Beginning of birthpangs. Comforting the afflicted, afflicting the comfortable*

*ref: quote attributed to Finley Peter Dunne, newspaper writer and cartoonist of the late 19^th Century)

[good morning, introductions, and head’s up that I’m going to raise some questions for brief discussion]

This is the second to last Sunday of our Christian church year.  You can definitely hear in today’s lectionary readings wisdom for our preparation for the season of Advent, a time in which we prepare to celebrate the arrival of God’s love incarnate among us, the in-breaking of perpetual, communal light into our otherwise selfish and dark world. 

In the readings from 1 Samuel (1:4-20, 2:1-10) we hear the anguish and pain as well as strength and faith of Hannah (and a people) who, amid the shame of barrenness and oppression of being misunderstood (and amid a self-center culture that has turned away from God) is blessed with new life – new prophetic leadership beginning Samuel.  Hannah’s song, symbolic of the voice of a people renewed in faith, becomes the precursor for the Song of Mary (the Magnificat) that we’ll hear soon as we near Christmas.

In the readings from Hebrews (10:11-25) we hear how the coming of Christ as our great priest and perfect sacrifice has cleansed our hearts and minds, opened anew for us God’s will in our very being, and encourages/invites us to encourage one another, even to the point of provocation for the sake of God’s love.  One commentator said the good news, and challenge, being delivered to the Hebrews is like delivering truth about the availability of electricity and steam engines to the early agricultural laborers.

And, in our Gospel lesson from Mark (13:1-8) we hear Jesus confirm that man-made walls, no matter how grand, will not contain God, nor be the center of God’s kingdom, and that the breaking down and end of such institutions are but the beginnings of the birthpangs of the coming age and kingdom.

In the readings, there’s a theme of commitment to action that we’re called into as we await the coming again of our Lord – this is not a time of passive waiting. 

Long-suffering Hannah (the cultural causes of her long-suffering worth of a sermon of its own), when finally blessed with a child, proclaims through her song what she believes “will be” and “shall be” in God’s name and otherwise commits her son to God’s service all the days of his life (he will, in fact, be a prophetic guide to his people).

The author of the letter to the Hebrews aims to inspire to persevere in the face of persecution and renew their commitment to Christ’s mission, encouraging one another in faithful community and worship, and provoking one another to love and good deeds.

Jesus, in his longest ‘sermon’ in the Gospel of Mark (the entirety of chapter 13, not just verses 1-8 that we heard this morning), shakes us from any unhelpful preoccupation with concerns about the when and where of ultimate end of the age and instead challenges us to beware and be awake/alert to what we’re called to do and be in the meantime.

 [TO STIR DISCUSSION]

In Hannah’s story, she is anguished, groaning in prayer, and finds no solace at home (she is taunted by her husband’s more fertile wife and her misery unappreciated by her own husband) nor initially at her nearby religious institution (she’s instead accused to being drunk by the priest Eli).  Yet, the Lord “remembers her.”  Where are we likely to find contemporary Hannah’s today?  Who and what might be misunderstanding them?  What are they trying to give birth to?

The author of the letter to the Hebrews tells us that we’ve been cleansed of sin and made worthy to stand before God without any guilt or shame getting in our way.  We are to meet together, worship together, encourage one another, and provoke one another to love and good deeds.  In other places in the bible the Greek term for ‘provoking’ (literally ‘to sharpen’ or ‘to stimulate’) usually conveys sense of unwelcome stimulation that causes aggravation and agitation (perhaps even eliciting anger), like in Peninnah’s provocation of Hannah in 1 Sam 1:6.  Have you ever been provoked into love or good deeds?  Where Jesus’s acts of love and good deed provocative in his day?  Why?  What might loving provocation mean to us as Christians today?  

When Jesus is asked “when”, he essentially answers “how” and “what.” If you continue reading chapter 13 of Mark through to the end with verse 37, it’s clear that he wants us to know that institutions that are failing to fulfill God’s purposes will crumble and fall-apart (invoking some of the same language of the prophet Jeremiah), that there will be calamities and disasters before the end of this age, AND that he doesn’t want us to us to be led astray or stuck in worry about when the ultimate end will come.  What temples do you believe are destined to be torn down?  What is Jesus calling us to do in the meantime?

CONCLUDING “GOOD NEWS”

What is the Spirit saying to God’s people this morning?  I hear:

• God remains faithful to us, even when we’ve drifted away.
• Our salvation is not a one-time accomplishment or a cataclysmic event – our sanctification is a process of repentance, forgiveness, and new birth / new beginnings.
• When institutions no longer serve God’s purposes, they wither and crumble away, but that’s not the end of God’s story.
• God will open closed doors and bring life back, even to what has been barren.
• We are called less to personal piety and personal devotion as much as communal worship and collective encouragement in Christ.
•  The radical love that God intends will likely be provocative and disturbing to the status quo.

“Subversive God, deconstructing temples of power in which we would keep you trapped and tamed: lead us through violent times, unafraid to speak for peace, untempted by those who promise easy answers; may we follow him alone who renews the world in love; through Jesus Christ, who sits at God’s right hand. Amen.”

(Shakespeare, Steven. Prayers for An Inclusive Church (NY: Church Publishing, 2009) p.77)