Luke 21:5-19
Prayer
The typical Lectionary
readings for this time of year are stories of Jesus talking about end times. They
are stories or as some may call… prophecies about how the world comes to an
end. These stories are often called Apocalyptic Readings ( a big churchy word)…
or End Times readings. These stories are set in the context of Jesus’ last week
on earth and for Lutheran’s and others who follow a lectionary reading schedule…these
readings come in Nov. as the church year comes to an end. So… for today and
next week the lectionary focuses on the last days of Jesus’ life as they are
often interpreted as the last days of the world.
For us today… the question I
want to pose… is this a story from Jesus an Invitation or something to Fear?
Our story starts out where
people and Jesus’ friends admiring the temple. Wow this is a great place. Look
at those stained glass windows. Look how beautiful the altar and pulpit is…
made of fine wood… the craftsmanship… wow isn’t beautiful? Look at the
wonderful pipe organ…The pews… the chalice… This is such a beautiful church. Then
Jesus says… “Do you see these stones? A time is coming when not one will be
left standing.” The people reading Luke’s gospel are probably staring at a
destroyed temple because came down in 70AD, and as they read they are likely
remembering how the temple must have looked.
Jesus’ friends are curious
about how Jesus knows this. Then fear sets in… Jesus tells them… “Don’t be
fooled my friends and don’t be afraid because there will be wars & rumors
of wars… Governments will be against one another and against each other… there
will be earthquakes… typhoons… terrible diseases… and things will fall from the
sky… people will hate you and will want to kill you… Wow… sound like the 21st
century… not the 1st century. And… Jesus calmly tells his friends…
“Don’t Worry”… And Jesus is telling us
today not to worry.
So… is this story an Invitation to something or should
we be Fearful?
I believe this story from
Jesus is an Invitation to deepen our connection to Jesus and I would like to share
3 reasons why I believe this.
#1… It’s an
Invitation to stay connected to Jesus.
As we see in this story our
connection to Jesus is not the temple… it is not this church building. I don’t even
believe it’s about the things we do in this building as wonderful as that may
be. What it’s about is our connection is to Jesus… it’s about having a
relationship with him that opens the door to not worrying.
Jesus says… Vs 19… “Don’t worry… be faithful.”
This faithful connection
begins at our baptism. That is the moment God grabs hold of us and doesn’t let
go.
Though we will want to turn
and go the other way… God continues to hold on. No matter what we do or where
we go… God is holding one and never letting go. And this connection grows when
we are intentional about being is God’s Word… ruminating… chewing on it as
Luther often said. When we are intentional and faithful about being in God’s
Word we will remain connected to Jesus.
#2… It’s an Invitation to stay connected to one
another.
When we gather for worship we
as a faith community are connecting with Jesus. When we come to worship and praise God with each other we are
connecting with God and each other. Jesus gathered with his friends and others. The early church gathered together.
Acts 2:44ff… “The Lord’s followers
met together and shared everything… They met in their homes & broke bread
and shared freely.”
Our relationships are fed and
nurtured when we are together. And we need these relationships and we need to
find ways to gather so our relationships can grow.
#3… It’s an Invitation to stay Faithful to God.
What does God want from
us?... it’s for us to be faithful to Him.
Deut 10:12 says… “People of Israel, what does the Lord your God want from you? The Lord
wants you to respect and follow Him, to Love & Serve Him with all your
heart & soul, and to obey His teachings.”
We
demonstrate this when we are vessels of God’s grace to one another and to
others. At the end of the day and in spite of all the circumstances… all the
worry… our anxieties and failings… God still loves you.
Closing: We
live in anxious times and we feel it in our daily lives. If we let our anxiety and fear be our focus we will miss the
opportunity for the invitation to connect with God and our community.
A blog I often read from Lutheran Theologian David
Lose shared, “Candy Chang, an artist, designer, and urban planner who, in my
opinion, regularly creates art intended to be a public work. In one such
project, and deeply affected by the death of a dear friend, she transformed a
dilapid-ated house in her neighborhood into a public chalk board where she
invited people to respond to the question, “Before I die I want to …”. The
answers were, poignant, honest, funny, and insightful. When I shared her work on my blog, one reader asked, “What would it be like to have exterior church
walls with such lines as ‘I need someone to pray for ____________ and chalk for
people to be able to write their prayers?”
I wonder if this temple would
be too good to do something like this? What would happen? Would people be
angry? Would doing something like this give us a greater connection to God?
I wonder how doing something
like this would change our perspectives about how we invite people to be
connected to Jesus, to one another, and to God. Would this be something to fear
or is this an opportunity for invitation?
See You Out on the Road
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