Mark 13:24-37
Let us pray: “Most gracious God be with us and give us the Spirit of Christ.” Amen.
Could be!
Who knows?
There’s something due any day;
I will know right away,
Soon as it shows.
It may come cannonballing down through the sky,
Gleam in its eye,
Bright as a rose!
These lyrics, of course, are from the musical West Side Story that premiered fifty years ago in New York City. The hero, Tony’s song, about something coming is apt for Advent since John the Baptist announces something’s coming, too.
The particular message in today’s Gospel from Mark is a clarion call is to stay alert, to be ready for a new reality when God’s Kingdom will be made known. It could not be any clearer: STAY AWAKE. But, right now, it is hard to be attentive and alert. Mighty things in the world distract us. We worry… we worry for our families… we worry for our friends and neighbors… we worry about a world caught up in a global economic crisis.
All of us are swept up in an economic whirlwind unprecedented in our generation. Diminishing investments, vaporizing 401K’s, rising unemployment, and imploding global markets—all make for a Perfect Storm of uncertainty and fear.
None of us are immunized from what’s happening right now. Families are weighing priorities. We are re-evaluating past decisions: what to save, what to spend, how to invest what precious savings we have left, and how to sustain a standard of living moving forward. How can we sustain what we have?
As much as anything, the Gospel lesson for this Sunday and for this moment is about SUSTAINABILITY. And I don’t mean sustainability as a fancy buzzword meaning photovoltaic cells or carbon footprints or melting ice caps – although that is part of it – No. What I mean by sustainability is whether we can continue to live now the same way we have lived in the past? Can we continue to live with the certainty that things will return to the way they used to be? The Gospel lesson for today says, NO. It’s going to be different… it’s going to be better…
Crisis and uncertainty was part of the Evangelist Mark’s world… the Temple in Jerusalem that had stood for generations was destroyed. People’s lives were disrupted by external forces they could not control. The Empire was making decisions that adversely affected them causing many to lose their homes and jobs. Such cataclysmic events made them question their faith in a just God.
Their hope rested on a promise that Jesus made to them that He would return. He would return as the one and only sovereign Lord who would make things right and bring justice and peace to an unjust and troubled world. Mark exhorted the people to remain alert for His return; hence, his familiar words, “Stay Awake!”
But, the Risen Christ didn’t come on time. At least He did not come on their timetable. The people had to make adjustments, take more responsibility for their actions in the midst of fear, and to sustain their faith and their lives without the immediate return of Jesus Christ. They had to learn what it meant to live “in the MEANTIME.”
You and I are still “in the MEANTIME.” We are being challenged in uncertain times to sustain our lives and the lives of others.
As you know, I have just returned from my sabbatical leave. About half of my leave time was spent in Maine. When you are up there that long you cannot help but be affected by the seasons and the tides. You notice the people of Maine: the lobstermen, the waitresses and waiters, the truck drivers and the dockworkers, and children and the families. You realize there are still many families who carve out a living on the outer islands of Maine such as Monhegan, Frenchboro and Matinicus.
Sustainability is a way of life for them. They struggle to keep their island life – their way of life for countless generations. For them sustainability is not about fancy light bulbs, grants from the State or gifts from wealthy summer people. For these year-round island people sustainability is about keeping their unique island culture. For them, it means providing for the mutual needs of the island community and for the careful stewardship of its finite resources. For them it means low-impact living, going barefoot until Thanksgiving or eating home-grown kelp until Christmas. It means hard, hard, work by all: men and women, young and old.
We can learn what sustainability is -- in hard times -- from Maine island people. I think church communities are like island communities. Christ Church is part of a vast archipelago we call the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. We are connected but also separate islands; and it is the responsibility of Christian “islanders” to be sustainable, vital and viable. There is no bail-out for us. There is no TARP to bolster our endowment. Like those islanders in Maine, it is up to the Christ Church community to sustain the ministry built up in the past and to be, now more than ever, instruments of God’s peace in a broken, uncertain, and needy world.
There are tough headwinds blowing our way. How long they will last…we do not know. To weather the uncertain economic storms that may lie ahead we must act like an island community. Taking a page from these island people and looking ahead into the New Year, I believe we are called to sustain our common community life together; to sustain the vital ministries of worship, prayer and healing, and sustain the vital mission of outreach – now more than ever – to one another and to the wider community.
It won’t be easy. It will be hard work. It may be different than the way we’ve done things in the past. The contours of the Cross demand change. To pick up the Cross of Christ in difficult times is hard work… hard work by all. It will take all of us – men and women, young and old – to carry the Cross.
For us the Cross should not be a burden but a blessing… it symbolizes for us that life defeats death, love eclipses hate and hope overcomes fear. It is “the Bridge to Somewhere,” promised in Scripture… where all will be well and all manner of things will be well. That’s our faith… and that’s our hope…
And one thing more… it’s the most important thing. The promise of Advent is clear: God comes to us. During this season of Advent we will be distracted by many concerns and perplexed by what the future will hold; but, one thing is sure: God is coming to us. He is our Emmanuel….
Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something’s coming, something good,
If I can wait!
Something’s coming, I don’t know what it is,
But it is
Gonna be great!
Let us pray:
O God of the night and the day, the seasons and the tides, be with your people and sustain them with your grace and love. Look with favor upon those who seek to find you in their lives during uncertain times. Uphold them and enable them to continue the work of ministry and to go forth to be ambassadors of your most gracious will. All this we ask in the name of Jesus, our Emmanuel. Amen.
Let us pray: “Most gracious God be with us and give us the Spirit of Christ.” Amen.
Could be!
Who knows?
There’s something due any day;
I will know right away,
Soon as it shows.
It may come cannonballing down through the sky,
Gleam in its eye,
Bright as a rose!
These lyrics, of course, are from the musical West Side Story that premiered fifty years ago in New York City. The hero, Tony’s song, about something coming is apt for Advent since John the Baptist announces something’s coming, too.
The particular message in today’s Gospel from Mark is a clarion call is to stay alert, to be ready for a new reality when God’s Kingdom will be made known. It could not be any clearer: STAY AWAKE. But, right now, it is hard to be attentive and alert. Mighty things in the world distract us. We worry… we worry for our families… we worry for our friends and neighbors… we worry about a world caught up in a global economic crisis.
All of us are swept up in an economic whirlwind unprecedented in our generation. Diminishing investments, vaporizing 401K’s, rising unemployment, and imploding global markets—all make for a Perfect Storm of uncertainty and fear.
None of us are immunized from what’s happening right now. Families are weighing priorities. We are re-evaluating past decisions: what to save, what to spend, how to invest what precious savings we have left, and how to sustain a standard of living moving forward. How can we sustain what we have?
As much as anything, the Gospel lesson for this Sunday and for this moment is about SUSTAINABILITY. And I don’t mean sustainability as a fancy buzzword meaning photovoltaic cells or carbon footprints or melting ice caps – although that is part of it – No. What I mean by sustainability is whether we can continue to live now the same way we have lived in the past? Can we continue to live with the certainty that things will return to the way they used to be? The Gospel lesson for today says, NO. It’s going to be different… it’s going to be better…
Crisis and uncertainty was part of the Evangelist Mark’s world… the Temple in Jerusalem that had stood for generations was destroyed. People’s lives were disrupted by external forces they could not control. The Empire was making decisions that adversely affected them causing many to lose their homes and jobs. Such cataclysmic events made them question their faith in a just God.
Their hope rested on a promise that Jesus made to them that He would return. He would return as the one and only sovereign Lord who would make things right and bring justice and peace to an unjust and troubled world. Mark exhorted the people to remain alert for His return; hence, his familiar words, “Stay Awake!”
But, the Risen Christ didn’t come on time. At least He did not come on their timetable. The people had to make adjustments, take more responsibility for their actions in the midst of fear, and to sustain their faith and their lives without the immediate return of Jesus Christ. They had to learn what it meant to live “in the MEANTIME.”
You and I are still “in the MEANTIME.” We are being challenged in uncertain times to sustain our lives and the lives of others.
As you know, I have just returned from my sabbatical leave. About half of my leave time was spent in Maine. When you are up there that long you cannot help but be affected by the seasons and the tides. You notice the people of Maine: the lobstermen, the waitresses and waiters, the truck drivers and the dockworkers, and children and the families. You realize there are still many families who carve out a living on the outer islands of Maine such as Monhegan, Frenchboro and Matinicus.
Sustainability is a way of life for them. They struggle to keep their island life – their way of life for countless generations. For them sustainability is not about fancy light bulbs, grants from the State or gifts from wealthy summer people. For these year-round island people sustainability is about keeping their unique island culture. For them, it means providing for the mutual needs of the island community and for the careful stewardship of its finite resources. For them it means low-impact living, going barefoot until Thanksgiving or eating home-grown kelp until Christmas. It means hard, hard, work by all: men and women, young and old.
We can learn what sustainability is -- in hard times -- from Maine island people. I think church communities are like island communities. Christ Church is part of a vast archipelago we call the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. We are connected but also separate islands; and it is the responsibility of Christian “islanders” to be sustainable, vital and viable. There is no bail-out for us. There is no TARP to bolster our endowment. Like those islanders in Maine, it is up to the Christ Church community to sustain the ministry built up in the past and to be, now more than ever, instruments of God’s peace in a broken, uncertain, and needy world.
There are tough headwinds blowing our way. How long they will last…we do not know. To weather the uncertain economic storms that may lie ahead we must act like an island community. Taking a page from these island people and looking ahead into the New Year, I believe we are called to sustain our common community life together; to sustain the vital ministries of worship, prayer and healing, and sustain the vital mission of outreach – now more than ever – to one another and to the wider community.
It won’t be easy. It will be hard work. It may be different than the way we’ve done things in the past. The contours of the Cross demand change. To pick up the Cross of Christ in difficult times is hard work… hard work by all. It will take all of us – men and women, young and old – to carry the Cross.
For us the Cross should not be a burden but a blessing… it symbolizes for us that life defeats death, love eclipses hate and hope overcomes fear. It is “the Bridge to Somewhere,” promised in Scripture… where all will be well and all manner of things will be well. That’s our faith… and that’s our hope…
And one thing more… it’s the most important thing. The promise of Advent is clear: God comes to us. During this season of Advent we will be distracted by many concerns and perplexed by what the future will hold; but, one thing is sure: God is coming to us. He is our Emmanuel….
Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something’s coming, something good,
If I can wait!
Something’s coming, I don’t know what it is,
But it is
Gonna be great!
Let us pray:
O God of the night and the day, the seasons and the tides, be with your people and sustain them with your grace and love. Look with favor upon those who seek to find you in their lives during uncertain times. Uphold them and enable them to continue the work of ministry and to go forth to be ambassadors of your most gracious will. All this we ask in the name of Jesus, our Emmanuel. Amen.
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