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Sunday 33, Time after Pentecost Mark 13:1-8 November 19, 2006 I remember the sadness of losing things. I remember when the stuffing came out of Tigger (my stuffed animal). I remember when gigantic holes appeared in the knees of my grey corduroy pants—my most comfortable pants ever—those had been the first pants that I had ever called “my favorite.” That was an end of an era. I remember the sadness of moving to Virginia before the 5th Grade, and leaving all my friends behind. These are my memories, but I know you have your own. I’m sure you can relate to the experience that I am trying to describe to you today. Even the youngest of you can relate to an extent. Here is another story. Gretel, our family dog, was three years older than I. She had been a part of my life and part of my family since I was born, until I was 13 years old—when she died. After returning from the Vet without her, I remember the strange feeling of walking through our house, half expecting to see her come around the corner. But she didn’t. She was gone. In subsequent years, I remember the growing pains, the simple losses of innocence, surrounding high school and then college and trying to grow up (loosing a friend to different crowds at school, etc.). I remember in all of these situations—the calamities (and no matter how insignificant they seem to me now, at the time even loosing Tigger was a major turmoil)—in all of these things I remember how the world ended. These are the painful memories of the things that I loved. Listen to that again…, “painful memories of things that I loved…” I chose less serious topics here, but there have been more serious. I know you have your own painful memories of things in your lives that have ended. If that is the case, then Jesus has something very important for you today. I thank God that this conversation between himself and his disciples was preserved for us, because it points to a universal difficulty or struggle of being human—it points to the struggle that each of us must face in our own hearts with the circumstances of our own lives, in our own places and times and in our own ways…ENDINGS. Here, as plain as day, our scripture gives us an example of this same human predicament that we ourselves face. It illustrates our estrangement from this creation. God has…God, you have given us a wonderful, and marvelous and amazing world to live in, but sometimes, it’s just not the way we want it to be. Help us to face the pain of loosing things. Help us to live and help us to understand. Perhaps this struggle has to do with our own connection to God. I believe that as people we have a sense of the eternal, but we are kind of confused about it. You see, we (people) naturally (from day one) long for eternity. We long and hope for permanence in our lives. From a very early age, we want our toys to last forever. FOREVER—we want something that will last and last. And here we see Jesus brings his disciples from the countryside into the big city and “Oh wow, how mesmerizing are the works of human hands. Look at the buildings. Is this what we have been looking for?” “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.” Listen to him. Jesus (maybe a little bit of a killjoy here) says (I paraphrase), “Hey, come to your senses. All of this is going to pass away, so let’s not get too impressed.” Never forget that today is tomorrow’s history. James, Peter, John and Andrew (the first disciples of all disciples) come to him and ask…”When is this going to happen?” When is the world going to end? And I think to myself, “oh how some things never change.” This is a very contemporary issue—a very contemporary question: “When is the world going to end? Today it seems that we have disaster movies released every year: movies about meteors striking our planet, earthquakes, volcanoes in Yellowstone, or about how global warming is going to kill the planet in ten years. (a theory that, if I’m not mistaken, has been around for more than ten years now.) There are Christians today (and there have been throughout history)—People all in a tizzy about world events, they are nearly obsessed with…”the end.” But before we join them in their obsessing about the end, let us remember that the very first disciples asked similar questions: “When is this going to happen?” And let’s not forget Jesus’ response: “DO NOT BE ALARMED” Jesus goes on to talk about “the signs”—wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes, but in the same breath that he talks about the destruction of the world as we know it, he also suggests just the opposite. What we really have here is a new beginning… “Birth pangs.” Brothers and sisters, we need to remember this. Our faith allows us to see birth in the face of death…to live steady faith-filled lives in a world of uncertainties… And this applies not only to the world but to each of our own lives. For those of you who may be facing endings of some sort in your life. Whether it be relationships that have come to an end. Whether it be something you have cherished that has broken Or even if you have realized an end to an era. We need to remember that in Jesus there is revealed to us God’s power to bring newness from endings! New birth/new life from the human experience of death. This is called the power of the resurrection. Brothers and sisters, this is the heritage of our Christian faith. Those very first disciples, James, John, Peter, and Andrew, lived through so much—the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed—and even Jesus, who was their favorite—the person who they gave up everything to follow—the one whom they based their whole life on—they lived to see him die. At the time of this conversation—which has been passed down to us through holy scripture—in a way, the world that they knew was indeed about to come to an abrupt halt…yet, what was left was not hopeless loss…No, a new beginning, a new vision for a church, a new hope, and a renewed faith. I started this sermon by listing some milestone losses in my life (some relatively minor ones, yet they were significant at the time). It occurs to me that without these memories, I wouldn’t know, or appreciate, or enjoy the things in my life today. The world did not end. There are new stuffed animals: Bronco Turtle. New favorite clothes. God has blessed me with new friends. And I even have a new dog, and that doesn’t take anything away from the love that I still have for Gretel. And continually God has corrected my perspective! God knows, he has a long way to go! I would like to conclude this homily by re-reading to you a portion of today’s psalm—Psalm 16:5-8. Listen to what the Psalmist says about his heritage. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; You hold my lot. The boundary lines have fallen For me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage. (And listen to what his heritage is) I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; In the night also my heart instructs me (no matter what life throws at me). I keep the Lord always before me; Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Brothers and sisters, I pray that the Lord will open your hearts to a new hope this day, that your eyes might see the new era that the Lord is preparing for you from this day forward. Amen.
Joshua W. Magyar, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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