Inside Information
I Samuel 2: 1-10    Mark 13: 1-8
A Sermon by the Reverend Odette Lockwood-Stewart

Hear this description of the Temple in Jerusalem written by the Roman historian Josephus:

Now the outward face of the temple in its front...was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendour, and made those who forced themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they would have done at the sun’s own rays. But this Temple appeared to strangers, when they were at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow; for, as to those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceeding white...Of its stones, some of them were forty-five cubits in length, five in height, and six in breadth. Before this temple stood the altar, fifteen cubits high, and equal both in length and breadth.

(Titus Flavius Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book Five, Chapter 5, “Description of the Temple”)

As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!”

They sat down, facing the Temple, on the Mount of Olives.  Jesus said, “Do you see these great buildings?  Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” “You’re impressed by this grand structure? There’s not a stone in the whole work that will not end up in a heap of rubble.”

Some things do seem too big, too great to be destroyed ... too strong not to last.  But one after another human creations that seem too powerful to fall, come to an end.  For good ... and for ill.  The rise ... and fall ... of the Roman Empire. The building and tearing down of the Berlin Wall.  The crash of Wall Street.  Cathedrals, walls, skyscrapers, monuments, regimes, even institutions officially deemed “too big to fail” fail.  The rock, the very earth beneath our feet... rests upon flowing magma.  I’m reminded of the observation in the 13th Chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews ... “We have here no continuing city.”

That’s the truth.  There are things we wish could last forever that don’t. There are things we fear will never end... that do.  But even the most seemingly unchangeable things... will change.

When we think we have created a permanent, impressive structure in, around and securing our lives ... life happens and change comes while we are making other plans.

The true power of tenacious hope is in reversals of expectation and assumption.  Presumptions of privilege are challenged by self-giving love.  Arrogance of power is exposed by defiant hope.

Hannah sings a joyful song of reversal and defiant hope generations before Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Hannah sings and prays, “the bows of the mighty are broken, but the weak grow in strength.  Those who were full have hired themselves out as day-laborers, but those who were hungry are filled with rich things.”

In the midst of social and political upheaval, apocalyptic images unveil, reveal the hope beneath history. In the time of Jesus, the destruction of the temple was unthinkable, even though revolts against Roman occupation and spiraling cycles of violence were daily realities.

The inside-out, downside up story, the inside information is that endings ... and beginnings ... are throughout history and our lives in every season.  The great task is to stay awake, to be alert, to listen, to watch, to plumb and pray the depths, of the pain and challenge and upheaval of every day and every generation, to recognize these as early contractions in the birthing of a new creation.

Jesus tells disciples: “don’t follow false leaders, false timelines;” “don’t be alarmed,”  “be alert.”  It is not the end.  It is only the beginning, the first birth pangs of fulfillment, of the consummation of God’s new heaven and earth. It is not about predicting a day – it’s about living our lives watchfully, attentively, reading the signs of the times as followers of Jesus Christ.

A few minutes ago Jim introduced this silkscreen painting by Sister Corita Kent that will be offered at next Saturday’s Auction. Corita once observed that “flowers grow out of dark moments.” She incorporated fragments of text from daily life 1960- 1986: slogans and signs taken from billboards, street signs, advertising jingles, songs, poems, newspapers, quotes from Martin Luther King Jr., Phillip Roth and the Psalms. She used news images of the Viet Cong, the pope and the Wonder Bread logo. Alert to every day signs, she cropped, skewed, and collaged phrases from disparate sources... to create unique revolutionary, spiritual, and social statements.”

This artistic technique ... is also a strategy for understanding and living life ... being alert to every moment in history, taking it all in ... the suffering along with the joy... and trusting transformation to the loving creative power of God.

Buildings coming down... cataclysmic events, hurricanes, war, cycles of violence effecting many ... personal tragedies or transitions that hit only a few directly, but with no less force. I come back again and again to the importance of being alert and the power... of knowing we are not alone.  It may come through another who really listens and breaks through our lonely isolation, or it may be our reckless ruthless trust in a love deeper than human knowing.  

After Jesus told his disciples that even the Temple building would be destroyed, every stone broken apart ... he then said “do not be alarmed, this must take place,... this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”

How do we cultivate the creativity and courage to look beneath denial and beyond destruction, through personal tragedy, even our souls’ darkest nights? How do we entrust our choices and our days to the longer arc of history and God’s unfolding purpose?  Surrounded by rubble, how do we become living stones of an everlasting promise ... the only inside and pervasive information... God is near ... here ... now.  Amen.