Musical Prelude and Service.

Isaiah 65:17-25 & Luke 21:5-19
As many of you know, I had the opportunity to travel home to Dryden last month with my daughter
Elizabeth and spend Thanksgiving with my mother. In doing so, I had the added opportunity of
attending First United’s Thanksgiving worship service. That worship was for me made all the more
poignant, because about a week earlier I was informed that the Congregation of First United Dryden
had accepted an offer from a buyer to sell their church building.
This is not the congregation shutting down. The community of faith intends to move into the building
owned by the Anglican congregation down the street and continue to meet, to worship together and
to serve the community as they are able. But it certainly marks an ending in some ways and a new
beginning in others. So, for me it was chance to sit in the pews, converse with many people who
witnessed me growing and aging and becoming the man I am today. It was a chance to recall the
multitude of ways that building, the sanctuary, the Sunday school rooms, the offices, played such an
integral part of my life. This was the building where I was baptized, where I attended Sunday School,
where I was confirmed, then married, saw my children baptized, where I grew in my faith as part of
the official board, became a member of Presbytery and began my discernment toward ministry.
Members of that congregation sat with me and prayed with me through that discernment and
supported me in that process and then celebrated and sent me forth to conclude my studies and
begin my own ministry. I can easily look at that church and admire its stones and bricks and its
adornments; modest as they may be in comparison to so many other churches and look in wonder.
Sometime next summer, someone else will move in and begin transforming that structure into
something else. It’s an ending, but not the ending of First United.
God’s presence in that community continues.
Passages like this one from Luke challenge me. I could happily pass over them and focus on other
messages and stories from scripture, except I also think the spirit calls us to reflect on these difficult
parts and discern how we can hear God speak within these words.
I have spoken a fair bit in recent weeks about the Revised Common Lectionary and how it suggests
readings as we make our way through the Christian calendar. We are fast approaching the end of
that year and the start of a new year with Advent. That of course is the promise and hope of the
coming of Jesus the Christ. That is followed by Christmas, then epiphany; then Lent as we prepare
for Good Friday and Easter when we reflect on the resurrection. That is followed by Pentecost and
the growing of the church as the body of Christ. This all ends with the Reign of Christ which we mark
next Sunday.
So that explains a little bit why we have heard so much about the return of Jesus the Christ and the
coming of something new and the hope found in that message in recent weeks. Jesus and his
disciples are at the temple. His followers are wondering about the power; the grandeur, the enormity
that this temple signifies for them. In many ways, this temple is central to their faith.
Jesus certainly holds it in high regard. He was prepared to overturn tables and drive out officials for
what they were making of what he called his father’s house, and yet he sees it being torn down.
But that is not the end. He may not say that outright, but for me it is implied. Things will continue;
it won’t be easy. There is pain, betrayal, and disruption to come. But also, there is hope of something
new.
Luke wrote his gospel in the decades following the Jewish revolt; during which time Rome besieged
Jerusalem and then destroyed the great temple. It was an existential threat to the Jewish people and
their religion. Who were they without this temple? Christianity was just beginning to see itself as
something separate from Judaism. The rifts between Jesus’ followers and traditional Jews were
growing and I can only imagine how that would create tensions within families.
This is a challenging text. We need to read it with caution. We could be tempted to see it as
supporting the sense that we are persecuted. I don’t support that notion. We gather openly to
worship and to pray. We are comfortable in gathering. We are not persecuted. But we can certainly
look around and see signs of conflict and the possible falling of kingdoms and empires. We can see
that things are changing. Some things are ending and something new may be growing.
And Jesus tells us to wait.
He will place words in our mouths and wisdom in our hearts. This is a passage that can be troubling.
It speaks of violence and division. It describes destruction and heartbreak and offer no timeline. In
fact, it discourages us from trying to predict or to anticipate these things. But it also assures us that
God remains with us, equipping us and working with us in times of distress. And that too is supported
by the writing of the prophet Isaiah.
The reading from Isaiah is believed to have come from the return of the Jews from exile. After
approximately 70 years living in a strange land, the exiles who are still alive and their children and
children’s children, are returning to Juda and Jerusalem.
But it is not an empty city and land. Not everyone was sent into exile, and many Babylonians took
land and buildings, and created lives for themselves over those generations. The royalty, the priestly
case, the rabbis who return, come with visions and expectations of a return to what they remember
or what they were taught Jerusalem was. It was never going to be so easy. There are heartbreaks,
disillusionment, and anger.
Plenty of that for everyone. And into that environment, Isaiah writes of God creating new heavens
and a new earth. Of creating a new Jerusalem as a joy.
He has a vision of a place of justice, of kindness and generosity. A place where all people’s needs are
met, where peace reigns and all live out long natural lives. In offering this vision, he also tells us that
that is certainly not the case now. The world is a place of violence, of persecution and exploitation.
People are working for the profit of others and see strangers living in their homes. Children die in
infancy and lives are short and brutal.
But Isaiah tells us it doesn’t have to be that way. God has a different vision for this world.
God desires to work with us. Don’t lose heart. Don’t give in to pessimism or despair. Don’t let fear
and hatred rule our lives. Don’t respond to the brokenness of the world by giving into greed and
jealousy. Don’t succumb to a message of self reliance and transactional justice where everything has
a price.
God wants something more for us and we are called to see this world clearly but also recognize what
this world can be. We can’t know when all of this will come to pass; but we can be assured God is
already at work in and around us. We can see something changing right in front of us.
Buildings and churches we have perhaps taken for granted or assumed will always be there to visit
may disappear or be repurposed. We may be shocked when we see somethings come to an end, but
God is still at work. Something new is being made. We are called to listen for God’s word.
To let God speak in us and through us; that we may be a part of God’s transforming love and action
build new heavens and a new earth.
Thanks be to God.
Rev. Warner Bloomfield

Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789