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.