The readings
Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18
Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is at
hand; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice, he has consecrated his guests. At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the people who rest complacently on their dregs, those who
say in their hearts, "The LORD will not do good, nor will he do
harm." Their wealth shall be
plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall
not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from
them. The great day of the LORD is near,
near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter, the
warrior cries aloud there. That day will
be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and
devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a
day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against
the lofty battlements. I will bring such
distress upon people that they shall walk like the blind; because they have
sinned against the LORD, their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their
flesh like dung. Neither their silver
nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord's wrath; in the
fire of his passion the whole earth shall be consumed; for a full, a terrible
end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and
sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the
day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, "There is peace and
security," then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains
come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! But you, beloved, are
not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all
children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of
darkness. So then let us not fall asleep
as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at
night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be
sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope
of salvation. For God has destined us
not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up
each other, as indeed you are doing.
Matthew 25
"For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned
his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to
another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went
away. The one who had received the five
talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. n the same way, the one who had the two
talents made two more talents. But the
one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and
hid his master's money. After a long
time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five
talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, 'Master, you handed
over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and
trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in
charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' And the one with the two talents also came
forward, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made
two more talents.' His master said to
him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few
things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your
master.' Then the one who had received
the one talent also came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew that you were a harsh
man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter
seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you
have what is yours.' But his master
replied, 'You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did
not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my
money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own
with interest. So take the talent from
him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given
to them.
The Message from November 16
We are now in our second week of looking at the end
times. As our church year winds down,
and we prepare for the church's new year next week, we just heard some readings
that make us uncomfortable, that many of us do not honestly like to say “the
word of the Lord” or “thanks be to God” afterwards. The language around the end times is harsh,
violent, frightening and brutal. The
texts are filled with warnings, judgment and what appears to be inescapable
suffering. The idea that God will come
back to judge and destroy evil people, and wipe out evil places is one of the
most popular, abused, manipulated and twisted parts of our faith. Last week, I talked about the history and
role of the end times in our faith, their origin in God’s promises to restore
and heal, their role as a warning and as a reminder of what we all know, that
the world is a place both of supreme good and persistent and influential evil.
The easiest way to think of these visions and stories of the
end times is something I’m borrowing from Barbara Rossing’s The Rapture exposed (the book that our
intergenerational bible study after church will be based on). She argues that the language and events of
the end times, the angels wiping out millions of people, the angry multi-headed
monsters, the fire breathing dragons and the well known horsemen bringing
unimagined amounts of death, the language and scenes that shock and bother us,
should be seen as visionary journeys, not as predictions of the future. The best example we have of this today, would
be the three Ghosts in Charles Dickens “a Christmas Carol”. In this case, they
show the greedy and oppressive scrooge the dreadful possibilities of what will
happen unless he changes. They show him these things as a warning, to scare and
remind him of what he should be doing.
The stories of the end times, in the prophets and in the book of
revelation serve the same purpose. When we look at any text or conversation about
the end times we need to remember that, whatever that moment will look like or
whenever it is, it will happen under the watch and control of an all-powerful,
triumphant and loving God. No matter what, God’s promises are always good, God
still loves, forgives, and care for us. The end times brings us face to face with
things that nothing but God can save us from.
This week I wanted to talk about what we are supposed to do
while we wait for the end times, for Jesus to return. Last week, I ended with the hint that it’s
pretty much what we are doing right now, sharing God’s love, helping each
other, worshipping, trying to make things better, using the skills, gifts and
resources we have been entrusted with in service to God and others, walking
with those who are suffering, lifting up the world in prayer, welcoming others,
and comforting those in fear. Martin
Luther, the founder of our faith tradition almost 500 years ago, summarizes his views about the ends times with
the often repeated statement “If I knew the world was going to end tomorrow, I
would plant a tree”. Initially, it sounds foolish, to say I would plant a tree
knowing that it would be destroyed in the matter of hours but for Luther, it
was a sign that we don’t know if a perfectly good tree planted with love and
consideration for the world, will be destroyed and that we are called to live
each moment of our lives caring for the earth and each other.
Our Gospel readings over the past two weeks both show us
examples of what to do while we wait. In
last week’s story about the 10 bridesmaids, 5 of whom prepare for unforeseen
circumstances, and bring extra oil to keep their lamps trimmed and burning and
5 who do not. When the party eventually starts, those who are prepared enter
and celebrate. The others are locked
out, left out and end up where so many parables about the end times do, with
the “weeping and gnashing of teeth”.
Here we are reminded to not lose sight of God’s promise, to not forget,
to not ignore, to not get complacent with our faith. We are given great gifts
by God, a forgiveness we do not need to worry about, a grace we cannot earn,
but we have work to do, to keep our faith alive, we have to use it, to pray,
think, share, serve, invent, challenge, read, wonder, let it shape our
behaviors and our identities.
This week, we hear the parable of the talents. We are introduced to 3 people who are each
entrusted with a considerable sum of money (a Talent was the equal to about
6000 days wages) . They are each
expected to act boldly with the money, managing it as if it were their
own. Here, again, we are pointed to the
idea that God’s gifts must be used, that faith needs to do in order to survive
and grow. God does not give us gifts just so that we can save, hold on to,
protect, bury, put a fence around and keep others away from them. We are given these gifts to use, to share, to
invest, to help and to preach with. We
have the gifts of faith, the power to act in love, knowing God cares for us.
And we have the gifts of our skills and resources. As we wait for the end, we are asked to
thoughtfully and faithfully use our gifts and skills in service to God and one
another. Each of us do this in our own
way. It can be boldly engaging others
and sharing your beliefs, quietly living out a faith-filled life, posting an
invitation or message on your twitter, instagram or other social media sites,
sitting with people who are suffering or welcoming the rejected because it is
what Jesus would do, finically supporting the work of the church, or praying
for God's people. It can be when people
let their faith drive their daily, business and professional lives: teachers who spend some extra time working
with students who fell behind, doctors and
other medical stuff who volunteer in struggling places and face illnesses like
Ebloa, retirees who spend their days caring for grandchildren and other loved
ones, neighbors who reach out and help,
people who share their food and other resources and so much more.
To think about the end times is really to think about the
current times, while we wait, we hope
and while we wait, we live out our faith.
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