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https://youtu.be/otoDOFzjklY

Hespeler, 14 November 2021 © Scott McAndless
Daniel 12:1-3, Psalm 16, Hebrews 10:11-25, Mark 13:1-8

I was in a discussion recently about the passage we read this morning – the passage where Jesus starts talking about all of these things that are going to happen. Much of what Jesus says in this part of the Gospel of Mark, after all, took place within about forty years of him saying it. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and one stone was hardly left on top of another. The rest of the city of Jerusalem did not come off much better.

How did Jesus Know?

So, I was talking about Jesus saying all of this with someone and the question that came up was how did Jesus know that all of this was going to happen. Yes, I know that it is a given in the Christian church and according to our doctrine that Jesus was not just an ordinary person – that had a unique nature and the ability to see things that others cannot. And surely Jesus could have made use of such supernatural power to see events that would happen 40 years after his crucifixion.

But the question was whether Jesus really needed such powers to predict the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of its temple. My idea was that no, he didn’t. All he needed was an analytic mind. All he needed to do was look at the situation on the ground right at that moment – to see the tension between the Jews and the Roman occupying forces and the insurrectionists who were starting to organize – in order to see that this was all going to boil over sooner or later. And, when it did boil over, there was absolutely no question who was going to win and who was going to lose. There was no way that Jerusalem could possibly hold out against the Romans!

His Prediction about War

So yeah, there really was a lot about what Jesus was saying that any smart person could have seen coming. And that certainly seems to be as true for what Jesus says about war too. “When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Because, if you want to make a prediction that know will come true, that has got to be one of the safest. In any era, any century, any decade in the history of humanity, if you say, “there will be wars and rumours of wars, and nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,” people will be amazed at your perfect prescience about the future.

So, when Jesus predicts wars, he is definitely on safe ground. But I am particularly intrigued by what he says about war. Because Jesus actually seems to be giving a warning about our attitude towards war. He warns us not to make too much of it.

He says, “Do not be alarmed,” when you see such things. And then later he adds, “This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.” This is rather surprising when you think of it. When there is a war, and especially when you are caught up in the middle of one, the experience seems to absorb almost everything. The war and what happens and who wins and who loses seem to mean absolutely everything.

Branding World War I

This is especially true when you think about how wars are branded and how they are sold to the people who will fight in them. There you see very clearly that we don’t see war as “but the beginning of the birth pangs,” but rather as the one huge event that is supposed to fix everything.

Think, for example, of the war that we call World War I. Is that what it was called at the time, the first in a series of global conflagrations? Of course not! Nor was it called the war that was kind of inevitable once the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria had been assassinated setting a chain of events in motion that led to Germany invading Belgium which triggered a bunch of alliances that obliged everybody to declare war against everybody else. Did they call it that? No. What did they call it? They called it “The War to End all Wars.”

It was, in other words, a war that was supposed to solve everything. Brave young lads from so many countries around the world were persuaded to put their lives on the line and fight for the most noble goal of making sure that there would never be any more wars ever.

And here is a spoiler alert for you (just in case you don’t know how that particular war turned out): it didn’t work. World War I was not the last war ever. In fact, in many ways, the way it ended and the treaty that the nations signed carried within it the seeds of the next great global conflagration. That war was sold as being the great solution to everything. It was a promise that was big and bold and beautiful that the world would be changed for the good. It was very much like the biblical promise of an end times that the disciples were asking Jesus about that day. That’s how we like to talk about war, but Jesus is telling us that it is a mistake to expect such things from war.

Branding Other Wars

That is not just true of the First World War either. Think of the other great conflagrations of our lifetimes and how successful they were at accomplishing the grand goals that they promised. It is true that the Second World War did succeed in its goal of putting an end to the truly evil and frightening fascism that had come to power in Germany, Italy and Japan, but that war seems to be, in some ways, a bit of an exception. I would also note, looking around me today, that it doesn’t seem as if the threat of fascism has disappeared from the face of the Earth entirely.

But think of the other conflicts that have taken place. A war fought in Korea and another in Vietnam had the very clear goal of stopping the dominoes of Communism from falling across Asia. They certainly didn’t stop the dominoes from falling in those countries anyways. And remember when the Cold War ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall and there were people proclaiming that, because we had won that conflict, it was the end of history – nothing else of any significance would ever happen. How did that turn out?

And I hardly dare mention the noble goals that took us into Afghanistan. Not only were we going to destroy the Taliban and all that they stood for, but we were going to be part of planting a vibrant and free democracy in the middle of the Near Eastern world. And that was supposed to be a real game-changer. I think we are all aware of how horribly that turned out, especially for the people of Afghanistan.

War may be Inevitable

I don’t think that Jesus was saying that there is no place for war. On the contrary, Jesus was saying that it is often inevitable. Try as you might, and we need to try as hard as we possibly can, we will find that it is simply unavoidable sometimes. And when it is inevitable, we are greatly blessed by and eternally indebted to those who step forward and put their lives on the line to fight and to protect. And they may even be persuaded to do that because they believe everything that they are being promised that is going to accomplish – they go to end all wars or to set up a beacon of democracy in the Middle East.

But it won’t Solve Everything

But here is where Jesus’ caution may be helpful to us. For example, one of the things that has made the end of the war in Afghanistan so distressing was just the thought of all of the blood and the lives and the broken bodies that were spent for the goal of creating a free and democratic society in that country. You can certainly understand the bitterness of those who gave so much to accomplish such things there to see an end result that basically just returned that is no better than what the country was before and so much worse in many ways. But I think that Jesus may be telling us that we should not have been expecting so much from wars in the first place. They are “but the beginning of the birth pangs” after all.

What Will?

But I guess the really important question we need to ask is, if war isn’t going to do it, what will bring about the birth of a better world? There are no easy answers to that question, of course, though I think if we can get past the idea of solving all of our problems by having nation rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, we will likely be further down the road to a better world.

What this whole chapter in the Gospel of Mark is saying, of course, is that God is committed to the creation of a renewed and better world, particularly symbolized by the “the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.” (v. 26) In some ways, therefore, our task seems to be to wait for God to bring it about. But I think we should be careful not to confuse this call to wait with any sense that there is nothing for us to do or that we have no role to play in the vision that God has for that better world.

Very Active Waiting

No, when Jesus says wait, he has something very active in mind. “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.” (vv. 32,33) So we are to be alert which doesn’t just mean that we are watching but that we are ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. But that raises the question, what sort of action are we supposed to be ready to spring into? Because I don’t think, based on what Jesus says about war and how it doesn’t actually resolve everything, that we are supposed to be constantly ready to fight and use violence to achieve even the most noble of goals.

The idea seems to be this. God is committed to this world – committed to saving it, committed to renewing it. But that doesn’t mean that God wants to do it all alone. In infinite graciousness, God has decided to give us the opportunity to be coworkers in this great task. That means that God will offer to each one of us, things to do, ways to help. God will give to one over here the opportunity to act as a peacemaker. God will give to another over there the chance to stand up and peacefully oppose some great injustice. Another, perhaps with just some small act of kindness or mercy, will advance the program. We may never know in advance where our part to play may be, that is why being constantly prepared is so important.

Halverson’s Blessing

There was once a preacher named Richard Halverson who understood this perhaps better than anybody else. He used to end each worship service by making the following promise to the people of his congregation. “You go nowhere by accident,” he would say. “Wherever you go, God is sending you. Wherever you are, God has put you there. God has a purpose in your being right where you are. Christ, who indwells you by the power of his Spirit, wants to do something in and through you. Believe this and go in his grace, his love, his power. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.”

That, more than anything, captures the sense of waiting and being prepared that Jesus was really talking about. It is indeed a sense of living in constant expectation that God is about to inaugurate God’s kingdom. But it is not brought about by nation rising up against nation or kingdom against kingdom. It is not always going to come in a great light shining from one end of the sky to the other. Most of us will realize it by being quietly prepared to spring into action whenever God lays before us an opportunity to live out the kingdom of God before our friends and neighbours and the whole world.

For our children this week.

The Minister and Session

As we have reported to the congregation previously, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada made some big decisions in its meeting this past summer. In particular, it formally declared something that has been true about the Presbyterian Church in Canada for a long time: that we don’t all agree on the definition of marriage and that we don’t all see the role of LGBTQ persons in the church in the same way. The church declared that all Presbyterians have freedom of belief and conscience and are able to marry people and to elect their leaders accordingly. This has come at the end of a very long process of study and reflection on the scriptures and on our faith. The discussion is also still not over on the national level as we continue to work out how we can maintain our Christian unity despite some significant differences in belief.

And so, over the last few months, the Session of St. Andrew’s Hespeler has been discussing how we ought to make use of this freedom that the General Assembly has given to us. The Session feels that it is very important at this time to affirm that there is a place at St Andrew’s Hespeler for everybody. That includes every kind of family including singles, married with or without children, single parent families and divorced. That includes people who are straight but also those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual and asexual. In addition, all genders and gender identities are welcome to fully participate.

In addition, we want to affirm that we welcome not only all people who have a firm faith, but also all those who doubt. We welcome those who struggle with addictions or bad habits, those who’ve got it all together and those who feel like they’re coming apart.

Now, on one level, we believe that all such people have always been welcome in our church. But we also confess that we have not always been successful making all such people feel welcome. We are glad to take this opportunity to be much more explicit about our welcome and also to think about the implications of that welcome.

We also confess that all of us continue to struggle to be all that God is calling us to be and we pray that, with God’s help and the support of our siblings in Christ, we may rise to the challenge of living up to God’s calling upon us all.

Marriage

The Session is very concerned about the state of marriage in our society. We feel there are too many domestic relationships that are marred by disrespect, abuse and violence. We want to reaffirm our commitment to support and bless marriages that are based on mutual respect, love and support. We will joyfully celebrate any such marriages between two persons under God and according to the laws of the Province of Ontario.

Leadership

We want to affirm at this time what has always been true, that it is up to the whole congregation to choose those who will lead it. That includes ministers, elders and all other leaders. We will maintain our commitment to open and democratic processes for the choosing of leaders. We will also not exclude anyone from such positions merely on the basis of gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.

Conscience and Freedom of Belief

The session wants to state this as an expression of everyone’s freedom of conscience and belief. We do recognize that not everyone in the church will see these matters in the same way. We do not want to exclude anybody because they see these matters differently. The bottom line is we want to declare that there is a place for everyone no matter who they are. We are all just trying to do our best to take the Bible, apply it to our lives and live in Christ as we share His love with the world around us.

https://youtu.be/WBy4HBozqXE

Hespeler, 7 November 2021 © Scott McAndless – Communion, Remembrance Sunday
1 Kings 17:8-16, Psalm 146, Hebrews 9:24-28, Mark 12:38-44 (Click to read)

Just put yourself for a moment in the mind of that poor child, the son of that widow in Zarephath. Ever since your father died unexpectedly, you and your mother have been living on the very edge of survival. But that all got so much worse over the last couple of months as the entire countryside has suffered under a drought. Everyone has had a hard time, of course, all of your friends have been struggling. But many of them have, at least, a few resources to fall back on – some small savings or perhaps the ability to borrow – but you and your mother have had nothing at all.

Nothing, that is, except for one small jar of cracked barley grains and a little jug of olive oil. And so, you have watched day after day as your mother very carefully takes out the smallest amount of grain possible and just barely moistens it with a little bit of oil before frying up the resulting cake.  The cake is so small that it barely requires even two sticks of wood to build a fire big enough to cook it. Your portion of the cake hardly does anything to take an edge off your hunger, but that is not what alarms you the most. What alarms you the most is to watch how that small store of meal and of oil grows ominously smaller every single day. You know very well that there will be no more when that is gone.

The Very Last Cake

And finally there comes the day when you watch your mother very carefully divide the remaining supply in half. Tomorrow is going to be the very last cake and you both know it. The next morning, probably because she cannot even face the possibility of looking you in the eyes, she gets up even before you awake and goes out to gather some wood in order to build a fire to prepare your very last meal. And so you awaken alone, wash and get dressed and sit and wait for her to come back.

But then, after she’s only been gone for about an hour, she returns. And everything looks different. She is carrying her usual two pieces of wood, but she is also flushed and excited like you haven’t seen her since your father died. And she breathlessly announces to you surprising news: “I have met a man of God!”

She explains to you that she is now going to take the meal from the jar and the oil from the jug and she is going to make a small cake to take to the prophet. After that, the prophet promises, everything is going to be just fine for you and your mother.

How do you Feel?

And my question for you today is how do you react and how do you feel? I suspect that most of us would be immediately suspicious that our mother has just been taken in by a charlatan. There is a man out there in the woods who is taking advantage of poor widows by talking them into giving him their very last meals! And we would have all logic and reason on our side in thinking such a thing, wouldn’t we? I mean, isn’t that just the sensible way that all of us look at the question of scarce resources. When there is a stock of something that is in limited supply, something that we find to be essential or desirable, everyone seems to assume that the sensible thing to do is to save it and ration it and spend it as sparingly as possible.

Not Just a Miracle

And there is no denying that what the prophet Elijah asks of that poor widow defies all of those sensible assumptions we make about limited resources. He invites her to be extravagant and generous with the very little that she has with the promise that this is what will prevent what she has from running out. But of course, you might say that this story is all about defying logic and reason because it is, after all, a miracle story. Miracles are not supposed to make sense. Miracles require faith which is the opposite of reason, isn’t it?

And of course it is true that, on one level. This is a story about how amazing the prophet Elijah was and how God miraculously provided for him and helped some other people along the way. But I think it is actually a mistake to look at this as just a miracle story. Because if it is just a miracle story, then it would really only be something that applied to our lives under extraordinary circumstances. And I believe that there is a principle at work in this story that does not just apply to extraordinary circumstances. I think that this story applies very directly to your life right now and today.

Two Ways to Look at it

Because there are in fact two ways to look at the jar of meal and jug of oil in this story. There’s the way we are all inclined to look at it, as a limited resource. Whenever you look at something that way, you will naturally fall into scarcity tactics. When you are living with scarcity, you will save and ration and worry about what you don’t have. But the problem with scarcity tactics is that they form a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. When you assume that things are going to run out and act accordingly, things eventually run out.

But in this story, Elijah comes along and invites this woman to look at what she has from the totally different point of view. Rather than a scarce resource, he invites her to look at it as possibility and potential. And I would suggest to you that that simple change in perspective can actually make an enormous difference. Even though the practical number of resources available to you does not change, it will change the outcome. And, what’s more, though such a change in attitude may require a great deal of faith, the change in outcome does not always require a miracle to pull off, though it may feel that way.

A Church Story

This is a lesson that the Christian church always needs to keep learning. When I was first called to my second church, I spent some time talking to the people who had been there a long time to discover the real people’s history of that church. (This is always time well spent.) They told me that there had been a time, not all that long before, when the church had been poor. Membership had been stagnating or dropping, money always seemed to be in short supply and so that church had been doing what Presbyterian churches in particular seem to be so good at. They carefully cut all of their expenses to the bone, they put off repairs and they were very good at saving money. They were poor and they responded with scarcity thinking.

The Door

But the church that I had gone to did not feel like a poor church. Yes, they did sometimes struggle to balance their budget as most churches do, but they didn’t act like they were poor, so I asked them what had changed that for them. It had started, apparently, with a door. It was an old wooden door that led out to the street. It was drafty and broken and had long seen better days. But they couldn’t afford to replace it. They didn’t have the money. As that door was the main entrance for anyone coming into the church from the community, it was almost like they had put a big sign out front for everyone to see: we are poor.

But one day they were just cornered into a decision. They went ahead and replaced the old door with a brand-new glass door. They were terrified. They could never afford such extravagance! They were sure it was going to ruin them. But then something amazing happened. Almost overnight, without even trying, the door was paid for. And that experience opened them to a very different possibility. Maybe they weren’t as poor as they thought they were. In fact, maybe they were only poor because they thought they were.

Scarcity Tactics are Uninspiring

If they were just surviving and carefully doling out their scarce resources, somehow people didn’t find that to be something that was inspiring and that they were excited about supporting. But if people could see the church doing something, even something as small as a new door, they looked at supporting that in a very different way.

And so that church learned a very important lesson from that, and it was a lesson that they applied to much more then just keeping the building up to date. They learned to stop thinking about their church as poor and as having scarce resources. And, as a result of that, the church went on to take some amazing risks and do some very exciting things in the community.

It Matters How We Look at it

And that is a lesson that I have tried to carry with me ever since. For there are indeed many times when churches take a look at their little jar of barley meal and their tiny jug of oil and come to the conclusion that they had better hold on tight to what they’ve got, save it for themselves and cut back on any ministry and mission to the people around them. This scarcity thinking is what we always will fall into when we are motivated by anxiety and fear. And it always seems sensible, but it is not how the economy of God’s church is supposed to operate. God sent the prophet Elijah to that widow at Zarephath to break her out of such thinking. Who will God send to our churches to break us out?

So I do fervently wish that our churches would learn what that widow learned from Elijah. But it is a lesson that also applies in many other places. It certainly has applications in national economies and government policy.

Global Economics

Now, I am no expert on such matters, and I realize that they are all very complex, but I have at least noticed that slashing and freezing government spending does not always have the effect of balancing budgets and eliminating deficits that we think it should. In fact, such scarcity tactics will often make things much worse. The classic example of that, of course, is the Great Depression but it has happened again and again throughout history. In the Depression, governments and just about everyone else fell into the habit of thinking that resources and money were limited, and that they need to be rationed out, this led to a self-fulfilling prophecy as the belief that money was scarce made everyone hold onto what they had and that made everything become scarcer.

It spiralled out of control until the realities of a global war meant that there was no choice but to start spending enormous amounts of money. The number of resources available had not changed but the attitude about what was worth lavishing resources on did. Only a dramatic change of thinking like that was able to break North American society out of its spiral of scarcity.

And what about you?

But finally today, I don’t want to focus on government spending or on Church spending, but rather I want to focus a little closer to home. I believe that we all, at least in certain areas of our lives, have a habit of behaving like that woman and her son. What I mean by that is that we all have some resource in our life that we treat like that woman treated her jar of meal and jug of oil. We live in fear and anxiety that whatever it is is going to run out soon and so we ration it and share it with others only grudgingly if at all.

Now, I do not know what that resource might be for you in your life. Do you live in anxiety about money? Or maybe it is time that you just never have enough of. Others find that they struggle with a lack of options or of appreciation or of love.

These are all good things, necessary to life and you certainly deserve to have such good things. God wants you to have them. But God has sent Elijah to you today to challenge you to consider your problem is not really how little you have of such a thing; your problem is how you look at that scarcity. You are, after all, the child of the King of kings and Lord of lords. You should never think of yourself as poor. God will always give a person of faith not only enough, but enough to share in some powerful and life changing way.

Final Challenge

So here is my challenge to you today. This week I want you to act extravagantly and generously with something in your life. I want you to give something away – time, treasure, talent, whatever it may be. But this is the key point: I want it to be something that you do not feel that you can spare. If you are a free spender of money, if money doesn’t mean everything to you, then that is not what you need to be giving. You need to be extravagantly generous with something that you don’t think you can afford. Do it because it is something you can only do by faith. If you do it, I think God may surprise you with the news that you are not as poor in that resource as you thought.