help. It happens when we become unhappy with our situation. So we try to help life out a bit. We try to help God run our life, since we can do it better. At least believe we can hurry things along.

We become like perpetual quarterback Brett Favre, going from team to team as our aging body pleads with us to rest. We decide our job no longer suits us and we seek greener pastures. Or we think we can’t endure the cocoon of failing health or a marriage that hasn’t gone as we had hoped it would. So we begin to tinker with our fate and take the matter into our own hands. We try to help God just a little. Often the results are disappointing or even devastating.

While there is much to be said for human initiative, often we simply bypass the whole idea of God’s sovereignty in our lives. God is sovereign and is fully capable of deciding what he will do for us and when he will do it. If there are cocoons in your life, it is quite possible God is using them to strengthen and develop your wings so you can truly fly when the time is right. The scriptures use another image, speaking of trials as being a refining fire that makes us shine as gold. God does have a plan and purpose for us, and he will see it to completion, if we are willing to trust him.

I am not advocating a passive approach to life but rather a patient one. We could learn much about patient contentment from Tedy Bruschi, the great Patriots linebacker who is retiring this week. No one ever accused this determined man of being passive. When he was drafted from college he knew he wanted only to play for New England. He told his family, “I want to stay with this team my entire career - I only want to be a New England Patriot. Growing up, seeing players going from team to team, coaches going from team to team, I never wanted that to be me.’’

Such a positive attitude can see us through the trials, especially if we know our life is held by God and not just by chance or fate. With this attitude we do not need to pry open the cocoon but rather wait for the glorious completion that is to come. While it might seem a bit too poetic to say that God has a butterfly ready to emerge in each of us, I believe it is highly appropriate to point out that along with the cross, the butterfly was a popular early Christian symbol. It pictured the beautiful renewal and resurrection made possible by Christ for people like us who would otherwise be trapped in our cocoons of human brokenness forever.

“My job is done,” Tedy Bruschi said as he announced retirement. “I’m looking forward to living the rest of my life.” Those words can also be voiced by all Christian believers who trust our sovereign God and loving Savior with our lives.