Grace and Peace to you from our God, the beginning and the end, and our Savior Jesus, who is our Christ. Amen.
In the Narrative Lectionary that we use, any particular lesson comes up every four years. So it occurred to me while I was preparing for today, that four years ago, Pastor Chris must have realized the irony of preaching about the End of the Age, when so much was in turmoil over Covid-19.
For me, Sunday, March 15, 2020 was the first Sunday that no one attended worship, no one preached a sermon, no one played the organ or piano inside the building since Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Prescott Valley first opened its doors.
Our Bishop contacted pastors two days earlier, explaining that in an abundance of caution over the unbelievably fast spread of this new Coronavirus, it might be best if congregations did not have in-person worship through the rest of March.
And of course, you know the rest of the story. In-person worship did not come back in April, for Easter, or for many months to come. Schools went online. People worked from home. Millions of people around the world died. I suspect many of you, like me, lost people you loved.
I imagine for many, 2020 felt like the End of the Age.
In the Narrative Lectionary that we use, any particular lesson comes up every four years. So it occurred to me while I was preparing for today, that four years ago, Pastor Chris must have realized the irony of preaching about the End of the Age, when so much was in turmoil over Covid-19.
For me, Sunday, March 15, 2020 was the first Sunday that no one attended worship, no one preached a sermon, no one played the organ or piano inside the building since Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Prescott Valley first opened its doors.
Our Bishop contacted pastors two days earlier, explaining that in an abundance of caution over the unbelievably fast spread of this new Coronavirus, it might be best if congregations did not have in-person worship through the rest of March.
And of course, you know the rest of the story. In-person worship did not come back in April, for Easter, or for many months to come. Schools went online. People worked from home. Millions of people around the world died. I suspect many of you, like me, lost people you loved.
I imagine for many, 2020 felt like the End of the Age.
*****
But 2020 wasn’t the only time people thought about the End Times. Perhaps you remember predictions about the end of the Mayan Calendar in December 2012. Or how everything connected to a computer would shut down because of Y2K. Truthfully, Mike and I and our son were at a rock concert in downtown Phoenix on the final night of 1999. We weren’t too worried about all the predictions.
There was a run on End Times predictions in 1995 when Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins published the first in their Left Behind fictional series that was loosely based on the Book of Revelation.
People have been awaiting answers about the End of the Age, well, since the Age started.
*****
This week’s lessons follow directly after last week’s readings. Jesus taught that the most important commandments are to love the Lord with all that is in you, and love your neighbor as yourself. And then he spotted a widow dropping in two copper coins, likely everything she had. To Jesus, a system that combined the Romans and the Jewish temple leaders to oppress the people – THAT was an age that needed to be ended.
And yet, where we pick up today, the disciples then walked outside the temple and promptly forgot those teachings. They sound like tourists as they point to the magnificent Temple, a structure Herod had constructed to rival the temples in Rome. What big stones!
Don’t be so impressed, Jesus told them. Even this massive structure will be leveled.
*****
Aren’t we a little bit like the disciples? A little bit awed by the bigger, better, newer, faster? I know I can be. Weren’t those projections on the MSG Sphere in Las Vegas pretty cool during the Super Bowl? What would it be like to sail on the Icon of the Seas, the huge new cruise ship? Have you seen the latest images from the James Webb Space Telescope?
I could see Jesus standing here with us, shaking his head. Distractions. Everything that impresses us will pass away. As we speak, the water powering massive dams in the West is so low that unless something changes, the dams will shut down. The water will no longer spin the turbines.
Roads, bridges, skyscrapers—everything that once WOW’d us—temporary. The place I went to Middle School – closed and converted into apartments. My childhood home—bulldozed and redeveloped into retail. Everything is temporary. The media is so filled with bad news that a new word was coined – “Doomscrolling” – to describe people who read bad news story after bad news story. It gets into their heads and they can’t shut it off.
*****
Just like the disturbed disciples can’t get their minds off Jesus’ prediction of the temple destroyed. They ask him when it will happen, and what will be the sign that it’s about to happen. Much like the tornado sirens that blared on Thursday, what will be the signal to run for cover and hide?
Jesus stops them in their tracks. Beware!! he says. You won’t be able to escape it. You’ll be surrounded by it. People who think they have the answers. Wars that some will say are the beginning of the end. Natural disasters. It’s not going to be pretty. Do you remember: all the prophets have already predicted all of this! Heaven and earth will pass away. Everything is temporary.
*****
Everything, that is, except our God.
God, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
The Word moving over the chaos of the water in the beginning, alive in Jesus, and will come again one day.
No one knows what the future holds except for God alone. Not pastors (certainly not vicars!). Not politicians. Not books. Not AI. And whatever happens will happen not on human schedules, but in God’s time. Kairos time. God breaking into our lives, and changing everything time. So don’t look to the sky, to the false prophets. Stay focused on what really matters. Stay alert.
Check in with someone here at Trinity who just lost a parent. Take a meal to the neighbor who just started chemo. Look after the work colleague whose child is struggling. Read to a Trinity Preschool class. Keep your eyes and ears open.
Go to Turkey and Greece, or Lantern Hill, or down the street to Circle of Concern or Gateway 180. Read about the work of Lutheran Disaster Response. Pray for those whose lives have been upended by wars and violence. Respond however you are called, but respond.
As my professor, Dr. Barbara Rossing said a couple of weeks ago, “Denial and despair both lead to in-action.”
I heard a parable this week that fit right in with her words:
A great warhorse comes upon a tiny sparrow lying on its back with its feet in the air, eyes squinched tightly shut with effort.
“What are you doing?” asks the horse.
“I’m trying to help hold back the darkness,” replied the sparrow.
The horse roars with laughter. “That is so pathetic. What do you weigh, about an ounce?”
And the sparrow answers, “One does what one can.”
Stay alert.
We don’t know the hour. The End of the Age could come tomorrow or ten thousand years from now. What a reassuring thought that we are God’s beloved, held in God’s heart, and Jesus tells us not to worry. Not to worry about looking for signs, and not to pay attention to those who tell us the End of the Age is right around the corner. Everything is temporary, except for the One who is not. Instead of worrying about the End of the Age, we can rest secure that God is in control of our lives … and our future. In the meantime, we’ve got stuff to do: We are sent to love God with all that we are, and share Christ’s love and justice everywhere we can.
Amen.
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