“Holy Nexus: Standing on the Precipice” (Luke 21:25-36)

Jesus said: “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars.  On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.  People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”

 Frightening words.

 

Over the past two weeks I have had the joy of spending time with all my children and grandchildren.  It has been a whirlwind of activity, laughter, joy, and even tears.  It was a lot of fun, but at the same time as I laid down each night, I couldn’t help but to think about the future for my grandchildren considering the times that we are living.  It is not a new apprehension that permeated my mind and heart, but an old one that I used to carry for my children.  It is the same haunting feeling . . . a feeling alluded to in our scripture reading this morning.

 

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, he is even more implicit in his words: “Do you see all these things? Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down . . . you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places . . . you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me . . . betrayal . . . false prophets . . .” (See Matthew 24)

 

Apocalyptic times . . . end times.  I have heard the murmuring of the people my whole life that we are in the “end times”.  I have heard it uttered within our own congregation. Pandemic.  Dramatic changes in the weather or global warming.  Wars and more wars.  Earthquakes and other natural disasters.  Civil discord and nations rising against their own.  We live in divisive times . . . frightening times when the signs of Jesus’ words seem to be as real today as they were when he first spoke them.  And, of course, we have all been told that the “signs” have been there for every generation.

Nothing has changed.  We have been standing on this precipice for what seem like ever.  The holy nexus.

 

Maybe there really is nothing new under the sun.  In my lifetime I have never known a time of sustained peace, nor have my children or grandchildren.  War is a part of the world we live in.  So have the rumors of war . . . the threat of nuclear war, the Cuban Missile Crisis, 9-11, the on-going conflict of the Middle East.  We have witnessed countless natural disasters within our own nation and across the world.  Hurricanes of the like never seen before . . . earthquakes . . . droughts lasting years . . . uncontrollable fire.  We have seen a divisiveness among humanity . . . people turning against each other.  We are in a midst of a global pandemic.  And the future isn’t looking much better.  We stand with past, present, and future generations . . . fretful of the words spoken by Jesus.

 

There is nothing new here.  “Look at the fig tree and all the trees.  When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near.  Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the Kingdom of God is near.”  And so, it is for each generation . . . there is hope . . . there is a possibility . . . and there is opportunity.  The Kingdom of God is always there . . . just around the corner . . . just over the horizon, and we are always standing on the precipice.

 

All we have to do is to grab it . . . to take that step.

 

It has been said that we cannot change yesterday, nor can we control tomorrow . . . all we can do is live today.  All we can do is to live in the moment . . . in the present and in the presence.  We live and we can’t change yesterday, and it does no good to worry about tomorrow . . . be ready and grasp the opportunity today.  Remember, over in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, verse 42, Jesus says: “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son . . . Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day the Lord will come.”  We are always on the “holy nexus”.  The future is up to us as the followers of Jesus.

 

Each year we kick off the church year with the season of Advent . . . a season of watchfulness and preparation that points to the possibilities of what is yet to come.  Every year we start this stroll into the holiday season with these fretful words of what we perceive as apocalyptic proportions.  And yet, they are not.  Instead, they are words of hope.  Hope that we can make a difference . . . hope that we can move even closer to the Kingdom of God.

 

Jesus does not ask us to sit back and wait for the end to come.  No, Jesus asks us to act.  To seize the moment . . . to seize the opportunity . . . to work towards bringing about the Kingdom of God.  To do what can be done now . . . in the moment.  After all, we cannot change what happened yesterday or worry about what has not yet happened tomorrow, but we can take care of what is happening right now in our lives.  We can work towards following in the words and actions of Jesus.  We can begin to live our lives in love. 

 

This never-ending kick-off to the church year that we call Advent is also a call to persistence.  A persistence to love . . . to love God . . . to love one another.  We should never give up on loving because we never know when we will cross that imaginary line when the Kingdom of God is realized.  Jesus tells us it is coming, and we must believe . . . believe that if we just keep on loving right where we are that it will make a difference.

 

Once I believed that these words spoken this morning in our scripture reading by Jesus were words of warning.  But now I see them in a different light . . . they are words of hope . . . a call to action . . . a persistence . . . to love.  Though I fret about the world my grandchildren are moving in, I have hope.  I have hope that even though they do not yet understand the world or its ways, they understand what it means to love.  Each time I am with them I experience that love.  Love will make the difference.  I thank Jesus for reminding us once again as we begin the journey of Advent.  Amen.

“Taking the Long Way” (Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17)

One of the reasons that I chose to attend ministerial preparations at Lexington Theological Seminary was the fact that they had a great field placement program.  Field placement was where the seminary worked with congregations to place ministerial students in the church as student pastors.  It was a way to assist congregations to have ministers in the pulpit and gave students an opportunity to learn the skills necessary for ministry.  My first field placement was at Flemingsburg Christian Church as a student associate minister . . . I did youth ministry.

 

Because Flemingsburg was a good hour-and-a-half from Lexington, I would go up on Friday evenings and return on Monday afternoons.  Also, not being a resident of Flemingsburg, I would often spend the weekend in one of the homes of the congregation’s members.  One of the families that I stayed with were the Ferns . . . Bill and Ruth. 

 

The Ferns were an older couple in congregation.  They had moved to Flemingsburg early in their marriage when Bill’s job had him working out of a regional office located in the community.  They had moved from another state to the community and had—at the time that I met them—lived in Flemingsburg for over 40 years.  In that time, they had given birth to their children, raised them in the community, served the community in many different capacities, and Bill had even served as mayor . . . not once, but twice!

 

The Ferns were pillars in the community . . . yet, they never were fully received into the community.  At least that is how they felt and what they shared with me.  You see, they were not born and raised in the community.  They had come from the “outside” and made Flemingsburg their home.  Even after 40-some years in the community people still referred to them as outsiders.  Now, get this, their children weren’t.  They weren’t because they were born and raised there.  But, nonetheless, the Ferns never really felt like they were fully members of the community despite dedicating their lives to the community through countless hours of service.  They grew weary of always being reminded that “they aren’t one of us”.

 

It is no fun being the outsider or feeling like the outsider looking in.  It does not matter the situation . . . family, groups, clubs, communities, or even churches.  It is never a comfortable feeling being excluded from the others.  So, imagine how Ruth must have felt throughout her life.  She was a Moabite who ended up marrying a man who had immigrated from Judea to Moab. She converts to her husband’s religious faith.  Her marriage to this Judean cast her out of her own community and family.  And, then her husband dies, and she chooses to move back to Judea with her widowed mother-in-law . . . chose to move to a foreign land where she would not belong.  And she remains faithful to YahWeh.  Times are difficult for Ruth and her mother-in-law and she goes to gleaning in the fields in order to be able to feed the two of them.  Even then she is treated as an outsider.  It does not matter that she believes in YahWeh.  Life is difficult enough without being considered an outsider.

 

We human beings have a need to be connected . . . to belong . . . to be accepted.  Imagine what it would feel like to have dedicated one’s life to a community for over 40 years and still be considered and treated like an outsider.  Ask the Ferns.  Imagine what it would feel like to be ostracized from your community and family just because you married someone outside of those groups.  Imagine what it would feel like to move to a new land of people who were not your people or family and to be treated as nothing because you were not one of them.  Odds are you do not have imagine too hard . . . we all probably have our stories of not being welcomed and being left out.

 

But the story of Ruth is story of grace and eventually acceptance even though it is by taking the long way.

 

Where Ruth chooses to glean happens to be the field of Boaz, a wealthy person within the community.  And, get this, he also happens to be related to her former husband . . . he is a kinsman.  Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, begins to plot a scheme to get Ruth married.  Manipulating the situation and Boaz, Naomi’s plan succeeds, and Ruth ends up marrying Boaz.  Eventually she bears a son, named Obed.  As silly as it is, it is through abiding faith, marriage, and bearing a child that Ruth is welcomed into the community that should have received her from the start.

 

God works in mysterious ways.  Unable to crack the barriers of human will God moves around and through humanity to institute God’s will.  In the end it is as God desires it to be . . . but it is the long way around.

 

In the eyes of God, all are the children of God . . . after all, the scriptures tell us that all are created in the image of God . . . all are a part of the family of God.  And that is what God desires not only for the heavenly family but also the earthly human family.  Yet, humanity continues to create and live by barriers that do not welcome one another in but excludes others from belonging.  Instead of humanity making it easy we make God take the long way around.

 

Think about it . . . what more could the Fern family have done to be a part of the Flemingsburg community?  They bore and raised their children in the community.  They belonged to clubs and civic organizations.  They sat on the school board.  He was the mayor of the town . . . twice!  They had given their all, yet they were still treated as and referred to as “outsiders”.  Despite it all they were still not “one of them”.

 

Think about Ruth.  She married an immigrant, an outsider, someone not of her people.  Her husband dies and she is further thrown out of the circle.  Then she moves to her mother-in-law’s homeland where Ruth is an outsider.  She is a stranger in a foreign land . . . an immigrant. She even dedicates her life to YahWeh . . . converts.  And through it all she is not welcomed or accepted.  She jumps through countless hoops until eventually she is welcomed and accepted.  Seems silly doesn’t it?

 

Welcome to the human race where one has to prove him or herself before being welcomed into the family.  Where entrance into the family is only accessible through the long way round.  Quite the opposite of God.  With God all it takes is love . . . a willingness to love God and others as God loves us.  There are no hoops to jump through . . . no long way around, only a willingness.

 

It is sad when God accepts us, and others won’t.

 

Growing up as a military brat it was a constant frustration and loneliness that filled my life as we moved across the country.  With each move came the need to start over, to prove myself all over one more time, and to long to crack whatever barriers there were to be included and accepted . . . to be welcomed and to feel as if I belonged.  I never understood the constant hoop jumping and having to prove oneself when we were all on the same journey trying to get home.  Wouldn’t it be easier if we all worked together . . . admitted that we were in the same boat . . . had the same goal?

 

It was not fair for the Ferns.  It was not fair to me.  It was not fair to Ruth.  Thankfully God desires us for who we were created to be . . . no hoops.  Only a willingness . . . a willingness to receive God and God’s love, and in return to love . . . to love God and to love others as God has loved us.  We shouldn’t have to take the long way around.  That is humanity’s way . . . not God’s.  Nor should it be our way as the children of God and the followers of Jesus.  God’s way is the better way.  Amen.