Wars and Rumors of Wars

The Holy Gospel According to St. Mark, the 13th Chapter

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.

Sometimes it feels like only an apocalypse, only God breaking into our world, could have the power to put things right.  Mark’s gospel was written to people who felt just that way, and today feels much the same.  

Children die from hunger.  Only a miracle will do.  Women stay with an abusive partner because they can’t see another way to care for their children.  Only a miracle will do.  The poor and hungry are demonized and people of different races and religions are made to be scapegoats.  Only a miracle will do.  Acts of terror rip apart Beirut and Paris while hate and war drive families into flimsy rubber rafts as their neighborhoods turn to rubble.  Only a miracle will do.  Even in our church at 209, with everything changing around us.  Sometimes it feels like only a miracle will do.

Mark, at the end of his gospel paints a picture of the world getting darker.  The sun sets, darkness falls, midnight comes and the darkness grows.  The moon sets, the darkness becomes overwhelming and before the dawn it is the darkest and the coldest time of the night.  Frustratingly, Mark’s gospel doesn’t “fix” it as we would like.  Instead it sits with us IN it.  It acknowledges that darkness in our lives is real, that life gets colder and darker the longer we wait for relief.  Waiting is hard enough, but waiting for relief that will come at some unknown time is nearly impossible.  We want a sign!  We NEED a sign!  Sometimes we need a sign so badly we create them, hoping to somehow force God to give us the miracle we need.  

So, how long O Lord must we wait!?  THAT’s the question we desperately want answered.  But that answer isn’t what we get in Mark's gospel or anywhere else in the Bible.  What we get isn’t a time table telling us about the future where “one day” we might begin live.  No, what we get instead is an invitation to begin to live RIGHT NOW… right where we are… even feeling trapped in that dark, cold, fear filled place… we hear an invitation to LIVE! 

A quote attributed to Martin Luther says, “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”  And one attributed to Winston Churchill says, “If you are going through hell, keep going!”  Those invitations to LIVE even in the midst of darkness… even in the depths of that fear, is an invitation to move, live, serve and love as if that miracle we are desperately waiting for has already come.  And here’s the not-so-secret, secret… that miracle HAS INDEED already come! 

It’s part of the way God created us, that the first thing we do when we are threatened, is that we unconsciously pull back to somewhere familiar, respond the way we’ve responded before.  That’s why our hearts race as we approach the edge of a cliff.  God gave us that reaction so we don't just walk off the edge in blissful ignorance!  The edge of the chasm IS a threat… it’s different… it’s deep and your body tells you, by relocating your stomach up into your throat, to BACK UP!  TURN AROUND!  STOP MOVING FORWARD!  It’s a beautiful gift!  Without that gift our ancestor’s bones would be piled up at the bottom of some chasm and humanity would be extinct!  It’s a really good gift!  

But lashing out or backing away are not the ONLY gifts we’ve been given.  That is not ALL God created us to be.  God made us more than that!  God also created us with the ability to stop and imagine life beyond just instinctual reaction... to imagine life on the other side of the chasm, to see another possibility beyond just attack or retreat, and see the possibility of a life that is more than just an endless cycle of fighting and running.  The truth is that God created us for MORE than that kind of shallow life!  We have been created for ABUNDANT life!  

But HOW?  HOW can we get from here to there?  WHAT can get us to the other side… what can move us beyond just fighting or running... Only a Miracle will do!  Yes, only a miracle will do, but the miracle we need is not a “WHAT.”  The miracle is a “WHO” and the miracle we need... the miracle we HAVE, has lived among us, died in the pain of reactionary fear and been raised from the dead!  The miracle we need to get to the other side of this turmoil, darkness, fear and pain, both far and near, is even now inviting us, poking us, prodding us, provoking us to follow to abundant life!  The miracle we need... the miracle we HAVE is Jesus, and in his death and resurrection has already brought us from fear to abundant life!  

I know it doesn’t feel like it.  But just because it's hard to see, doesn't mean it isn't here.  I see glimpses of the Miracle we need... the Miracle we HAVE, shining through the cracks of our very real pain and very real darkness.  Have you seen the veggies and produce piling up for the Thanksgiving baskets?  When we are generous like that we are walking the Jesus way and the light shines through that generosity into the darkness!  Did you see that beautiful family connection between the daughter of a D-Day aviator and the son of a D-Day paratrooper last week?  When we commit to being together, in that investment of time and being present, we discover that we have always been connected and the light shines in the darkness!  Have you heard our choir?  Have you heard our singing?  When we choose not to get drawn into fights and gossip and reactions and when we choose to not run away when it is hard and instead choose to sing… we are walking the Jesus way and the light shines in the darkness!  

God has created us to live our lives beyond the fear, pain and automatic reactions that draw us away from life and into never-ending life-draining battles.  God has created us for so much more than that... for the abundant life we will discover we already possess by following the Jesus Way… taking one step at a time, as the lesson from Hebrews tells us, PROVOKING one another to love, being together and encouraging one another more and more as we see the Day approaching.  Amen.