Sunday Sermon 11/13/16
The Rev. Kathleen M. Sturges

Our reading from the gospel of Luke begins this morning with people marveling at the grandeur and beauty of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. This temple was the second temple that had been around for roughly 500 years. Century after century the Lord God’s temple stood enduring violence, desecration, re-dedication. Generation after generation Jews would make pilgrimages to worship and sacrifice at this temple. Even under the current Roman occupation the temple stood offering a degree of comfort and peace; no matter what happened the temple was there solid, stable.

And it was not only awe-inspiring because of its religious significance, but also for its architecture and physical dimensions. The plaza around the Temple was the size of six football fields constructed to hold hundreds of thousands of worshipers at one time. The walls that surrounded this plaza were about 16 feet thick and 20 stories high with enormous stones placed one on top of the other. In fact, part of that wall still stands and is known to us as the Wailing Wall - the holiest site in modern Judaism. But the centerpiece of all of this was the temple itself: a building of marble and gold with bronze entrance doors. It was said that you could not look at the temple in daylight for it would blind you.

This is what the people were marveling at when Jesus speaks up and says, “It will not always be this way. There will come a time when this amazing, seemingly invincible structure will be destroyed. Not one stone will be left upon another, all will be thrown down.” Unfortunately, Jesus doesn’t stop there. “Not only will the temple be destroyed, but there will be wars and plagues and earthquakes and famines.” And then Jesus gets personal, “This is not just something that will take place out there, but it will happen to you. You will be arrested. You will be persecuted and imprisoned. You will be hated and betrayed by family and some of you will even be put to death.” The people, in an attempt to gain some control of the situation grasping at straws ask “When? When will this happen? Can we have advanced warning?”

Jesus clearly isn’t interested in offering any specific timetable. The Jewish Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., but for the rest of the predictions of chaos and destruction and upheaval, sadly, those are not unique experiences. Likely every generation at some point has looked around and thought that surely its time is the end. But Jesus is not going to get bogged down in predicting future dates - his bigger concern is to guide his followers in how they are to respond in such times of chaos and distress. What to do when the things that you can see, the things you have depended on, whether it be a temple or a religious establishment or political structures or peace in one’s personal life, become unstable and even crumble.

“Do not be terrified,” says Jesus. Do not be terrified. This is not about the power of positive thinking this is about the reality of our true foundation - God. God, who is infinitely more stable, more solid, more dependable than anything of this world. It is this God in whom we can safely put our trust and hope. So we do not need to be terrified when the world goes awry, but more than that, Jesus says it is in such times these that we are given an opportunity, an opportunity to testify, to bear witness to God. God is. God is present. God is good. God is love.

This message speaks to us just as much today as it did to those who heard it two thousand years ago. The world is not coming to an end, but following the results of the election there were some who may have felt it was close. Some are full of grief and fear, while others are bubbling over with joy and hope. Most of us are confused. The reality is that there are people here that voted for Trump. There are people here who voted for Clinton. Others voted for a 3rd party candidate. Perhaps there are others who did not vote at all. And here we all are people of one God, one faith, one baptism and yet we are not all of the same mind. We do not all see eye-to-eye, we do not all agree. But, it is in such a time as this, a time when our community, our country, our world is deeply divided and there is upheaval and distress that Jesus says, “Do not be terrified,” and that, “This is an opportunity to testify - to bear witness to God.” A God that is present, is good, is love. In whose name we’ve been baptized and together, even though we are not of the same mind, we will seek to love and respect one another, to see Christ is all persons, to strive for justice and peace and dignity for all. This is our testimony - this is our witness.

Earlier this week President Obama in seeking to ensure a peaceful transfer of power declared, “We are not Democrats first. We are not Republicans first. We are Americans first.” Yes, indeed, we are Americans, but even more than our identity and allegiance to our nation we are first and foremost God’s people. And now is our opportunity to testify.