Do Not Be Alarmed
The Rev. Robert P. Travis
Pentecost 25th Sunday Sermon – 8:00am and 10:30am
Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN
RCL Proper 28 Year B 11/18/2012
Scripture Text: 1 Samuel
1:4-20, Psalm 16, Hebrews 10:11-14, 19-25, Mark 13:1-8
Sermon Text:
After what I’ve been seeing in the news this week,
about the fighting in Gaza and Jerusalem,
I sure am glad that our pilgrims made it back safely.
It is an alarming situation over there.
And, well, we made it through another big election.
And I bet all of you are glad that it's over,
regardless of whether you felt your side won or lost.
Most of the run up to it was full of fear,
that was promoted by both sides.
That was alarming too.
There were of course, as there always are,
Christians taking all parts of the political spectrum.
There was one statement made by a Christian,
that I believe Christians on both sides agreed with.
The choice of a politician or a political party
is not where our salvation lies.
Or as one person on his business' sign nearby wrote,
what ails our country does not have a political cure.
We know, in spite of our best hopes,
for fixing the problems we have,
that ultimately nothing we can do will cure all our problems.
And yet we keep striving,
as we should, and as we must.
This is all connected to the readings we have today,
of course, the reading from the Gospel of Mark
which has been called “the little apocalypse”
not because it's less apocalyptic, or less severe than other,
but just because it is brief,
certainly in comparison to the revelation of John.
This little apocalypse has big themes though,
and deals with the biggest of issues.
It's the kind of thing that can make us all worry,
or even make us scared.
And yet, in the midst of describing what will happen,
while he's telling us to beware.
Jesus commands us not to be alarmed.
How can we do that?
How can we beware of what's going on,
for fear that we might be lead astray,
and yet not be alarmed?
Jesus, what you're saying is going to happen,
are alarming events!
It is alarming to think about wars,
and rumors of wars,
to consider how nations rise against nation.
Those things terrify us, Jesus!
How can we not be alarmed?
And then earthquakes,
and famines?
Things we don't even think we can control.
(That is unless you live in Italy. . .
where apparently a few weeks ago
some scientists were found guilty
of negligence because they did not warn the public
of the coming earthquake.
Did you hear about that?
I'm glad I'm not a scientist in Italy.)
But I suppose if I did not talk to you about these things,
that are laid out for us in scripture,
I could be found guilty of negligence,
when it comes to pass if I did not warn you in advance.
But that's just it,
all of these calamities have happened,
and continue to happen,
and will happen,
and we want to have control over them,
or at least know when, so we can prepare ourselves.
In case it really is a sign that it's all over.
Isn't that what Peter, James, John and Andrew were asking,
when they said to Jesus,
“tells us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?”
I certainly can see myself asking Jesus the same thing.
You love us Jesus,
you see what's going to happen,
tell us in advance so we can get out of the way!
And what is Jesus' first response to that question?
“Beware that no one leads you astray.”
He knows we want to know in advance,
even though time of the end is not in our power to know,
or for the time of the new beginning,
however you look at it,
we want to know when it's going to happen,
we're not allowed to know,
and so what's the greatest danger?
That we'll be lead astray by someone
who we trust can tell us when it will be,
so we can be safe.
Here we are, less than a month away from the
Mayan apocalypse that many people believe will happen on 12/12/2012, or is it 12/21/2012?
Regardless, we've seen it before,
here we are after many predictions of the culmination of history have been lived through and found to be false.
Here we are approaching a dreaded fiscal cliff,
wondering if our politicians can save us,
and actually pretty sure they can't.
The temptation is to trust in people who tell us
what we want to hear,
but Jesus warns us that many will be lead astray,
by such false prophets.
We want to be in control,
we want it so badly,
that we're willing to believe a lie,
to put our whole trust in a lie,
just so we can hold on to that illusion of control.
I look back at the disciples
coming out of the temple of Herod the Great.
Certainly a wonder of the ancient world,
astounded,
“Look, Teacher, what large stones,
and what large buildings!”
Jesus' response, “all will be thrown down.”
In other words, It's amazing to you how great
this work of human hands is,
but it is dust and rubble before the Lord of the Universe.
Don't put your trust in worldly greatness.
When I read this passage I was immediately reminded,
of that first time I went to New York City,
to Manhattan,
and like all first-time visitors,
found myself marveling at the height of the buildings,
the sheer number of skyscrapers
amazed at the incredible complexity of that great city.
And so many people are inclined
to in fact put their trust in that city,
in other great cities,
in all of our great engines of commerce and trade.
But then something like Hurricane Sandy comes through,
and in a matter of hours,
the city that never sleeps is brought to a stand still.
And those who depend on no one,
suddenly cry out for help.
The Temple is not the source of salvation,
New York City is not the source of salvation.
When we long for safety in our lives,
it will not be found, ultimately,
in the structures we build around us.
And yet, alarming though it is.
Jesus tells us not to be alarmed.
How can we not be alarmed,
if we know “this must take place,
but the end is still to come.”
If Jesus is telling us,
all of these terrible things will happen,
and the suffering is
“but the beginning of the birthpangs.”
I don't know about you,
but that's not a word of comfort to me.
I've been with my wife through many hours of labor,
and if someone had told me at hour 7 of 53,
this is but the beginning of the birthpangs,
I certainly would not have passed that on to her,
much less felt comforted or hopeful myself.
But I look to the psalm today and do find comfort there.
We read, “I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved.”
At the darkest time in my life,
when I felt like the world had fallen apart around me,
and I did not have much hope for a normal life ever,
much less for a fulfilling career or a healthy family,
My mother was drawn by the Spirit to this psalm,
and commended it to me.
I read it and reread it every day.
I held onto its words like the comforting blanket
or the beloved teddy bear, I did not have.
Look back at those verses preceding that,
from five through eight we have an answer.
And I am reminded that the psalms are
often regarded as prayers of the pre-incarnate Christ.
Let's interweave these verses with the gospel reading.
Jesus says, don't trust in these great buildings,
all will be thrown down.
The psalmist teaches us,
that it is important that we choose the Lord
as our portion and our cup,
important for us to put everything we have
in the Lord's hands.
We want to know, when will this happen,
how can we be safe when calamity comes?
But in the psalm we're asked to look back,
at our lives in the Lord's hands.
When we do that,
we see how our boundaries have fallen in pleasant places;
how we do have a goodly heritage.
We are warned to beware that no one leads us astray.
Not to listen to false teaching
even though it might be exactly
what we want to hear.
All we can do, in the face of uncertainty,
with the knowledge that everything in this world
will pass away,
that there is no safe place that we can make for ourselves,
is put everything in God's hands.
But the act of doing that does something to our souls.
It changes our hearts
so that rather than despairing
we become open to thanking the Lord.
The psalmist says,
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
I know there will be wars and rumors of wars,
Yet “in the night also my heart instructs me.”
Because I have set him before me at all times,
even at night when I’m not paying attention,
my heart instructs me.
I will not be alarmed, because
The comfort of the Lord, the way he upholds us,
in times of terror and alarm,
comes from within.
I hear of nation rising against nation,
I hear of earthquakes and famines.
Yet the Lord instructs us from the depths of our beings,
in the darkest night his light shines from within us.
How does all this happen?
it is because we keep the Lord before us,
even though this is but the beginning of the birthpangs,
of the birth of a coming kingdom that is already
being born for thousands of years,
but because we keep the Lord as close as our right hand,
that we know that we shall not be moved.
In the face of the alarming events that are happening around the world keep the Lord always before you.
Howard Wallace wrote,
“Every sense of self-security, every human plan for salvation of one kind or another, is not life giving.
Only the Lord, who judges all the earth, can grant life,
and he does so in suprising ways and unlikely places.” (Howard Wallace, quoted in Synthesis)
Look for him, and do not be alarmed.
You will be surprised what peace is to be found in Him.
Amen
about the fighting in Gaza and Jerusalem,
I sure am glad that our pilgrims made it back safely.
It is an alarming situation over there.
And, well, we made it through another big election.
And I bet all of you are glad that it's over,
regardless of whether you felt your side won or lost.
Most of the run up to it was full of fear,
that was promoted by both sides.
That was alarming too.
There were of course, as there always are,
Christians taking all parts of the political spectrum.
There was one statement made by a Christian,
that I believe Christians on both sides agreed with.
The choice of a politician or a political party
is not where our salvation lies.
Or as one person on his business' sign nearby wrote,
what ails our country does not have a political cure.
We know, in spite of our best hopes,
for fixing the problems we have,
that ultimately nothing we can do will cure all our problems.
And yet we keep striving,
as we should, and as we must.
This is all connected to the readings we have today,
of course, the reading from the Gospel of Mark
which has been called “the little apocalypse”
not because it's less apocalyptic, or less severe than other,
but just because it is brief,
certainly in comparison to the revelation of John.
This little apocalypse has big themes though,
and deals with the biggest of issues.
It's the kind of thing that can make us all worry,
or even make us scared.
And yet, in the midst of describing what will happen,
while he's telling us to beware.
Jesus commands us not to be alarmed.
How can we do that?
How can we beware of what's going on,
for fear that we might be lead astray,
and yet not be alarmed?
Jesus, what you're saying is going to happen,
are alarming events!
It is alarming to think about wars,
and rumors of wars,
to consider how nations rise against nation.
Those things terrify us, Jesus!
How can we not be alarmed?
And then earthquakes,
and famines?
Things we don't even think we can control.
(That is unless you live in Italy. . .
where apparently a few weeks ago
some scientists were found guilty
of negligence because they did not warn the public
of the coming earthquake.
Did you hear about that?
I'm glad I'm not a scientist in Italy.)
But I suppose if I did not talk to you about these things,
that are laid out for us in scripture,
I could be found guilty of negligence,
when it comes to pass if I did not warn you in advance.
But that's just it,
all of these calamities have happened,
and continue to happen,
and will happen,
and we want to have control over them,
or at least know when, so we can prepare ourselves.
In case it really is a sign that it's all over.
Isn't that what Peter, James, John and Andrew were asking,
when they said to Jesus,
“tells us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?”
I certainly can see myself asking Jesus the same thing.
You love us Jesus,
you see what's going to happen,
tell us in advance so we can get out of the way!
And what is Jesus' first response to that question?
“Beware that no one leads you astray.”
He knows we want to know in advance,
even though time of the end is not in our power to know,
or for the time of the new beginning,
however you look at it,
we want to know when it's going to happen,
we're not allowed to know,
and so what's the greatest danger?
That we'll be lead astray by someone
who we trust can tell us when it will be,
so we can be safe.
Here we are, less than a month away from the
Mayan apocalypse that many people believe will happen on 12/12/2012, or is it 12/21/2012?
Regardless, we've seen it before,
here we are after many predictions of the culmination of history have been lived through and found to be false.
Here we are approaching a dreaded fiscal cliff,
wondering if our politicians can save us,
and actually pretty sure they can't.
The temptation is to trust in people who tell us
what we want to hear,
but Jesus warns us that many will be lead astray,
by such false prophets.
We want to be in control,
we want it so badly,
that we're willing to believe a lie,
to put our whole trust in a lie,
just so we can hold on to that illusion of control.
I look back at the disciples
coming out of the temple of Herod the Great.
Certainly a wonder of the ancient world,
astounded,
“Look, Teacher, what large stones,
and what large buildings!”
Jesus' response, “all will be thrown down.”
In other words, It's amazing to you how great
this work of human hands is,
but it is dust and rubble before the Lord of the Universe.
Don't put your trust in worldly greatness.
When I read this passage I was immediately reminded,
of that first time I went to New York City,
to Manhattan,
and like all first-time visitors,
found myself marveling at the height of the buildings,
the sheer number of skyscrapers
amazed at the incredible complexity of that great city.
And so many people are inclined
to in fact put their trust in that city,
in other great cities,
in all of our great engines of commerce and trade.
But then something like Hurricane Sandy comes through,
and in a matter of hours,
the city that never sleeps is brought to a stand still.
And those who depend on no one,
suddenly cry out for help.
The Temple is not the source of salvation,
New York City is not the source of salvation.
When we long for safety in our lives,
it will not be found, ultimately,
in the structures we build around us.
And yet, alarming though it is.
Jesus tells us not to be alarmed.
How can we not be alarmed,
if we know “this must take place,
but the end is still to come.”
If Jesus is telling us,
all of these terrible things will happen,
and the suffering is
“but the beginning of the birthpangs.”
I don't know about you,
but that's not a word of comfort to me.
I've been with my wife through many hours of labor,
and if someone had told me at hour 7 of 53,
this is but the beginning of the birthpangs,
I certainly would not have passed that on to her,
much less felt comforted or hopeful myself.
But I look to the psalm today and do find comfort there.
We read, “I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved.”
At the darkest time in my life,
when I felt like the world had fallen apart around me,
and I did not have much hope for a normal life ever,
much less for a fulfilling career or a healthy family,
My mother was drawn by the Spirit to this psalm,
and commended it to me.
I read it and reread it every day.
I held onto its words like the comforting blanket
or the beloved teddy bear, I did not have.
Look back at those verses preceding that,
from five through eight we have an answer.
And I am reminded that the psalms are
often regarded as prayers of the pre-incarnate Christ.
Let's interweave these verses with the gospel reading.
Jesus says, don't trust in these great buildings,
all will be thrown down.
The psalmist teaches us,
that it is important that we choose the Lord
as our portion and our cup,
important for us to put everything we have
in the Lord's hands.
We want to know, when will this happen,
how can we be safe when calamity comes?
But in the psalm we're asked to look back,
at our lives in the Lord's hands.
When we do that,
we see how our boundaries have fallen in pleasant places;
how we do have a goodly heritage.
We are warned to beware that no one leads us astray.
Not to listen to false teaching
even though it might be exactly
what we want to hear.
All we can do, in the face of uncertainty,
with the knowledge that everything in this world
will pass away,
that there is no safe place that we can make for ourselves,
is put everything in God's hands.
But the act of doing that does something to our souls.
It changes our hearts
so that rather than despairing
we become open to thanking the Lord.
The psalmist says,
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
I know there will be wars and rumors of wars,
Yet “in the night also my heart instructs me.”
Because I have set him before me at all times,
even at night when I’m not paying attention,
my heart instructs me.
I will not be alarmed, because
The comfort of the Lord, the way he upholds us,
in times of terror and alarm,
comes from within.
I hear of nation rising against nation,
I hear of earthquakes and famines.
Yet the Lord instructs us from the depths of our beings,
in the darkest night his light shines from within us.
How does all this happen?
it is because we keep the Lord before us,
even though this is but the beginning of the birthpangs,
of the birth of a coming kingdom that is already
being born for thousands of years,
but because we keep the Lord as close as our right hand,
that we know that we shall not be moved.
In the face of the alarming events that are happening around the world keep the Lord always before you.
Howard Wallace wrote,
“Every sense of self-security, every human plan for salvation of one kind or another, is not life giving.
Only the Lord, who judges all the earth, can grant life,
and he does so in suprising ways and unlikely places.” (Howard Wallace, quoted in Synthesis)
Look for him, and do not be alarmed.
You will be surprised what peace is to be found in Him.
Amen
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