So I’m here this morning to recite a bunch of
letters with the hope that God will bring them together.
In our scripture selection this morning the
author of Luke, like the author of Mark’s Gospel in Mark chapter 13, is
recalling from common, oral sources, words Jesus spoke concerning the end of one
age and the inauguration of a divine age.
Luke writes toward the end of the first century
of Christianity.
Jesus’ long hoped for return has not happened.
People have endured and are continuing to endure
persecution.
However, Christians have not lost all hope in
Christ’s return.
Thus, we see Luke’s amendment to the hopes of
Christians for his age in these passages about the end of one age of humankind
and the opening of another age characterized by the rule of Christ.
If we compare Luke’s words with its comparable
verses in Mark, we may see the literary and grammatical differences between the
writers but both authors make the same points,
i.e., that as the old age of human kind
characterized by the violence and crass power of the Romans,
and the pompous, corrupt, harshness of Judaism
give way to God’s coming kingdom in Jesus Christ,
there will be violent resistance to this change
both by individual humans, governments, and at times even by nature.
There will be bad things: Wars among nations and
insurrections. Nature will seem to rebel at the coming changes of God’s
kingdom. However, these are just the preliminary signs of the coming of the new
age.
Those who remain faithful to Christ through all
these days of trial and tribulation will …”gain your souls.”
Nature will give forth signs of the end, distress
among nations will foresee the coming rule of chaos.
People will loose hope, faint, tremble with fear.
When it seems that Christians and the world can
stand no more—then in the fullness of God’s time—one like Daniel’s Son
of Man will appear.
Luke’s Christian audience would have understood
this to be the returning Christ.
When Christians see this glorified creature, one
like a human being coming in the clouds, they will know that their redemption is
drawing near.
Well we’ve seen wars, insurrections, famines,
plagues, pestilence come and go across 2,000 years of human history.
Military events and scourges instigated by the
likes of Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, and
Castro.
We will never know the total loss of lives and
resources they caused.
What about the natural catastrophes –
hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions?
Bad!
And what about drunk drivers?
We are still reeling from the terrible accident
that took five members of the Collins family last November 11.
God created humankind as caretaker of His
creation. When we failed that trust, He gave us free will to make our own
choices.
For what ever reason Dana Pabst had to consume
alcohol, he made his choice.
That choice did not include the right to drive.
His right to drive ended at the front of his
vehicle.
Because when that front end invaded the space of
another person, he trampled on their ability to make their own choice and
exercise their rights.
We make our own choices.
Perhaps all of us should choose to be more vocal
with our government officials, local, state and federal, urging current laws
concerning driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs be more strongly
enforced, court procedures streamlined, and
penalties made emphatic enough to at least make some people stop and
think.
And how about criminals?
One of my band students at a high school here in
Albuq, was absent for two weeks.
Upon his return, he came into my office and asked
that his absences be marked as excused, meaning he would not be penalized for
those absences.
I asked where he had been for those two weeks.
His reply: “In the ‘D’ home.”
It seems he and a friend were arrested for
interstate theft.
They were caught taking beer cases off a freight
car in a rail yard. Also, his friend was driving a stolen car.
His mistake????
He got caught.
The criminal mind seems to harbor traits of
superiority
(I won’t get caught),
invincibility
(My gun is bigger than your gun),
bigotry
(if you’re not in my gang, you’re nothing),
greed
(what’s yours is mine).
Bad
things!
Do we, all of us, you and I, do everything we can
to change these criminal minds?
I’m
reminded of the time when a passenger jet was suffering through a severe
thunderstorm.
As
the passengers were being bounced around by the turbulence a young woman turned
to a minister sitting next to her and with a nervous laugh asks,
"Reverend,
you're a man of God, can't you do something about this storm?"
To
which he replies, "Madam, I'm in sales, not management."
As
long as we remain silent and actionless, we are not being responsible
“salespeople” for “management”.
We’ve seen times when we didn’t think
humanity or the world could last another day. Yet, here we are.
Through out all those bad times, when we didn’t
think we could go on, or the world could go on, our faith in God’s presence in
the world and our hope of a better day in God helped us endure, carry on, and to
come through the worst to build better lives.
Luke’s early Christian’s faith, like our
faith today, in God’s supreme rule over reality sustains us, gives us hope as
we wait for the great day of the coming fullness of God’s kingdom on earth.
As much as Luke talks about the coming Kingdom of
God on a grand and cosmological scale, the truth is that we each prove the
wisdom and truth of Luke’s scriptures on a microcosmic scale as we endure the
hardship, the uncertainty, and the evil in our own life and times.
But Luke doesn’t talk about any “Good
Things”. He speaks of gaining
one’s soul—salvation—if one endures in faith until they see their
redemption drawing near (Son of Man).
We always seem to have those people in the world
who are doomsday sayers, pessimists, negative. Bad things are going to happen.
Growing up in Oklahoma, you simply lived with the
tornado season from about April through late May or early June.
At school we had tornado drills: open all windows
so that air pressure equalized indoor and out to prevent explosion, and get
under your desk.
At home you were instructed to, once again, open
all windows, get into a closet in the center of the house, or under the dining
table, and cover yourself with a mattress.
Bad Thing!
However, we had a special protection in our
neighborhood.
When the tornado warning, a siren located
downtown on the square and police cars racing around town with their sirens
blaring, sounded, we simply went across the street to the Pierces.
I have vivid memories of being taken out of bed,
wrapped in a blanket, and hurried across the street.
Which I always thought was unnecessary since
local Native American lore said that Enid would never be struck by a tornado.
Although one came close north of town about 1960,
it never has had a direct blow.
Turns out, Enid sits in a geographical depression
with higher ground all around, causing any tornado to skip over it.
Good Thing!
After the advent of the atom bomb, our tornado
drills became nuclear drills: get under the windows next to the wall and lie
down. Alarmists! Pessimists! Doomsday!
How often do people see increased tornadic activity or the threat of a
nuclear holocaust as signs of the end.
How often do the “Chicken Littles” of this
world look around at the state of the world and paint pictures of doom and gloom
and ready themselves for Christ return only to be disappointed.
Some people of little faith and spiritual
strength at the first signs of distress enter their tornado and bomb shelters
and never venture out into life.
Their faith in God is simply nothing more than a
religious tornado or bomb shelter,
not a willingness to engage life, to give witness
to the wisdom of Christ,
to be found shaping and molding the beginnings of
the kingdom of God and the first signs of its coming.
Such spiritually fragile people do not have the
spiritual maturity to trust to God things they can not control.
Like the ostrich they stick their spiritual heads
in the sand while the rest of them are exposed to this world.
How about the experiences in your personal life,
difficult times when you didn’t think you could go on,
but
your faith sustained you,
and
not only brought you through the experiences (Bad Things),
but
empowered you to take the lessons of your experiences and build a better life
(Good Things).
My
spiritual journey began when I was about 10 years old.
My
sister had a friend who attended Grand Avenue Methodist Church.
There was a very active and fun MYF, and I was
baptized in the Methodist manner, sprinkling.
Sometime around 1953, they built a new building
at a different location and became St. Luke’s Methodist Church.
Is it ironic that I am preaching on the Gospel of
Luke?
Good
Thing.
As most of you know, I attended Phillips
University, a DOC university, beginning in 1956, a few years after Monroe was
there.
This was an easy decision because PU was right
there in my hometown.
And I had a previous connection: during my senior
year in HS, I was invited to play in the University band.
Additionally, I had won a Trumpet Scholarship
through the Tri-State Music Festival.
So you see that my attending Phillips was
educationally based, not religion based. More on this as we go along.
It was at Phillips that I met the woman who would
become my first wife. She was the daughter of medical missionaries for UCMS in
the Philippines, who, coincidentally, were acquaintances of Norwood Tye and his
wife. A DOC connection.
Because of our relationship at the time, we made
two trips to Indianapolis and visited UCMS headquarters. More DOC exposure and
illumination.
Also at this time, I began occasionally attending
the newly formed Hite Blvd Christian Church DSF and worship services.
Good
Thing.
Beginning the 1958-59 college year, I added vocal
music to my major, knowing that my first teaching job would very likely be at a
nearby rural community where I would be the sole music teacher.
Having never sung a solo in my life, I took my
newly acquired vocal training back to the friendly confines of St. Luke’s and
sang my first solo, the hymn “Just As I Am”. A very nervous religious
experience!
Good
Thing?????????
During my last two years of college and first two
years of teaching, I served as Choir Director at the Protestant Chapel at VAFB
in Enid.
This proved interesting in that the chapel was so
constructed that it could be converted to hold not only protestant services, but
Jewish and Catholic services as well. This provided me with a limited experience
of comparing their practices to my protestant practices.
The chaplain was Major Ivan Paulk, whom I shall
never forget. A Southern Baptist, red headed Irishman, thought provoking
preacher.
There was a Sunday when our organist left some
music behind. I had driven so I left to go retrieve the music.
When I arrived back at the gate, the Airman on
duty stopped me.
I asked why and he said, “You have an expired
base decal.”
I said, “OK. Give me a visitor Pass.”
He said, “I can’t because you have a base
sticker.”
“But it’s expired.”
“Sorry. But you may walk onto the base.”
So I was not seen at the beginning of the worship
service, and when I arrived, after walking the mile and a half
from the gate to the chapel, they were having the pastoral prayer, all
heads bowed.
Imagine their surprise when they looked up after
the Amen, and – Poof! - There I was.
When I explained the incident at the gate to
Chaplain Paulk, he instructed me, “Get out of here. I’m about to lose my
religion.” I only hope the Airman at the gate who took his phone call was not
the relief man.
Chaplain Paulk – Good thing in my spiritual
journey. Well, probably a bad thing for the Airman at the gate.
An opportunity presented itself in the form of
Choir Director at Davis Park Christian Church, a North American Council of
Christian Churches (Independent)
These were former DOC churches who broke w/DOC
basically over how missionaries should be assigned and funded: UCMS or local
congregation.
They didn’t accept my Methodist baptism, so I
was baptized by immersion at Davis Park.
Good
Thing.
I tell people that I spent twenty years in
Wichita Falls, Texas, from August 1964 to August 1967. Intolerable heat in
summer, ice storms in winter.
Bad
Thing
I did earn my Master of Music education degree.
First Christian Church did a production “Amahl
and The Night Visitors”. This is a story of an encounter by a young boy, Amahl,
with the three wise men on their way to find Jesus. I was privileged to portray
one of the wise men, Kaspar.
WOW! Imagine trying to become someone who was
there, experiencing that moment of greatness you knew was of tremendous
importance, but not knowing the final impact.
And my daughter, Tamara, was born. Good Things!
Upon arrival in Albuquerque, I served Monte Vista
Christian Church first as Youth Choir Director, eventually becoming Director of
Music.
Good
Things.
In 1972, after a year and a half of bachelorhood,
I met someone who became my best friend, companion, and wife, who has lovingly
endured and encouraged me for the past 32 plus years. GREAT
THING!
And finally our arrival here at Sombra to find a
caring, loving and generous church family that we strive to nurture and find
ourselves nurtured in return. Good Thing.
And on the larger scale, there have been so many
people who contributed good things: Clara Barton, Florence Nightingale, George
Washington, Edison, Schweitzer.
Alexander the Great
lived on in the history and myth of both Greek and non-Greek cultures.
After his death (and
even during his life) his exploits inspired a literary tradition in which he
appears as a legendary hero
in the tradition of Achilles.
Winston Churchill voted
the greatest-ever Briton in the 2002 BBC poll the 100 Greatest Britons.
FDR created the New
Deal to provide relief for the unemployed, recovery of the economy, and reform of the economic system.
A central figure of the 20th century, he has
consistently been ranked as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents in scholarly surveys
Arguably, Harry Truman -
He did authorize use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but scholars today rank him among the
top ten Presidents.
Simon Bolivar is
credited with leading the fight for independence in what are now the countries
of Venezuela,
Colombia,
Ecuador,
Peru, Panama and Bolivia.
He is revered as a hero in these countries and throughout much of the rest of Latin
America.
Good Things.
We can all share experiences like mine, how when it seemed our personal
worlds were at an end, God sent someone—a son of man, another human full of
God’s love and grace—into our lives to give us help, fresh hope, to in
effect become the redeemer of our lives.
We
as modern Christians, as Luke’s audiences, still don’t know when the fullest
inauguration of God’s kingdom will come.
What
we know is that it is near, very near in those of us who live as Christ.
The Parable of the
Fig tree indicates that when we see the budding leaves break open we know summer
is near;
therefore all the bad
and evil things we see going on in this world are but the budding time.
In God’s time—the
fullness of time—then the kingdom will come.
When?
We don’t know, therefore be ever
watchful—faithful, don’t become bogged down in anxiety, don’t give in to
anesthetizing your life distresses with sensual diversions, drugs, and alcohol.
Be alert, praying, preparing, because no one
knows, not even Jesus, regardless of what the false prophets, messiahs, or
teachers may say.
But watch at all times, praying that you may have
strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before
the Son of man."
We can only hold to our Christian faith and
believe – no let me restate that
We can only hold to our Christian faith and KNOW
– that our loving God has a place for us at His side for eternity in heaven.
Closing Prayer: Most
Merciful and Gracious Lord,
Watch
and pray with us as we experience the bad and the good things in our lives.
Grant us strength through our faith to see the light at the end of the tunnel of
life. When everything around us seems to be going down the tube, let us remind
ourselves of your promise through your son, Jesus Christ, of everlasting life by
His side for eternity.
There
will be bad things. Keep us above them.
There
will be good things. Watch and pray with
thanksgiving.
The Son of Man will come.
Your Word endures.
Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Redeemer,
AMEN!