Luke 21: 5-19       

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.

 

“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.

 

Well, here we go again! Once more, it seems we’re standing on the edge of the abyss.

          I was 10 when Kennedy was assassinated and the world seemed to crash around us.

                   Since then we’ve lost a war, had 1 President resign/another caught in scandal,

                             we’ve endured inflation, recessions, controversial elections;

                                      swine flu, killer bees, Y2K, and 9-11.

                   All of these threatened (or were reputed to threaten) civilization as we know it.

Many thought that the year 2000 was going to be the end.

Hotels near Jerusalem and Bethlehem were booked years in advance.

People/Holy Lands were afraid of 1000s/visitors arriving with 1-way tickets/no $!

                   They envisioned 1000s/penniless pilgrims sitting on hillsides waiting for X.

                             Then they imagined what their mood might be if he didn’t come!

This all happened before:

          New Year's Eve, 999 AD was described as a night of fear/terror in Rome/elsewhere.

          In Revelation 20, Christ seizes the dragon, the ancient serpent (the Devil/Satan)…                  

                   binds him for 1000 years, throws him into the pit, locks and seals it over him,

                             so he would deceive the nations no more, until the 1000 years is ended.      

                   After that he would be let out for a little while.

Fearing the 1000-year reign/X might be up, Xians facing 1st day/1000 AD were nervous.

Would Satan be released from captivity and loosed on the world?

          Would X's Second Coming immediately follow this?

It didn't help that they saw signs of a catastrophic end all around them:

recurrent failing harvests/famines/pestilence/droughts/floods/wars/lawlessness

          The great empires were breaking down,

                   along w/ the feudal system, leading to warring landowners and knights.

On New Year's Eve, Pope Sylvester II celebrated midnight mass in Rome.

St. Peter's filled: people laying on church floor, arms extended in shape/cross.

                   Midnight bell tolled/congregation held breath/moment passed, life went on.

Bible is Word/Q, but you'd better read that word carefully or end up looking foolish!

7th Day Adventists/Jehovah's Witnesses/many others had better be careful or they,

too will find selves laying prostrate/floor w/ outstretched arms at wrong time.

        All these make same mistake: don't know difference b/t Bible writers/fortune tellers.

There are primarily 2 kinds/writings about the future in Bible: prophecies/revelations.

Neither of these are predictions in our sense of the word.

          Nostradamus/Jean Dixon/Miss Cleo are all fortunetellers making predictions.

Prophets, on the other hand, delivered prophecies; and the writers/Gospel…

          and the books of Daniel/Revelation shared revelations they'd received.

How do prophecies/revelations differ from predictions?  Let's start w/ prophecies.

Prophecies differ from predictions in that they offer options for the future.

          Generally, they run this way: "Either you mend your ways, or......

The people have turned from Q/face sure destruction if they don't turn back.

Unlike predictions, people can change/effect the future (as w/ Ninevah/Jonah story).

Prophecies also not predictions in that: written down after/fact, after event they describe.

          Written in answer to the question: Why did this terrible thing happen to Q's people?  

                   The history/Jewish people and nation is a history of defeat/humiliation/exile. 

                   The words/prophets showed that these catastrophes weren't arbitrary or fated:

they were the direct result/actions of the Jewish people.

          Bible: written largely to help put current struggles into perspective, give hope/future

                   God is revealed as faithful, and willing to forgive and restore.

A 2nd kind of future talk/Bible are revelations, such as those in Daniel/Revelation/Gospel.

These are the most misunderstood writings, as people scramble to discern the signs.

Is the Ayatollah the Anti-X?  How about Sadam Hussein? Osama bin-Laden?

                   Martin Luther thought it might be the pope!

Revelations are not predictions/future.

Were written at times/severe oppression and designed to critique the powers that be.

Revelation, e.g., was written as attack/Roman empire and its notions that...

the emperor was God and the empire marked the dawning/Golden Age.

To this, Revelation says that the empire is Satan; the emperor, the Anti-Christ.

Both will fall/be subdued by X for many yrs/finally be defeated in 2nd Coming

Revelation gave hope/dignity/life to people facing despair/humiliation/death.

A book for those who hunger/thirst for righteousness in world of injustice/suffering.

What a perversion/spirit of this book is being carried on by XianRight/others today!

By all those who see the suffering/wars/oppression of today not as problems…

            to be addressed, but as signs that things have gone too far.

In this kind/thinking, there's nothing we can do but learn the signs/protect ourselves.

Instead of standing on the side of the oppressed against their oppressors,

             we are to accept J as our personal Lord/Savior & wait for the inevitable.

Social action is replaced by personal reflection.

This over-concern with signs/evil portents isn't at all what writer/Rev. had in mind.

          We're not to fear the end but prepare for it...

by doing what we can to live in the kingdom here, now.

Similarly, in today's Gospel, Jesus' description of the end times isn't meant to create fear.

          He tells his followers not to worry about signs: wars/earthquakes/famines/plagues.

          The end will come but not immediately.

          In the meantime, though they will be arrested/persecuted/betrayed,

                   God will never leave them, and their reward will be eternal life.

At the time Gospels were written, many were being persecuted for being Xians. 

          Writer/Luke includes Jesus' talk of the end times to reassure the faithful…     

                   and encourage them to continue fighting the good fight. 

And that is my final word to you: to those of you who have been my congregation…

          for the past few years, and those who are just getting to really know me.

          What good fight do we have to be engaged w/ when we leave here?

                     The institutional church, as your parents knew it, is dying.

The church’s mission is to spread the good news and help people to know God.

          But the church in America has refused to go out into the world to spread the gospel,

                     and has, instead, largely chosen to close its doors/take care of its members.

          It has become a club, with secret rituals no one appreciates (potlucks?),

                     music no one likes (how many radio stations or IPods play church hymns?), 

                     theology no one understands (explain transubstantiation/consubstantiation),

                             and shallow moralism that divides rather than unites.

But here, in this place, the church is moving into the world, to walk alongside you.

          You’re not being asked to serve a church here: you are the church here!

                     You don’t care what denomination you were each raised in,

                             or whether you were brought up in a church at all.

          The ministry isn’t run by a pastor or a board: you all figure out…

                     how to take care of each other, how to be the church for each other.

          Churches support this ministry, but if they pay attention to what goes on here,

                     they will gain as much from it as you do.

I am going back into the church culture, but I am taking w/ me…

          everything I learned from you and your predecessors in this ministry.

          I want to make the church outside of campus as good as it is here,

                     and I hope you will have the same goal when you leave here.

          God bless you for the good work you do every day for the kingdom.