“A
Change of Course”
Mark
13: 1-8
November 15, 2009
For various reasons
including this week’s release of the action-disaster film “2012” I thought
we might as well stray away from the lesson of the widow’s mite and consider Jesus’
end-times language. This morning’s
passage which could be a pre-cursor to this weekend’s mega-budget disaster film is
Jesus’ attempt at getting his disciples to refocus their vision. It is a passage that stops the disciples in their
tracks and helps them see the world anew.
Please listen for how the
Spirit is addressing us this morning through God’s Word found on page 47 of the New
Testament section of your pew Bibles from the Gospel of Mark chapter thirteen verses one
through eight…
As [Jesus] came out of the temple, one of his
disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!”
2Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone
will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
3When he was sitting on the Mount
of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4“Tell
us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be
accomplished?” 5Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one
leads you astray. 6Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and
they will lead many astray. 7When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not
be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8For 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 birth pangs.
This
is God’s word to us…
Who are we as a community of
faith? Why are we still gathering to worship
God and go forth doing his will from this sanctuary after a century of service? Where is our ministry collectively and individually
headed? Do the decisions and actions that we
make as a church have any lasting effect on the well being of Jesus Christ in this corner
of Southern Idaho?
Perhaps that is too many
questions to start with, but sometimes I wonder if we shouldn’t be asking those
questions and more, more often. For if we are
to be about the life transforming power of God’s love and if we are to be about
embodying Jesus in our lives; shouldn’t we stop once and awhile to assess the way we
are going? How often do we assume we’re
on the right track when we really should be open to God guiding us in new directions?
One night, during World War
II, there was a battleship whose forward watch spotted a light that appeared to be heading
straight for the battleship. A radio message
was sent from the battleship saying, “Unidentified ship: you are on a collision
course. Change direction 10 degrees starboard.”
A reply came back: “No. You need to change direction.”
The battleship again sent a
message saying, “This is a United States warship.
Change direction 10 degrees starboard.”
And, once again the reply came back, “No.”
The Admiral was awakened and
notified and the battleship sent yet another message, “This is a warship on official
maneuvers. You are ordered to change
direction: signed, Admiral Peacock.” A
moment passed when the same one word reply came back, “No: signed Seaman Smith,
tender of the Light House.” Often it is
we who are the ones who need to change course (Donald Deffner, Sermon Illustrations, San
Jose: Resource, p. 67. Adapted).
And so it was for the
disciples two thousand years ago, they needed a change of course, they needed to have
their way of seeing the world refocused and Jesus was there to change it for them. As they were heading out of the Temple their eyes
were fixed on the grandeur and magnificence of the structure that they were walking out
of. Even today those massive foundations
stones that are the Wailing Wall are an amazing sight to behold.
We are not told why one of
the disciples commented on the beauty of the Temple. Perhaps
it was pure innocence or maybe they were driven by some desire to make what they thought
was a profound statement when stating the obvious, “Look, Teacher, what large stones,
and what large buildings!”
Their astonishment and
admiration no doubt resembles how some of us feel when we look around at the building with
which we have been entrusted. Who among us
could ever think that this magnificent building would not be here? It is inconceivable that there would be anything
but a congregation of Presbyterians inhabiting this building that has withstood the Great
Depression a World War, a Cold War, not to mention numerous economic booms and busts since
it was erected nearly one hundred years ago.
Even so, while it is
understandable that the disciples as well as all of us are taken in by our manmade
attempts at capturing something of God in stone and mortar, Jesus was not. He shattered the jubilation expressed by his
disciples when he said; “Do you see these buildings?
Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
Can you imagine what the
disciples must have thought in reply? That
they had been following Jesus did not alter their faithfulness to Judaism and so to have
Jesus declare that the very House of God would be torn down must have come as a tremendous
shock to their system. They had been walking
along as assuredly as Admiral Peacock was that his battleship should be granted the right
of way when out of nowhere a word of authority stood in their way changing their course.
There are many such moments
in our lives that cause us to change the course we are headed in. The birth of a child, learning to walk, that first
driver’s license, a new job, marriage, retirement, death: throughout our lives there
are many such moments when something comes along and forces us to look anew at our
situation.
Several years ago the events
that surrounded the death of my maternal grandmother was just such an occasion for my
mother and her brother Ralph. Their sibling
rivalry had a history stretching back into their childhood and in effect meant that I
never really knew my uncle until a few years ago. For
decades mom and her brother didn’t even speak to one another. In fact, it wasn’t until hospice called them
both to their mother’s bedside, for the final two weeks of her life, that they really
got to know one another.
Over those two weeks mom and
her brother assessed their relationship and what it meant to be their mother’s
children. They talked about their growing up
years and of their growing apart. They talked
about losing their father ten years prior to the even that had brought them together. Perhaps for the first time since they were infants
they were communicating with one another in a way that only siblings can. The impending death of their mother was an
immovable force that finally allowed them to see their way through the difficulties that
had separated them for so many years.
Jesus’ rebuke of the
disciples, may not have given them a perfect vision of where they were headed, but it put
them on a new course, a course of listening more closely to what Jesus said. Over the past few months I have been wondering if
we too haven’t experienced a series of course changing events in our ministry
together. I have wondered if all the work that
has been done on this building of late hasn’t forced us to refocus our vision of
where we are headed through the difficulties that have shaped and reshaped our community
over the last decade.
What I have been wondering
is if all the work that has been done over the last nine months or so to catch up on years
of deferred maintenance isn’t nudging us to refocus the direction we are headed in as
a congregation. All of the work that has been
done has caused others and me to begin to talk about where we are going and if anything
that we are doing really matters. Are we as a
community of faith faithfully in line with living the life transforming power of God’s
love and embodying Jesus in our lives? For
some time I have been wondering if we have fully answered the follow-up question of
whether the congregation should stay downtown.
Even though that decision
must have taken much thought and prayer it will be an even more challenging decision for
us to figure out what vision God has in mind for our next one hundred years in downtown
Twin Falls. Let us not get complacent with
where we are. Let us not stop prayerfully
thinking about what God might be leading us to be and do.
Let us not refrain from dreaming dreams and seeing visions of what our next
chapter of ministry might entail. Let us not
imagine that the end is near, but rather that we are even now at the beginning of the
birth pangs of who God wants us to be as individuals and as a community of faith.
I believe we are awakening
once again to new realities of ministry. Through
the love of God and the strength gained from following Jesus Christ we are refocusing who
we are, why we are here, and where we are going. And
perhaps broken water mains, leaky floors and ceilings, broken stairs, shorted-out
chandeliers and boiler maintenance are just the thing for us to notice that God isn’t
done with us. That we have more to accomplish
as a congregation and that by being downtown in this historically magnificent building may
yet present many and wondrous opportunities for serving the mission of Jesus Christ in the
years to come.
Jesus stops the disciples in
their tracks by predicting the downfall of the Temple; a battleship must change course or
run aground; two siblings renew the gift of family at the loss of their mother; a
congregation finds new life through the sacrifice of delivering their facility into the
twenty-first century; in what ways is God changing our course towards a fuller
relationship with Jesus? How will we honor the
gift of God’s grace and love in our life in the years to come? To what new ministries of care and compassion is
the Spirit directing us to grab hold of in our future?
What words of authority have
redirected our ministry as a church? Are we
prepared to keep alert and follow their counsel and see things through? As we move into the next one hundred years of
ministry in this building how we see through the difficulties that present themselves will
say a lot about how faithfully we serve God by embodying Jesus Christ in our lives and in
our community.
Amen.
