Malachi 4 & Luke 21:5-19
Last week, I had the opportunity to meet with just a few of the people who are considering or planning to join this congregation. Mostly when we gather, it's a chance to tell and listen to stories. What are the circumstances of our lives that have brought us together at this place and time and called us into community? Our stories are very different, yet here we are being church together. We are making commitments to give some of our time and some of our resources to do good together... We are committing to share life's joys and sorrows. We are ready to show up for each other to grieve in times of loss and celebrate each joyful milestone.
Yesterday, there were several things I would have liked to do. I was signed up to attend the Johnson symposium at Holy Trinity on “The Spiritual Price of the Doctrine of Discovery” featuring Mark Charles; I also wanted to be with Joy McElroy as she gathered with Monica Jones and family in the loss of their dear son. The property team had a planned fall clean-up day here at Christ… Then, instead of all that, on Thursday, we learned of a family death that took us to Iowa yesterday. What began as a 10-hour commitment grew into a much longer one when the son of the deceased, the cousin we are closest to in that part of the family, ended up hospitalized with emergency surgery. We waited throughout the afternoon with his wife and kids and heard about their week... A week where one parent had died, and on the other side of the family, a parent had surgery and now a surprise surgery coming to their own household... There are absolutely times in life when it seems like... What is next?
I know that you know what this is like… to have the challenges of life come to you one after another in a way that seems like all at once.
And it seems like Malachi, the prophet, and Luke’s community also know this reality all too well. Malachi is imagining an end to all corruption and evil… where God has burned it all down… yet out of the ashes, wellbeing and healing rise up like a phoenix.
Luke’s community is experiencing war all around, the fall of an empire, a total collapse of the system as it has been and severe persecution on all fronts – religious persecution as well as political persecution, suffering, imprisonment… yet in those terrible circumstances, Luke writes that the people of Jesus’ way will be given words and wisdom and in Jesus’ own words we hear: “By your endurance you will gain your souls.” In life’s most fearful, challenging, difficult times, that is when we have the opportunity to develop endurance - to grow deeply, become wiser, share life that become soul sustaining, gain what lasts.
So, when I gathered with the newcomers and longer timers last week, I shared this article with the group. Will the ELCA be Gone in 30 years?[1]In this article, author Dwight Zscheile points to church statistics that point to no future for our larger church... So why in the world would I bring that article to a group of people considering membership?
After all, who wants to join a sinking ship? Nobody.
But here's how the article continues... it names how even with smart, faithful leaders, the forces dismantling our church (big picture) are strong –
So, when I gathered with the newcomers and longer timers last week, I shared this article with the group. Will the ELCA be Gone in 30 years?[1]In this article, author Dwight Zscheile points to church statistics that point to no future for our larger church... So why in the world would I bring that article to a group of people considering membership?
After all, who wants to join a sinking ship? Nobody.
But here's how the article continues... it names how even with smart, faithful leaders, the forces dismantling our church (big picture) are strong –
1) We live in a culture that makes it hard for people to imagine and be led by God.
2) We aren’t clear about what’s distinctive about being Christian.
3) For these reasons, church isn’t helping many people make meaning of their lives.
So, then, Michael Binder and Dwight make some suggestions…
1) Rediscover and reclaim practice that Christians have always done—prayer, Bible study, service, reconciliation, Sabbath, hospitality—and make these the center of our life together with ways we can all practice them in daily life.
2) Shift from performative to participatory spirituality.
3) Listen
4) Translate for cultures that are not our own
5) Experiment
6) Share
Are you beginning to hear what I hear in this? As I read that list of characteristics of a path for living, vital churches, I do think that Dwight could be describing this congregation.
Sure, there are ways that we can grow in any of these areas (like any community)… but also, I think there are many ways we embody this vision.
In the gospel today, Jesus describes a reality that is as old as time...
It’s a picture of the world-as-we-know-it ending.
Sure, there are ways that we can grow in any of these areas (like any community)… but also, I think there are many ways we embody this vision.
In the gospel today, Jesus describes a reality that is as old as time...
It’s a picture of the world-as-we-know-it ending.
And I'm pretty sure that there has not been a generation that hasn't thought... It's now. The end is now. There are certainly wars and rumors; we’ve had our share of betrayals, we’ve seen plenty of death…
I heard a story this week of a new pastor who entered his new congregation and said on the very first Sunday, “You lied to me when you called me here. You said you were dying, but actually, you’re dead.”
I imagine that several jaws dropped open before he said, “But that’s good news because our God is all about resurrection.”
I imagine that several jaws dropped open before he said, “But that’s good news because our God is all about resurrection.”
So… do we have 30 more years… or 10? Or 150? Maybe those are not the right questions.
Maybe a better one is to wonder, whatever our number of years… What should we be about in the meantime? Luke repeatedly describes a God who uses unlikely witnesses... We are this time's unlikely witnesses. We are the ones we've been waiting for...you might call this the gospel of anti-defeatism.
This what it means to share life. Together, we endure… and even thrive.
We each give what we can and even more because of the deep trust that God will take what we are able to give and multiply it. There are seasons when we appear to have nothing to give and seasons when we can give much... But because we commit to share life together, we help one another endure as seasons and circumstances change.... And we grow into something more together than we could ever be alone.
Natalia, Mike, Kristie... We are so glad and grateful that you have joined in this ministry and that we get to officially welcome and receive you as members today. We are so glad and grateful for those who will join next week, too. With you, our community becomes a fuller version of the body of Christ than we could ever be without you...
We are ready to reclaim the central things, to practice and listen, translate, experiment and share life with you.
Maybe a better one is to wonder, whatever our number of years… What should we be about in the meantime? Luke repeatedly describes a God who uses unlikely witnesses... We are this time's unlikely witnesses. We are the ones we've been waiting for...you might call this the gospel of anti-defeatism.
This what it means to share life. Together, we endure… and even thrive.
We each give what we can and even more because of the deep trust that God will take what we are able to give and multiply it. There are seasons when we appear to have nothing to give and seasons when we can give much... But because we commit to share life together, we help one another endure as seasons and circumstances change.... And we grow into something more together than we could ever be alone.
Natalia, Mike, Kristie... We are so glad and grateful that you have joined in this ministry and that we get to officially welcome and receive you as members today. We are so glad and grateful for those who will join next week, too. With you, our community becomes a fuller version of the body of Christ than we could ever be without you...
We are ready to reclaim the central things, to practice and listen, translate, experiment and share life with you.
Hold onto this blessing from Jan Richardson:
God of making and unmaking, of tearing down and re-creating, you are our home and habitation, our refuge and place of dwelling. In your hollows we are re-formed, given welcome and benediction, beckoned to rest and rise again, made ready and sent forth.[2]
