Endure - A Sermon for Sunday November 13, 2022
GOSPEL: Luke 21:5-19
As history moves toward God’s fulfillment there will be frightening signs and events. Before the end, believers will draw strength from their relationship to God and shall be given the words they need to testify and to endure without fear.
5When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, [Jesus] said, 6“As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
7They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.
9“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
12“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17You will be hated by all because of my name. 18But not a hair of your head will perish. 19By your endurance you will gain your souls.”
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
For many decades,
it was the temple
of the Canadian national religion of hockey in this city.
I was on a hockey team with some friends,
about ten years ago,
and I was excited,
I was in awe
entering the doors of the old Stampede Corral,
hockey bag over my shoulder,
Saturday Night game.
It was our own Hockey Night in Canada,
even if it was just a rec league.
What a gift to walk those halls
and see the history on the walls.
We’re talking about the rink
that the Calgary Flames played in for many years.
I got dressed in the same dressing room as the legends:
Mike Vernon,
Al MacInnis,
Lanny McDonald!
I knew the corral would be torn down eventually,
but playing in there,
looking up and seeing the thousands of seats,
imagining a capacity crowd cheering us on:
I couldn’t believe I was playing on that ice
and I couldn’t believe they were going to
tear it down one day.
But they did.
All the history,
the adorned halls:
it didn’t matter,
the Corral was coming down.
The disciples are with Jesus in Jerusalem.
Jesus has just entered the city triumphantly,
riding a colt to shouts of Hosanna.
Jesus has just cleansed the Temple,
tossing the tables of the money changers,
saying “My Father’s house is to be a house of prayer,
but you are making it a den of robbers.”
This is the Temple in which Simeon saw the baby Jesus
and praised God.
This is the Temple where the lost 12 year old Jesus
was found,
sitting among the teachers,
listening and asking questions.
This is the Temple where Jesus visited and taught.
We’re talking about the place where God dwells,
in the Holy of Holies.
It is the most special place for Jews,
a special place for Jesus,
and for the disciples
who, like me at the Corral,
found themselves enamoured
by the Temple’s beauty.
It was even greater than Solomon’s Temple,
destroyed in 586 BCE,
The rebuild and restoration took 80 years.
It featured white marble
that was up to sixty-seven feet long,
twelve feet high
and twelve feet wide;
with blue, scarlet, and purple Babylonian tapestries
made of fine linen
that formed a veil at the entrance,
with gold and silver-plated gates
and gold-plated doors throughout.
If I was in awe on the Corral ice,
and in shock that they would tear it down,
just imagine the awe the disciples felt
beholding the Temple’s beauty,
and their shock in hearing that it will crumble.
Absolutely mind blowing.
“The days will come
when not one stone will be left upon another;
all will be thrown down.” Jesus predicts.
And it did.
In the year 70 it came crashing down,
thanks to the Romans.
Not much in this life lasts forever.
The towers and temples that we build
will one day crash down.
Just like the leaders we elect
or the rulers who dominate by force:
they cannot stand forever.
We are pretty safe and sheltered in Canada,
yet we can see the shattered bricks
from buildings in Ukraine, Syria,
and even New York.
We see how the church is declining.
Churches are closing
and buildings being sold or repurposed.
The church is learning quickly that
the structures we build are temporary,
but like the Temple falling,
the church isn’t supposed to fall!
Church decline is like a crisis of faith,
and some are saying,
with regards to church decline,
that this is the end.
It’s been a tumultuous few years:
Wars and insurrections
Nations rising against nation,
Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes,
Famines.
Plagues.
It sounds a lot like what Jesus was talking about.
It’s no wonder that many are asking
if we are living in the end times,
asking if the Day of the Lord is upon us.
But this talk is nothing new.
500 years ago,
Martin Luther believed he was living in the end times.
About 100 years ago,
with the Spanish Flu and World War 1,
end times theologies became quite popular.
There was a book circulating over 30 years ago,
entitled “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988”.
Not long after that,
some thought the world would end
when the clocks rolled to midnight
in the year 2000.
Y2K is the end!
Some thought the Mayans predicted the end in 2012.
Do you see the pattern here?
Every twelve years
it is predicted the world will come to an end,
so we’re good until 2024!
I really shouldn’t joke though.
In May, the United Nations published its
2022 ‘Global Assessment Report
on Disaster Risk Reduction’,
indicating that there is an increasing risk
of civilizational collapse in ten years
due to the accelerating trend
of natural disasters
and economic crises.
Some folks aren’t so concerned about climate change,
nor what’s happening in politics and economics,
but many are fearful,
especially about climate change.
Really fearful.
Changes in politics and increasing polarity is scary,
changes in economics is scary,
for some the rapidly changing societal norms
is scary.
“Do not be terrified” Jesus says.
“This will give you an opportunity to testify.
I will give you words and a wisdom…
not a hair of your head will perish.”
Endure.
Jesus’ warning:
don’t put hope in people who come in Jesus’ name.
Beware of false prophets.
Discern by Gods Spirit
and remember that Gods Spirit
always points to Christ and him crucified.
So we must ask ourselves,
as structures crumble,
as institutions crumble,
even as our frail bodies crumble,
as fear and uncertainty grows,
What is our cornerstone
that cannot be shaken?
It cannot be this brick work behind me,
nor the drywall at the synod office,
nor crumbling concrete at the Saddledome,
nor hope of a new temple
to the national religion of hockey.
It cannot be the beautifully adorned Vatican City,
and not even the temple in Jerusalem.
Our cornerstone,
our hope,
our faith,
our trust
is in Christ and him crucified.
That is our foundation,
our solid rock that cannot be moved.
The wooden cross
and the rock hewn tomb that sits empty
are the only structures
that will truly last the test of time.
Today we hear in Malachi about the Day of the Lord,
and the image is scary,
but the book of Malachi brings hope
amidst failure in leadership:
even when human leaders and structures fail,
God doesn’t.
God brings healing.
Today we hear in 2nd Thessalonians
about the Christian Community
convinced that Christ has returned,
and they stop being civilized
because they believed the end was near.
It’s like the people forget the apostle Paul’s words
in the First letter to Thessaloniki:
“For you yourselves know very well
that the day of the Lord
will come like a thief in the night”
(1 Thessalonians 5:2).
People forget the words of Jesus,
“But about that day and hour no one knows…
for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
(Matthew 24:36a, 44b).
We simply cannot predict when the end will come.
Destruction of the structures
does not equal abandonment.
The invitation is to endure.
The invitation is to do what is right.
When the first Temple was destroyed,
the invitation was to worship God
in their exile,
in their new land.
When the second Temple was destroyed,
the invitation was, again,
to worship God.
Destroyed temples did not destroy the Jewish faith.
Both times, and always,
God continues to abide with Israel.
When the temple of Jesus’ body died,
the Jesus movement did not die.
God died on the cross,
but God did not abandon God’s people.
As Jesus died on the cross,
The curtain in the temple was torn in two,
a sign that God’s presence
is not limited to the structure,
not limited to the holy of holies,
God is everywhere.
So we can worship - anywhere.
Even as the world we know crumbles,
even as the church we long for crumbles,
God is going to keep on doing what God does.
By God’s Spirit,
We discern what God is doing,
and we join that work.
We do what is right.
We endure.
When structures crumble,
when faced with fear
and disappointment
and set back
and curse
and conflict; don’t give up.
Endure.
With the Temple destroyed,
the focus for worship turned to the local Synagogue,
and God keeps showing up
as the people pray
as God’s Word is proclaimed.
There was plenty of sadness when the Corral came down,
but the good old hockey game
keeps on being played.
Structures come and go,
God’s enduring presence never leaves us.
Endure.
I was watching my children skating
not in a luxurious new rink,
but the old crumbling community rink,
and the structure didn’t matter.
What mattered was ice meeting metal,
learning to skate,
having fun,
being the creatures God made them to be,
finding joy in God’s good creation.
We can do that here, in faith,
we can practice our faith in Christ’s church,
even as structures crumble.
What matters is water meeting Word,
bread and wine meeting hunger and thirst
by God’s promise.
We can learn how to serve,
we can share joy in Christ’s presence,
we can be the creatures God made us to be,
finding joy in community,
finding joy in God’s good creation.
We can endure since God is with us.
by God’s Spirit,
we can do what is right.
May our faith be found,
not in bricks and mortar,
but in the solid rock
of Christ and him crucified.
May we discern what God’s will is for us,
and do what is right.
And amidst uncertainty and fear,
May we endure,
by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
