November 14, 2004

Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Isaiah 65:17-25

Luke 21:5-19

“Hope Beyond the Façade”

     If you are on the church mailing list, you probably got a pledge card in the mail this week.  Next Sunday, we’ll bring them in to be dedicated to the Lord’s service.  Pledges represent our promise to support the ministry of the church through 2005.

     The theme of this year’s pledge drive has been, “Thine Is the Power”, which explains this poster near the pulpit.  The idea behind the theme is simply this – when we are connected to the Power Source, when we are in a right relationship with God, generosity comes naturally. 

     It’s like a string of Christmas lights (and we’re already starting to see these in the stores!).  They’re nice as they are right out of the box, each light connected to the other, a network of wires and relationships, something of a little light bulb community.  But of course, it’s not until the lights are connected to a power source that they really shine.

     So too, with us.  An organization of good relationships and a strong sense of community can be a really good club, but it becomes a church, the Body of Christ, when he is the Power Source and the community shines forth with his light.  Then, as the Gospel of John puts it, “The light has come into the world and darkness shall not overcome it.”

     When Jesus and his followers were walking through Jerusalem one day, his disciples couldn’t help but “ooh” and “aah” at all the great buildings they saw there, especially the holy temple.  They were probably acting like the tourists we used to complain about when we lived near Gettysburg.  They’d slow down and stop traffic to gawk at a monument or to take a picture of a battlefield.  We called them “statue sniffers.”

     But Jesus wanted his followers to see beyond such things:

“The time is coming when not one of these stones will be left standing on another, all will be thrown down!”

     What good was all the fine architecture and fancy trim on the great temple if the people weren’t in a faithful relationship with God?  Didn’t they know there was more to life than this, that they were part of something greater, something eternal?  So Jesus told them about the end of time, how everything material is only temporary and that it will only amount to rubble, dust and rust one day.  But more than this, he told them about life that does not end, how all the world may come to ruin but their souls, their lives would endure.   

     Jesus wanted people to look forward to life to come and allow that hope to affect they way they lived their lives in the here and now.  He was clear that life can be difficult – “wars and insurrections…nation against nation…natural disaster…persecution ”.  But Jesus also made it clear that there is more to life than this.  We are part of something bigger and better than that which a sinful and broken world dishes out.  We are part of God’s kingdom, a yet unfolding, ever surprising, always emerging, eternal salvation story.

     Our grand accomplishments and splendid architecture – these things will pass.  Life, however, will remain.  We will remain, held safely in the love of the Savior.  Holding fast by faith to the One who makes all this possible, our souls are gained. 

     It was in a war-torn and uncertain time that the prophet Isaiah shared God’s words of hope with a troubled people.  God said,

“Behold, I am about to make a new heaven and a new earth; rejoice in what I am creating!  The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; they shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain.”

     The “Peaceable Kingdom”.  Pie-in-the-sky-in-the-sweet-by-and-by?  Absolutely not - God’s plan for the way things will be.  We are part of this promise, this unfolding salvation story.  It is there for us to bring us hope in this time and to point us to a better time…if we’ll but allow ourselves to see beyond our false facades to that greater reality. 

     The most beautiful expression of God’s plan for a new heaven and a new earth is found in Jesus Christ.  Here we see God’s love for the world in the flesh.  Here we see that’s it’s all about saving people for something better, about hope beyond the sinful brokenness of the world, about resurrection, life that never ends.  Jesus is a window, a door, an opening to eternity.  He allows us to see God, to see beyond human short-sightedness.  He shows the way to be connected to the power of God, the way of prayer, the way to follow.

     So in these days of wars and insurrections, natural disasters and persecutions, what are we to say about these things?  Perhaps, by faith, we can borrow that beloved line from Romans, chapter 8:

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

     And that, my friends, is what it’s all about.

     I think we need to remember this at this important crossroads in the life of First Church.  We are considering now which way to go in our ministry.  We are wondering which path to take.  Like the disciples so long ago, we can so easily fix our gaze on these stones, this wonderful architecture, and miss what it means to be Christ’s Church.  But we are so much more than this.  We are part of Christ’s salvation story.  We are empowered by God to serve faithfully in these times and to proclaim that there is more to life, so much more, than the problems and tragedies of today.

     With Christ’s encouragement, his vision, the inspiration of his Holy Spirit, faith can see beyond such things.  We can catch a glimpse of eternity and find hope and meaning for living today. 

     What a gift we have in the power of God, in the light of Christ!  What a great church this is and what a great church it will be as that light shines through us.