Year C Advent 2 WED 2021 Detours Diversions and Derailments

 Year C Advent 2 WEDNESDAY, 8 December 2021

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Detours, Diversions, and Derailments”

Collect: Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Matthew 23:1-12

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

Today I want to look at Jesus’ warnings from three D’s. Detours. Diversions. And, Derailments.

Looking at just these three words. A Detour is when you will get to where you are going, but often by a slightly longer route because something got in the way. A Diversion is when you are taken off the path, and focus goes there instead of getting you on your way. And a Derailment is when something gets you off the path, and you cannot proceed.  Jesus is trying to save us from all of that.

There are Detours on our paths at times. Through no fault of our own we cannot go down the path we intended, not directly anyway. A perfect example of that in our lives is when we have an illness, or someone close to us does. It requires our attention for a season. Our intention stays the same, but we have to step off the path.

Diversions are things that are intentionally put in our way to take us off the path. This is the life equivalent of someway waving us into an alley to sell us a fake Rolex or worse mug us. Diversions are an attempt to hinder us to someone else’s benefit, no matter the cost to those they divert. The Sackler Family’s obsession with profits at the cost to so many victims of addiction is a perfect example that has been in news recently.

Derailments are spoilers, intending to take others off the path, period. It is not about short term gain for anybody, but long term destruction. The terrorist attacks on 9/11 are an example of this. No matter the cost to those doing it, or those attacked, it was attempt to destroy property, faith, and people. They have derailed the course of our country for decades, and we will be paying the price for decades more.

In our Spiritual lives, you may encounter all these. I have experienced people attempting all three.

People have needed my help or life needed my focus for seasons short and long, but I was able to stay on course even with these detours. No harm was intended, and no long term injury was incurred.

There have been those who diverted me from what I needed to be about. I shared about a dream I had that helped me stay the course when I was offered a job that would have taken me away from the ministry.

And there have been those who tried to run me out of the ministry. And they came really close. That is one of the reasons why I taught school for 12 years. Their intended derailment thankfully only became a long-term diversion, but it still took time and effort to overcome their hate.

As Jesus warned: There are those who “...tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces.” 

They do it for their benefit, no matter the cost to you. God forgive them. Jesus calls us to stay the course, keep on track, and when folks detour, divert, or attempt to derail us, we need to keep our eye fixed on the prize and follow the One who leads our way, Jesus himself. We have one teacher or rabbi, Jesus. We have one father alone, Jesus. When Jesus spoke to calling folks father, that was looking at rabbinical teaching lines. We call priests father as they look not to a teaching father, or rabbinical line, but at Jesus who is the “author and perfecter of our faith.” We have only one father, but sometimes people call me Father Rock. And if I attempt to Detour, Divert, or Derail you, I am no longer in the line of Father Jesus and hence my priesthood is null and void. May we always look to him, and only him along our way. Amen.

Year C Advent 2 2021 And Now, What You've All Been Waiting For!

 Year C Advent 2, 5 December 2021

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“And Now, What You’ve All Been Waiting For!”

Collect: Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord, 

make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth;

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

I feel like I should do this in an announcer’s voice like at a wrestling match…

Ladies & Gentlemen, welcome and good evening! Have we got a match for you!

First up we have the Emperor Tiberius, in his Fifteenth Year of his reign. All hail mighty, Caesar!!!

And up next, Pontius Pilate, Tiberius’ chosen governor of Judea! 

But let us not forget mighty King Herod, ruler of Galilee, along with his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis!  This will be one to remember, one for the record books!

And let us not forgot, Lysanias, ruler of Abilene! 

And if that lineup were not enough, we have... the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas!

The mighty and the important, they must obviously be where the action is happening. They are the ones who are usually seen as “the Newsworthy.” Even think on that word. The Ones worthy of being in the News. But what may seem obvious, may not be the Truth. While we focus and distract ourselves with the glitterati, the wealthy and the famous, what may be of most importance may be under the radar of the usual outlets.

But how often are the things that mean the most fly under the radar? 

Never forget that on July 4, 1776, supposedly, George III, king of England, wrote in his diary, 'Nothing of importance happened today.’

If you always look where you always look, why would you expect things to be different? But I have often found that God is at work long before we ever shift our attention to what is truly going on.

Luke starts Chapter 3 with this litany of the powerful, the “Newsworthy,” because that is where most of us would tend to look first, and it also gives a very clear context for what is about to happen. 

Chapter 1 had the prophecies of a long desired child that would become John. And the Annunciation to Mary. Chapter 2 has the full inn of Bethlehem, and the Naming of Jesus and him getting lost in Jerusalem as a youth. Then the story skips 18 years, and we learn of where we are in time by giving the overlapping litany of names of the powerful and important. And as noble as they were, Luke puts it this way…

the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord, 

make his paths straight.

Not noble. Not Newsworthy. Not clean or respectable or expected. John, the understood-to-be wayward son of the priest Zechariah sets up shop where no one would look for something of note to happen. Along the backwater river Jordan, a loser dressed in a camel’s hair poncho starts speaking words that came to him from God, echoing the prophecies of the prophet Isaiah.

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

Make his paths straight.’

What is truly of value, what is truly of note, one must make an effort to see. Some things never change.

Things worth having take time, sweat, and often tears. But it is always worth it. The reason why we speak of the fullness of time in Scripture is because God took the time, made the effort, and labored to give birth to what was most important. God plays the long game, and John announces to those there along the Jordan that it was time to roll up their sleeves for God was about to invite us into the work that the whole of Creation had been groaning to deliver.

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord, 

make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth;

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

Friends, the hearers of John along the Jordan, and those of us preparing this Advent for the coming of the Lord Christ, both have our work cut out for us. We cannot skimp, or take the easy way out. We cannot set up Potemkin Villages and think that that will cut it. If you are unsure what that is, let me enlighten you.

Grigory Potyomkin was a dashing 18th century Russian nobleman who intrigued in courts, smote his enemies upon the steppes [of Russia]and allegedly wooed Catherine the Great. It was while he was courting his nation's comely Tsarina — at least according to legend — that his name came to forever stand for something insubstantial. For Catherine's 1783 tour of new Russian possessions in the Crimea, Potyomkin endeavored to show her the best face of the empire. As the story goes, pasteboard facades of pretty towns were set up at a distance on riverbanks. At stops, she'd be greeted by regiments of Amazonian snipers or fields set ablaze by burning braziers and exploding rockets spelling her initials; whole populations of serfs were moved around and dressed up in fanciful garb to flaunt a prosperity that didn't exist (later precipitating famine in the region). ...A "Potemkin village" signifies any deceptive or false construct, conjured often by cruel regimes, to deceive both those within the land and those peering in from outside.

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2008962_2008964_2009010,00.html

Friends, we are called to straighten the Crooked, fill in the Depths, level the bumps, for we are doing it for the King. Catherine the Great may have been tricked, but our King will not. Our task is before us and our work is clear. That is what Advent is. Doing the work of Preparation. Getting ready for the real show which is set to take place.

We sell ourselves short at times, mistaking the prelude for the main event. A story is told about a backwoods boy whose dad heard the circus was coming to town, so he gave him the coins he would need for the admission and sent him off to town. When the boy got to town, he saw people lined up in anticipation on both sides of the main street, and he joined in with them. Curious, excited, but a bit confused about what exactly a circus was, he waited. And what he saw next was beyond the little boy’s comprehension.

He heard the music as the parade approached. There was a band. There were jugglers, and acrobats balancing atop horses, and clowns. There were cages of lions, and handlers leading giraffes and elephants. The boy stood there, mouth agape, in wonder and delight. After everyone was a sweeper to clean up in case any of the beasts had left a mess. The little boy overwhelmed with joy and delight ran up to the sweeper and handed him all his money, saying “Thank you, mister! That circus was AMAZING!” And then he went home thinking these bells and whistles were all that it was.

My heart breaks to tell that story. How many of us live our lives that way, settling for the superficial instead of plumbing the depths available to us? Being in relationship with God through Jesus is not about making us guilty enough to behave. It is not about feeling righteous, or even worse, self-righteous. It is not about a ticket into heaven or a “get out of hell free” card. It is not about having something to do on the weekend. It is about transformation, daily conversion into the likeness of Christ. 

 

Advent is about preparing for the Main Act, and then being not only invited in but onstage and a participant. And while this seems nearly impossible, we are given the easy job. We are called to make ready for the real work that is to be done.

“‘and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

We are invited to join in the responsibility. We are invited to join in the reward. We are invited to join in the revelation!

While the world sets its attention on the mighty, the powerful, the newsworthy, God was speaking to and through John along the Jordan in the backside of a backwater province on the far end of the Roman Empire. What good could come from there, one might ask. 

Only the voice of one calling out in the Wilderness, “Make way the Salvation of God!” Just that.

This last week I had someone come to our Rule of Life class, and they decided to get things going the next morning doing the Daily Office and they let me know what a great start it gave to their day. For others, the treasures that are in the Book of Common Prayer are unknown. As your priest I need to do a better job in sharing and celebrating these gifts that we have been given. Living out our faith, in all its complexity and fullness, is not a burden but a boon! A gift that affects each and every moment of our lives. 

Whenever I begin work with a new group, one of the first things I remind people is that what you put in is what you get out. If you pour yourself into something, it means more and has more worth to you. As we hear the call of John, what does this look like lived out in your life?

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord, 

make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth;

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

What crooked thing needs to be straightened out in your life so that you and all in your life can see the Salvation of God? Advent is the time. And NOW is Advent. Amen

Year C Advent 1 2021 New Year’s Waiting: Before, Today, & To Come

 

Year C Advent 1, 28 November 2021

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“New Year’s Waiting: Before, Today, & To Come”

Collect: Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Jeremiah 33:14-16

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.

Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Luke 21:25-36

Jesus said, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Happy New Year! Today is Advent 1, the first day of our liturgical calendar. Advent literally means The Arrival, Old English, from Latin adventus ‘arrival’, from advenire, from ad- ‘to’ + venire ‘come’. As simple as the meaning, Advent is a conflicted time.

We look back to the Hope we, as the human race, had. 

We look around in Thankfulness for what is. 

We look with anticipation to what is to come again.

More than just both/and, it is This/And That/And That, Too.

Today I will be referring to all three of our readings, and you may want to keep them out. They work together on this New Year’s Day.

But like I said a few times, most recently a couple of weeks ago, Fear Not. Fear Not, even when you do not know what is coming. But in this Arrival, we do. We know what we are awaiting.

When Sojo was a wee one, I know, hard to believe now, she was told early on Thanksgiving that her grandma, my mother, from Newport News was coming. So she got her wee toddler chair and sat it by the front door, maybe a foot and a half away from it. And she sat there the whole morning. All the way through Macy’s Parade, every hour of it. She was well into the Dog Show when my mom arrived. She had been there, in rapt attention for almost 4 hours. Quite the dedication for a toddler. Jesus may stand at the door and knock, but Sojo sat at the door and waited. And waited. And waited. She knew what she was waiting for. 

So do we.

We know how this story ends, but every year in our liturgical tradition we walk ourselves through Christ’s life. The Anticipation with baited Breath. The Birth in holy silence. The Epiphany with Awe and Wonder. The Life of teaching and serving and healing. The Road to Jerusalem of sacrifice and dread. The Holy Week filled with so much passion and heartbreak. The first day of the week when the world was made new. The emerging implication when we as the Church takes his role onto ourselves to bring light and healing and grace into a lonely and hurting world. Then we remind ourselves that Christ is King and always will be, and we start it all over again. 

We do it every year because we need it. The Gospel of Christ is so counterintuitive to the ways the world still works, that the training of us is incomplete. We still try to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, and rely on works instead of that amazing Grace we sing and talk about but rarely drink ourselves.

Advent is a penitential rite, a time of stripping away the excess, so that when the excess comes it is stupendous and a change. Easter is not as glorious as it could be without Good Friday. Christmas is more Christmas-y when we clean house and step away from the norm in Advent. We prepare our hearts so that they can beat even more and more fully on that sweet morning to come. 

Advent is holy waiting. For centuries people desired a Messiah, a Savior. We look back to the Hope we, as the human race, had. 

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.” Jeremiah 33:14-16

Yahweh Tsidkenu in Hebrew. We sing carols speaking of the longing for the day to come. [In a Paul Harvey voice] “And now we know the rest of the story.

One of the gifts of Advent is taking the time to not take the Incarnation and the time of the Incarnation, Christmas, for granted. We are intentional in our recreating that emotion in heart lest we take this cruxpoint in human history for granted. And speaking of the heart, it is not just about emotions, it is about preparation. Some friends of mine are about to have a baby, and once again I hear the story of painting the room, building the crib, preparing for the life-changing wonder of the son that is to come. I smile, thinking back to the hope and fear of my two children coming. Collectively we do that as well, thinking back to the days when “at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land” was still in the future.

But Advent, when the anticipation builds in our hearts, we also pause to look around. We look around in Thankfulness for what is.

...May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

We are gathered together because Jesus already came. We are one, because he made us One. And together we await his coming again.

This is more than just words we say in the Creeds. And so often we use it as a punchline, because after two thousand years we are tired of waiting. I saw a button once in a store in Carytown that said, “Jesus is Coming! Look busy.” Is that all this is to us? Were we to live like the parable of the 10 bridesmaids, 5 keeping their wicks trimmed in their lamps, and 5 not. Which are we?

Are we like Sojo at the door, vigilant, constant, unwavering? Or like me, “Ooh, parade! Wow, look at that dog on the Dog Show.” One of us was ready. One of us was not.

Jesus was clear, even while he was still with us that days would come when times would be dark, and evil would abound.

“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Were we to live our lives in the Anticipation that this was real, what would that look like for you in your life? Will you “faint from fear and foreboding”? I think we think on this the way we think on the Afterlife. It is much the same for many.

If you are living today like Jesus is coming tomorrow, what worries could you have? You might be concerned for your friends and neighbors who are not ready, who are not prepared, who might “faint from fear and foreboding.” That is why it is so important never to write anybody off, and as one can, offer Grace and Hope and Forgiveness. We are never promised another day to do the right thing.

And how do we live today like Jesus is coming back tomorrow? Listen to his advice…

“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Or to sum it up, Live your life in such a way as to Fear Not. I started with that, and I finish with that. Live in Faith, Hope, and Love, and Not in Fear. Perfect Love drives out all fear. Amen

Year B Proper 28 WED 2021 Tax Fish

Year B Proper 28 WEDNESDAY, 17 November 2021

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Tax Fish”


Collect: Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 17:22-27

As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they were greatly distressed.

When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?” He said, “Yes, he does.” And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?” When Peter said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the children are free. However, so that we do not give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.”

This is a simple story. We start with the Passion prophesied, and the distress that it caused. Then we go into a story about Jesus fulfilling the letter of the law, and a sideways comment about his status.

I have always had a hard time with this story. It just seems, for lack of a better word, ridiculous. It strains my willingness to believe, because it is about getting money from a fish. It is like a fairy tale about the tin soldier. But even if I have a hard time with the factuality of it, I will be the first to admit that anything, absolutely anything, can happen with God. And I was not there.

But even when my rational mind wrestles with the factuality, my heart and soul reads Scripture for my betterment and growth. As we said in our Collect for the week: “...all holy Scriptures [is] written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life…” So let us hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest this story.

The collector of the Temple Tax comes to Peter to make a cause against Jesus. “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” Peter answers without asking Jesus. “Yes, he does.” But Jesus brings it up. Does a king collect tax from his child, or from others? From others, Peter answers, obviously. Think on what Jesus is saying about who he is.

But because he knows not paying, and even worse his implication that he is the Son of God, would be offensive, he instructs Peter to go down to the sea, catch a fish, and pay the tax for both of them.

This story is about Abundance. I know you hear that word a lot with Stewardship season happening. But think about it. There is a need. Not for necessity, but rather for decorum. “So that we do not give offense.” Jesus even cares that he take care of those who do not understand or follow him.

And what does he ask of Peter? He asks Peter to do something he loves, something he does well. He tells Peter to go fish. And in doing something he loves and does well, Peter and Jesus’ needs are being met.

When we look at the Abundance of God, we are not being asked to do something that we cannot do. We are being asked to do something that we probably love, and are probably good at. We are called to be generous, and we are called to give to something that we care for. That is not hard. It is actually enjoyable.

We give abundantly out of the abundance that we were given.

We follow God’s lead. It is even hard to call it faith when we are just mimicking what we have seen.

What do you love doing? How can you give that back to God? Think on that today. Amen.

Year B Proper 28 2021 "Bode or Birthpangs"

 Year B Proper 28, 14 November 2021

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Bode or Birthpangs”

 

Collect

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

 

Daniel 12:1-3

The Lord spoke to Daniel in a vision and said, “At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

 

Hebrews 10:11-25

Every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

“This is the covenant that I will make with them

after those days, says the Lord:

I will put my laws in their hearts,

and I will write them on their minds,”

he also adds,

“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Mark 13:1-8

As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”

There is a lot of doom and gloom in today’s readings. Apocalyptic literature is a genre within Scripture, foretelling a time of calamity from which a branch of hope will rise.

Daniel says, “I’m not gonna lie to you. It’s gonna get bad, very bad. But St. Michael, your defender will arise. Your people will be saved along with those in the book of life.”

Hebrews teaches that hanging our hope on other people is gonna fail. Even the high priest who offers up prayers and sacrifices on the Day of Atonement is a sinner, too. But Jesus, the only perfect High Priest, is the one going to bat for us. And no matter how hopeless it seems, Grace Bats Last.

But then we hear from Jesus’ own mouth what will be. Looking at something as timeless as the Temple in Jerusalem, he foretold how it would all be thrown down, each and every stone. What news we will get will get worse and worse and worse. Wars, and rumors of wars. Where can we turn? What hope do we have? But then he says, “These are but the beginning of  birthpangs.”

Friends, we are sinners in a sinful world. We want something better. God wants better for us. In all of this apocalyptic language, we can get bogged down by the weight of it. It is hard to understand. It requires us to do some research and homework. The audience was the recipients of the day, but it still can speak to us. Think on apocalyptic literature like one would reading hundred-year-old political and editorial cartoons. The imagery may make no sense to us. They use hyperbole and caricature to make a point. Apocalyptic doom and gloom readings are much the same. We have to read them for what they are. But their utmost purpose is to convey a sense that in the meaningless destruction that there is someone still in charge and they will get the last word. We read these things to have hope, a hope in the one in whom we trust.

Hope is about our feelings when the evidence may point otherwise. As the poet Emily Dickinson penned,  “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.” As hope sings on in our souls, we are not Pollyanna only seeing a silver lining. Apocalyptic literature is there to give us truth, it’s bad and will probably get worse, but then things will get better. Have hope in the darkness for the dawn will come. It always has and it always will. But feelings are fleeting, like an ember they need fuel and fanning to burst into flame. If not, they grow cold and can die. So hope cannot be just about feelings.

Preparing for today, I ran across a quote from Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine which gave hope to so many during a disease ravaging children. “Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.” Have the dreams. Feel the feelings. Then get into action. Acting when days are dark is one of the greatest testimonies of what we really believe that we have. Standing for the light and working for what is right, even when the world is going to hell in a handbasket, ESPECIALLY when the world is going to hell in a handbasket, is what preaches the loudest to a hurting world.

There is an Audacity to Hope, as a former president said. It goes against the grain of the times, it shines a light when all seems dark, and it is what Scripture repeatedly instructs us to do. Having Faith when all seems hopeless, and having Hope when all seem faithless, is our call and the hallmark of the people of God.

Hope is not something that is an option. Can we truly say we believe and not have hope? And we cannot hold it at arm's length. We don’t have hope as something internal, we have to reside in hope. Novelist and essayist Barbara Kingsolver put it this way. “The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.”

So people of God, people of Hope, where do we lean when days are dark? Jesus said these dark times are but the birthpangs. What are we giving birth to? 

Dark times are still with us. These are just some headlines from this week’s news. When people spew fear and hate at the school board meetings, and say they are doing it in Jesus’ name. When congressmen make videos depicting them killing their colleagues and say it is merely symbolic. When someone says book banning is not enough, but that book burning would solve anything. When the world leaders gather to save the planet there is more finger pointing and finger wagging than solutions. And that is just the headlines from this last week. The human heart has not changed. The heart is the problem. And Jesus came to change our heart. Light drives out the darkness, and the darkness will NEVER overcome it. John 1:5 

The first words out of any of God’s messengers tends to be, Fear Not! Angelic and otherwise. I may need to start all my sermons that way. When things get bad, I hear a phrase. “Crisis of Confidence.” It could be the stock market or political leadership. Words mean things. Con-fidence. Con- meaning with, and fidence coming from Fide, faith. With faith we can do anything, the word itself means that. And if we have faith, the attitude we have around that is Hope. Hope lets us breathe when we are being crushed. Hope lets us give when we do not have much. Hope lets us live even though we die. Hope lets us act when it may seem pointless. For our faith is in the One who has conquered death and overcome the grave itself.

As our Senior Warden said a few weeks ago, all things considered in this epoch of the unprecedented, we are thriving. It is easier to have faith when things are going well. But what do we do when things are not?

Two of my dearest friends from college grew up around here, and went to Chamberlayne Baptist Church. You may know the story of their faith that came out in the press this last summer. The congregation gave a public testimony of their hope and faith in an eternal God when they gifted their property and everything in it to Bethlehem Baptist, an African-American congregation from the East End. They met together on June 13 last year (2020) for a final worship service for one, and the start of something new for another. I remind you of the racial tensions happening during this time, which is another reason this story resonated with me so much. I take this from an article written by my friend, Steve Allsbrook.  

Chamberlayne Baptist Church did not start until 1953, but the believers who planted it also started it among the people it sought to reach. Following World War II, metro Richmond expanded into what had once been rural spaces. Neighborhoods like Chamberlayne Farms turned into communities of new suburban homes. Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church and Northside Baptist Church saw the need for a new church in this growing community. Chamberlayne started in a tent and the basement of a home.

Soon it had property with a house, built a chapel, and started to thrive. People typically gather where they feel comfortable. That often means they gather with others of similar culture, language, or appearance. They also usually live in the best place they can afford. Over time, demographic changes occur naturally. People age in place. Children grow up and leave home. What was a neighborhood with children turns into a community of older people.

When one household moves away, the one that moves in usually moves to the best place they can afford but may have a different culture, language, or appearance. Chamberlayne Baptist Church had served a growing community with children that changed into a community with a mixture of ages and ethnic backgrounds. The houses remained, but the people changed.

Circumstances and people change, but God does not change. God sends messengers to show and tell others about His love. God’s people move as God sends us to nearby neighbors and far beyond. That may mean a church moves with the people. It may also mean church people move. Chamberlayne Baptist Church stayed put, and Bethlehem Baptist Church moved several times. Their holy paths have intersected on Wilkinson Road. 

The members of Chamberlayne Baptist Church have served faithfully and well for 67 years. They have shared the Gospel and baptized many. The church ordained 24 ministers who have served near and far in God’s Kingdom. Before public schools offered kindergarten, Chamberlayne had one. They started a group home and a Friends Class for persons with special needs. They have loved each other like a family, sharing and celebrating life events and supporting each other in times of grief and pain. Members moved. Members died. Pastor Dave Peppler helped the people who remained at Chamberlayne discern God’s voice. They understood God saying the time of this church family on Wilkinson Road has come to an end. What does a church do with the place it called home and all the things in it? They considered their options. The people of Chamberlayne Baptist Church believed that God wants a church on Wilkinson Road, even if they cannot continue to serve there. Giving their church facility and the things in it to keep a Gospel witness on Wilkinson Road would be their last act of faithful service as Chamberlayne Baptist Church. 

[From River City Faith Network, written by Steve Allsbrook: https://d08d5598-300f-4285-a108-a24d513f85a2.filesusr.com/ugd/3fb328_d3efa5664a8a4760a58c9aac4e809271.pdf]

I cannot hear the story of the final act of Chamberlayne Baptist without hearing the words from our funeral Rite. 

All of us go down to the dust; yet even at the grave we make our song: 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Give rest, O Christ, to your servants with your saints,

where sorrow and pain are no more,

neither sighing, but life everlasting.

The story of Chamberlayne Baptist, the new story of Bethlehem Baptist, the final words in our funeral Rite. Testaments of faith, choices of Hope.

[Pause]

All of us, if we live long enough, will see days of dissension and times of upheaval. Those days are dark. I believe we are in the throng of one of these times right now. But we can cower in fear, or see them as the birthpangs of something new. Only with Hope can we see it that way, like Jesus taught his disciples to do. 

I posed the question, but never answered it. What is being birthed? I know what I think, but what do I do to make that real? Do I run away or cower in fear, saying, “Miss Scarlett, I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout birthin’ no babies!” Or do we catch glimpses of the Kingdom of God in our dreams and in our prayers, and roll up our sleeves to make it reality.

Everyone laughed at Noah, but it was his diligence in the face of scorn that saved us all. Jesus on the cross forgave his executioners because they did not know what they were doing, but in his death we can be reborn eternally. Times may be dark, and the road ahead hard to see, but the God who was with us before, is with us now. Why would God not be with us in the days to come?

Fear Not! Have Hope! The Lord is with us, and always will be. Amen