Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 21st Chapter of the Gospel according to St Luke: Verses 5 –19:
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” 7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them. 9 “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.12 “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defence in advance; 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.
Let us pray: Father guide the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts, that we may hear you message to us that it may be a guiding light and a source of hope in our lives. Amen
We may not like it, we may deny it, we may resist it, but the reality is things are changing. Our world is changing, the church is changing, our lives are changing. Sometimes changes are welcome. But there are days when change brings loss or the fear of loss. There are days when our life is forever changed, the world is different, and nothing is like it used to be. You and I know those days. We could each tell stories about those days. They are stories about the death of a loved one, the diagnosis, a divorce, the business that failed, the job that was lost. They are stories about the day you realised the life you were living was not the life you wanted, the day someone confronted you with your addiction, the day you became the parent and caretaker to your own parent. They are stories of dreams and hopes that never came true.
These are the days when the temples of our life and world fall. It is not just our individual temples, however. As a parish we are having to face the reality that the members are ageing. Attendance and income are down. It cannot continue like it is and it will never be like it used to be. The temple of our Parish is falling. For many people the Anglican Church is not the church they remember. It is not like it used to be when they were growing up. Things have changed. For them the temple is falling. As a country the temple of our economic system is threatened by drought and low interest rates. We can no longer count on investments that will grow every year. The job market is unstable. Globally we read of wars, natural disasters, famines. Nations have risen against nation, kingdom against kingdom, even religion against religion. Security, peace, and diplomacy have given way to fear, violence, and terrorism. Temples are falling everywhere.
We all have temples. Some have been given to us, others we have built for ourselves. Sometimes our temples are people, places, values and beliefs, institutions, dreams. Regardless, they are the things that we think structure and order our lives, give meaning and identity, provide security and stability. At least we think they do, until they fall.
In today’s gospel some were speaking about the temple, its beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God. It is what structured their community. It gave identity and meaning. It was the centre of Jewish life. Jesus looks at it and says, “The days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” Jesus is speaking about more than just the physical temple in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem temple includes every temple you and I have.
So what do we do on the day our temple falls?
Change has a way of pushing us into the future. Many people will begin looking for signs about the future. What will happen now? What do I do? How do I get through this? If we are not careful we will soon be living in a future we do not yet have. We will be living in a future created in our heads; a future that causes us anxiety; for some despair. That is not Jesus’ response. When Jesus describes things that will happen he is not asking us to speculate about the future. He is offering signs that call us to be faithful in the present.
Sometimes, after our temple falls, we look for a scapegoat, someone or something to blame or even demonise. So we blame Moslems for violence in the world and climate protestors for disrupting our society. Liberal and Labor politicians blame each other as do the Ultra Conservatives and the Greens. We look to lay the blame on someone or a group who does not think, act, or believe like we do. That is not Jesus’ response.
Some people will simply give up and walk away in despair. They can see nothing left. All is lost and the situation is hopeless. That is not Jesus’ response. Some will become angry, resentful, and fight back. Others will say this is God’s will or maybe even God’s punishment. Many will look for easy answers, quick fixes, something that will prop up the old structures and ways of doing things. Again, these are not Jesus’ response.
Jesus’ response is just the opposite. Be still, be quiet, do not be led astray. Do not allow your life to be controlled or determined by fear. Do not listen to the many voices that would cause you to run and go after them. Endure he says. Be faithful, steadfast, persevere here and now. Jesus is calling us to be present and faithful in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. If we cannot find God here, in our present circumstances, even in the midst of our temple ruins, we will find God nowhere. Psalm 46: 10 “Be still, and know that I am God”
The place of fallen temples is the place in which God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, declares: (Isaiah 65:17-19) “I am about to create new heavens and new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it or the cry of distress”.
Those promises are fulfilled through our endurance and prayer. By endurance and prayer we gain our lives, our souls. Jesus is calling us to the virtue of stability. We are to remain fully present, faithful, no matter how uncomfortable life may be. In so doing we discover that God has always been with us – in the changes, chances, and chaos of life; in the pain, loss, and disappointment; in the destruction of our temples. The fullness of God in the form of the Holy Spirit came to dwell in us when we felt the cool waters of Holy Baptism and the words were spoken “I baptise you in the name of God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit”.
Endurance, perseverance, stability and heartfelt prayer are the ways in which we offer God the fallen stones of our temples. Stone by stone God rebuilds our life. Stone by stone God restores the original beauty of our life and world. Stone by stone a new temple arises from the rubble. Stone by stone we become the temple of God. We no longer have temples. We no longer need them. We are the temple. That is the story that needs to be told. That is our opportunity to testify.
We can all tell the story of the day our temple was destroyed. Too often, however, we believe and live as if that is the end of the story. It will be if we run away, scapegoat, respond with anger, or try to put it back together like it used to be. But it does not have to be the end of the story. The greater story is how we discovered God next to us in the temple ruins and how, stone by stone, God rebuilt what we could not. It is the ongoing story of God recreating life out of loss and ruin, a story of God rejoicing and delighting in his people.
This story is the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to us. The story how Jesus died for our sins as our substitute on the Cross of Calvary and rose again to overcome death that we may have forgiveness and eternal life, and assures us with the promise “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” It is real, sacred, and true. Trust that story, tell it over and over to yourself, proclaim it to all you see, and then go live that story.
Psalm 46 reassures us: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging’
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging’
The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Amen
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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