Nov 15, 2015 Service -- Psalm 16 & Mark 13:1-8

20151115 Order of Worship

Prelude

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship

Bless the Lord who counsels and guides us.

Because we keep the Lord ever before us, we shall not be moved.

Rejoice!  Let your hearts be glad!

Let your spirits rejoice and your bodies rest secure.

For God does not give us up to death, but shows us the path of life.

Praise the Lord!

Hymn of Praise – UMH #529 How Firm a Foundation

1. "How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
is laid for your faith in his excellent word!
What more can he say than to you he hath said,
to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

2. "Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
for I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

3. "When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
for I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

4. "When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
my grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

5. “The soul that on Jesus still leans for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake.”

A Time with Young Disciples

First Reading – Psalm 16

Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
    I have no good apart from you.”

As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble,
    in whom is all my delight.

Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;
    their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
    or take their names upon my lips.

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
    you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    I have a goodly heritage.

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
    in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
    my body also rests secure.
For you do not give me up to Sheol,
    or let your faithful one see the Pit.

You show me the path of life.
    In your presence there is fullness of joy;
    in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Response

This is the Word of God for the people of God, to which God’s people respond:
Thanks be to God.

8:15 Hymn – UMH #426 Behold a Broken World

1 Behold a broken world, we pray,
where want and war increase,
and grant us, Lord, in this our day,
the ancient dream of peace:

2 A dream of swords to sickles bent,
of spears to scythe and spade,
the weapons of our warfare spent,
a world of peace remade;

3 Where every battle flag is furled
and every trumpet stilled,
where wars shall cease in all the world,
a waking dream fulfilled.

4 No force of arms shall there prevail
nor justice cease its sway;
nor shall their loftiest visions fail
the dreamers of the day.

5 O Prince of peace, who died to save,
a lost world to redeem,
and rose in triumph from the grave,
behold our waking dream.

6 Bring, Lord, your better world to birth,
your kingdom, love's domain;
where peace with God, and peace on earth,
and peace eternal reign.

10:45 Choral Anthem – How Long

How long, how long ‘til this world is free from suffering?

How long, how long ‘til blessed peace will reign?

How long, how long

‘til the power of love will come

and heaven’s will is done?

How long, how long?

How long, how long ‘til every gun is silenced?

How long, how long ‘til hate and war shall end;

‘til every battle’s thunder

will fade to blessed peace

and sounds of war will cease?

How long, how long?

Press on, press on, let faith and hope sustain you

Press on, press on, keep working for the day

when all of God’s children will live in peace as one.

Until that new day comes,

press on, press on.

Send me, send me to work for the kingdom.

Send me, send me to go and live for peace.

Until the love of heaven to earth shall descend

and peace will reign again,

send me, send me.

Press on, we’ll press on.

We will sing a peaceful song!

But sill we’re praying on, how long, how long?

How long, how long?

Call to Confession

Since we have a great high priest, Jesus Christ,

Let us approach the throne of grace in full assurance of faith,

For God has promised to be merciful.

Confession

God of grace,

All around us are wars, and rumors of wars,

And we are afraid for ourselves and our world.

We follow after false leaders

And grasp for whatever security we can find.

Forgive us, Lord, for we are quick to forget

That all of life is in your hands.

Renew our hope, increase our courage,

And keep us watchful for the signs

Of your just and peaceful reign that is to come;

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

Hear the good news!

We have been shown the path of life,

And in God’s presence there is fullness of joy!

Live in peace, forgiven and freed.

Hymn of Assurance – UMH #130 God Will Take Care of You

1. Be not dismayed whate'er betide,
God will take care of you;
beneath his wings of love abide,
God will take care of you.

Refrain:
God will take care of you,
through every day, o'er all the way;
he will take care of you,
God will take care of you.

**Please pass the Peace of Christ**

2. Through days of toil when heart doth fail,
God will take care of you;
when dangers fierce your path assail,
God will take care of you.
(Refrain)

3. All you may need he will provide,
God will take care of you;
nothing you ask will be denied,
God will take care of you.
(Refrain)

4. No matter what may be the test,
God will take care of you;
lean, weary one, upon his breast,
God will take care of you.
(Refrain)

Sharing of Joys and Concerns

Pastoral Prayer

Loving and gracious God, we your children gather again in your house. We gather with many things on our minds.  We come full of praise.  We come empty.  We come eager to be in your presence.  We come broken and tired.  Sometimes we come feeling alone.  But we also come confident, because we know that we can lean on you and you will take care of us.  This week has been difficult and full of frightening possibilities.  But we know that you are with us.  We know that we have no good apart from you. 

                And it is that trust in your care and presence that allows us to lay before you all of the stuff we carry around.  All of life’s worries that weigh us down and keep us awake at night.  We bring all of it to you.  We bring bodies whose inner workings mystify us.  We bring hearts that hurt and break.  We bring minds that are confused and sometimes stubborn.  We bring actions that fail to show love and kindness.  You know the situations named today far better than we ever could.  And so we ask for healing.  We ask for patience and peace.  We ask for opportunities and strength to right the wrongs we’ve done.  You know what is needed.  And so, most of all, we bring all of this and we ask that your will be done.   

Today we pray for your children who live in fear—the people of Paris, Beirut, and Baghdad.  We pray for families who mourn the loss of loved ones.  The loss of safety.  We pray alike for all of your people—those we carefully divide into ‘combatants’ and ‘non-combatants’, those we separate into ‘us’ and ‘them’, those we separate into ‘guilty’ and ‘innocent’.  We pray for civilians.  We pray for children.  We pray for places of hand to hand combat and places where drones drop devastation.  We pray that vengeance will not be our response.  We pray that our response will be one of peace—peace that only you can give.

O God, you are our refuge and our hope.  You are our portion and the path that leads to life.  Help us to remember that you have not abandoned us to death.  Help us to remember that in the end is resurrection.  And help us, your modern-day disciples, to follow our resurrected Lord.  Our Lord who taught his disciples to pray saying, “Our Father…”

Lord’s Prayer

Second Reading – Mark 13:1-8

As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said 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.”

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, 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 birth pangs.

Response

This is the Word of God for the people of God, to which God’s people respond:
Thanks be to God.

Response Chorus – TFWS #2195 In the Lord I’ll Be Ever Thankful

In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful

In the Lord I will rejoice

Look to God, do not be afraid

Lift up your voices, the Lord is near

Lift up your voices, the Lord is near

Sermon

The sermon I planned to write this week isn’t the one I’m about to share with you.  Given the events of this week the text demanded that I do something different.  That I share with you a different message.

Our story this morning picks up where last week’s story ended.  If you remember Jesus had just been arguing with the Pharisees and scribes, and in the end they all agreed with Jesus that ‘loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself’ are a pretty good summation of all of their religious teachings.  Then Jesus and the disciples head out to the temple plaza and see a supposedly pious scribe, and Jesus tells the disciples to be wary of the way things appear.  After a while they see a widow, a vulnerable member of the community, come to the temple and give her last two pennies.  Jesus commends her while at the same time condemning the religious institution that seems to care for her while demanding she harm herself.

                Our story today picks up here.  Jesus and the disciples are leaving the temple and as they’re on their way out one of the disciples marvels at its seeming strength and longevity.  The stones are huge—how could anything ever destroy them?  And Jesus, seeing that the disciples still haven’t understood his warnings about appearance, looks at them and says, “A time is coming when everything you see here—all the strength and security and certainty—will be torn down.”

                They travel on across the Kidron Valley and up to the Mount of Olives, and I have to imagine that the disciples are thinking the whole way, their minds whirling and buzzing.  The temple will be destroyed?  God’s dwelling on earth will be no more?  How can that be?  But when they arrive at the Mount of Olives the disciples don’t question that destruction is possible.  Instead they ask, “When will this be and how will we know when it’s about to happen?” They ask questions that would allow them to control the situation.  If they know the particulars they can rest secure in their knowledge of how to prepare for the worst.  But Jesus doesn’t answer their question.  He doesn’t acknowledge their desire for control.  Instead he points them to a way of living—a way that will prepare them without their knowing the particulars.  He prepares them for a lifestyle of discernment, patience, and hope.  He prepares them for a lifestyle of trust.

                Notice what he says to them, “Other people will come and tell you that they have the answers.  They will say that they are the Messiah—the one who can save you—and many will follow them, but don’t you believe them.  Don't be afraid when you hear of unrest.  This will happen, but it is only the beginning of the new life that is to come.  The life that will be after your temple is gone.”

                Texts like these, what are known as apocalyptic texts, are easy to take out of context.  Texts like these are used to do exactly what Jesus warns us against—they are used to coerce us into following people and ideas that promise to keep us safe, to save us from whatever it is we think we need to be saved from.  Texts like this have been used to predict the end of the world again and again, and to create atmospheres of fear.  And quite frankly, there’s enough fear already in the world.  We need to recognize that these texts are written about a particular time and place.  These apocalyptic writings are secretive in nature because they are written by people who cannot come out and plainly say what they mean for fear that harm will come to them.

                In this case, Mark is writing about the life of Jesus during a time when the Palestinians are fighting the Roman Empire, somewhere around the year 70 CE.  Mark is writing to people who are being asked to join the rebels and fight against the Empire.  Rebels who claim that their plan will save the Jewish peoples from their fate at the hands of the Romans.  Their plan to restore the Davidic kingdom will ensure that God will always be with God’s people.  And in the midst of this call to war Jesus, in Mark’s telling, says, “Wars will come, but they will not save you.  God is not interested in human kingdoms.  And nothing can stop the coming of God’s kingdom.”

                And I think those words of Jesus are as important to us today as they were in first century Palestine.  What I had intended to write was a veterans day sermon that acknowledged and gave thanks for the service of our military personnel while still reminding us that God’s ultimate reality is one of peace, one where war is no more.  And I suppose in a way that is still what I’ve done.  In case I haven’t done a good enough job, I’d like to say “Thank You” now.  Thank you for the sacrifices you have made for me, for us.  And though I know that we follow the Prince of Peace, watching the news in the last couple of days has thrown that hope of peace into stark contrast against the threat of war.  And I have once again been reminded of the fragility of life, and the ways I seek security.

You see, I want my temple of safety.  Like the disciples, I want to know what my days will hold.  I like being able to wake up without wondering what gross atrocity I am going to encounter when my feet hit the floor.  And I appreciate those people who have made that safety possible.

Those of you who have served know better than I ever could that war is nothing to glamourize.  You all bear mental and physical scars so that I don’t have to.  Those of you who have seen field action as well as those of you who have lost loved ones know the truth of oft quoted statement of Civil War General Sherman who said, “War is hell.”  And yet we as Christians are called to be people of heaven—to be people who see the world as it is, but call to it to be something better. 

                And I want to be a part of that call.  I want to speak peace, to be God’s child who works to reconcile the world that is with the world that is meant to be, and yet I must acknowledge that violence or the potential of violence—our standing military—is what seems to keep me safe.  How do I live in this in between place?  How do I acknowledge my gratitude for the work of service people while still yearning for a time when the work of war will be unnecessary?

                The only truthful answer I have to my own questions is that I don’t know.  I suppose that I will continue to struggle with it.  To question it, and not allow myself to become complacent.  And in this way, I think today’s text is helpful to us.

                Though this text does not and is not intended to predict the end of the world, it does offer us advice—the same advice it offers to the disciples.  Firstly, like with the disciples, there are going to be people who will promise to save us—to offer us security that is not theirs to give.  But when we are made these kinds of promises, Jesus advises to develop a spirit of discernment.  Often the solution we are offered is the quick or easy solution.  They are solutions that make clear distinctions between right and wrong, us and them, good and bad.  You may have noticed that simply lived answers are rarely Jesus’ way—even the simple directive to “Go and sin no more” is rife with complexity when you try to live it.  And when these voices offer miraculous solutions we should slow down and compare them to the life we see Jesus revealing.

                Secondly, we are to develop patience and take the long view of history.  Jesus tells the disciples to not be alarmed when they hear rumors of unrest, rumors of that which will threaten their security.  This week the actions of a few have changed the lives of many.  In Paris, in Beruit, in Baghdad, and in so many other places across our world, even in our own state, we see actions that are motivated by fear and hate.  As we struggle to explain why these things happen, as we struggle to know what to do, with what to say and think, as we struggle with our desires for security, we must remember that we are not to become frantically alarmist.  We must be patient.  We do not know when God’s kingdom will come.  And while we wait we should not be discouraged or disillusioned when all of our work toward that kingdom seems to make no difference, because despite what we see now, we know that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”[1]

                And that brings us to our final point: we are to be hopeful.  God’s kingdom is coming.  In large and small ways we feel the birth pangs, that which is to usher in the new life we are all so desperate for.  How long until this world is free from suffering?  Until hate and war end?  Until blessed peace comes?  I don’t know, you don’t know.  But we know that it’s coming.  We know God will take care of us.  We know that no matter the death we see all around, no matter how much grief we bear, no matter how broken our world looks, we know that resurrection is.  Violence and hate cannot stop the resurrection.  The roman government crucified Jesus believing that his death would be the end.  But it wasn’t.  It wasn’t then, and it won’t be now.  Death will never get the final word.

                There is one last thing that I wanted to mention, and it didn’t seem to fit anywhere else so I’m going to close with it.  There are going to be people who will want to divide humanity into those who are good and those who are bad, those who are on our side and those who are not.  When we do this we fail to recognize that we are all God’s children.  We are all offered the same hope in the promise of resurrection.  And I firmly believe that until we have a conception of grace that acknowledges both terrorists and those terrorized as humans of inherent worth and children of God we will continue to face wars and rumors of war.  But this is the hard work to which we are called.  That message is our good news.  And we know that God will give us the strength to proclaim it even in the midst of tumbling temples.

Hymn – TFWS #2137 Would I Have Answered When You Called

1. Would I have answered when you called,

“Come, follow, follow me!”?

Would I at once have left behind both work and family?

Or would the old, familiar round

Have held me by its claim

And kept the spark within my heart

from bursting into flame?

2. Would I have followed where you led

Through ancient Galilee,

On roads unknown, by ways untried,

Beyond security?

Or would I soon have hurried back where

Home and comfort drew,

Where truth you taught would not disturb

The ordered world I knew?

3. Would I have matched my step with yours

When crowds cried, “Crucify!”

When on a rocky hill I saw

A cross against the sky?

Or would I too have slipped away

And left you there alone,

A dying king with crown of thorns

upon a terrible throne?

4. O Christ, I cannot search my heart

Through all its tangled ways,

Nor can I with a certain mind

My steadfastness appraise.

I only pray that when you call,

“Come follow, follow me!”

You’ll give me strength beyond my own

To follow faithfully.

We Bring Our Gifts

Offering Response – UMH #94 Doxology

Offering Prayer

How can we thank you, O God, for all that you have done?

You give us life; you give us hope; you give us your very self.

Take our offerings—and our very selves—that your will may be done

In our church, in our community, and throughout your

wide and beautiful world.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Hymn of Sending – UMH #584 Lord You Give the Great Commission

1. Lord, you give the great commission:
“Heal the sick and preach the word.”
Lest the Church neglect its mission,
and the gospel go unheard,
help us witness to Your purpose
with renewed integrity.
With the Spirit’s gifts empower us
for the work of ministry.

2. Lord, you call us to Your service:
“In my name baptize and teach.”
That the world may trust your promise,
life abundant meant for each,
give us all new fervor,
draw us closer in community.
With the Spirit’s gifts empower us
for the work of ministry.

3. Lord, you make the common holy:
“This my body, this my blood.”
Let us all, for earth’s true glory,
daily lift life heavenward,
asking that the world around us
share your children’s liberty.
With the Spirit’s gifts empower us
for the work of ministry.

4. Lord, you show us love’s true measure:
“Father, what they do, forgive.”
Yet we hoard as private treasure
all that you so freely give.
May your care and mercy lead us
to a just society.
With the Spirit’s gifts empower us
for the work of ministry.

5. Lord, you bless with words assuring:
“I am with you to the end.”
Faith and hope and love restoring,
may we serve as you intend
and, amid the cares that claim us,
hold in mind eternity.
With the Spirit’s gifts empower us
for the work of ministry.

Benediction

Postlude

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[1] MLK Jr.