TWENTY-FIFTH SUNMDAY AFTER PENTECOST -- 18 November 2007

ST PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH, ABQ NM -- The Rev. P. L. Holman

Malachi 4:1-2a; Psalm 98; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19

"Focus on Hope"

This is the penultimate Sunday of the church year. Second to last, ending times, and the lessons point to those end times. In Malachi and the Psalm people are looking forward to the promised Day of Judgment. That promise of judgment takes on the character of hope for folks struggling to obey the Torah when others who aren't obeying seem to get along just fine. The prophet and the psalmist assure us, you just go on trusting God – they’ll get theirs. In a world very much off-balance the LORD will come with equity as a measuring rod and righteousness as the rule, the Psalmist says. Rest assured that the two-edged sword of judgment means condemnation for those who have turned away from God, and healing -- healing for those who've patiently endured.

End times or apocalyptic literature is fascinating stuff. Using vivid language and images it reveals what God is about to do to preserve the world and God's people in it -- the intent was to give hope to the faithful. We who live surrounded by affluence, with access to medical care and clean water, have a hard time grasping the power of these stories. Instead we turn to the likes of Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series that takes the biblical literature out of context and fits it to a highly individualistic picture of salvation and judgment. If these books are the only connection folks have to an end-times vision, it is easy to get stuck on the signs and portents and shackled to a life ruled by fear.

Jesus would have us live otherwise.  Luke tells us that. This writer, who based so much of his work on the earlier gospel of Mark, parted company with Mark when it came to end time talk. Perhaps because he had a sort of "part 2" in the book of the Acts of the Apostles where he could unpack the lives of the faithful, Luke's Jesus very intentionally pulls us back to this world from the brink of the signs and portents. Jesus brings that two-edged sword of judgment day right back home to earth today.

            The temple is beautiful, but don't make a building your god. The wars and insurrections and political upheavals and earthquakes and famines will happen along with dreadful portents and great signs. Take care! These are simply signs of your own confusion. And before all this you will suffer and be held accountable for your faith -- you will have opportunity to testify. That's what matters now. Though even your own family may turn against you, you will be protected, for by your steadfastness and perseverance, your patient endurance, you all will acquire your souls.

The followers won't be led around the challenges and trials, no end-runs here. They won't be saved FROM them -- rather, the power of Jesus' promise will lead them through the sufferings so they can testify, so others can hear and come to believe, so witness by witness the world can be changed even now, so communities can be strengthened by integrity and hope.  The end times are breaking in all around us -- live like you believe it. Your actions will shape the character of your community. By your steadfast endurance you will gain your souls.

A note about "souls": in some translations that word is "lives" but what Jesus is talking about involves the whole sense of self, our inner self and our identity. The actions we take affect our sense of self; they shape us -- personally and as a community -- for this life and also for the life to come.

Have you ever thought about "the life to come," what heaven might be like? At Bible study we took a few moments to reflect on the "anticipations" in our daily lives. I asked participants to give thought to something -- anything -- they are looking forward to with some passion, anything they're anticipating. So I'll ask you, too: when you think about what you're anticipating, looking forward to, what's the vision that comes to your mind?....

I still can't shake the image of eager anticipation captured by the ABQ JOURNAL sports section after the Colorado Rockies won ten games in a row to clinch the National League title this year. The headline read: "They may never lose again." Now there's hope-filled anticipation for you! Of course, the 2007 World Series "end times" came early for the Rockies: they never won again, and Boston swept the Series.

Fortunately faith isn't grounded in human effort. Faith is buoyed by promises from the God of Life, the Author of Hope, and hope does not disappoint us.  At Bible study the "anticipation" images folks shared all related to what life will look like after this life. For one, it was a wonderful dining table spread with food, family from all sorts of ages past gathered round. For another it was total release from pain, the chronic pain that wears on you and tears at your soul. For a third it was PEACE, reconciliation and peace. As we talked it was amazing to see how those visions, rarely voiced, were shaping the choices and lives of these three households even now.… Visions of healing and the fullness of fellowship shape our living now, Jesus says, and give us strength to handle whatever may come. Find your focus and gain your souls.

The church in Thessalonica was out of focus. Some believers thought the end times were coming soon, very soon, so they could do what they pleased. They simply stopped working; they were draining the community's resources and filling their days meddling in the lives of others. After all, life as they knew it was about to end -- Jesus would come and free them from every care. Fear-mongering and judging were the order of the day. Sound familiar? To this the mission developer says "remember our example and imitate that." The early witnesses to Thessalonica had the right to expect gifts, but they earned their keep so as not to be a burden. As examples to be imitated, "do not be weary is doing what is right." In a way the author's posture is echoed in what Martin Luther said centuries later: "If the world were to end tomorrow, I would plant a tree today."

This past week an article in the ABQ Journal offered a "green" focus for parents and healthy children: outdoor play. Preliminary studies point to a connection between the amount of unstructured time children spend out of doors and the health of a child's emotional and social development. "Kids who play in natural areas -- those with bushes and trees -- have been shown to engage in more creative and cooperative play." [USA WEEKEND Nov. 16-18 2007, p.9] Now there's a focus that shapes the future! Even teens who participated in wilderness programs show enhanced self-esteem, independence and initiative. The authors said "nature-deficit disorder" limits the potential of young people -- Jesus would say it is costing them their souls. Taking time to focus on and play in the great out doors can enable families and entire communities to gain their souls…. How ironic that the very next page after that article was an ad for the World's Finest Artificial Christmas trees….

Another image of living with a focus comes from a WWI survey of men at the front: "There is something going on in the world which demands primarily allegiance. [We] hardly know what it is. [We] only know that something great and righteous wants [us]and requires of [us our] help." [Neville Talbot, Thoughts on Religion at the Front (London: Macmillan & Co., 1917), p.55]

What vision of hope shapes your daily life? What enhances your inner self, your soul? Parker Palmer in his book THE COURAGE TO TEACH reflects on a phrase from poet Rilke: the point is to live everything. Palmer says: "Of course that's the point! If I do not fully live the tensions that come my way, those tensions do not disappear: they go underground and multiply. I may not know how to solve them, but by wrapping my life around them and trying to live out their resolution, I open myself to new possibilities and keep the tensions from tearing me apart." [p.86]

Change the pronouns to plural and you have an echo of Jesus' words to his followers, to us: the point is to live everything, to live open to bearing witness trusting God to fill that openness with strength for the journey. Often I change the words of the Lord's Prayer to remind me of that: Save us IN the time of trial, we know we're going through it -- bring us on through, Lord, keep us focused on hope in this world and the next. Amen.