25 Pentecost/Year B

Nov 14, 2021

We all want to know, right? We want to know (yesterday)…what’s going to happen today…We want to know today, what’s going to happen tomorrow, and the next day, and the next month…and the next year….and we want to know all of that…(yesterday!)

We’ve become experts these past couple of years during the pandemic with asking all kinds of questions and living with the tension of not having clear answers….especially the ones that capture our longing and desire to know “when”…Early on, we wanted to know when we would be able to visit loved ones in facilities again…to know when the kids would be able to resume in person school again…to know when we could sit down in our favorite restaurants again…to know when it would be safe to travel again…to know when there would be a vaccine or treatment available for the COVID-19 virus…Early on, and now…we want to know when this pandemic and the various restrictions will end…we want to know when we can get back to gathering like we used to…we want to know when those without jobs will be able to start work again….we want to know when those who had to put off surgeries and treatments because of the pandemic will be able to finally get some relief…

The “when” wonderings can trouble us…yet they can also lead us to learn to hold fast to HOPE…The HOPE that reminds us that God has been with us all along, that God is with us now…and that God will be with us…when the new day dawns…

Every day, we wake up…we want to know…we want clear answers to our questions. We want to know all the who, what, when, where, why details to set our minds and hearts at ease.

In today’s gospel reading, Peter, James, John and Andrew want to know “when” and what…and Jesus’ response to their questions, doesn’t exactly come through as a clear answer, in their minds…(or ours)…or at least not the answer, they or we wanted to hear…

The reading starts off with Jesus coming out of the temple, and with one of his disciples saying to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

Then Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?”

Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”

If we look and listen carefully to this passage of scripture…we do see glimmers of hope in the uncertainty of the times that Jesus is talking about. He doesn’t give them a “set time” or even a whole long list of specific signs so that they would know exactly when something would take place….but he assures them…in the midst of all that looks like destruction and end times…that they need not be alarmed…that looking around at the suffering and the destruction, yes, there will be endings….but endings with the promise of giving birth to something new…something new that we can’t quite know yet…something new that can only arise out of the ashes of death, and the dust of the earth…something new that is birthed in HOPE: hope and trust in The Word of God, and the promises being fulfilled in our hearing of the scriptures through Jesus Christ, and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Hope is what Jesus is asking the disciples and us to hold onto…Hope when we don’t know when…Hope when we don’t see the signs, yet…Hope when we can’t understand what’s happening now…Hope when the answers we desire seem so far off and out of reach…or beyond our understanding….In the midst of all the unknowns, Jesus is inviting us to HOPE and trust in His words and his promises…

The bible is full of stories that teach us about hope and trusting in His words and promises…It’s important that we take time often to read and meditate on God’s Holy Word…so that we may embrace and ever hold fast to this blessed Hope…

In our opening collect today, we prayed:

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ…

The scriptures, are the living Word of God…they continue to inspire us, and equip us for the many difficult days we endure in our lifetimes…and they can help us as we navigate the many mysteries, and the unanswered “who, what, when, where, why” questions, that rest heavily on our hearts…

The scriptures are meant to inspire and inform our lives, guiding us and leading us in ways to provoke one another to love and good deeds…They are meant to remind us of the importance of meeting together regularly…to worship with one another, pray with one another, encourage one another, build up hope for one another, not only with our lips, but in our lives….

Hope is built in community, where Jesus is the center of all creation, and the love of Christ unites us….

And in this community, we learn together, and we are strengthened by our presence with one another, what it means to continue to hope, even when we hear of wars and rumors of wars, even when we hear of destruction, division, turmoil, violence, disasters…even when all the signs of endings are all around us…

As we move closer to the end of this liturgical year on the church calendar, and prepare to begin a new season of Advent, a season of preparing for the coming of Christ to be born anew in our hearts…let us hold fast to HOPE…

The HOPE that reminds us that in all our questions and wonderings and in all our endings… God has been with us all along, that God is with us now…and that God will be with us…when the new day dawns…when the dream of God’s beloved community will come…here on earth…as in heaven….

What a morning that will be…

My Lord, what a morning,

When the stars begin to fall.

Rev Julie Platson

St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church

Sitka, AK

Hymn after the sermon: My Lord, What a Morning

RECORDING: My Lord What A Morning (The Golden Gate Quartet)