Sunday, November 14, 2010

November 14 - Pentecost 25

Texts: Luke 25:5-19; Isaiah 65; Isaiah 12:2-6

On certain websites all throughout the world wide web, there is a kind of breathless anticipation. The kind of anticipation in which kids wait for Christmas, dads wait for the Stanley Cup playoffs, or expectant moms wait for the Ikea catalogue.

This anticipation is so real, so tangible that the words seem to leap off the screen. But if you slow down and read the content, it’s terrible.

Because these are websites dedicated to the end of the world. They track every possible event, every time some negative news from anywhere in the world comes winging around the internet, and they type it into their ideas about when and what the end of the world will be. And beloved, this is a boom time for them.

We live in a world that in the last one hundred years has seen the wholesale slaughter of millions – and that’s good fodder. When the Twin Towers fell, the websites were flush with Messiah spottings. The earthquake in Haiti last year – oh yes, it made it onto these websites. In fact, there’s relatively little that goes on the world that doesn’t make it as evidence of Jesus’ return. The only thing they’re really lacking is evidence of a really nice persecution.

Although it’s not for lack of trying. Someone suggests trying to remove the words “under God” from the American pledge of allegiance, and it’s irrevocable evidence of the oppression of Christian faith. A mosque is built in a city somewhere, and President Obama is the new Nero, and Christians are going to be burned for going to church. And don’t even ask me what the people who run these websites think of Canada. Let’s just say that if they’re right, we’re all in deep trouble up here.

When I read these things, I think – dear Lord, I understand fires. I understand earthquakes. I understand wars. Even plagues. But plagues of idiots? I mean, really.

Jesus and the disciples stand looking at the walls of the temple. They’re huge; tens of feet high, brightly decorated, and adorned with works of art. The Temple they look at is a testament of greatness; though not built by Solomon, nor by Josiah. The Temple they stand to look at was being built by Herod, who sought a civic monument to rival that of Rome. The young countrypeople travelling with Jesus cant’ stop talking about how great the Temple is.

And Jesus tells them the plain truth: all things made by human hands will be destroyed. But the people don’t really want to hear that; they want assurances of their own supremacy and constancy; evidence that they will survive for many long years. It’s a time of uncertainty, of military occupation, and the Temple is the only evidence they have that they may still be a sovereign state.

But Jesus doesn’t even give them that. Does he tell them that life is only going to get worse? No, not really. He tells them that life is going to stay pretty much the same. Wars, rebellions, earthquakes, plagues, famines, mysterious things in the sky. This is not new! They already live in a world in which all these things happen. They happen because fundamentally, human beings don’t get along with each other. We are frail, we get sick. When we are frightened of things we don’t understand, we try to explain them using whatever means are at our disposal.

Often, like the people around Jesus, we think that following him means that we can find a cushy little spot to call our own. Like somehow the name of Jesus is a blanket that we can pull over our ears to insulate us from our fears and from the stinky reality of life. If we trust in Jesus, that little voice thinks, then nothing bad will ever happen to us.

Can you imagine the surprise of Jesus’ listeners when he continues? Think of it: “…okay, so all these bad things are going to happen. It’s going to be terrible, lightning, thunder, wars, rebellions, Lady Gaga…just awful. But wait, wait: I left something out. Before these things happen, guess what? You’re going to be dragged out into the public places, mocked, tried, and killed.”

I sometimes wonder if the crowd that hangs around Jesus ever actually listens to him; or if they’re like my confirmation class. Yada, yada, yada. Is he done talking yet? But that’s what Jesus promises: You want to follow me? Don’t expect life to be different. If anything, expect it to be harder.

But also know this: I. won’t. leave. You.

I will give you words.

I will walk with you when you are hated and despised.

I will speak for you when you are silent before your accusers.

I will be your family after they have left you.

And I will do this because I have walked that walk before you.

And because I know what it’s like, I know how it ends.

Your end is eternal life.

But what does that really mean for us? Do we honestly need a religion that tells us that life is poo, get used to it, it gets better in the end? NO!! But even that is better than one who tells us that if we do everything right, nothing bad is ever going to happen to us.

God does so more than that. This world is broken – and it’s been broken for a long, long time. It’s broken because, deep down, we like it broken, because then we can claim the ability to make our own destinies, or our own successes. But sometimes, our own carefully fabricated world comes crashing down around our ears in the sheer cursed randomness of the universe, we are left wondering why we are on this earth.

We live on this earth. But we yearn, we long for the one to come.

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth;

The former things shall not be remembered, or come to mind.

But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating;

For I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people;

No more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime…before they call, I will answer, while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

Look around you. There are signs of the dawning of God’s kingdom all around us. We often look for the bad, but we overlook so much of the good.

Natural disasters happen, and thousands of people open their hearts to help.

For every two people who scream war, there are a thousand voices that shout for peace.

For every screech of false persecution there is an answering call of lived discipleship that shows Christianity as so much more than an empty shell of a once-great religion.

And for every eye that seeks the crises that foreshadow the coming of the end, there are people who see Christ present, here and now, in each other.

The kingdom of God is at the same time here, and now, but just not yet. We take water, bread, and wine – and with nothing but the promise of Christ with us dare to come together as a community and proclaim the Living God.

There are so many things that surround us, and fill us with joy and delight –

For we have the burble and coo of babies, and the wise presence of our elders.

We have the vitality of our youth, the promise of our young families. We have a unique problem with our Sunday school. Do you know what that is?

We have too many students. We don’t have enough teachers. We can probably use a staffed nursery, and don’t have one, yet. Our problems are those of abundance, not of scarcity.

We have so much of God’s kingdom right here with us, and yet we don’t always see it in front of us, because we’re looking around and waiting for the nasty stuff to happen.

The world around us is at the same time frightening and uncertain, and a joy and a delight. God is faithful to God’s own promises, in God’s own time. Our time is for life, for endurance, and for joy.

You have the promise of God – not a hair of heads will perish. So live. Come to the table today, and feast. Join this community of promise and salvation, and proclaim the kingdom of God. Christian life is abundant life, not scarce or rationed.

Surely God is your salvation; trust and do not be afraid.

The Lord God is your strength and might, and has become your salvation.

Draw water with joy from the wells of salvation,

Say in that day “give thanks to the Lord!”

Sing aloud, and shout for joy, O my royal people,

For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Let the people of God say, amen.