November 30, 2008     -      Wayne Sherrer, preacher

Lessons: Isaiah 64:1-9; I Corinthians1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37

Happy New Year!!

I suspect that was not the first thought that crossed your mind when you heard today's lessons, but the idea that a change for the better is coming in the near future is a major theme. So we look to that future with expectation, anticipation and hope, for the source of that change will be none other than God himself.

Our first lesson was written after many Jews had returned from exile in Babylon. During that exile they had looked back with rose-colored glasses at the life they had enjoyed in Palestine. They forgot how often they had failed as individuals and as a nation to be faithful to God. They forgot how often God had sent prophets to scold them and to call them back into relationship with God. From the distance of Babylon they remembered paradise and they dreamed that one day they might return to their homeland. For fifty years they told their children and grandchildren stories of Judah's glory and the mighty works God had done on their behalf. But now the survivors are home and reality can't be avoided. The ruins do not look glorious, there are no signs of supernatural power to magically speed the recovery effort, AND the people have not become more holy, more faithful, or more obedient during their time away from the Promised Land. While the people have returned, it seems that God has not returned with them and there is a hunger for visible signs that God has not abandoned them.

Meanwhile, our Gospel was written after the destruction of Jerusalem, including the Temple. Jesus' first disciples were Jews and the temple had been a powerful sign of God's presence and God's promise. But now the temple was gone. And Jesus was gone. What had happened to the God who had parted the Red Sea and who had brought down the walls of Jericho? Had God deserted them? Was God angry with them? How could the Messiah let this happen? Maybe Jesus wasn't the Messiah after all.

The headlines from 2008 fit right in, don't they? The attacks in Mumbai, India and the continued persecution of Christians in Darfur are followed by reports of hundreds dead in Nigeria as churches and mosques are burned in riots. Closer to home a Walmart employee is trampled to death on Black Friday, a cross is burned on a New Jersey lawn and the Ku Klux Klan shoots a new recruit in Louisiana. Every day of every year seems to provide new evidence that God has left the world to reap what it has sown, or as Isaiah put it, “has delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.”

But our lessons do NOT end in despair, they don't say to hide under the covers, they don't say to close our eyes and live in a fantasy. Instead, Isaiah reminds the Jews and us that God is our father, that God created us to live in relationship with him, that we are all God's people. Isaiah talks to God in the faith that God will listen and will respond. He talks to God with the hope that God can forgive the sins of the people and even forget the wrong they have done. Isaiah believes that God can hide himself, but God can also come out of hiding and give clear evidence of his presence and his power to his people and to their enemies. He believes that God is a God of mercy and compassion.

And Jesus twice offers Christians the promise of his return—first with the image of the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory and then by way of a parable of man who goes on a journey and returns. Jesus is emphasizing to his followers that any absence on his part is for just a brief time. The master of the house returns from his journey before the next dawn, though the exact hour is unknown. Jesus was not talking about events in the far distant future at the end of the world, but about reassuring his disciples that he was not far off, no matter how bleak the situation appeared. Even if heaven and earth passed away, Jesus' words of promise will NOT pass away.

Jesus repeatedly urges us to be on the watch, to read the signs, to pay attention. When you see these things taking place, you know that the master is near, at the very gates. What are these signs?? They are everywhere, if we open our eyes to see them every day. We see the New Hope campaign exceed its goal, we see people fed at Victory House and Hellertown Food Bank, we see faithful bell ringers next to Salvation Army kettles and priests who carefully shepherd God's people for 30, 40 or even 50 years and congregations that share the Gospel for 100 years and more, we see volunteers continue to travel thousands of miles to assist the rebuilding of New Orleans and Haiti and Kajo Keji and we see people who welcome new neighbors with a smile and an open heart. Jesus' call to keep awake did not forbid us to sleep, but rather it encouraged us to view the world around us with eyes of faith, eyes alert to the presence of God among us. Then we, like dutiful watchmen, can sound the alarm and spread the news that the master is near at hand, so that others may see the signs of his activity and celebrate Emmanuel, God with us.

Happy New Year!!